Landforms, water and resources of the Middle East and North Africa

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Card A (map key, Egypt). A green strip follows the Nile from Aswan in the south to the Mediterranean Sea in the north, then fans out into the Nile Delta. Tan desert lies on both sides of the strip. The map note says most of Egypt's people live in the green parts. Yearly rainfall, rounded: Cairo 25 mm; Alexandria, on the coast, 210 mm (1991-2020 averages).

2. 1.

   Which statement does Card A support best, Ren asks?

   • The desert is tan because people left it, so the land would turn green if they returned
   • The Nile ends in a fan-shaped Delta beside the Red Sea, north of Aswan
   • Most people live where the Nile's water reaches the land, because rain adds very little
   • People spread evenly across Egypt, since tan land and green land both appear on the map
3. 2.

   How much more rain does Alexandria get in a year than Cairo, Pia asks?

   • 25 mm
   • 235 mm
   • 185 mm
   • 210 mm
4. 3.

   A student claims: "Egypt gets enough rain to farm without the Nile." How well does Card A support that, Zee asks?

   • Well: Alexandria gets 210 mm, so rain could water farms across the whole country
   • Poorly: the farms bring the water to the river, which is why the strip is green
   • Well: the green strip on the map shows rain falling evenly along Egypt
   • Poorly: Cairo gets only about 25 mm, and the farmland follows the river

5. Use this

   No rivers cross it, and rain is rare.

7. 4.

   Which fact on Card B best explains how oil reaches buyers overseas, Milo asks?

   • Squares mark cities, and cities near oil fields buy the oil themselves
   • Buyers overseas are what make the oil form under the ground near the coast
   • The fields lie near the coast, and tanker ships and pipelines carry the oil away
   • No rivers cross the Empty Quarter, so oil cannot travel by river barge
8. 5.

   A student claims: "Most Saudi people must live in the Empty Quarter, since it is so big." How well is that supported, Jun asks?

   Use the picture in question 4.

   • Well: the biggest region of a country holds the biggest share of its people
   • Well: Card B names the Empty Quarter, so people must live in it
   • Well: black dots mark oil fields, and dots mean that many people live there
   • Poorly: Card B puts cities on the coasts and around springs, not in the Empty Quarter

9. Use this

   Card C (diagram of an oasis). Rain falls on hills far from the oasis. The water soaks into rock and flows slowly underground. In a low spot in the desert, the underground water reaches the surface as a spring. Date palms and small fields grow in a ring around the spring, and the sand beyond is bare. Siwa Oasis in Egypt is fed this way.

10. 6.

    Where does the oasis water first come from, Kira asks?

    • Rain that fell on hills far away and soaked into the ground
    • The palm trees, which make the water that gathers in the low spot
    • The low spot, where the water reaches the surface as a spring
    • A river that flows past the oasis on the surface
11. 7.

    Why do the palms and fields grow in a ring around the spring, Bo asks?

    • The card says the sand beyond is wet, so plants could grow anywhere
    • The plants dig the spring, and the ring shows where roots have spread
    • Plants need water, and the spring is the one place in the desert that has enough
    • Water soaks into rock and travels far underground before it ever appears
12. 8.

    A student claims: "A desert has no water anywhere underground." How does Card C bear on that, Luz asks?

    • It weakens the claim: water can lie underground and rise at a spring
    • It supports the claim: palms drink the underground water until the spring dries up
    • It supports the claim: no rain falls at the oasis, so no water exists there
    • It weakens the claim: the card shows a river flowing across the sand

13. Use this

    Card D (rainfall, yearly average, rounded, 1991-2020). Rabat, on the Atlantic coast: 520 mm. Marrakesh, inland on the north side of the Atlas Mountains: 220 mm. Ouarzazate, on the south side of the Atlas Mountains: 115 mm. Winds carry moist air from the Atlantic Ocean toward the Atlas Mountains.

14. 9.

    What happens to the rainfall as you go from Rabat inland to Marrakesh and then to Ouarzazate, Noah asks?

    • Rabat is on the coast, and coasts sit close to the Atlantic Ocean
    • It rises at each step, since the mountains hold the rain
    • It stays near 220 mm, since Marrakesh is the city in the middle
    • It drops from 520 mm to 220 mm to 115 mm, so each step is drier
15. 10.

    Why might Ouarzazate be drier than Marrakesh, Esme asks?

    • The Atlas Mountains stop the rain completely, so places south stay dry
    • The Atlas Mountains lie between it and the moist Atlantic air, which loses rain first
    • Dry air from Ouarzazate crosses the mountains and dries out Marrakesh
    • Rabat gets the most rain of the three cities on the card