Part 1

The first place to examine will require you to find 37 º 20' 02" N 100 º 03' 27" W, at an eye altitude of 5,000 km. You might find it challenging to get the Google Earth cursor exactly on these values, but so long as you are close (within 1 to 2 degrees geographic location and 100-200 kilometers eye altitude) you should be fine.

If you have done everything correctly, you should find yourself looking down onto North America and located almost exactly overtop of the middle of the United States.

Now, answer these following questions:

1A. Describe the fundamental morphologic differences between the sub aerial (above sea level) landforms of the western and eastern United States within 500 km of the land-water boundary? Hint: Is the topography the same for each side of the United States within this 500 km zone? Explain the differences if there are differences. You may need to zoom into a lower elevation along each margin to get a better understanding of the topography at each location.

2A. Explain what large-scale process is likely contributing toward the differences in topography that you notice. Hint: What are the tectonic differences between each margin.

3A. If you were to place each coastal margin into the plate tectonic classification scheme for coasts, which categories would each margin fit into?

4A. The lighter shading of blue on the edge of the continents indicates the shallow water continental shelves compared to the darker blue coloration beyond the shelves that is used to show the deeper water of the center of the oceans. What difference(s) do you notice between the North American continental shelf of the western margin and the eastern margin?

5A. On the basis of the reading you have done for plate tectonic classification of coasts, provide some ideas as to why you think there are differences between the western and eastern continental shelf. Hint: What processes can act to extend a continental shelf seaward through time?