Lillian Blizzard

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11/14/18
Question 6: Why are things located where they are? Explain possible processes.

Things are located where they are because of four processes: plate tectonics, the climate, human

migration, and trait operation. Plate tectonics is a theory that states the Earth is made up of

individual plates. These plates determine where the continents are. These plates are constantly

moving, called drift. The movement of the plates also gradually changes climate. Since the plates

are constantly moving, they collide with each other causing various terrains (geoformation). For

example, a convergent boundary is when one plate subducts underneath another plate. Mount

Vesuvius was formed when the African plate subducted underneath the Eurasian plate. This

caused the African plate to partially melt creating magma. When the plates collided it caused an

uplift in the terrain. The magma then rises in the uplift of the terrain creating a volcano.

Climate is the weather in certain areas over a long period of time. Climate affects what

you can and cannot do in certain locations. Places where crops do not grow and where there is

not enough water are places where people do not tend to live. Climate effects your activities and

food in certain places. For example, pineapples only grow in tropical climates and require a

sandy loam (soil) to grow. We cannot grow pineapples in Maryland, but pineapples can grow in

South America and Hawaii. Another example is that scientists will only go to Antarctica during

the summer months because there is sunlight and it is warmer than during the winter. Climate

also affects the types of animals that live in certain places. For example, coral cannot grow in

cold water. For coral to live, there has to be warm, shallow water and a lot of sunlight.

Human migration is the movement of people across the world. There are three factors to

human migration: push, pull, and intervening obstacles. Push is the thing that causes you to leave

your home. People do not move unless something really bad is happening. Pull is the location

that you are going to go. Pull usually has a solution to the thing that pushed you. Intervening
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obstacles are obstacles that prevent you from moving to a certain location. For example, during

the Irish Potato Famine there was a disease called the Potato Blight, which was killing all the

potatoes. This caused starvation to hit all of Ireland. During this time in Ireland, a lot of people

were unemployed. The unemployment and starvation caused people from Ireland to migrate to

other countries (push). They migrated to North America, Britain, and Australia because there

was more food (pull). North America was a huge pull for the Irish because there were a lot of job

openings in factories from the Industrial Revolution. A major intervening obstacles for the Irish

was money. Since a lot of people were poor and unemployed, they did not have enough money

to afford the boat ride to another country. Some people only had enough money to send one

person, but some did not go because they did not want to leave their family. If the Irish had

enough money to afford the boat ride, the ride was long and overcrowded.

Trait operation is the movement and changing of traits from different locations. A trait is

a certain characteristic that can identify you or a whole group. Trait operation starts with a

hearth, the point of origin. Then the trait diffuses (movement) to a different location. The trait

then changes (drift) based on the movement. There are two parts to change: acculturation and

distance decay. Acculturation is the trait changing to be more like the new people you meet.

Distance decay is the trait losing something from itself in order to be like the new people you

meet. The farther you get from the hearth, the more the trait changes. For example, peanut butter

was first believed to be made by the Incas and Aztecs (hearth). This peanut butter was more of a

paste with a bitter taste. Then the peanut butter moved to North America (diffusion), where Dr.

Kellogg made nut butter, which was a little smoother (drift). Dr. Carver then changed peanut

butter again by adding sugar and molasses to make it sweeter. Joseph Rosefield then started

manufacturing and selling peanut butter, but the peanut butter was churned like real butter, which
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resulted in a smoother texture. Peanut butter went through acculturation by making it sweeter to

adapt to American culture. Peanut butter went through distance decay by losing the bitter taste

and texture. Now chunks of peanuts are added to give it a chunky texture. Today, peanut butter is

used on a variety of foods within American culture.