GOOD ANSWERS (from a combination of exams 1, 2, and 3):
1) Where is the Mexican Core region? What is another name for this region, and why is it considered to be the core?
ANSWER: The core region stretches across the mid-section of the country and lies on the Mexican Plateau, the name that applies to the region's physical geography. It is called the core because it is where the majority of the population lives. It is also the core of Mexican government, industry, and agriculture.
2) What is a functional region? Explain how a city and its hinterland exemplify a functional region.
ANSWER: A region that can support itself by trading within its borders. A city will need products from the hinterland to feed and clothe the people in the city (the core of the region). The people in the hinterland will need things they can only get in the city. This way they trade within their own region and can make a living environment for themselves.
3) Briefly describe shifting cultivation. What is one advantage and one disadvantage of this system?
ANSWER: Shifting cultivation, or slash and burn, is an agricultural method used by peasants where they cut down most of the rain forest in an area and after 3-5 years move to a neighboring plot -- they rotate plots. Advantage: this is environmentally safe because it does not permanently destroy the rain forest and allows it to regrow every few years -- it's sustainable. Disadvantage: you cannot build capital and make a profit, so these farmers get removed by the plantations.
4) Why is the Russian city of Bratsk located where it is? How did its location relate to the Soviet strategy for economic production?
ANSWER: Bratsk is there because prison workers built here, also, Russia dispersed power among cities so that no one city would have all the industrialization. Also, if Russia were attacked, it would be more difficult to attack this far inland and destroy the important industrial plants.
5) What, and where, is the asthenosphere, and what role does it play in plate tectonics?
ANSWER: The asthenosphere is a slightly molten, very hot layer that lies between the mantle and the lithosphere (crust). The tectonic plates sit upon the asthenosphere. Because it is soft, the plates shift around, and almost "float" upon the asthenosphere.