California Geography

What is a major trade-off of metropolitan concentration?

• It removes transportation needs.
• It can raise productivity while also increasing congestion and housing demand.
• It eliminates housing demand.
• It always lowers productivity.

What role has international migration played in California’s development?

• It has had no demographic effect.
• It affects only rural land values.
• It began only after 2025.
• It has contributed to population growth and labor-force development.

What geographic advantage strengthens California tourism?

• California has no natural tourism assets.
• Many very different attractions exist within one state.
• Tourism depends on one inland city only.
• All attractions are identical.

Which factors help explain where Californians live?

• Water, transportation, jobs, climate, and historical settlement patterns
• Only mountain elevation
• Only state symbols
• Only county names

Which processes help explain California’s varied landforms?

• Only glacial ice across the whole state
• Only human construction
• Tectonics, mountain building, erosion, deposition, and desert processes
• Only ocean tides

What type of landform is the Central Valley in broad geologic terms?

• A high alpine plateau only
• A volcanic island chain
• A coral atoll
• A sediment-filled structural basin

Why is the Sierra Nevada central to California hydrology?

• It lies outside California.
• It contains no rivers or snow.
• It prevents all precipitation.
• It stores significant winter precipitation as high-elevation snow.

How do rain shadows contribute to California deserts?

• Air loses moisture on windward slopes, leaving drier conditions leeward.
• Mountains create rainfall equally on both sides.
• Rain shadows occur only underwater.
• They increase humidity everywhere.

Why does latitude alone not explain California’s climate diversity?

• The Pacific has no climatic effect.
• California has no elevation differences.
• Elevation and ocean influence interact with north-south position.
• Latitude determines every local climate by itself.