Question

Geographical environment of prairies

Answer 1

Prairies are enormous stretches of flat grassland with moderate temperatures, moderate rainfall, and few trees.

When people talk about the prairie, they are usually referring to the golden, wheat-covered land in the middle of North America. The Great Plains, in the United States and Canada, has some of the world's most valuable prairies, which grow some of the world’s most important crops. The U.S. states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan make up the Great Plains.

The prairies in North America formed as the Rocky Mountains grew taller and taller. They grew taller and taller because of plate tectonics, the process where a small number of plates on the Earth’s crust interact with each other. Once the mountains got tall enough, they blocked significant amounts of rain from falling on the east side of the mountains, creating what is called a rain shadow. This rain shadow prevented trees from growing extensively east of the mountains, and the result was the prairie landscape.

The North American prairie is ideal for agriculture. In fact, of the 2 million acres of North American prairie, less than one percent is not used for agricultural development. The weather is moderate, and there are no trees to move to create large, open fields. The very small hills on the prairie are called pimples, and they usually don’t rise taller than 1.5 meters (4 feet). The prairie grasses hold the soil firmly in place, so soil erosion is minimal. Prairie grass roots are very good at reaching water very far down under the surface, and they can live for a very long time. Grains are a type of grass, so the prairie grassland is perfect for growing grain like wheat, rye, and oats.

Answer 2

Prairies an enormously reaches of flat grassland and modern temperatures, moderate rainfall, and few trees.