Unit 4c

• Tundra - very treeless areas of the world lying close to the polar regions, characterised by having permanently frozen groun
• The search for new resources of oil is moving to more distant and fragile environments like the Arctic (in Alaska) and the Antarctic
• Transporting oil from Prudhoe Bay in Northern Alaska to the port of Valdez on the Southern coast of Alaska


  1. Oil has to be heated to over 75˚c for the journey because of freezing climatic conditions

  2. The pipeline has to be well clad (wrapped) to keep the oil warm

  3. There are ice-covered glaciated mountains, rivers and glacial lakes to cross on the journey. So, sometimes the pipelines travel underground in concrete casing

  4. Pipes are raised on stilts in some areas to allow caribou to migrate

  5. Shut off, fail safe valves are placed along the pipeline, in case of leaks and to assist emergency shutdown

  6. The pipeline is designed in such a way that it can swing horizontally and vertically (few metres) to cope with Earth movements
• Exxon Valdez (Problems caused when movement of oil goes wrong)


  • Oil spillage (leaks into the sea) in very high amounts
  • Oil slick forms 10 cm thick covering a vast area in case of large oil spills
  • When an oil slick reaches the beach, the oil coats and clings to every rock and grain of sand causing massive environmental damage
  • Slow organisations of clean-up process as organizers fail to listen to the advice of locals
  • The impact is felt for years especially on seabirds, marine plants and animals
• The Galapagos islands are 1,000 km West of the mainland Ecuador, in the Pacific Ocean
• Ecuador makes much-needed money from tourists, especially eco-tourists who visit Darwin’s islands (over 100,000 per year)
• The Galapagos islands are looked upon as an ‘Ecological Eden,’ one of the world’s greatest environmental treasures
• Animal life on the Galapagos islands - seals, iguanas, pelicans, boobies, sea lions, flightless cormorants, giant tortoise, rare sea urchins, sharks, and whales
• Caribou - type of deer found in the Arctic regions of North America
• Evolved - slow change in character over time of plants and animals as they become better adapted to their environment
• Pack ice - large area of floating ice near the pole of the Earth
• Fail safe - safety systems that are put in place to stop damaging events happening
• Permafrost - part of the soil or ground below the surface that are frozen solid all year round
• Reef - rocks (often coral) close to the sea surface – a danger to ships