Alberta’s Oil Sands

MEGA MAP ACTIVITIES

In your group, use your textbook Geography Now and the mega maps to learn more about the oil sands in Alberta.

What are the oil sands?

Read page 182 in your textbook and fill in the missing words. Read the entire paragraph when you have finished.

The Athabasca Oil Sands (sometimes called the ______) cover an area of

approximately ______km² in ______Alberta. Oil sand is made up of ______and ______that contains a heavy oil called ______. The sand is composed of over _____ percent sand and clay, ______percent

water, and up to ______percent ______.

The ______Oil Sands contain approximately ______trillion ______of ______. It is the ______oil resource in the ______. Unfortunately, with current ______,only a small portion of the resource can be recovered.

Mapping Activities

Look at the map of Alberta on the back of the mega map.

  1. Identify the names of the four main oil sand deposits in Alberta, from largest to smallest.
  2. Which two major rivers are closes to the Athabasca deposit?
  3. Match the correct name of the deposit with the correct cardinal direction. Pretend that you are standing in Edmonton.

a) Peace River DepositNorth East _____

b) Wabasca DepositEast _____

c) Cold LakeNorth ______

d) AthabascaNorth West ____

What about the environment?

Use the front of the map for this part of the activity.

  1. Make a flow chart that identifies the 5 steps involved with extracting oil from the oil sands. For each stage, make 1-2 point form notes so you know what happens at that stage (see the back of the map)
  1. The oil sands in Alberta are located in the precious boreal forest. Make a list of all the different ways that people and animals use the forest. Compare the different uses with another group to see who found more.
  1. Now make a list of how human activities could impact the forest in this region.
  1. What can people do to reduce the impact on the forest and water systems when mining for oil in this region?

Pros and Cons of the Oil Sands

  1. Make a T-chart to compare the pros and cons of developing the oil sands. Read the section “Fuelling the Economy” to get ideas for pros and “What about the environment” for cons onthe back of the map to get started.
  1. Develop a list of as many different types of jobs that people can do in the oil sands industry. Look at all the examples on the map.
  1. Would you like a job in this industry? Explain why or why not based on what you have learned about oil sand mining in Alberta.

Now you will view some live footage from the oil sands to compare your map depiction to real life. How does your initial impression of the oil sands change now that you have seen what it really looks like?