Question

The extensive treeless tracts of North America, which are covered with tall coarse grasses, are called
A) Savanna
B) Veld
C) Pampas
D) Prairies

Answer 1

Hint: Open woodlands with scattered trees and a herbaceous ground layer is referred to as savannas. In southern Africa, the veld is an open, uncultivated terrain or grassland. It is traditionally split into three types based on altitude: highveld, midlevel, and Lowveld.

Complete answer:
Prairies are vast swaths of flat grassland with mild temperatures, low rainfall, and few trees. People commonly refer to the golden, wheat-covered terrain in the middle of North America as the prairie.

Let us look at the given options:
A) Savanna: This option is incorrect because Savanna is not an extensive treeless tract; savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland environment with trees that are sufficiently spaced apart to prevent the canopy from closing.
B) Veld: This option is incorrect because in Southern Africa, veld, also spelt veldt, is a sort of vast open rural environment. Particularly in South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, it is a flat terrain covered with grass or low brush. They are not extensive treeless tracts.
C) Pampas: This option is incorrect because The Pampas are a fertile South American lowland where grassy prairie and grass steppe are the primary vegetation types, with many species of the grass genus Stipa standing out. These are present in South America, not North America.
D) Prairies: This is the correct option. Prairies are large swaths of land in North America that are devoid of trees and covered in tall coarse grass. Prairies are grasslands where herbaceous plants and grasses predominate. Prairies go from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba down through the Great Plains to southern Texas and Mexico, forming a triangle expanse. They cover around 1.4 million square miles in total.

Thus, the correct answer is Option (D) Prairies.

Note: The uplift of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta began the creation of the North American Prairies. Downwind, the mountains generated a rain shadow, resulting in reduced precipitation rates. In North America, prairies are traditionally divided into three categories: wet, mesic, and dry. Depending on the soil quality and rainfall, they are classified as tallgrass prairie, mixed prairie, or shortgrass prairie.