NewsTracker Answers for week of May 09, 2016

Q: A state of emergency was declared last week in the province of Alberta in Canada when a wildfire forced all 88,000 residents of Fort McMurray to flee. Where is Alberta?

Circle the area on this map

Q: Most evacuees headed south toward Alberta's capital city of . . .

A. Calgary

B. Edmonton

C. Saskatoon

D. Vancouver

B. Provincial leaders in Edmonton said the fire was burning out of control and would take months to extinguish. Established as a fur trading post in the late18th century, Edmonton has been been the capital of Alberta since it was formed in 1905.

Q: Other residents fled north to evacuation centers set up in Athabasca sands worker camps. What is produced in the Athabasca sands?

A. Asphalt

B. Bitumen

C. Petroleum

D. All of the above

D. The Athabasca sands contain large deposits of bitumen - a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. This very crude oil is also called asphalt, and it is extracted by strip-mining with huge shovels or by injecting steam into the ground to force the oil to flow to extraction wells.

Q: Canada's oil sands, estimated to be the world's third largest oil reserve after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, turned Fort McMurray into a boom town. What is the largest city in Alberta?

A. Calgary

B. Edmonton

C. Saskatoon

D. Vancouver

A. Calgary is located south of Edmonton and has a population of just over a million people. In 1988, Calgary became the first Canadian city to host the Winter Olympic Games.

Q: The wildfire was spreading toward Alberta's eastern neighbor . . .

A. British Columbia

B. Montana

C. Saskatchewan

D. Northwest Territories

C. Alberta is bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the state of Montana to the south.