The Dust Bowl of the 1930s primarily affected which region of the United States?

• A. Deep South
• B. Gulf Coast
• C. Great Plains
• D. Pacific Northwest

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is why a particular central region was hit hardest by a wind-driven soil disaster. The Dust Bowl was caused by a severe drought combined with exposed, loosely held topsoil from intensive farming in the central Great Plains. This area—spanning parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and the Dakotas—has a semi-arid climate and flat, wind-exposed soils. When rainfall collapsed in the early 1930s, crops failed and soil moisture vanished, leaving vast tracts of bare earth. Powerful prairie winds then lifted this loose soil into enormous dust storms that swept across farms, ruined crops, clogged machinery, polluted water supplies, and forced many people to migrate. The other regions listed have climates or land cover that make such wind erosion far less likely, so the central Great Plains is the region most affected.