Final answer:
The 'Dust Bowl' was caused by severe drought and poor agricultural practices which removed prairie grasses and left the soil exposed, resulting in extreme dust storms during the 1930s in the Midwest region of the United States.
Step-by-step explanation:
The extreme dust storms in the Midwest region, also known as the Dust Bowl, were primarily caused by a combination of severe drought and the agricultural practices of the time. The Dust Bowl took place during the 1930s, coinciding with the Great Depression, and affected large areas of the American Great Plains, including regions such as Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas.
Farmers in the Great Plains had converted vast stretches of prairie into farmland. This conversion, coupled with dry farming techniques and overgrazing, removed the deep-rooted prairie grasses that held the soil in place. When a massive drought struck the region beginning in 1931, it lasted for nearly a decade, causing the soil to dry out and turn into dust.
The scale of these dust storms was monumental. For example, an intense dust storm in November 1933 carried soil from Oklahoma to Chicago, depositing approximately 12 million pounds of dust on the city.
The Dust Bowl was an ecological disaster that resulted in the loss of 100 million acres of farmland. It stands as a stark example of how human activity such as farming practices, when combined with adverse weather conditions like drought, can lead to widespread environmental degradation.