Geography Overview and Themes

Geography Overview

• Geography is the study of the Earth's surface, its features, and the people who live on it.
• It includes understanding Earth's physical characteristics (landforms, climate, natural resources).
• It also considers human activities that affect and are shaped by these features.

Types of Geography

• Physical Geography: Focuses on natural features like mountains, rivers, oceans, and climate systems.
• Human Geography: Examines how people interact with their environment, including population distribution, cultural patterns, economic activity, and political systems.
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Computer systems used to analyze and display geographic data, helping to understand spatial relationships and patterns.

Themes of Geography

• Location:
  • Absolute Location: The precise position of a place.
  • Relative Location: The position of a place in relation to another place.
• Place: The unique characteristics of a location (physical and human)
• Human-Environment Interaction: How people interact with their environment and how the environment affects people.
• Movement: The ways people, goods, and ideas move from one place to another.
• Region: Areas with common characteristics such as physical features, culture, historical events, etc.

Types of Maps

• Topographic/Relief Maps: Show the Earth's surface features using contour lines to represent elevation.
• Political Maps: Show political boundaries (countries, states, cities).
• Thematic/Choropleth Maps: Use colors or patterns to represent specific information (population density, climate, economic activity).
• Climate Maps: Show average weather conditions (temperature, precipitation) in different areas.
• Nautical Charts: Specialized maps for maritime navigation, showing depths, currents, and hazards.
• Digital Maps: Electronic maps that can be viewed and manipulated on devices using GPS technology for real-time location.

Longitude and Latitude

• Longitude: Angular distance east or west of the Prime Meridian.
• Latitude: Angular distance north or south of the Equator.
• Together form a coordinate system to locate places on Earth.

Geospatial Mapping Tools

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Combine maps, satellite imagery, and geographic data to create maps for detailed analysis and visualization.
• Global Positioning Systems (GPS): Use satellites to pinpoint location on Earth.
• Remote Sensing: Use satellites and aircraft to gather data about Earth's surface (land use, deforestation, environmental changes, natural disasters).

Earth's Physical Geography

• Earth's Structure: Layers of the Earth (crust, mantle, outer core, inner core).
  • Lithosphere, Atmosphere, Biosphere, Hydrosphere
• Earth's Movement: Rotation (day/night), Revolution (orbit around the sun), and tilt of the axis (seasons).
• Solar System: Sun at the center, Earth and other planets orbit the sun.
• Solar and Lunar Eclipses: Moon passes between Earth and the sun (Solar), and the Earth passes between the sun and the moon (Lunar).

Landforms

• Landforms: Natural surface features on Earth; Mountains, Hills, Plateaus, Plains, Deserts, Forests, Islands.
• Landform Formation: Constructive and Destructive processes, Weathering, Erosion, Deposition, Tectonic Activity.

Types of Mountains

• Folded Mountains: Formed by compression of tectonic plates.
• Upwarped Mountains: Formed by uplift of Earth’s crust.
• Fault-Block Mountains: Formed by movement along faults.
• Volcanic Mountains: Formed by volcanic eruptions.

The Hydrosphere

• Hydrosphere: The layer of water on or near Earth's surface.
  • Includes liquid and frozen surface water, groundwater, and atmospheric water vapor.
• Hydrologic Cycle: The continuous movement of water around the Earth.
  • Processes: Evaporation, Transpiration, Condensation, Precipitation.

Climate

• Climates are often grouped by zone of latitude such as tropical, sub-tropical, temperate, and polar zones.
• Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, due to changes in the sun's activity, volcanic eruptions or human activities primarily related to emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

Population Geography

• Population Density & Distribution: The way population is spread across a region.
• Population Pyramids: Visual representations of a population's age and gender structure.
• Migration: The movement of people from one place to another. Push and pull factors and types of migration.

Economic Geography

• Economic Principles: Guidelines for using limited resources to satisfy needs and wants.
• Needs vs. Wants: The difference between essentials and desirable items.
• Renewable Resources: Resources replenished over time (solar, wind, timber).
• Nonrenewable Resources: Resources existing in limited amounts (fossil fuels, minerals).
• Supply and Demand: How supply and demand affect the price of goods and services.
• Economies as Developed, Developing, and Emerging Markets: Categorization of economies based on characteristics such as infrastructure, stability, poverty and political instability.
• Economic Sectors: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary, Quinary.