Gimmenotes



UNIT 1: Explain the following definitions:

*Geography – Study of interactions of the physical and human phenomena.

- Involves the exploration and description of the world we live in.

- It’s also about the interactions among places that forms patterns and organize space.

* Physical Geography – the study of characteristics of a physical environment.

- Such as climate, soil and vegetation

*Human Geography – the study of human groups and their activities

- study as language and buildings

* Cultural Geography – the subfield of human geography

- Focus on the role of human activities and cultures

* Regional / Special Geography – analyze places in terms of local population, customs and political regions.

Geographical Phenomenon: (What is a geographical Phenomenon)

• Temporal component – the phenomena are not static and it changes over time.

• Spatial component – can be linked to a specific location

• Thematic component – measurable characteristics or properties like what is its name? How big is it?

There are Geographical phenomena:

• Such as a crime scene in a city over 5 years

• Place exhibiting art

Explain the distribution of a phenomenon:

• Describing where individual element are located can be random or scattered.

Contemporary geographers employ 3 analythical methods:

1. Area analysis – it intergaretes the geographic features of an area or place.

- it shows that each place occupies a unique location

- possesses a unique combination of human behaviour and environmental processes (Site, situation and region)

2. Spatial analysis – called location analysis

- emphasizes the interactions among places

- look for patterns in the distribution of human activites

- Characteristics like distribution, density, pattern, movement , distance and diffusion.

3. Geographic systems – understanding of the physical and human systems and the interactions amongs them.

(Atmosphere the hydrosphere, listhosphere and biosphere)

Basic definitions of concepts:

Absolute location – the location of a place as pinpointed in terms of the global geographic grid.

Relative location – the location reference to another place

- Describes the accessibility such as (nearer or further)

- It is constantly changing

- Also change if the trerritorial site of an activity’s organization change.

- Affects the interaction between places and the accessibility of a specific place.

- Example Cape Town is located 2km north of the CBD area.

Situation - location of a place relative to other places

- Knowledge of the place’s situation that helps us understand how it interacts with rest of the world.

Space – refers to the distribution of features

- 3 main properties of distribution across space namely density, concentration and pattern.

Scale – a quantitative statement of the relative sizes of an object on a map and in reality. (Map scale, written scale and graphical scale. Can be expressed in one of 3 ways.

Connectedness – connections between places results in spatial interaction

- Places are connected through a network

Characteristics of Map projections:

Projections – second fundamental characteristic of maps

- Governs the way we show information and shows locations on a flat map

- Process of projecting the globe onto the map introduces distortion.

Projections must distort either – size as distance or shape orientation or both.

Conformal Maps – maps that distort size but preserve shape

- Meractor projection showing the latitude and longitude

Equal- area Maps – preserve size but distort shape.

Geographic grid used to describe the absolute location. Done with reference where the Greenwich Meridian and the Equator intersect.

Purpose of geographic grid

• The geographic grid is a system designed to pinpoint any location on Earth by laying a vertical and horizontal grid over the Earth's layout.

Different characteristics of latitude and longitude

• Latitude: run east-west, run parallel, numbered from equator (0 degrees)

• Longitude: runs north-south, not parallel, all lines meet at North and South pole, separted by distances

Concept of a region:

- Areas defined by 1 or more distinctive characteristics or a unique combination of features.

- Such as climate and soil type

- Language or economic activity

Geographers define regions and describe as well as analyze the similarities and the differences.

They also study the patterns and how people organize their societies.

Criteria to define a region: Physical or cultural

Types of regions:

1. Formal – also called uniform region or homogeneous region

- an area within which everyone share in common one or more distinctive chatacteristics

- shared future such as cultural values (common language)

- Economic activity (production)

-Environmental property (climate)

Geographers identify formal regions – explain broad global or national patterns and variations or economic development. E.g. Chicago (government covers the legal cost and limits and collects the taxes)

2. Functional region – also called the nodal region

- an area organized around a node or focal point.

- defined by the interactions among places such as trade / communication.

Geographers use this region to display info about economic areas.

- Boundaries of the region marks the limit of the trading area.

E.g reception areas of a tv station (broadcast to different places)

3. Venacular region – perceptual region

- place that people believe exists as part of their cultural identity.

- defined by the wide spread popular perception by people within or outside them

- emerge from people’s formal sense

-region does not have formal defined boundaries or agree upon boundaries

- it’s in the minds of people E. g Karoo/ Bosveld

Region is a concept an abstract idea

Region is defined – cultural phenomena that merge or overlap. (People who live between 2 cities might listen to radio stations located in both.)

Countries of the world are grouped into regions according to Wealthier vs Improverished geographically described as Global North vs Global South.

Concept of distribution: -(Falls under spatial analysis/ distribution)

- Of a phenomenon it means it’s * position * placement * arrangement throughout space

- Also describe where individual elements of the phenomenon are located.

Properties of distribution:

1. Density – the frequency of occurrence of a phenomenon in relation to geographic area.

- feature being measured could be * people * houses *cars *volcanoes

- expressed as a number per square km or square mile

- large population does not lead to high density.

- E.g Russia has larger population in relation to the Netherlands, but Netherlands has a much higher density because of the land area that is smaller.

2. Concentration – extent of a feature spread over space.

- concentrated or clustered objects in an area are close together (Farmers in a village)

- Dispersed if they are scattered or relatively far apart from each other (Farmers live on the farm North America)

- Two areas must have the same number of objects and same size in area.

3. Pattern – geometrical arrangement of objects within an area.

- some features are organized in a geometric pattern others are distributed irregularly

- Modern cities street lights are arranged in rectangular grid patterns and older cities is irregular.

Human Environmental interaction: a 2 way relationship between humans and the environment and it has been associated with innovation and disaster.

- It also shows how the environment enable and inhibits the activities of humans

- Geographic study of human- environment relationship is called cultural ecology.

- Human societies must adapt to local climate, vegetation and water resources

- Interaction between the environment and humankind is reciprocal

- The environment affects the human life and cultures.

Geographers are interested in 2 types of human- environment interactions:

• How people adjust to the environment

• How they modify it

Environmental determinism – physical environment caused social development

- Belief that human events can be explained entirely as the result of the effects of the physical environment.

- Climate of produced better health conditions and lower death rated in Europe

- To explain relationships between human activities and physical geographers reject the determinism in favour of possibilism.

Possibilism – theory that the physical environment itself will neither suggest nor determine what people will attempt.

- Might limit what people can achieve

- People have the ability to adjust to their environment

Spatial interaction:

- All places on earth are interconnected in some or other way

- Can be triggered when one place (region) has something on offer or in demand at another region

- Depending on the distance between 2 places and the value of commodity and supply the demand relationships can develop

- E.g Port of Durban and Johannesburg doing trading

Distance decay – impact of any phenomenon may diminish away from its origin.

Diffusion – process of an item or feature spreading through time.

- Suggests how people and cultures interact and influence one another.

- Occurs through cultural interaction involving persons, objects or ideas

1. Relocation diffusion – process by which a characteristic spreads across space from 1 place to another over time.

- Place from which an innovation originated called hearth

- spread of an idea through physical movement of people from one place to another.

- when people move they carry with them their culture, language and religion

- E.g Nomadic tribe that moves around to find a new environment similar to the one they had.

2. Contiguous/ contagious diffusion – occurs from one place to a neighboring place through direct contact.

- is analogous to spread a disease such as influenza

- culture and innovation can also spread by this diffusion as ideas are passed from 1 area to another without population relocation.

E.g Iran and Saudi Arabia where Western music and films are enjoyed and now available on the Internet.

3. Hierarchical diffusion – spread of an idea from persons or node of authority or power to other persons or places.

- may result from the spread of ideas from political leaders, social elite people or other important people to others in the community.

- influence travel up and down a hierarchy

E.g Fly from 1 city to another small city and then to a bigger city and then a smaller city that’s local.

4. Expansion diffusion – spread of feature from one place to another in an additive process.

5. Stimulus diffusion – spread of an underlying principle

E.g innovative features of Apple’s iPhone operating systems have been adopted by competitors

Path of diffusion reveals the world’s interconnectedness

Spatial Variation – climate map of the world is not the same everywhere and varies from place to place

- Varies in space and very cold places are indicated

- Also how a phenomenon varies across space.

- The landscape is not homogenous and varies in location to location as well

- E.g like Universities have different names, student numbers, fees

Spatial variation of Biomes – Focus on describing how biomes vary across the surface of the earth

- Desert’s are hot and vegetation is spare

- Well adapted to moisture stress.

- Places like forests and so can have different times that they are open and presenting different animals

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Spatial Association – degree to which things are arranged in space

- Spatial distribution of the world’s population is strongly related to major climates

- Large concentrations of the world population tend to be arranged in close proximity to areas providing climatic conditions that are conductive to human habitat.

Phenomenon distribution of biomes:

- Biomes cover the entire earth

- Focus on one sub-biome across the world

- Distribution appears random but is not

- Desert’s are hot but vegetation is sparse

- Temperatures and rainfall is important factors

Explaining Area analysis and concepts to site:

Site – describe the exact location of a place (latitude or longitude)

- Characteristics can be human/ physical

- Reffering to language, customs, food or landscapes

System – group of items that interact in a regular way to form a unified whole. Models of systems help geographers see how factors are interrelated

Individual environment systems include: - climate processes that produce precipitation

- Hydrologic processes that determine what happens to rain

- Human activities influenced by environment conditions

Why each location of Earth is unique:

- Each place has distinct features of site and situation

- Each location has different site chatacteristics

- Locations can be interrelated (share the same atmoshphere or might be trading partners

- Interaction also points to interrelatedness (connection)

Earth’s physical system: the 4 spheres are interrelated and interact with each other.

- Physical systems are classified as biotic / abiotic

Biotic – system composed of living organisms

Abiotic – system is composed of nonliving or inorganic matter

The Atmosphere – thin layer of gases surrounding the Earth

- Movement of air driven by solar radiation creating weather and climate

- Variations in air pressure caused winds to blow and control precipitation patterns.

The Hydrosphere – All of the water on and neat the Earth’s surface

- Water can be as vapour, liquid or solid such as oceans (71% is oceans)

The Lithosphere – Solid Earth composed by rocks and overlying sediments

- Crust from mountain chains and shape crust to form continents and ocean basins

- Crust influence climate conditions

The Biosphere – All the living organisms on Earth

- The atmosphere and all the others function together to create the environment of the biosphere.

• Plants and animals live on the surface of the Lithosphere. The Hydrosphere provides the water for humans and animals to drink and gives physical support for the aquatic life.

• Life forms depend on inputs of solar energy

• Humans also interact with the 4 spheres such as Air, food

• Plants and animals interact through exchange of matter, energy and stimuli

Technology used for gathering spatial data: - Remote sensing (Arial photography and satellite remote sensing)

- Global positioning systems (GPS)

- Geographic Information systems (GIS)

- Population consus or counting number of vehicles

Symbols used on Maps:

- Point system represent the real world phenomena found in fixed locations (dots, circles and letters)

- Line symbols used to represent real world with linear character (roads, rivers)

- Area symbols represent 2 dimentional objects (dam or nature reserve)

A topographic map – represent the physical characteristics of the Earth (Rivers, mountains, roads)

A thematic map – focused on a geographic phenomenon (rainfall, population, density)

Value of nature maps – Data vs Information

Date – unprocessed facts and Information data that have been processed to add value

Definitions: Maps – two dimentional representations of some portions of the Earth’s surface.

Characteristics of geographical data:

• Spatiality – location (absolute/ relative) and the distribution that varies across space.

• Temporality – location of phenomena as well as their chatacteristics can very over time.

Scale – extent to which reality has been reuced to fit on the map.

- Larger area (entire world will show less detail)

- Smaller area (property with a house on) more detail shown

- Macro means large meso medium and micro means small

Scale of measurement

1. Nominal the lowest scale measurement – they only want to know what type of phenomenon is represented

E.g *S shows school on a map

2. Ordinal is possible to compare the relative sizes or level of importance of observations. N roads more important than R roads on maps

3. Interval is measures quantitative in nature and the interval is not fixed.

4. Ratio is the highest level of measurement

Types of spatial distribution (Discrete vs Continuous)

Discrete – not presented everywhere (sport fields and nature reserves)

Continuous – presented everywhere (high above sea level, temperature, atmospheric pressure)

Geographic phenomenon: that can relate to spatial characteristics such as location, distribution and variation.

Geographic variable: Measurable characteristics of a geographic phenomenon (amount of rainfall)

Geographic Information system (GIS):

- Form of database software in which spatial information is important

- Computer system that captures and stores and analyze the data that’s used to create maps

- Spatial data and information place phenomena at their correct position on the Earth’s surface

- GIS has layered structures and it contains data about different themes.

- Data is generally referenced according to location

- Interrelate the different data like the overly of human population of the world over a climatic map of the world.

Types of GIS data: 1. Raster data – arranged in a regtangular grid of cell which are the same

2. Vector data – based on points X and Y coordinates that spcify location and store information such as regions and political units or lines.

GIS – possible to combine two or more layers of information

- Also contain attribute (thematic) information that tells us more about the nature and the place and region.

- Makes is easier to find spatial associations and unravel irrelatedness

Satellite Remote sensing: Process during which information is gathered about a geographic object over a distance without the object and measuring device in physical contact.

- Observing from a distance

Remote Sensing include:

- The mapping of vegetation and other surface cover

- Gathering data for large unpopulated areas

- Measuring the extent of the winter ice covers over the oceans

- Monitoring the changes such as weather patterns and deforestation

Satellites – scan the Earth surface by detecting light in spots along a series of pixels.

Map created by remote sensing is essentially a grid.

Why is remote sensing critical:

- Monitor and evaluating impacts

- Erosion and how its associated with agriculture

- Estimating nutrient levels on farmlands and soil

- Can scan stream flows and gather info on other countries

Why is satellite image grid like?

• Remote sensing satellites scan the Earth surface much like a Tv camera.

• Sensor is moved across the landscape in a line

• It also scans other lines

• The sensor is recording the amount of energy from only 1 place an area called a picture element/pixel

• The map is then created by remote sensing and is essentially grid like

Earth’s sun geometry: (Part of Energy flow through the Earth)

- Intensity of solar radiation depends on the angle at which the sun’s rays hit the surface at a particular place.

- Energy travel through space as “Radiation”

- Amount of radiation/ solar energy intercepted by the Earth’s areas or isolation.

Incoming Solar radiation has 2 factors:

1. Intensity of solar radiation/ amount

2. Number of hours during the day that radiation is striking.

1. Intensity – daily and seasonal differences in intensity were caused by variations in the angle of incidence

- intensity of solar radiation at a given place and time depends on its latitude and season of the year.

2.Day length – results from the 23.5 degrees tilt of the Earth so higher latitudes the amount of daylight will vary with seasons. Insolation strikes the surface of the Earth at right angles and is most intense.

Summer Solstice – Northen Hemisphere June 20/21 (Summer)

- Noon the sun is directly overland along the parallel of 23.5 degrees N latitude

- Southern Hemisphere Dec 21/22 (Winter)

- Noon the sun is directly overland along parallel of S latitude

March equinox – Faces the sun directly so no tilt towards the sun (12hr daylight and night life)

September equinox – Faces sun directly no tilt

Energy exchange mechanisms – Occurs by radiation, conduction, convention and latent heat transfer.

- Solar energy enters the atmosphere a variety of energy exchange processes then take place.

- Redistributing the energy around the globe.

• Radiation is the most important process of heat transfer

• Radiation is energy that’s transmitted by electromagnetic waves

• Radient magnetic waves have different lengths

Definitions of energy:

Wave length – the distance between successive waves like in a pond

- Affects the behaviour of energy when striking matter.

2 Ranges of wavelengths – Short wave energy and long wave energy

Energy exchanges through phases solid / liquids/ gas

Transfer mechanisms

• Latent heat is taken up in converting water from liquid to gas

• Conduction the energy is transferred through molecular contact

• Convection is through mixing a fluid

• Radiation is the energy that travels through space.

Sensible heat: is heat exchanged by a body or thermodynamic system that changes the temperature, and some macroscopic variables

Ocean Circulation: The wind direction effect’s the ocean surface

- Water salinity and temperature affect subsurface circulation

- Ocean circulation patterns vary over periods of years, producing variations in weather

Thermoholine Circulation – water circulates vertically in the oceans

- Driven by variations in temperature and salinity

- Warm water in Gulf stream evaporates increasing the salinity at ocean surface.

Gulf stream – strong warm current that flows northeast ward across the Atlantic giant

Gyres – prominent features of oceanic circulations

- Form beaneath the tropical high-pressure cells

- Gulf stream forms the western limb

Oceans current circulate warm water by low equatorial latitudes to higher latitudes carry hear poleward.

El Nino – circulation change in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean that occurs every several years.

La Nino – circulation causes deep ocean water to rise to the surface off the coast of Peru. Nutrients support the fish population.

Causes of Precipitation: Where humid air rises

- Occurs when air rises sufficiently to cause “Condensation”

4 types of conditions that causes air to rises:

1. Convection – conventional stroms are responsible for large portions or precipitation

- air on the ground expands and become less dense, rises through the cooler air above

2. Orographic uplift – occurs when the horizontal winds move air against mountain ranges forcing the air to rise as it passes over.

- air that rises the cools down and cooling down causes condensation and precipitation

3. Convergent precipitation – low pressure drawing the air around surroundings and the rising air causes precipitation

4. Front – boundary between two air masses

- the cool air is less dense

- warm air tends to rise over cool air

- air rises along the fronts and then precipitation occurs

Temperature and precipitation determine climate region and influence biomes.

The influence air circulation has on rainfall in some regions of the globe,

• Near equator, loses ability to hold moisture, gets a band of high rainfall and low pressure.

• Where air sinks, 30 N/S, high pressure in air creates clear skies and desert regions

Tectonic plate framework:

- Earth’s crust composed of tectonic plates that moves closer to each other

- The relative motion between the plates create large scale landforms at plate boundaries

- The crust is thin and rigid about 45 km / 28 miles

- Rocks beneath the crust is called mantle

- Motions of the mantle causes the tectonic plates to move

Convergent plate boundaries

- The plates push together and material is slowly forced down by the collision back into the mantle

- The mantle moves and it causes volcanic eruptions

Divergent plate boundaries:

- Plates spread apart the rates are very slow

- Boundaries are under the water (Mid-Atlantic)

- Areas of volcanic activity in erupting lava creates new crust

Tectonic plate boundaries:

- Boundary where plates neither converge nor diverge but grind past each other (transform plate boundaries)

- E.g California’s San Andrea Fault

- Plates bind for a long period and the abruptly slips then it causes earthquakes.

Geological Hazards: (Earthquakes and volcanoes)

- Volcanoes is clustered along boundaries between the tectonic plates

- Heat generates magma the moiten rock

- The magma reaches the surface it forms volcanoes

Shield volcanoes – runny lava that cools to form a rock (basalt ) this is called basalt because of the shape it has.

Composite cone volcanoes – made up of a mixture of lava and ash. The magma is thick and gassy and erupts through a vent.

Earthquakes – sudden movement of the Earth’s crust

- Clustered along plate boundaries

- The intensity measured of a earthquake is measured by a logarithmic scale

- Magnitude from 3-4 is minor

- 5-6 can break windows

- 7-8 causes heavy devastation

Slopes and weathering – Rocks decay upon exposure to air and water.

Weathering – process of breaking down rocks into smaller pieces

- Ranging in size from boulders pebbles to sand grains

- Without weathering force of gravity and the water can’t move

Chemical weathering – rocks can be broken down (Oxidation as example)

- Change the materials that compose rocks when they are exposed to air and water

Chemical weathering means – the breakdown of rocks and minerals through a chemical reaction of the Earth’ surface.

Mechanical weathering – is the breakdown of rocks into smaller particles

- Caused by application of physical or mechanical forces

- Water which expands widens the cracks in rocks

Mechanical + chemical weathering work together to break down the rocks.

Oxidation – form of chemical weathering

- Oxygen comes into contact with the iron bearing rocks and the creates iron oxide the red coloration what causes the rocks to weaken.

Surface erosion: Soil surface erosion occurs when heavy rains causes excess water to flow across the surface.

- The water and wind erosion are accelerated when soil surface is exposed.

• Soil erosion is caused by the rainfall. Water struggle to soak into the ground and then runs off the surface as overland flow.

• Soil surface erosion results from raindrop impact on bare soil combined with water flowing across the soil.

• Surface erosion by water is relatively slow in environments and natural areas

• Ground with no vegetation can suffer more erosion

• Eroded soil contributes to pollution in the water

Food chains and Webs:

Food chains link plant photosynthesis to herbivores and carnivores + decomposers.

Food chain – the green plants produce the food in form of carbohydrates

- Food is distributed through the ecosystem by the food chain

- Each step in the food chain is called tropic level

- Herbivores + omnivores eat the primary consumers (plants)

- Carnivores derive energy from other animals

Food web – individual organisms feed at multiple tropic levels

- They rely on different food sources at different times

- There is a high degree of linkage through the ecosystem

- Change in amount of primary production or population of a specie have positive or negative impact

Biodiversity of biomes – diversity of life forms is a response to diversity of habitats.

Biodiversity – diversity of species present in any environment

- Important because it brings multiple food options to living things

- It enhances the ability of an ecosystem

Benefits: - nutrient processing , providing food and medicines

Biomes – Earth’s ecosystem is divided into a few major biomes

- Characterized by particular plant/animal named for a region’s climate or dominant vegetation.

Global distribution: of natural biomes imitates very closely the distribution of climate regions

- Vegetation is caused by human disturbance and deforestation and agriculture

Contour patterns –the distance between contour lines is an indication of steepness or gradient.

- The pattern which the contour line form on maps is an indication of appearance of the landscape and the elements namely the landforms.

- Slope of land forms gives certain appearances

- Landforms unique apprearance gives the contour lines in a map a certain pattern.

- Valleys, hills, mountains have different slopes meaning the contour line and pattern on topographic maps are very irregular.

Shapes of contour lines – VS shape shows the “stretched” far apart and a straight line indicating ordinary uphill or downhill.

V shape is “bent” and it looks like a hairpin

• Without height values we cannot distinguish between these landforms.

• Contour line is a line which joint points of the same height above a base level (shown as isolines, isarithms or isometric lines)

• The actual landscape the average sea level from the base level

• Map is a orthogonal representation

• River valley – arranged in V shape, lines are close to each other, steep slope

• Mountain spur or ridge – elevation is lower than that of the major watershed, convex lopes steeper at the bottom than at the top u- shaped

• A watershed – boundary between drainage areas and watercourses

• Koppies – circular contour lines, circles get smaller and smaller, mesas or table mountains have circular contour lines

• Cliff – lines touch each other VS points touch at the top. 2 or more touch each other in a river valley and form a cliff we can see a waterfall.

Consequences of Global warming - General increase in temperatures over a period of at least several decades

- Caused primarly by increased levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth atmosphere

1. Rise in sea level – rises comes from net glacial melt and other half from the expansion of water in the oceans as it warms.

2. Climate change – can reduce the water supply in some parts of the world

3. Humans caused global warming and can alter the water content of the atmosphere

• There might be warmer and fewer cold days and heavy precipitation.

Role of water shaping the landscape (Streams)

- Influence of water is unique because of the scale at which it can shape the landscape.

- Streams create floodplains with meandering channels

Collecting water from sources: 1. Groundwater 2. Overland flow

- Rainfall of land it infiltrates or soaks into the siol where it drains it goes to groundwater or streams.

Sediment transport running water:

- Groundwater migrates slowly through soil and underlying rocks.

- Water flowing into streams not by rainfall supplied but by groundwater

- Runoff/ total water in streams comes from soil water and the overflow of ground water.

- Streams drain water from its drainage basin

Discharge – volume of water that a stream carries per unit of time and increase after storms

Sediment transport – hillslope or channel carries small rocks with it.

- Smaller parts mixed with water and therefore making it muddy

- Amount of sediment a stream carries increase as the amount of flowing water comes in.

Floodplains: sediment that’s carried downstream in a series of steps with particles being eroded

- The channel and beds made up by materials are transported by the systems

Grade – streams tend to go towards a stable condition.

- Transport exactly as much sediment as it collects

Major Biomes: Forest and woodlands occur in areas of moisture surplus

• Grasslands, deserts, tundra areas that have significant limitation on plant growth.

• Distribution of animal species is influenced by distribution and vegetation.

1. Tundra (Alaska/ Siberia) – the vegetation is low

- tender- stemmed plants and low woody shrubs

- survive the cold by lying dormant and below the wind is how animals survive

- the vegetation grows slow and decays slowly

- leads to accumulation of rich material

- high latitude environment with short growing seasons and limits plant growth

- animal life is very limited during winter time

- soils are poorly developed because of slow chemical activity

2. Midlatitude (Prairie) Grasslands: (Asia/ Canada)

- dominate semiariod areas with hot summers and cold winters and moderate rainfall

- well suited to climate and plants can grow rapidly during short seasons

- winter plants usually die and roots grows back

- grassland is used for agriculture purposes such as wheat and corn

- Has a deep read and brown color

- soils are very fertile and have a dark upper horizon with nutrient

3. Tropical forest (Central America, Costa Rica)

- Trees have broad leaves all the year long

- vertical structures adds a diversity to the habitats

- diversity places this biome at the centre of deforestation

- Wide range of humid and sub-humid areas

- vegetation dense and multistoried

4. Forest Broadleaf Deciduous (Thuringia Germany)

- Trees lose their leaves for a portion of the year

- Conditions limit plant growth

- Summer promotes rapid growth

- Less diverse than the tropical forest biome

- subtropical and humid environments

- Occurs in the Northen Hemisphere

- Animals hibernate during winter time or migrate to warmer places

- Soil vary with the underlying geology and soil is generally leached less and precipitation is lower

5. Mediterranean Woodland (Spain)

- climate we find mixed like in the grasslands

- small tress and fire is a common factor in this biome (caused by humans and lightning )

6. Deserts (South Australia)

- Moisture is so scare and large areas of bare ground

- spare vegetation is adopted to moisture stress and plants are drought tolerant like the cacti

- Plants are also adapted to limited evaporative losses

- Plants are mainly dormant unless rainfall occurs

- Animal life is dispered

- Scant moisture and slow chemical activity leave soils poorly developed and hard to survive in humid conditions.

7. Tropical Savanna and Woodland (Chaparral) (Africa/ South America)

- Trees are spread widely and plenty of sunlight

- Supports dense grasses and shrubs beneath

- Vegetation is common in these climatic conditions and dry seasons

- Soil are deeply weathered in humid tropics

- Less leached of nutrients as results of reduced rainfall

- high and warm temperatures reduce the plant growth

8. Forest coniferous (Maine)

- has low humidity during the cold winters

- Moisture stress caused by the frozen grounds

- Leaves survive because their low surface area is covered with waxy

- found more in the marine west and coast climate

Soils: Lies at the interface between the lithosphere and biosphere

- Critical regulator of the hydrologic cycle

- Properties influenced by climate and parent material, topography and biological activities over time.

Def of soil – dynamic porous layer of mineral and organic matter and its vital in supporting the Earth’s biosphere

5 Factors of Soil:

1. Parent material – mineral matter from which soil is formed. The weathering breaks the rocks and from new chemicals it’s important for soil.

2. Climate regulates both water movement and biological activity – water is important in rock weathering and soil formation.

3. Biological activity amongs plants and animals – they move the matter to the soil.

- Plant produce the organic matter that accumulates on soil surface

4. Topography effects water movement and erosion rates – effects the amount of water present in soil

5. Factors that work over time – soil formation is a slow process that takes place over years.

Types of Soils:

• Humid tropical/ subtropical (Oxisols + Ultisols)

• Highly weathered and lost soluble materials due to precipitation

• Oxisols are red in color from iron oxides

• Low in nutrients

• Ultisols yellow in color and well-weathered soils found in humid areas

Arid region soils (Aridisols)

• Very rich in soluble materials

• Water is not available to remove soil parts

• Desert soils and low organic matter and low plant growth

• Limited to chemical weathering

Midlattitude humid soils (Alfisols)

• Moderately leached soil of humid sub- tropical and forests

• Brownish color

• High fertility

Mollisol

• Rich black soil formed in a semarid climate

• Grassland vegetation

• High in organic matter

• Agriculture type of soil

Histosol

• Found mainly in peat bags

• Composed maily of dead organic matter

• Accumulates because it decays slowly

Entisol

• Poorly developed soil as result of weathering rates that’s low

• Dominated by parient material

Andisol

• Young volcanic soils

• Developing ash and lava deposits

• Soil Horizons are formed through vertical movement of water, minerals and organic matter in the soil .

Natural Resources – created by natural processes

- Defined by culture, technology and economic conditions

- People use and value it

- Such as plants, coal and water

Changing cultural technological and economic conditions can cause resources to become more valuable

Natural Resources defined by – cultural values (people’s decisions)

Technology must be enough to use it and must be affordable and economical

• Acquire a monetary value through exchange in a market place (Price of substance and quantity and the supply and demand is taken into consideration.

Non- renewable resources

- Form slowly or not produced by the nature

- Practical purposes they cannot be replaced

- Things like coal, oil, gas, copper, fossil fuels, iron

Renewable resources

- Products at rates very similar to the use

- Solar energy, air, water

Fossil Fuels – unevenly distributed with some countries

- Producing much more that they can consume

- Heavily dependent on imports

- Deposits are sufficient to last at least decades into the future

- R/p used to indicate oil and gas %

- Examples of fossil fuels – oil, natural gas and coal

- Comes from the remains of plants and animals

- Fuels are not uniformly distributed beneath the Earth

Alternative Energy – Anything like nuclear Power

- It supplies 1 third of all the electricity

- Present serious problems of accidents and radioactivity

Renewable energy – includes diverse range of technologies

• Make use of solar energy such as thermal and photovoltaic electricity.

Point source pollution

- Enters a stream at a specific location such as waste water discharge pipe

- Smaller in quantity so it’s easy to control

Non point source pollution

- Large diffuse areas and happens when organic matter or fertilizer waste from a field is diffused

- Greater quanities harder to control

Sustainable development

- Utilizes resources at a rate that conserves them from the future

- Biodiversity provides examples of sustainable development

Sustainability – Use of Earth’s limited resources by humans in ways that do not constrain resources use by people in the future.

Sustainable development – meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations

• Economic development that can be continued indefinitely and that limits or even reverses environmental degradation.

The spatial pattern of the global population distribution

• Population distribution means the pattern of where people live.

• World population distribution is uneven.

• Places which are sparsely populated contain few people.

• Places which are densely populated contain many people.

• Sparsely populated places tend to be difficult places to live. These are usually places with hostile environments e.g. Antarctica.

• Places which are densely populated are habitable environments e.g. Europe.

Where is the world’s population distributed?

• Highly consentrated: 2 thirds of the world’s people live in four clusters

• Population density varies around the world partly in response to resources

• Population density is a measurement of the number of people in an area.

• It is an average number. Population density is calculated by dividing the number of people by area.

• Population density is usually shown as the number of people per square kilometer.

World’s population can be displayed on a carogram

• Uneven distribution some places are more crowded than others

The difference between global/regional migration and local/internal migration

If the movement is on the same continent, we say intracontinental migration.

Sometimes, people migrate from one place to the other within the same region, continent or country. This is also known as regional migration or internal migration.

Rural-Urban Migration: (Interregional/ local)

• This involves the movement of people from rural areas or country sides to urban areas of the same country in search of new opportunities lifestyles.

Forced or involuntary Migration:

• This is when the government or authorities of a place force people to migrate for a reason.

• Fleeing to avoid violence or disaster

• Can be local or regional

International labor migration

• Workers looking for jobs and better opportunities

• Seeking wealthier countries

Seasonal Migration:

• Sometimes people move during specific seasons such as crop harvesting and climate to work and then go back when the season is over.

Long and short-term migration:

• People may consider migrating for good if the condition in their home is one that is threatening.

• For example, people move for better health care if they have some disease that requires some level of attention that can only be received in another place.

• On the other hand, it may be temporal in nature. For example, a person may study in another place, but may decide to stay and work for many years before going back for good.

Tourism migration

• Form of termporary migration

• Has enormous economic and environmental effects on destinations

• Caused by an interest in visiting places and people

Push Factors

Push factors are those that force the individual to move voluntarily, and in many cases, they are forced because the individual risk something if they stay.

• Push factors may include conflict, drought, famine, or extreme religious activity.

• Poor economic activity and lack of job opportunities are also strong push factors for migration.

• Other strong push factors include race and discriminating cultures, political intolerance and persecution of people who question the status quot.

Pull Factors

Pull factors are those factors in the destination country that attract the individual or group to leave their home. Those factors are known as place utility, which is the desirability of a place that attracts people.

• Better economic opportunities, more jobs, and the promise of a better life.

• Sometimes individuals have ideas and perceptions about places that are not necessarily correct, but are strong pull factors for that individual.

• As people grow older and retire, many look for places with warm weather, peaceful and comfortable locations to spend their retirement after a lifetime of hard work and savings.

• People often like to move to places with better cultural, political, climatic and general terrain in closer locations than locations farther away.

The three measures of population density

• Arithmetic density: The total number of people / area of land (Population density) Compare differences in the countries

• Physiological density: The total population / area of arable land. (Higher the density the greater pressure that people place on the land to produce food) Provides inside to the relationships

• Agricultural density: The total rural population / area of arable land. (ratio of farmers)

Population Structure / Population Pyramids

• The population structure for an area shows the number of males and females within different age groups in the population.

• This information is displayed as an age-sex or population pyramid.

• Population pyramids of LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Countries) typically have a wide base and a narrow top.

• This represents a high birth rate and high death rate.

• Population pyramids of MEDCs (More Economically Developed Countries) typically have a roughly equal distribution of population throughout the age groups.

• The top obviously gets narrower as a result of deaths.

Population structures also indicate:

• Total fertility rate (TFR) – average number of children a woman will have through her childbearing years. It predicts the future behaviour of woman

• Infant mortality rate (IMR) – annual number of deaths of infants under 1 year of age

• Life expectancy – number of years infants can expect to live

• Young and old – 15 year old in developing countries strain the ability to provide services such as schools and hospitals

Components of Population change:

• Natural Increase rate (NIR) - % by which a population grows in a year.

• Crude birth rate (CBR) – Is the total number of births per year

• Crude death rate (CDR) – is the total of number deaths each year.

Malthus’s theory: - predicted that population would increase faster than resources.

- Population increase will always outspace increase in food production causing cycles of war, famine and disease.

- Population increased (Geometrically)

- Food increased (Arthimetically)

Strategies to lower birth rates

• Improve the local economic conditions

• Spend more money on good educational programs and heath care programs

• Make effective use of contraceptives to limit the number of children

Demographic transition stages (4 stages)

Stage 1 – Very high CBR * Very high CDR * Very low NIR

Stage 2 – Still high CBR * Rapidly declining CDR * Very high NIR

Stage 3 – Rapidly declining CBR * Moderately declining CDR * Moderate NIR

Stage 4 – Very low CBR * Low slightly increasing CDR * 0 or negative NIR

Controlling Migration

• Countries make use of anti-migration or exclusionary policies that push migrants and those that hire them.

• Use inclusionary policies – where they recognize the benefits of migration but they encourage people to speak their mother tongue and pay the normal taxes of the country.

• Adopt selective immigrations – exclude unwanted migrants and include the more desired ones. (use migration caps to limit number of people coming into the land)

• Special work permits must be issued to migrants and they also need a visa before entering the country.

Population concentrations: (Looking at the higher consentrated areas)

Europe – Highest population concentration are near the major rivers and coalfields of Germany and Belgium

- Climate permits cultivation of a variety of crops

East Asia – consentration includes world’s most populous country. Clustered near the Pacific Ocean

- South Korea the population is not distributed uniformly. People live in large metropolitan areas

Southeast Asia – Third important Asian population cluster in Southeast Asia.

In the Philippines there is high consentration and people are clustered along the river valleys and deltas.

South Asia – Largest concentration of people. The concentrated along the plains of Indus and people are also heavily concentrated near India’s two long coastlines

Classification of Languages:

• 6000 plus languages can be classified into families, branches and groups

• Only 100 of these languages are used by more than 5 mil people.

• Languages also have a literary tradition or system of written communication

• 1. Language family – collection of languages related to common ancestral

• 2. Branch – collection of languages within the family

• 3. Group – share common origin

Difussion of languages:

- Language diffuse from their place of origin through migration.

- Emerge through migration and isolation

- Language originates at a particular place and traditionally diffuse to other locations through the migration of its speakers.

Distribitution of religions

- Distinguished between universalizing and ethnic religions

- Universalizing religion – attempt to be global to appeal to all people wherever they may live (Islam in middle East)

- Ethnic religion – appeals primarily to one group of people living in one place. (Hinduism)

Universalizing religions

• Branch – large and fundamental division within a religion

• Denomination – division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations

• Sect – relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination

Ethnic religion

- Have unknown origins

- Ethnic religion such as Hinduism has unknown or unclear origins not tied to single historical individuals

Diffision of religion:

• Through missionaries and military conquests have been important methods of diffusing religions

• Diffuse from a specific hearths or places of origin to other regions of the world.

• Contagious diffusion – daily contact between believers in towns and non-believers in country side

• Hierarchical diffusion – acceptance of the religion by empire’s key figure

Human Development Index: - Measures a country’s level of development (Developed or developing)

- A decent standard of living

- Access to knowledge

- A long and healthy life

Standards of living including economic structures, i.e. primary, secondary and tertiary sectors

Economic structures – primary sector (agriculture)

Secondary – manufacturing and tertiary is the services

- Key to development is enough wealth for decent standards of living.

The two paths to development

• Self-suffieniency development path erects barriers to trade (Reduce provercy, import goods from other places, pace of development is modist)

• Investment is spread equally across the countries economic

• Fair system where all residents benefits from

• International trade path allocates scare resources to a few activities ( Traditional society, takeoff, drive to maturity)

• Scale products bring funds for the country

• Traditional society and argiriculture is high and good % of military

• Investment in technologies and have variety of industries

Millennium Development Goals

1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2. To achieve universal primary education

3. To promote gender equality and empower women

4. To reduce child mortality

5. To improve maternal health

6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

7. To ensure environmental sustainability

8. To develop a global partnership for development

The spatial association between commercial agriculture and developed countries

• More developed nations tend to have commercial agriculture with a goal to produce food for sale in the global marketplace called agribusiness. The food in commercial agriculture is also rarely sold directly to the consumer; rather it’s sold to a food-processing company where it is processed into a product

• Difference between LDC and MDC in terms of agriculture is the percent of the workforce that actually farm. In LDCs, it is not uncommon that over half of the workforce is subsistence farmers. Yet in MDCs, the workforce that are farmers are far fewer than half.

• Reasons why only such a small workforce can feed the entire nation has to do with machinery, which can harvest crops at a large scale and very quickly. MDCs also have access to transportation networks to provide perishable foods like dairy long distances in a short amount of time.

• Commercial farmers rely on the latest scientific improvements to generate greater yields, including crop rotation, herbicides and fertilizers, hybrid plants, and animal breeds

The spatial association between subsistence agriculture and developing countries

• Subsistence agriculture is the production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer and mostly found in less developed countries. In subsistence agriculture, small-scale farming is primarily grown for consumption by the farmer and their family. Sometimes if there is a surplus of food it might be sold

• The largest type of agriculture practised around the world is intensive subsistence agriculture, which is highly dependent on animal power, and is commonly practised in the humid, tropical regions of the world

• form of subsistence agriculture is highly labor intensive on the farmer using limited space and limited waste

• The principle characteristics of and differences between commercial agriculture and subsistence agriculture

• form of subsistence agriculture is called shifting cultivation, because the farmers literally shift around to new locations every few years to farm new land.

• There are two processes in shifting cultivation: 1) farmers must remove and burn the earth in a manner called slash-and-burn agriculture where slashing the land clears space, while burning the natural vegetation fertilizes the soil

• 2) farmers can only grow their crops on the cleared land for 2-3 years until the soil is depleted of its nutrients then they must move on and remove a new area of the earth

Differences that exist in development between developing and developed nations

|Developing (rest of the world) |Developed (N America and Europe |

|Less developed LCD |Known as MDC/ relatively developed country |

|Only spend 6 years in schools |Higher average incomes |

|Lack money |Spend wealth different ways |

|Poor access to health care |Spend more on heath care and schooling fees |

Shape of states

• Affects its internal administration

• Prorupted state – large extention and access of water and other resources

• Compact state – shape that begin to approximate a circle the distance between two points

• Elogated state- long narrow shape long distances and high transporation costs

• Perforated state – state territories can be around water (South Africa / Lesotho)

• Fragmented state- 2 or more disconnected pieces of territiory

Types of service patters + distribution

• Consumer service – services to individual consumers who desire them and can afford to pay for them (retail, education, health, leisure)

• Business services – facilitate other businesses (Financial and transportation sevices + professional)

• Public services – provide secuirity and protection for citizens and businesses

• Rural settlements – are centres for consumers and business services they are clustered and in many types of patterns. (Farms)

• Clustered rural – argiriculuture based community (homes, barns, tool shed)

• Clustered liner – arranged in geometric pattern

• Clustered circular – central open space surrounded by structures

• Urbanization – developed countries have a higher % of people living in urban areas

• Process by which the population of urban settlements grows

• Increase of number of people living in cities and increase in % of people living in cities.

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