Physical Geography
Geography is the study of Earth and the ways people live on it.
The five themes, or important categories, are: location, place, human/
environment interaction, movement and region. Physical geography is the study
of the earth’s landforms, water features, and atmosphere and how these change
over time.
The Five Themes of Geography
Location
There are two different ways to think about location. One way to think about where a place is located is the place’s distance from another place. This is called relative location. Another way to think about the location of a place is its exact place on earth. In order to find an absolute location, humans have imagined the world covered in imaginary lines. These lines create a grid system, and by using the grid, people can determine a place’s absolute location. The lines that make up the grid are called latitude and longitude lines. The most important line of latitude is the Equator and the lines above and below it are North/South lines. The most important line of longitude is the Prime Meridian and the lines to the left and right of it are East/West lines. A place’s absolute location, or coordinates, is how far north or south from the Equator it is and how far east or west of the Prime Meridian it is.
Place
When geographers think of place, they ask, “What is it like there?” This part of geography includes description of what a place is like. The descriptions can vary. It is possible to describe a place’s natural environment (like the trees, grass, weather) or its human characteristics (like ethnicity, age, education) or a number of other things.
Human/Environment Interaction
Human/ Environment interaction is concerned with the relationship between people and their environment. A particular environment may help or harm the humans that live in it. Humans can either hurt or help the environment. Another part of this theme is how humans adapt to their environment.
Movement
The theme of movement is focused on how and why people, information, and goods move from place to place. Very few place, is any, are completely separate from the rest of the world. Usually most places are interdependent. Interdependentmeans people or countries that rely on one another.
Region
Regions are smaller parts of the world that share some characteristic. There are two kinds of regions: uniform and functional. A uniform region is a section of the world that shares a characteristic other than location. For example, the Southwestern part of the United States used to be a part of Mexico is a region because of a shared culture and history. The other kind of region is a functional region. These are places that are connected because of a central area they share. For example, Oklahoma City and its suburbs, like Edmond and Yukon, are a functional region because the road system and the airport connects them.
Planet Earth
The Solar System
Earth is part of a number of objects that circle, or revolve, around the sun. The sun and the objects that circle are called the solar system. Very large objects that circle the sun are called planets and the sun has eight. The smallest planet is Mercury and the largest is Jupiter. Sometimes there are objects that revolve around planets. These are called moons. Not every planet has a moon, but Earth has one and Saturn has 22. The solar system is crowded with small objects that revolve around the sun. These objects, usually chunks of rock and metal, can be almost as big as planets. They are called asteroids. There are a large number of asteroids in between Mars and Jupiter. This part of the solar system is called the asteroid belt. The Sun’s planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
The Earth
Earth is the third planet from the sun.. It is 93 million miles away. It is 8,000 miles around the Earth at the Equator. Most of the Earth is covered in water. The part of the Earth that is not covered in water is formed into large bodies of land called continents. Surrounding both water and land is a blanket of gases around the Earth called the atmosphere; this blanket extends about 1,000 miles above the surface.
Earth’s Spheres
Atmosphere
Gases that cover the Earth
Extends a 1000 miles above the ground. Composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon and other gases.
Hydrosphere
All the water on Earth
Includes both salt water and freshwater bodies.
Lithosphere
The Earth’s crust.
Includes continents, islands, and ocean basins, or the land under the ocean.
Biosphere
Life of Earth.
Includes all the people, animals, plants that live on the Earth’s surface, near it, or in the atmosphere.
Interesting Earth Facts
Average height of Earth’s land above sea level
2,800 ft
Highest point on Earth
29,028 ft
Mount Everest, Nepal
Lowest point on the Earth’s land
1,312 BELOW sea level
Dead Sea, Israel
Average ocean depth
12,450 feet
Deepest part of the ocean
35,800 feet
Mariana Trench
Earth Structure
There are three layers in the Earth. The top layer is called the crust. It is thin. The crust is 3 to 30 miles deep. The crust is broken up into plates, which floats on the second layer, the mantle. The mantle is melted rock and is very, very hot. The mantle covers the core of the Earth. The core is a solid ball of nickel and iron about 4,000 miles below the surface of the Earth.
Forces of the Earth
Since the plates are floating on melted rock, they do not always stay in the same place. All plates move, but some will move at different speeds at different times. This means that they can bump into each other. When this occurs, it causes the surface of the Earth to change. Since these changes occur under the Earth’s surface, they are called internal forces.
These internal forces occur all over the Earth, including in the oceans. One place where there is a lot of volcanic and earthquake activity is at the edges of the Pacific ocean along North America and Asia. This area is called the Ring of Fire.
Internal Forces:
Words to Know
Earthquakes
Two plates run against each other
Ridge
Two plates that have separated and molten rock pours out, creating a high spot
Trench
Two plates bump together and one slips underneath the other
Volcano
A mountain formed when lava (molten rock) pours out of the surface of the Earth. If the flow is blocked, it can build up pressure and explode.
Fold
Layers of rock that have been bent.
Fault
Cracks in the Earth’s crust.
The surface of the Earth is also changed by forces that occur above the Earth’s surface. These forces are called external forces and usually are not as dramatic as volcanoes and earthquakes. Wind, water, and ice act on the Earth’s crust. They wear it down through the process of weathering, or breaking down rock, and erosion, or moving dirt and soil from one place to another.
External Forces:
Words to Know
Weathering
The process that breaks down rock
Chemical weathering
Rock that is broken down when water dissolves some of the chemicals in rock
Physical weathering
Rock that is broken down from large pieces into small pieces through some force or pressure.
Erosion
Wearing away of the Earth’s surface.
Wind Erosion
Wind that picks up dirt, sand, and soil and moves it to another place.
Water erosion
Water that wears away land over a period of time.
Glacial erosion
A large body of ice that carves away the Earth as it moves.
Landforms
The natural features of the surface of the land are called landforms. The largest landforms are the continents. Some of the continents are separate from the others, while others are connected. For example, North America is connected to South America through a small strip of land called an isthmus. An isthmus is a narrow piece of land that connects two much larger pieces of land. There are many other types of landforms, including mountains, plateaus, and archipelagos. The floor of the ocean also has many of these landforms.
Water Features
Oceans, seas, gulfs, and bays are made of saltwater and surround continents. Oceans are the largest water bodies in the world. There are only four: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic. The Pacific is the largest ocean. It is bigger than all of the earth’s land combined. Smaller bodies of salt water are called seas. Seas are partially enclosed by land. Gulfs and bays are like seas, but are even smaller.
Within the continents, there are other bodies of water. Usually, they contain freshwater, not freshwater. This means that they can be used by humans for drinking and farming. Only 3% of the world’s water resources are freshwater. Some types of freshwater features are lakes, streams, and rivers. Rivers usually start in mountains and eventually flow into the ocean.
Another important source of freshwater is groundwater. Groundwater is water found under the land. This water seeps into the ground through rainfall and melting snow.
Glaciers
Glaciers are large masses of frozen water found in polar regions and in high mountains. Glaciers contain 2% of the world’s freshwater. The ice cap in Antarctica has more freshwater than all of the rest of the world.
Water Cycle
The water cycle is the movement of water from ocean to air to ground to ocean.
Water evaporates, or changes from a liquid to gas. There is a lot of evaporation in the oceans and this water vapor rises and floats away. When the water cools, it creates clouds. Some clouds release their moisture as precipitation, or rain, ice, or hail. Once the rain hits the ground, gravity causes it to soak into the ground or move downhill. Much of the water eventually flows back into the oceans.
Resources
Much of the Earth contains materials that people can use. There materials are called natural resources. There can be divided into two kinds of resources: renewable and nonrenewable. Renewable resources are those that can be replaced. Forests and animals are examples. Nonrenewable resources cannot be replaced. These include minerals, or materials from the Earth that are not living or made from living things. Another important category of nonrenewable resources is fossil fuels. Fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas, were formed animal and plant remains millions of years ago.
Resources are not evenly divided everywhere. This creates interdependence between places. Countries that need resources can import them, or bring the resources from another place either by buying or trading them. The country that has the extra resources to sell or trade exports them when they send them to another country. Sometimes different regions cannot agree about resources and conflict can break out.
Earth Sun Relationships
Rotation and Revolution
The Sun warms the Earth and allows life. The Earth’s atmosphere is very important in this process. The atmosphere traps some of the heat from the sun like a blanket. This is called the greenhouse effect. Without this effect, the earth would be too cold for most living things. Not all places get the same amount of heat and light from the Sun. One reason for this is the Earth is tilted on its axis. Because some parts of the Earth do not point toward the sun as much as other places, this affects the temperature or hot or cold something is. The Earth spins on its axis once every 24 hours. This rotation causes day and night.
As the Earth rotates on its axis, it also spins around the Sun. One trip around the sun is called a revolution. It takes 1 year, or 365 ¼ days, for the Earth to circle the sun. The tilt of the Earth and its revolution create the seasons.
Earth’s Seasons
Equinox
March 21 (Spring)
September 23 (Fall)
Sun is directly over the Equator. Day and night are the same length.
Summer Solstice
June 21
Sun shines more on the Northern Hemisphere. Days are longer than nights. June 21 is the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere.
Winter Solstice
December 22
Sun shines more on the Southern Hemisphere. Days are shorter than nights. December 22 is the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere..
Climate
Wind and Ocean Currents
Winds that blow in fairly constant patterns exist all over the Earth and are called prevailing winds. These winds can move cold air to warm places and warm air to cold places. Oceans have streams of warm water and cold water called currents. These work a lot like prevailing winds. Both prevailing winds and ocean currents affect climate in places near the oceans. Another way oceans affect climate is by keeping the temperature stable. In places near the ocean, there usually is not a big difference between its high temperature and its low temperature. \
Factors Affecting Climate
Climate is the type of weather a place has over a long period of time. We describe climate based on the temperature (how hot or cold), precipitation (how much water it gets), and vegetation (what type of plants) a place has. Things that affect temperature are how far away a place is from the Equator, from the coast, and from mountains. Things that affect precipitation are whether a place receives moist or dry air and which side of a mountain a place is. Things that affect vegetation is the temperature and the precipitation. If a place is near a coast, then the temperature will be more stable and usually receives more moisture. If a place is on the windward side of a mountain, it will receive much rain because the mountain acts like a comb, pulling water from the air. If the place is on the other side of the mountain it will be really dry. The prevailing winds and ocean currents near an area have a big impact. For example, Europe seems like it should be colder because it is far from the Equator, but the ocean current in the Northern Atlantic around Europe is originally from the Gulf of Mexico. This makes Europe much warmer than its distance from the Equator would suggest. A place’s temperature also depends on its elevation. The higher up a place is, the colder it is.
Physical Geography Unit Summary Questions
Answer the following questions.
1. What are the 5 themes of Geography?
2. What are the 8 planets?
3. Translate:
a. Bio means_________.
b. Hydro means____________.
c. Litho means____________.
d. Atmo means_____________.
4. Sketch the layers of the earth and label whether that label is liquid, gas, or solid.
5. What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
6. Name a country that is an island.
7. Name a country that is an isthmus.
8. Name a country or state that is an archipelago.
9. Read the section on water features and glaciers. How much of the earth freshwater is available for humans to use?
10. Is it renewable or nonrenewable?
a. Iron
b. petroleum
c. wood
d. cows
e. wind
f. diamonds
g. gold
11. Resources are not evenly divided. Is that good or bad? Why?
12. What is a rotation?
13. What is a revolution?
14. I need some help coming up with a good way to teach about ocean currents and prevailing winds. Help me come up with a good example to explain them.
15. What type of climate does Washington coast have?
16. What type of climate does Chad have?
17. What type of climate does Nepal have?
18. What type of climate does France have?
19. What type of climate does Florida have?
20. What type of climate does the east side of the Andes have?
The Five Themes of Geography
Location
There are two different ways to think about location. One way to think about where a place is located is the place’s distance from another place. This is called relative location. Another way to think about the location of a place is its exact place on earth. In order to find an absolute location, humans have imagined the world covered in imaginary lines. These lines create a grid system, and by using the grid, people can determine a place’s absolute location. The lines that make up the grid are called latitude and longitude lines. The most important line of latitude is the Equator and the lines above and below it are North/South lines. The most important line of longitude is the Prime Meridian and the lines to the left and right of it are East/West lines. A place’s absolute location, or coordinates, is how far north or south from the Equator it is and how far east or west of the Prime Meridian it is.
Place
When geographers think of place, they ask, “What is it like there?” This part of geography includes description of what a place is like. The descriptions can vary. It is possible to describe a place’s natural environment (like the trees, grass, weather) or its human characteristics (like ethnicity, age, education) or a number of other things.
Human/Environment Interaction
Human/ Environment interaction is concerned with the relationship between people and their environment. A particular environment may help or harm the humans that live in it. Humans can either hurt or help the environment. Another part of this theme is how humans adapt to their environment.
Movement
The theme of movement is focused on how and why people, information, and goods move from place to place. Very few place, is any, are completely separate from the rest of the world. Usually most places are interdependent. Interdependentmeans people or countries that rely on one another.
Region
Regions are smaller parts of the world that share some characteristic. There are two kinds of regions: uniform and functional. A uniform region is a section of the world that shares a characteristic other than location. For example, the Southwestern part of the United States used to be a part of Mexico is a region because of a shared culture and history. The other kind of region is a functional region. These are places that are connected because of a central area they share. For example, Oklahoma City and its suburbs, like Edmond and Yukon, are a functional region because the road system and the airport connects them.
Planet Earth
The Solar System
Earth is part of a number of objects that circle, or revolve, around the sun. The sun and the objects that circle are called the solar system. Very large objects that circle the sun are called planets and the sun has eight. The smallest planet is Mercury and the largest is Jupiter. Sometimes there are objects that revolve around planets. These are called moons. Not every planet has a moon, but Earth has one and Saturn has 22. The solar system is crowded with small objects that revolve around the sun. These objects, usually chunks of rock and metal, can be almost as big as planets. They are called asteroids. There are a large number of asteroids in between Mars and Jupiter. This part of the solar system is called the asteroid belt. The Sun’s planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
The Earth
Earth is the third planet from the sun.. It is 93 million miles away. It is 8,000 miles around the Earth at the Equator. Most of the Earth is covered in water. The part of the Earth that is not covered in water is formed into large bodies of land called continents. Surrounding both water and land is a blanket of gases around the Earth called the atmosphere; this blanket extends about 1,000 miles above the surface.
Earth’s Spheres
Atmosphere
Gases that cover the Earth
Extends a 1000 miles above the ground. Composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon and other gases.
Hydrosphere
All the water on Earth
Includes both salt water and freshwater bodies.
Lithosphere
The Earth’s crust.
Includes continents, islands, and ocean basins, or the land under the ocean.
Biosphere
Life of Earth.
Includes all the people, animals, plants that live on the Earth’s surface, near it, or in the atmosphere.
Interesting Earth Facts
Average height of Earth’s land above sea level
2,800 ft
Highest point on Earth
29,028 ft
Mount Everest, Nepal
Lowest point on the Earth’s land
1,312 BELOW sea level
Dead Sea, Israel
Average ocean depth
12,450 feet
Deepest part of the ocean
35,800 feet
Mariana Trench
Earth Structure
There are three layers in the Earth. The top layer is called the crust. It is thin. The crust is 3 to 30 miles deep. The crust is broken up into plates, which floats on the second layer, the mantle. The mantle is melted rock and is very, very hot. The mantle covers the core of the Earth. The core is a solid ball of nickel and iron about 4,000 miles below the surface of the Earth.
Forces of the Earth
Since the plates are floating on melted rock, they do not always stay in the same place. All plates move, but some will move at different speeds at different times. This means that they can bump into each other. When this occurs, it causes the surface of the Earth to change. Since these changes occur under the Earth’s surface, they are called internal forces.
These internal forces occur all over the Earth, including in the oceans. One place where there is a lot of volcanic and earthquake activity is at the edges of the Pacific ocean along North America and Asia. This area is called the Ring of Fire.
Internal Forces:
Words to Know
Earthquakes
Two plates run against each other
Ridge
Two plates that have separated and molten rock pours out, creating a high spot
Trench
Two plates bump together and one slips underneath the other
Volcano
A mountain formed when lava (molten rock) pours out of the surface of the Earth. If the flow is blocked, it can build up pressure and explode.
Fold
Layers of rock that have been bent.
Fault
Cracks in the Earth’s crust.
The surface of the Earth is also changed by forces that occur above the Earth’s surface. These forces are called external forces and usually are not as dramatic as volcanoes and earthquakes. Wind, water, and ice act on the Earth’s crust. They wear it down through the process of weathering, or breaking down rock, and erosion, or moving dirt and soil from one place to another.
External Forces:
Words to Know
Weathering
The process that breaks down rock
Chemical weathering
Rock that is broken down when water dissolves some of the chemicals in rock
Physical weathering
Rock that is broken down from large pieces into small pieces through some force or pressure.
Erosion
Wearing away of the Earth’s surface.
Wind Erosion
Wind that picks up dirt, sand, and soil and moves it to another place.
Water erosion
Water that wears away land over a period of time.
Glacial erosion
A large body of ice that carves away the Earth as it moves.
Landforms
The natural features of the surface of the land are called landforms. The largest landforms are the continents. Some of the continents are separate from the others, while others are connected. For example, North America is connected to South America through a small strip of land called an isthmus. An isthmus is a narrow piece of land that connects two much larger pieces of land. There are many other types of landforms, including mountains, plateaus, and archipelagos. The floor of the ocean also has many of these landforms.
Water Features
Oceans, seas, gulfs, and bays are made of saltwater and surround continents. Oceans are the largest water bodies in the world. There are only four: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic. The Pacific is the largest ocean. It is bigger than all of the earth’s land combined. Smaller bodies of salt water are called seas. Seas are partially enclosed by land. Gulfs and bays are like seas, but are even smaller.
Within the continents, there are other bodies of water. Usually, they contain freshwater, not freshwater. This means that they can be used by humans for drinking and farming. Only 3% of the world’s water resources are freshwater. Some types of freshwater features are lakes, streams, and rivers. Rivers usually start in mountains and eventually flow into the ocean.
Another important source of freshwater is groundwater. Groundwater is water found under the land. This water seeps into the ground through rainfall and melting snow.
Glaciers
Glaciers are large masses of frozen water found in polar regions and in high mountains. Glaciers contain 2% of the world’s freshwater. The ice cap in Antarctica has more freshwater than all of the rest of the world.
Water Cycle
The water cycle is the movement of water from ocean to air to ground to ocean.
Water evaporates, or changes from a liquid to gas. There is a lot of evaporation in the oceans and this water vapor rises and floats away. When the water cools, it creates clouds. Some clouds release their moisture as precipitation, or rain, ice, or hail. Once the rain hits the ground, gravity causes it to soak into the ground or move downhill. Much of the water eventually flows back into the oceans.
Resources
Much of the Earth contains materials that people can use. There materials are called natural resources. There can be divided into two kinds of resources: renewable and nonrenewable. Renewable resources are those that can be replaced. Forests and animals are examples. Nonrenewable resources cannot be replaced. These include minerals, or materials from the Earth that are not living or made from living things. Another important category of nonrenewable resources is fossil fuels. Fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas, were formed animal and plant remains millions of years ago.
Resources are not evenly divided everywhere. This creates interdependence between places. Countries that need resources can import them, or bring the resources from another place either by buying or trading them. The country that has the extra resources to sell or trade exports them when they send them to another country. Sometimes different regions cannot agree about resources and conflict can break out.
Earth Sun Relationships
Rotation and Revolution
The Sun warms the Earth and allows life. The Earth’s atmosphere is very important in this process. The atmosphere traps some of the heat from the sun like a blanket. This is called the greenhouse effect. Without this effect, the earth would be too cold for most living things. Not all places get the same amount of heat and light from the Sun. One reason for this is the Earth is tilted on its axis. Because some parts of the Earth do not point toward the sun as much as other places, this affects the temperature or hot or cold something is. The Earth spins on its axis once every 24 hours. This rotation causes day and night.
As the Earth rotates on its axis, it also spins around the Sun. One trip around the sun is called a revolution. It takes 1 year, or 365 ¼ days, for the Earth to circle the sun. The tilt of the Earth and its revolution create the seasons.
Earth’s Seasons
Equinox
March 21 (Spring)
September 23 (Fall)
Sun is directly over the Equator. Day and night are the same length.
Summer Solstice
June 21
Sun shines more on the Northern Hemisphere. Days are longer than nights. June 21 is the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere.
Winter Solstice
December 22
Sun shines more on the Southern Hemisphere. Days are shorter than nights. December 22 is the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere..
Climate
Wind and Ocean Currents
Winds that blow in fairly constant patterns exist all over the Earth and are called prevailing winds. These winds can move cold air to warm places and warm air to cold places. Oceans have streams of warm water and cold water called currents. These work a lot like prevailing winds. Both prevailing winds and ocean currents affect climate in places near the oceans. Another way oceans affect climate is by keeping the temperature stable. In places near the ocean, there usually is not a big difference between its high temperature and its low temperature. \
Factors Affecting Climate
Climate is the type of weather a place has over a long period of time. We describe climate based on the temperature (how hot or cold), precipitation (how much water it gets), and vegetation (what type of plants) a place has. Things that affect temperature are how far away a place is from the Equator, from the coast, and from mountains. Things that affect precipitation are whether a place receives moist or dry air and which side of a mountain a place is. Things that affect vegetation is the temperature and the precipitation. If a place is near a coast, then the temperature will be more stable and usually receives more moisture. If a place is on the windward side of a mountain, it will receive much rain because the mountain acts like a comb, pulling water from the air. If the place is on the other side of the mountain it will be really dry. The prevailing winds and ocean currents near an area have a big impact. For example, Europe seems like it should be colder because it is far from the Equator, but the ocean current in the Northern Atlantic around Europe is originally from the Gulf of Mexico. This makes Europe much warmer than its distance from the Equator would suggest. A place’s temperature also depends on its elevation. The higher up a place is, the colder it is.
Physical Geography Unit Summary Questions
Answer the following questions.
1. What are the 5 themes of Geography?
2. What are the 8 planets?
3. Translate:
a. Bio means_________.
b. Hydro means____________.
c. Litho means____________.
d. Atmo means_____________.
4. Sketch the layers of the earth and label whether that label is liquid, gas, or solid.
5. What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
6. Name a country that is an island.
7. Name a country that is an isthmus.
8. Name a country or state that is an archipelago.
9. Read the section on water features and glaciers. How much of the earth freshwater is available for humans to use?
10. Is it renewable or nonrenewable?
a. Iron
b. petroleum
c. wood
d. cows
e. wind
f. diamonds
g. gold
11. Resources are not evenly divided. Is that good or bad? Why?
12. What is a rotation?
13. What is a revolution?
14. I need some help coming up with a good way to teach about ocean currents and prevailing winds. Help me come up with a good example to explain them.
15. What type of climate does Washington coast have?
16. What type of climate does Chad have?
17. What type of climate does Nepal have?
18. What type of climate does France have?
19. What type of climate does Florida have?
20. What type of climate does the east side of the Andes have?