PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

field of Geography that focuses on the physical processes that shaped the natural environment

The Earth

4.6 B years old 3rd planet from the Sun (147-152M km) 5th largest planet Oblate spheroid shape Diameter (equator) is 12,756 km 70% water, 30% land Biggest Features: 4 oceans and 6 continents Chemical Composition
Iron 34.6% Silicon 15.2%

Oxygen 29.5% Magnesium 12.7%

Spheres

Hydrosphere consists chiefly of the oceans, but technically includes all water surfaces in the world, including inland seas, lakes, rivers, and underground waters Atmosphere is the gaseous envelope that surrounds the solid body of the planet Lithosphere outer part of the Earth, consisting of the crust and the upper mantle; came from the Greek word lithos, meaning stone.

Hydrosphere

Atmosphere
A layer of different gases that extends from Earths surface to the exosphere, the outer limit of the atmosphere, about 9,600 km above the surface Nitrogen 78% Oxygen 21% Other gases 1%

Layers of the Atmosphere

Troposphere Stratosphere (ozone layer) Mesosphere Thermosphere

Ionosphere

Exosphere

Lithosphere
Inner core a mass of iron with a temperature of about 7000F; approximately 1,500 miles in diameter Outer core a mass of molten iron about 1,425 miles deep that surrounds the solid inner core Mantle - a rock layer about 1,750 miles thick that reaches about half the distance to the center of the earth Crust a layer from 425 miles thick consisting of sand and rock

Plate Tectonics
Large scale motions of the Earths lithosphere Continental Drift Theory

Proposed by Alfred Wegener

PANGAEA
Laurasia Gondwanaland

Volcanism

Part of the process of bringing material from the deep interior of a planet and spilling it forth on the surface Pacific Ring of Fire

Diastrophism

The process of deformation that produces continents and ocean basins in the earths crust
Folds bending of rock without breaking Faults fracture of rock with displacement

Plate Boundaries

Divergent - new crust is created as two or more plates pull away from each other Convergent - crust is destroyed and recycled back into the interior of the Earth as one plate dives under another

Transform-Fault - two plates are sliding horizontally past one another

*Divergent

Continental-Continental
Rift Zone

Oceanic-Oceanic
Mid oceanic ridge

*Convergent

Continental-Continental
Mountains, mountain

ranges

Oceanic-Oceanic
Deep trenches

Continental-Oceanic
Mountain ranges

*Transform - Fault

Weather Vs. Climate

Weather is the specific condition of the

atmosphere at a particular place and time. In most places, weather can change from hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season Climate is the average of weather over time and space.

are major regional groupings of plants and animals discernible at a global scale a large ecosystem where plants, animals, insects, and people live in a certain type of climate

embraces the idea of community, of interaction among vegetation, animal populations, and soil

WORLD BIOMES
Tundra 2. Taiga or Boreal Forest 3. Temperate Broadleaf Deciduous Forest 4. Temperate Grassland 5. Mediterranean Scrub 6. Tropical or Broadleaf Evergreen Forest 7. Tropical Savanna 8. Desert Scrub
1.

ARCTIC FOX

TUNDRA SWAN

SNOWY OWL POLAR BEAR

NORWAY LEMMING

MUSK OX ROCK PTARMIGAN SLED DOG

EUROPEAN RED SQUIRREL

EURASIN LYNX

MOOSE

RED-THROATED LOON

RED-THROATED LOON IN WINTER

SNOWSHOE RABBIT

TEMPERATE BROADLEAF DECIDUOUS FOREST

BLACK BEAR

BANK VOLE

GRAY SQUIRREL

RACCOON

RAT SNAKE

SPRING PEPPER

WHITE TAILED DEER

TEMPERATE GRASSLANDS

TEMPERATE GRASSLANDS In different countries

GRAY FOX

GREY_HEADED SIERRA FINCH

GUANACO NANDOU

MEDITERRANEAN SCRUB

BROADLEAF EVERGREEN FOREST

Rusty-fronted Barwing Actinodura

TROPICAL SAVANNAH

DESERT SCRUB

SOIL ORDERS
Entisol Vertisol Inceptisol Aridisol Mollisol Spodosol

Alfisol Ultisol Oxisol Histosol Andisols Gelisols