What do I need to know about physical geography?

Climate Characteristics
  • Temperature
  • Precipitation
  • Seasons(hot/cold; wet/dry)
Climate Elements
  • Influence of latitude (It gets colder the farther north or south of the equator you go)
  • Influence of winds
  • Influence of elevation (It gets colder when you gain elevation)
  • Proximity to water (water has a moderating influence on climate – the summers are cooler and the winters warmer)
Mountains
  • Rocky Mountains create rain shadows on leeward slopes
  • Himalayas block rain to create steppes and deserts in Central Asia
/ World Climate Regions
  • Low latitudes – tropical wet, tropical wet and dry, arid, semiarid, highland
  • Middle latitudes – semiarid, arid, Mediterranean, humid continental, humid subtropical, marine west coast, highland
  • High latitudes – subarctic, tundra, icecap
Vegetation Regions
  • Rain forest (Amazon rain forest Brazil)
  • Savanna (tropical grassland in Africa)
  • Desert (Arid)
  • Middle latitude forests
  • Taiga (in subarctic climate, coniferous trees)
  • Tundra (cold grassland with some bushes, lichens, and mosses located in northern Canada, Russia)

/ Weather Phenomena
  • Monsoons – Seasonal wind that brings rain to South and Southeast Asia. Causes flooding but provides water for crops
  • Typhoons – Same as hurricane in Pacific Ocean
  • Hurricanes – Atlantic Ocean
  • Tornadoes – United States

Effects of Climate
  • Crops – Different crops grow in different climates
  • Clothing
  • Housing – log houses in areas with many trees, adobe houses in dry areas, tiled roof in Mediterranean
  • Natural hazards – droughts, floods
/ Physical and Ecological Processes
  • Earthquakes
  • Floods
  • Volcanoes
  • Erosion

Human Impact on Environment
Water Diversion
  • Aral Sea – shrinking due to over irrigation, located in Central Asia
  • Colorado River – location of Hoover Dam, used for irrigation in Southwest U.S.
  • Aswan High Dam – located on Nile River, built to stop flooding of river and provide water for irrigation and hydroelectric power
  • Canals, reservoirs, irrigation
Changing Landscapes
  • Agricultural terracing (China and Southeast Asia)
  • Polders (reclaimed land from the sea in the Netherlands)
  • Deforestation (Nepal, Brazil, Malaysia)
  • Desertification (expansion of arid conditions into non-arid areas – basically the desert is getting bigger, big problem in North Africa near the Sahara and parts of Asia)
/ Human Impact on Environment
Environmental Changes
  • Acid rain (causes by air pollution/problem in Black Forest in Germany and Eastern North America
  • Pollution (air pollution in Mexico City, nuclear pollution near Chernobyl, oil spills
Influence of Technology
  • Agriculture (fertilizers, mechanization), people can grow more food now because of tractors and better growing practices
  • Energy usage (most countries use fossil fuels but some countries have nuclear power
  • Automobiles – the automobile has impacted the environment because people have to make roads, parking lots, and cities have grown with suburbs
  • Airplanes – airport expansion/noise
Environmental Impact on Humans
  • Settlement patterns (some places are too hot or cold)
  • Housing materials
  • Agricultural activity
  • Types of recreation
  • Transportation patterns


Picture of an arid climate zone (desert) /
Picture of agricultural terracing in Asia

Picture showing ship sitting on the bottom of the Aral Sea /
Picture of Hoover Dam on the Colorado River

Map showing the direction of the seasonal wind to South and Southeast Asia (monsoon) /
Diagram showing how a polder is made in the Netherlands. Note the windmills, a common cultural landscape in the Netherlands.

Picture of two cooling towers of a nuclear power plant