Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 1.6 Examples of collecting scientific data about Earth.
(a) Certain satellites are designed to obtain measurements about
the atmosphere, oceans, and the distribution and character of plants, among many other things. (b) To learn about the behavior of
streams in the past, scientists study the type of sediment deposited by the stream through time. This picture is from one of my class field
trips in the Great Plains. (c) One way to learn about past climate changes on Earth is to obtain samples of ancient ice on the Greenland
and Antarctic ice caps. (d) New methods of surveying enable scientists to obtain accurate measurements about elevation and location.
Exploring Cause-and-Effect
Relationships Holistically
As you work through these chapters, you will constantly see
how the four Earth spheres interact with each other to produce
definable geographical patterns. To understand how such inter-
actions work, let's briefly examine the searing drought in the
central United States in the summer of 2012. With this issue in
mind, consider the following question, one that encompasses
elements of the atmosphere and the hydrosphere: How was the
quantity of water in rivers in this part of the country affected by
the drought? A testable hypothesis would be that the quantity
of water in rivers decreased. You could test this hypothesis by
rock cycle, and geologic time. This discussion leads directly into
Chapter 13, which focuses on the lithosphere and tectonic land-
forms. From there, we turn your attention in Chapter 14 to the
way that rocks weather and how sediment moves through mass
wasting processes. Chapters 15 and 16 discuss the way that water
moves on Earth and how it is stored within it. Chapter 15 focuses
specifically on groundwater processes and the formation of land-
forms such as caves. In Chapter 16 we look at how water flows
across the surface in stream systems and the landforms that re-
sult. Chapters 17 through 19 are devoted to specific geomorphic
processes and the resulting landforms, including glaciers (Chap-
ter 17), eolian (wind) processes and arid landscapes (Chapter 18),
and coastal regions (Chapter 19).
