Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Geographical literacy also involves knowing the location of
distinct physical regions on Earth, such as the Sahara Desert or
the Himalaya Mountains, and why they exist. In this context, you
will see that discussions include maps of the places described. I
also hope that your visual geographical literacy will improve by
using this text. In other words, this topic is designed to sharpen
your eye so that when you see things in the landscape, which you
may have previously ignored, you might better appreciate them
and why they occur. Two features— Discover and Visual Concept
Check —are specifically designed to help you improve this aspect
of your geographical literacy. The Discover feature allows you to
see certain parts of the physical landscape and what they mean
about environmental conditions at the time or place they formed.
The Visual Concept Check features are placed after key topic dis-
cussions so that you can test your understanding of those topics
immediately after encountering them.
travel industry, mountains, or beautiful coastlines? Why do people
go on exotic vacations if not, in part, to enjoy the uniqueness of
the physical landscape in new places? With a greater understand-
ing of physical geography, you will appreciate those trips more.
You may even appreciate the immediate world around you more.
In addition, an understanding of physical geography will
help you make informed decisions when you are confronted
with important environmental issues in your lifetime. Thus, you
will become a better citizen, one who is capable of better pro-
tecting the best interests of your family and community. For
instance, at some point in the future you may be confronted
with a choice of where to place a landfill in your city or town.
In order to make the most informed decision, one that perhaps
ensures the safety of your drinking water, it will be important
to understand the geology of the site, the character of soils, and
the way water moves through the ground and is stored within it.
It is also possible that after using this text you may even
decide that you want to become a physical geographer, as many
people have. A number of excellent, well-paying jobs can be
obtained with a specialization in physical geography, including
environmental analysts, cultural resource managers, conserva-
tion agents, teachers, meteorologists, and landscape architects.
If you decide to pursue such a career, you will find that collect-
ing, analyzing, and reporting about geographical data are very
rewarding activities. I do that kind of work myself and find it
incredibly rewarding. Earth is a beautiful and complex place,
and it is fun to understand how it works. Regardless of whether
or not you are a geographer, you will understand your home
planet better after using this text. Enjoy the ride!
Physical Geography Is Interesting,
Exciting, and Very Relevant to Your Life
As with any new endeavor, you can expect that improving your
understanding of physical geography may be difficult at times.
Many students initially avoid this subject because they feel that
geography is boring, or they are intimidated by science, or they
see no relevance of geography to their lives. If you genuinely give
this subject a chance, however, you will see that physical geogra-
phy is indeed relevant to your everyday life and, most of all, is in-
teresting and even exciting. How else can you explain the popular-
ity of weather and nature programs, national and state parks, the
www.wiley.com/college/arbogast
Stream Meandering
An excellent way to get a feel for the interactive media in this
topic is by examining a simple animation showing how streams
move across the landscape. To do so, view the animation
Stream Meandering. This animation allows you to visualize the
way that streams migrate horizontally through the process of
meandering. Throughout the topic, you will frequently encounter
modules like this one that will give you a better idea of how geo-
graphical processes function. Some of the modules are simple
and require only that you carefully watch them. Others are simu-
lations that allow you to manipulate variables to see how out-
comes change. Regardless of the type of media, each module
will contain a series of questions that can be used to test your
understanding of the concepts after you watch the animation or
simulation.
C H E C k Y O U R U N D E R S T A N D I N G
1. Describe the character of geography as a scientific
discipline.
2. Explain the concept of spatial analysis and how it is used
in geography.
3. What is the nature of physical geography, and why is it a
subdiscipline of geography?
4. What is a natural system, and why can it be viewed ho-
listically with distinct inputs and predictable outputs?
Provide an example.
5. What is the scientific method, and how is it applied to
research problems in physical geography?
6. Compare and contrast the four spheres of Earth and
provide an example of how two of them interact with
each other.
7. Why can physical geography be used to understand the
relationship of humans with the environment?
 
 
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