Geography 12 Exam Review
Unit #1
Geography is the study of where things are, why they are there, and how they relate
to humans.
• Geographers study the Earth’s physical and human features
• The interactions between people, places, and environments.
• They look at patterns between features and interactions, and why these
patterns evolved.
5 Themes of Geography
• Location
• Place
• Movement
• Regions
• Human and Physical Interaction
Location:
• Absolute Location is the exact location of a place, using longitude and latitude.
• Relative Location is the place in relation to another place. For example the
relative location of Costa Rica is in between Nicaragua and Panama.
Place: Place is the human and physical characteristics of a location.
• Examples of human characteristics are population, population density, and
culture, and
• Examples of physical are climate, land masses, and average height above sea
level.
Movement: is the travel of people, goods, and ideas to and from a place.
Regions:
• This is how geographers group places. Defining factors of a region may be
soil type and climate, or religion and cultural traditions.
• For example, Mexico and Canada are in the same region as the United States,
and they are all in North America.
Human and Physical Interaction:
• This theme considers how humans adapt to and modify the environment.
Humans shape the landscape through their interaction with the land; this has
both positive and negative effects on the environment.
• Natural phenomenons are also observed, and geographers analyze how
physical systems shape the Earth’s surface.
Branches of Geography
• Geography is a discipline that covers a broad range of topics.
• 2 major major branches of geography are
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Physical geography – looks at climate, land, water, plants, and animal in life
in terms of relationships to one another and humans.
Human geography – (or cultural geography) studies human activities and
their relationship to the cultural and physical environment.
• Looks at political, economic, and cultural factors, such as population
density, urban development, economic production, and ethnicity.
Earth’s 4 Spheres:
The area near the surface of the earth can be divided up into four inter-connected
"geo-spheres:"
• the lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere.
The names of the four spheres are derived from the Greek words for
-stone (litho)
-air (atmo)
-water (hydro)
-life (bio)
Lithosphere: is the solid, rocky crust covering entire planet. This crust is inorganic
and is composed of minerals. It covers the entire surface of the earth from the top of
Mount Everest to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
Hydrosphere: is composed of all of the water on or near the earth. This includes the
oceans, rivers, lakes, and even the moisture in the air. Ninety-seven percent of the
earth's water is in the oceans. The remaining three percent is fresh water; threequarters of the fresh water is solid and exists in ice sheets.
Biosphere: is composed of all living organisms. Plants, animals, and one-celled
organisms are all part of the biosphere. Most of the planet's life is found from three
meters below the ground to thirty meters above it and in the top 200 meters of the
oceans and seas.
Atmosphere: is the body of air that surrounds our planet. Most of our atmosphere is
located close to the earth's surface where it is most dense. The air of our planet is
79% nitrogen and about 21% oxygen; the small amount remaining is composed of
carbon dioxide and other gasses.
All four spheres can be and often are present in a single location.
For example, a piece of soil will of course have mineral material from the
lithosphere. Additionally, there will be elements of the hydrosphere present as
moisture within the soil, the biosphere as insects and plants, and even the
atmosphere as pockets of air between soil pieces.
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These spheres are closely connected.
a change in one sphere often results in a change in one or more of the other
spheres. Such changes that take place within an ecosystem are referred to as
events.
Events can occur naturally, such as an earthquake or a hurricane, or they can
be caused by humans, such as an oil spill or air pollution.
An event can cause changes to occur in one or more of the spheres, and an
event can be the effect of changes in one or more of Earth's four spheres.
This two-way cause and effect relationship between an event and a sphere is
called an interaction.
example, the El Nino event--a change in the ocean currents off the coast of
Peru-- can cause changes in weather patterns all the way across North
America, while ozone depletion above Antarctica may result in increased
levels of ultra-violet B radiation around the world.
Geographic Literacy:
Maps: In geography maps are one of the most important tools researchers,
cartographers, students and others can use to examine the entire Earth or a specific
part of it.
• Simply defined maps are pictures of the Earth's surface.
Map Types: Maps can provide all kinds of different information.
Physical Map
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Shows the physical landscape features of a place.
Ex: mountains, rivers and lakes and water.
Colour is often used to show elevation changes as well.
Political Map
• Shows state and national boundaries of a place.
• They also include the locations of cities (ex: capital cities).
Road Map/Directional Map
• A road map is one of the most widely used map types.
• These maps show major and minor highways and roads (depending on
detail) as well as things like airports, city locations and points of interest like
parks, campgrounds and monuments.
Thematic Maps
• a map that focuses on a particular theme or special topic that is connected to
the specific geographic area.
• These maps can portray physical, social, political, cultural, economic,
sociological, agricultural, or any other aspects of a city, state, region, nation,
or continent.
1. They provide specific information about particular locations.
2. They provide general information about spatial patterns.
3. They can be used to compare patterns on two or more maps.
Satellite and Aerial Images
• Overhead images of the Earth, that provide a plethora of information.
• These images can then be used for GIS (geographic information systems) and
remote sensing purposes.
Remote sensing
• The examination or the gathering of information about a place from a
distance. Such examination can occur with devices (e.g. - cameras) based on
the ground, on ships, aircraft, satellites, or other spacecraft.
GIS
• Geographic Information Systems integrates, stores, edits, analyzes, shares,
and displays geographic information for informing decision-making. They
are used to analyze spatial information, and edit data in maps.
Review Questions:
1. What is the study of geography? Explain why the study of geography might
be useful to humans.
2.
Theme of
Geography
Definition
Example
3. Explain how a Tsunami event might interact with each of the Earth’s 4
spheres.
4. (a) The map below is an example of what kind of map? ________________________
(b) How do you know? Explain your answer for question 4(a).
(c) What is a thematic map? Provide an example of a thematic map, and explain
how this map may be useful to humans.
5. GIS stands for ___________________________________________________________. How is a GIS
different from an everyday road map that you might have in your car?