Geography
Unit 1 Part 2 Notes
McFarland
Landforms
Plate Tectonics
• The theory that attempts to explain
how the world’s large landforms
were formed, dividing Earth’s crust
into more than a dozen rigid slowmoving plates, beginning with one
super continent call Pangaea that
split into the modern continents.
7 Modern Continents
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North America
South America
Europe
Africa
Asia
Australia
Antarctica
Types of Landforms
– Valleys
– Plains
– Plateaus
Effects of Landforms
• Human settlement has influenced
landforms throughout history.
• Mud slides and volcano lava remind
us that the earth is constantly
changing.
Human Geography
Culture
• includes all the features of a society’s
way of life.
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Language
Religion
Government
Economics
Food
Clothing
Architecture
Family life
Culture Region
• An area with many shared culture
traits is called a culture region.
Cultures are changing
constantly.
• Innovation - people are always thinking
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of new ways of doing things.
Culture diffusion - the spread of
innovations or other cultures traits into
another culture region.
Acculturation - occurs when one culture
changes a great deal through its meeting
with another culture.
How People Shape the Land
• Hunting and gathering
• Agriculture
– Subsistence agriculture - people grow
food on small farms mostly for their
own families.
– Commercial agriculture - growing
crops for sale.
City Life
• Urbanization - growth in the proportion
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of people living in towns and cities.
Culture Hearths - urbanized centers of
important new ideas and developments.
Today, cities are centers of
manufacturing. Communications,
education, government services, and the
arts.
Industrialization
• Industrialization - allowed goods to
be made in abundance and at a
lower cost.
Culture and World Events
• Nationalism - Feelings of pride and
loyalty for one’s country; can
sometimes lead to discrimination,
unfairness, or even war.
• Religion - a key culture trait.
(According to the 1998 World
Almanac. 34% of the world’s
population profess to be Christians).
• Traditional versus modern values:
– Some cultures adapt to change easily,
whereas other cultured do not.
– Fundamentalism-a movement that
stresses the strict following of basic
traditional principles.
Politics
• In totalitarian governments, a few people
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decide what is best for everyone.
In democratic governments, everyone has
a voice in government.
The United Nations is a worldwide
organization that tries to settle problems
among and within countries.
Economics
• Some countries have abundant raw
materials and successful industries;
others have only a few.
• ****The information age is closely
linking people throughout the world.
Population Geography
• The study of the variations and
changes in a population’s makeup,
distribution, movement, and
relationship to its environment.
Demography
• The study of human population that
emphasizes statistical
characteristics, or facts and figures.
Four large regions of dense
human settlement
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East Asia
South Asia
Western Europe
Eastern North America
• ***There are 6.8 billion people in the
world today. By the year 2020, the
world’s population will be more that
7 billion, surpassing 10 billion during
the 21st Century.
Birth Rates and Death Rates
• Geographers use birth rates
(number of births per 1000 people
in a given year) and death rates
(number of deaths per 1000 people
in a given year) to explain
population growth.
Emigrant or Immigrant ?
• Emigrants (those who move out of a
country) and Immigrants (those
who move into a country) also
affect a country’s population
growth or decline.
Resources and Environmental
Change
Soils and Forrest
• People have developed ways to
conserve and enrich the soil.
• Forests are a valuable renewable
resource.
Forests
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Steps to conserve our forests by our federal
government started in the early 1900s by
declaring certain area as national forests, and
requiring reforestation (renewing forests
through the planting of seeds or young trees) in
national forests that are logged.
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Deforestation, or the clearing of forests, is
occurring at a rapid rate in the tropical rain
forests of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
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In northwestern North America, the native
temperate forests are being logged at a rapid
rate.
Water and Air
• Water quantity and quality are serious
challenges. Some countries rely on
desalinization plants, which change salty
seawater into fresh water. Droughts
cause water shortages.
• Flood control-Floods have killed millions
of people over the centuries. Dams and
levees are built to control flood waters.
Water and Air
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Water quality-In developing nations, sewage
often comes in contact with the drinking water
supply. In developed countries, water is
contaminated by industrial chemicals,
fertilizers, pesticides, metals, and oil.
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Air Pollution-A serious problem facing many
large urban and industrial areas. Acid Rain is
caused when released by industrial smoke
stacks combine with water vapor in the
atmosphere.
Global air pollution
• The ozone layer has become
depleted over the Antarctic causing
a rise in skin cancer rates in the
Southern Hemisphere. The ozone
layer is apparently destroyed when
a group of chemicals called CFCs
rise in the atmosphere and set off
chemical reactions.
Global air pollution
• Another threat to the atmosphere is global
warming caused by the greenhouse effect,
which results from an apparent buildup of
carbon dioxide in the lower atmosphere,
trapping heat and causing long-term
warming of the planet. Some scientists
warn that sea levels will rise, some types
of vegetation will die, and entire
ecosystems will be destroyed.
Two ways to protect us from
the greenhouse effect.
• decrease the burning of fuels that
pollute
• stop cutting the world’s forests
Energy Resources
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Fossil fuels - nonrenewable resources that
include coal, petroleum and natural gas.
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Coal - burned to make electricity; combined with iron
ore to make steel, (burning coal causes acid rain and
air pollution).
Petroleum - has replaced coal as the preferred energy
source mainly used for liquid fuels, such as gasoline,
diesel, and jet fuel. (The world supply may last only
another 50 years). The largest petroleum reserves are
found in Saudi Arabia and neighboring Persian Gulf
countries.
Natural gas - cleanest burning fossil fuel, can be
shipped through pipelines
Nuclear Energy
• Today, there are more than 400
nuclear power plants in more than 30
nations. The United States has more
that 100 operating nuclear power
plants and these plants produce
about 20% of the nation’s electricity.
2 Serious Problems
• Nuclear accidents
• Nuclear waste
Renewable Energy sources
• Flowing water-produces
hydroelectric power
• Geothermal energy-underground
heat
• Solar energy-involves capturing the
sun’s light energy
• Wind power.
Population and Resources
• Population growth - population
growth rates are important, control
of population growth would control
the standard of living for a nation’s
citizens.
Two Concerns of Lower Birth
Rates
• Few young people to enter the work
force.
• Growing percentage of elderly
people causes increased cost of
health care
• World population increases by more
than 1 million people every five
days, natural resources are not
evenly distributed and people must
share and use these resources
wisely.
Birth / Death Rates
• The following are the birth rates death
rates per 1,000 for the following nations.
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United States 14.6/8.8
Brazil 20.4/9.4
China 16.5/6.9
Russia 9.5/14.8
Democratic Republic of the Congo 47.6/16.6
France 12/9.1