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Lecture 3. Physical Geography Research

Physical geography is one of two main branches of geography that deals with natural phenomena on Earth. It examines processes and patterns in the natural environment including landforms, soils, plants, animals, water, atmosphere, climate, and weather. Physical geography can be divided into subfields like geomorphology, hydrology, glaciology, biogeography, climatology, meteorology, pedology, and oceanography.

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316 views3 pages

Lecture 3. Physical Geography Research

Physical geography is one of two main branches of geography that deals with natural phenomena on Earth. It examines processes and patterns in the natural environment including landforms, soils, plants, animals, water, atmosphere, climate, and weather. Physical geography can be divided into subfields like geomorphology, hydrology, glaciology, biogeography, climatology, meteorology, pedology, and oceanography.

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Lecture 3.

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY RESEARCH

Goal of the Lecture: reviewing the concept of geographical local history,


branches of geography (physical geography and human geography)

Geographical local history is a comprehensive study of the nature,


economy and individual components of the territory: relief, geology, flora,
fauna, and the study of industrial, transport and agricultural enterprises.

Geography is divided into two main branches: human


geography and physical geography.

1) Physical geography
Physical geography is one of the two major sub-fields of geography.
Physical geography is that branch of natural science which deals with the
study of processes and patterns in the natural environment. Physical
geography examines and investigates natural phenomena spatially.
Physical geography's primary subdisplines study the Earth's atmosphere
(meteorology and climatology), animal and plant life (biogeography),
physical landscape (geomorphology), soils (pedology), and waters
(hydrology) etc.

Physical geography can be divided into many broad categories,


including:
Geomorphology is the field concerned with understanding
the surface of the Earth and the processes by which it is shaped, both at
the present as well as in the past. Geomorphology as a field has several
sub-fields that deal with the specific landforms of various environments
e.g. desert geomorphology and fluvial geomorphology, however, these
sub-fields are united by the core processes which cause them; mainly
tectonic or climatic processes. Geomorphology seeks to
understand landform history and dynamics, and predict future changes
through a combination of field observation, physical experiment, and
numerical modeling.

Hydrology is predominantly concerned with the amounts and quality


of water moving and accumulating on the land surface and in the soils
and rocks near the surface. Thus the field encompasses water
in rivers, lakes.

Glaciology is the study of glaciers and ice sheets.


Biogeography is the science which deals with geographic patterns of
species (plants and animals) distribution and the processes that result in
these patterns. This is the science that investigates the spatial
relationships of plants and animals.

Climatology is the study of the climate, scientifically defined as


weather conditions averaged over a long period of time. Climatology
examines both the nature of micro (local) and macro (global) climates
and the natural and anthropogenic influences on them. It studies the
effects of weather on life and examines the circulation of the atmosphere
over longer time spans.

Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere


that focuses on weather processes and short term forecasting (in
contrast with climatology). Studies in the field stretch back millennia,
though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the
eighteenth century. Meteorological phenomena are observable weather
events which illuminate and are explained by the science of
meteorology. It studies the circulation of the atmosphere over short time
spans

Pedology is the study of soils in their natural environment. Pedology


mainly deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology, soil classification. In
physical geography pedology is largely studied due to the numerous
interactions between climate (water, air, temperature), soil life (micro-
organisms, plants, animals), the mineral materials within soils
(biogeochemical cycles) and its position and effects on the landscape
such as laterization.

Oceanography is the branch of physical geography that studies the


Earth's oceans and seas. It covers a wide range of topics, including
marine organisms and ecosystem dynamics (biological oceanography);
ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamics (physical
oceanography); plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor
(geological oceanography); and fluxes of various chemical substances
and physical properties within the ocean and across its boundaries
(chemical oceanography). These diverse topics reflect multiple
disciplines that oceanographers blend to further knowledge of the world
ocean and understanding of processes within it.

Academics studying physical geography and other related earth sciences are
rarely generalists. Most are in fact highly specialized in their fields of
knowledge and tend to focus themselves in one of the above mentioned
areas of understanding in physical geography.
2) Human geography
Human geography is a branch of geography that focuses on the study of
patterns and processes that shape the human society. It encompasses
the human, political, cultural,social, and economic aspects.

Human geography can be divided into many broad categories,


such as:
Development geography, Economic geography, Health geography, Cultural
geography, Social geography, Population geography, Transportation
geography, Tourism geography.

Elements of Geography

The following table also helps to make the differences between these two
types of geography more apparent. This table describes some of the
phenomena or elements studied by each of these sub-fields of knowledge.
Knowing what kinds of things are studied by geographers provides us with
a better understanding of the differences between physical and human
geography.

Table: Some of the phenomena studied in physical and human geography

Physical Geography Human Geography


Rocks and Minerals Population
Landforms Urban systems
Soils Economic Activities
Animals Transportation
Plants Recreational Activities
Water Religion
Atmosphere Political Systems
Rivers and Other Water
Social Traditions
Bodies
Environment Human Migration
Climate and Weather Agricultural Systems
Oceans Customs

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