Objectives for GEOG 1301
Chapter 1: Introduction to Earth
- Define geography and physical geography in particular.
- Describe the four environmental spheres: the lithosphere, the
atmosphere,
the hydrosphere, and the biosphere.
- Understand how the Earth and our solar system formed.
- Explain Earth's reference grid: latitude, longitude, and time.
- Describe Earth's motions, including its rotation on its axis and
its
revolution
around the Sun.
- Earth–Sun Relations
- Annual March of the Seasons
- Telling Time
Chapter 2: Protraying Earth
- Understand the nature of maps and be able to define cartography
and mapping basics: map scale and map
projections.
- scale
- distance
- directions
- symbols
- Differentiate between equivalent and conformal map projections.
- Be able to construct isolines.
- Describe global positioning systems and remote sensing.
- Explain geographic information system (GIS) methodology as a tool
used
in geographic analysis.
Chapter 3: Introduction to the Atmosphere
- Identify and describe the basic composition of the atmosphere,
including its gases
and
particles.
- Understand the vertical structure of the atmosphere in terms of
composition
and temperature.
- Define atmospheric presssure.
- Differentiate between weather and climate.
- Understand the elements
and controls of weather and climate.
- Explain the processes that contribute to human-induced
atmospheric change
- the formation and
depletion of
the stratospheric ozone layer
- hot house gases/global warming
Chapter 4: Insolation and Temperature
- Define insolation.
- Identify the major areas of wavelengths in the electromagnetic
spectrum.
- Identify the pathways of solar energy through the troposphere to
Earth's
surface:
- Basic concepts of heating and cooling the atmosphere and
mechanisms of heat transfer
- transmission
- albedo (reflectivity)
- scattering
- conduction
- convection
- and advection.
- Analyze how latitudinal differences and land and water contrasts
contribute
to spatial and seasonal variations in heating.
- Define the concepts of temperature, kinetic energy, and sensible
heat
- Distinguish
among Kelvin, Celsius, and Fahrenheit scales and how they are measured.
- Interpret the pattern of Earth's temperatures from their
portrayal on
January
and July temperature maps and on a map of annual temperature ranges.
Chapter 5: Atmospheric Pressure and Wind
- Define the concepts of air pressure and density.
- Portray the
pattern
of global pressure systems and general cirulation of the atmosphere.
- Define wind, and describe how wind is measured, how
wind-direction is
determined,
and how winds are named.
- Explain the pressure gradient force, Coriolis force, and friction
force
- Describe the primary high- and low-pressure areas and principal
winds.
- Understand the concept of wind chill and how it is measured.
- Describe the general circulation of the atmosphere.
- Explain several types of local winds:
- land-sea breezes
- mountain-valley
breezes
- katabatic winds
- and the regional monsoons.
- Understand the El Niño-Southern
Oscillation and Other Multi-Year Atmospheric and Oceanic Cycles
Chapter 6: Introduction to Atmospheric Moisture
- Describe the heat properties of water, and identify the traits of
its
three
phases: solid, liquid, and gas.
- Define humidity and the expressions of the relative humidity
concept
- Explain
dew-point temperature and saturated conditions in the atmosphere.
- Identify the various forms of condensation, including types of
clouds.
- Understand adibatic heating and cooling.
- Define atmospheric stability and relate it to a parcel of air
that is
ascending
or descending.
- Illustrate three atmospheric conditions-- unstable,
conditionally
unstable,
and stable-- with a simple graph that relates the environmental lapse
rate
to the dry adiabatic lapse rate (DALR) and the saturated adiabatic
lapse
rate (SALR).
- Describe the two processes by which precipitation forms
- Identify
the
different types of precipitation.
- Identify the global distribution of precipitation.
Chapter 7: Transient Atmospheric Flows and
Disturbances
- Identify the major air masses types and their source regions.
- Understand the concept of a front and differentiate between warm,
cold,
and occluded fronts.
- Know how middle latitude cyclones form and understand the role
the
upper
atmosphere plays in their formation and movement.
- Analyze the structure and formation of differnet forms of
tropical disturbances, especially hurricanes.
- Analyze various types of severe local weather and the
characteristics
of each.
Chapter 8: Climatic Zones and Types
- Understand the purpose of climate classification schemes.
- Review
Köppen's
development of an empirical climate classification system, comparing
this
with other ways of classifying climate.
- Describe the characteristics of the A, B, C, D, E, and H zones of
the
modified
Köppen scheme.
- Identify the dominant climate controls that dtermine their
locations and characteristics for each climate type.
- Locate the A, B, C, D, E, and H climate zones on a world map.
- Identify climographs for each of the types (e.g., Mediterranean)
of the
climate zones.
Chapter 9: The Hydrosphere
- Describe the chemical and physical properties of water
- Explain
what
makes the chemical and physical properties of water so unusual.
- Explain and illustrate the hydrologic cycle.
- Understand the characterisitics and causes of tides, currents,
and waves.
- Name the Earth's oceans and locate them on a map of the world.
- Describe the differences between
surface
and underground water.
- water quality
- accessibility
- Understand and define the terms and concepts associated with
ground water.
- Explain what is happening to the Ogallala aquifer in the Great
Plains
region
of the United States.
- Name the Earth's longest river systems and largest lakes and
locate
them
on a map of the world.
- Describe the effects of humans on the hydrosphere.
Chapter 10: Cycles and Patterns in the
Biosphere
- Understand and explain the fundamental processes of the biosphere.
- Identify relationships between biogeochemical cycles and patterns
and
processes.
- Discuss the influence of climate distributions on biogeographic
distributions
- Define food chains, ecosystems, and biomes
- Distinguish between
biomes
and ecosystems.
- Describe the importance of wildfire in ecosystem maintenence.
Chapter 11: Terrestrial Flora and Fauna
- Describe the key relationship between climate and vegetation
distribution
around the globe.
- Recognize the fundamental factors that determine the
distributions of
organisms
- the location where an organism first evolves
- the migration patterns of
that organism
- the opportunity for successful reproduction
- and the
reduction
in the range of a species through the death of some (or all) of a
population.
- Understand the importance of local variation on plant
distribution.
- Name and describe the ten major biomes of the world discussed in
the
text.
- Describe the influence humans have on animal and plant
distributions.
Chapter 12: Soils
- Describe the importance of soil in the environment.
- Explain the principal soil forming factors.
- Describe the soil properties of texture, field capacity, color,
pH, and
structure.
- Describe basic soil chemistry, including cation exchange capacity
and
acidity/alkalinity.
- Describe the factors associated with soil fertility.
- Describe a typical soil profile.
- Define the five major pedogenic regimes
- laterization
- podzolization
- gleization
- calcification
- and salinization.
- Name and describe the twelve soil orders of the Soil Taxonomy
system and
explain
where they occur on Earth.
Chapter 13: Introduction to Landform Study
- Define the science of geomorphology.
- Describe the structure of the interior of the Earth.
- Distinguish between internal and external geomorphic processes
and
describe
the driving forces behind them.
- Define the three main types of rocks
- Describe the formation of the three main types of rocks in
relation
to internal and external geomorphic processes.
- Describe the concept of Geologic Time and explain its importance
in
landform
studies.
Chapter 14: The Internal Processes
- Describe how the Earth's internal processes help form the
planet's
landscape.
- Explain and critically examine the major theories of crustal
rearrangement
and movement.
- Relate these theories to the breakup of Pangea.
- Describe the pattern of crustal plates and relate the pattern to
volcanic
activity and earthquakes.
- Describe the three major types of plate boundaries and describe
the
landforms
and tectonic activity associated with each.
- Describe the influence of vulcanism, tectonics, and diastrophism
on
landforms
and landform creation.
- Identify the landforms created by vulcanism, tectonics, and
diastrophism.
- Define hot spot, folding, faulting, subduction, earthquake.
- Describe the relationships among the various internal processes
and
illustrate
how the relationships affect landforms.
Chapter 15: Preliminaries to Erosion:
Weathering
and Mass Wasting
- Describe the two types of external processes, weathering and mass
wasting,
that help shape the landscape.
- Explain the importance of parent material, especially its mineral
make-up,
in terms of weathering.
- Discuss the differences and similarities between chemical and
physical
weathering.
- Understand frost wedging, salt wedging, jointing, and the
freeze/thaw
action
of water in terms of physical weathering.
- Define oxidation, hydrolysis, and carbonation in terms of
chemical
weathering.
- Describe the major categories of mass wasting and explain their
differences
in terms of speed of movement and moisture content.
Chapter 16: The Fluvial Processes
- Describe the immense importance of fluvial processes in shaping
the
landscape.
- Define the term fluvial and the
basic fluvial processes: erosion,
transportation,
and deposition.
- Distinguish among stream channel types and describe the effect
each
type
has on the landscape.
- Identify basic drainage patterns and provide examples of each.
- Describe the concept of stream systems, with a focus on stream
orders
and
structural relationships.
- Illustrate how streams shape and reshape valleys through
deepening,
widening,
and lengthening.
- Describe stream rejuvenation and its effect on the landscape.
- Describe and critically analyze various theories of landform
development.
Chapter 17: Solution Processes and Karst
Topography
- Describe the influence of subsurface water on underground
features and
surface topography.
- Describe the basic chemistry of solution and precipitation and
explain
the importance of bedrock type and structure in terms of solution.
- Describe the action of subsurface water in forming karst
topography.
- Identify and define landforms associated with karst topography
- sinkholes
- collapse doline
- caverns
- mogotes
- haystack hills
- and uvala.
- Define hydrothermal activity and identify associated landforms.
Chapter 18: The Topography of Arid Lands
- Describe the development of landforms in deserts and other arid
regions.
- Describe the ten distinctive environmental characterstics of dry
lands
that help shape desert landforms.
- Explain the importance of fluvial processes and wind (aeolian
processes)
in shaping arid landscapes.
- Describe aeolian erosion, transportation, and deposition.
- Define loess and describe its origin and the location loess
deposits
throughout
the world.
- Identify major landforms found in arid regions:
- sand dunes
- inselbergs,
bornhardt
- basin-and-range terrain
- mesa-and-scarp terrain
- and
badlands.
Chapter 19: Clacial Modification of Terrain
- Describe the influence of glaciers on the landscape.
- Analyze the impact of the Pleistocene Epoch, the last period of
extensive
glaciation, on the Earth's topography.
- Describe glacier formation and movement, and explain the
erosional and
depositional actions of glaciers.
- Distinguish between continental and alpine glaciers and identify
landforms
created by each.
- Explain the indirect effects glaciers had on Earth and relate the
effects
to landform creation.
- Understand periglacial environments.
Chapter 20: Coastal Processes and Terrain
- Describe the processes that shape the earth's coastal landforms:
- erosion
- deposition
- and transportation.
- Explain waves and wave motion and describe their impact on the
coastal
landscape.
- Identify characteristic coastal landforms, including both
erosional and
depositional types.
- Describe coral reefs, explain their importance, and identify the
various
types.
- Describe how humans have intervened in coastal processes and
explain
the
effects of intervention on the landscape.
Last Updated 5/21/08
Geography Program
Social
Science Task Force
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