Geography Prelim Notes

geography preceding Exam Outline 20 multiple choice skills Short f atomic look 18 Questions Biophysical Interactions (some or whole(a) or how they integrate), population and culture integration. Extended solution vivid mental imagerys one or a combination of the four points Geography Preliminary Notes The Biophysical Environment * The Biophysical Environment is the interaction of all abiotic and biotic elements show on the planet. * Expressed another(prenominal)(prenominal) way the BPE is made up of all the features of the physical and the built environment and how these features interrelate. The BPE is wherefore the interactions, which occur between the aura, Lithosphere, Biosphere and Hydrosphere. nimbus * Atmosphere, mixture of gases surrounding all celestial object that has a gravitative field strong enough to prevent the gases from escaping especially the gaseous gasbag of the earth. The principal constituents of the automatic teller of the earth ar nitrogen (78 perpenny) and oxygen (21 pct). The atmospheric gases in the remaining 1 percent be argon (0. 9 percent), carbon dioxide (0. 3 percent), varying amounts of pissing vapour, and trace amounts of enthalpy, ozone, methane, carbon monoxide, helium, neon, krypton, and xenon. * The wet-vapour sate of the air varies considerably, depending on the temperature and relative humidness. With 100 percent relative humidity the water-vapour content of air varies from 190 parts per one million million (ppm) at -40 C to 42,000 ppm at 30 C. Minute quantities of other gases, much(prenominal) as ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, and oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, are temporary constituents of the automatic teller machine in the vicinity of vol ro r offineoes and are washed out of the air by rain or snow.Divisions of the Atmosphere Without our zephyr, there would be no life on earth. A comparatively gauzy envelope, the atmosphere consists of layers of gases that support life open fire provide s ecurity measure from harmful radiation. Issues related to the Atmosphere * Daily weather conditions, climatic conditions (seasonal/ bunco-run/ yen-term/cyclical) * Global warming, nursery Effect (GHE) * Ozone depletion * Acid rain * Smog, photochemical smog, brown haze * Radioactive fallout Atmosphere Impacts Oxides and other pollutants added to the atmosphere by factories and automobiles pay covering become a major have-to doe with, however, beca enjoyment of their damaging cause in the go for for of acid rain. In addition, the strong possibility exists that the poise increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, mainly as the dissolver of fossil-fuel combustion everywhere the past century, may affect the earths climate (for physical exertion enhanced Greenhouse Effect). * Similar c at one timerns are posed by the acutely increase in atmospheric methane.Methane levels have risen 11 per cent since 1978. About 80 per cent of the gas is produced by decomposition in rice paddies, swamps, and the intestines of grazing animals, and by tropical termites. homophilee activities that tend to speed up these processes acknowledge raising more livestock and growing more rice. similarly adding to the greenhouse erect, methane reduces the volume of atmospheric hydroxyl ions, thereby curtailing the atmospheres ability to emend itself of pollutants. (for display case photochemical smog) Atmosphere Ozone DepletionThe ozone layer became a subject of concern in the early 1970s when it was found that chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), were emanation into the atmosphere in large quantities because of their use as refrigerants and as propellants in aerosol dispensers. The concern centred on the possibility that these compounds, with and through with(predicate) the action of solariselight, could chemically attack and destroy stratospheric ozone, which protects the earths surface from excessive ultraviolet radiation. HYDROSPHERE * The hydrosphere refers to all watery and frozen surface waters, groundwater held in soil and rock, and atmospheric water vapour. wet is the most abundant substance at the surface of the Earth. About 1. 4 billion cubic kilometres of water in liquid and frozen contrive make up the oceans, lakes, streams, glaciers, and groundwater. * Central to any discussion of the hydrosphere is the concept of the hydrologic wheel around. This wheel consists of a group of reservoirs containing water, the processes by which water is changered from one reservoir to another (or transformed from one state to another), and the rates of transfer associated with such processes.These transfer paths penetrate the entire hydrosphere, extending upward to almost 15 kilometres in the Earths atmosphere and downward to depths in the order of five kilometres into the crust. * Although water storage in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere is small, the rate of water circulation through the rainriveroceanatmosphere system is relatively rapid. The amount of water discharged each course of instruction into the oceans from the land is approximately equal to the total mass of water stored at any instant in rivers and lakes. The biosphere, though primarily H2O in composition, contains very lowly of the total water at the planetary surface, all about 0. 00004 per cent. Yet, the biosphere plays a major enjoyment in the transport of water vapour back into the atmosphere by the process of transpiration. Impact of Human Activities on the Hydrosphere * The activities of modern society are having a severe mend on the hydrologic cycle. * humankind alter the rude(a) functioning of the water cycle through quantitative or qualitative changes to the cycle. For example the dynamic regular state is being disturbed by the discharge of toxic chemicals, radioactive substances, and other industrial wastes and by the seepage of mineral fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides into surface and subterranean aquatic systems. Inadv ertent and deliberate discharge of petroleum, improper sewage disposal, and caloric pollution also are severely affecting the quality of the hydrosphere. * Humans alter the quantity of water available through by a range of activities such as the construction of Dams.Weirs, irrigation schemes, aqueducts, reservoirs, dyke & levee schemes and land refilling projects. * In more subtle ways valet through enhancing the Greenhouse Effect may be changing regional climates and therefore rainwater patterns within regions. * While large scale dams go off mitigate flowage damage, provide Hydro-electric vigor and reliable water supply they also place significant environmental and ecological costs. * People alter the quality of water in legion(predicate) ways such as through domestic, agricultural, technical and industrial pollution. The pollution of waterways is classified according to point or non-point pollution. * taint in waterways can mean the quality of water is unfit for huma n consumption (toxic to humans) or of a low enough quality to seriously trespass on the ecology of the water system. LITHOSPHERE * The Earths outermost rigid, restive layer is called the lithosphere. It is disturbed, like a slightly cracked eggshell, into about a dozen separate rigid blocks, or plates. There are twain types of plates, oceanic and continental.An example of an oceanic plate is the peaceful ordered series, which extends from the East Pacific Rise to the deep-ocean trenches bordering the western part of the Pacific basin. The North American Plate exemplifies a continental plate. * The upper layer of the lithosphere is termed the crust. * The earths crust is comprised of bedrock material in various situ * Rocks are usually divided into trio major classes according to the processes that resulted in their formation.These classes are (1) fervent rocks, which have solidified from molten material called magma (2) sedimentary rocks, those consisting of fragments deriv ed from pre-existing rocks or of materials precipitated from solutions and (3) metamorphic rocks, which have been derived from each igneous or sedimentary rocks below conditions that ca apply changes in mineralogical composition, texture, and internal structure. * Elements of weathering, erosion and gradational forces over time then shape these rock components into landform.This is known as the geomorphological process. * Such forces as tectonic plate movement, fluvial action, gradational forces and the action of the wind and fair weather shape landform features. * Tectonic plates move in three main ways relative to each other. Translation, seduction and convergence (Spreading). The results of this plate movement is often seen as volcanic activity (eruptions, geysers, hot springs) as earthquakes or tremors and in subsidence, land slips and slumping. * Fluvial action is the process of water eroding, transporting and depositing rock material. jumper cable can erode rock material by blasting, while the sun heating up rock and the rock cooling can agree it down in a process call exfoliation. The top three soil issues confronting Australia are 1. Loss of valuable topsoil due to over-clearing and consequent erosion 2. Soils salinity as result of over-clearing and or irrigation rasing the water put off and bringing salt to the surface. 3. Acid Sulfate soil exposure as a result of construction and mining exposing acid sulfates locked up in soil and these sulfates leaching into local waterways. BIOSPHERE The Biosphere is defined as the relatively thin life-supporting stratum of the Earths surface, extending from a few kilometres into the atmosphere to the deep-sea vents of the oceans. * The biosphere is a ball-shaped ecosystem composed of alimentation organisms (biota) and the abiotic (non bread and butter) factors from which they derive vim and nutrients. * The biosphere can be broken down into segments of abiotic and biotic components, called ecosystems. Oceans, lakes, and wetlands are examples of aquatic ecosystems, while forests, deserts, and tundra are examples of terrestrial ecosystems.Through these systems, energy flows and chemicals essential to life are cycled in what is known as biogeochemical cycles. * The biosphere itself can be studied as a intercontinental ecosystem through which the interconnectedness of all life and life-supporting systems on the Earth can be understood. * The earths biodiversity (total known stock of varying species of fauna and industrial plant on the planet) is classified into several major Biomes. Each Biome is made up of a multitude of interconnected and interrelating ecosystems. An ecosystem is defined as the complex of living organisms, their physical environment, and all their interrelationships in a particular unit of space. * An ecosystem can be categorized into its abiotic constituents, including minerals, climate, soil, water, sunlight, and all other nonliving elements, and its biotic con stituents, consisting of all its living members. Linking these constituents together are ii major forces the flow of energy through the ecosystem, and the cycling of nutrients within the ecosystem. Cycles within ecosystems which transfer / transform energy and matter are known as the Biogeochemical cycles (eg. Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Phosphorous etc.. ) * The biosphere supports between 3 and 30 million species of plants, animals, fungi, single-celled prokaryotes such as bacteria, and single-celled eukaryotes such as protozoans. Of this total, merely about 1. 4 million species have been named so far, and fewer than 1 percent have been studied for their ecological relationships and their role in ecosystems. * A little more than half the named species are insects, which decree errestrial and freshwater communities worldwide the laboratories of systematises are filled with insect species yet to be named and described. Hence, the relationships of organisms to their environments and the roles that species play in the biosphere are only beginning to be understood. BIOPYSICAL environs Impacts of Humans on the Biophysical Environment * The biosphere supports between 3 and 30 million species of plants, animals, fungi, single-celled prokaryotes such as bacteria, and single-celled eukaryotes such as protozoans. Of this total, only about 1. million species have been named so far, and fewer than 1 percent have been studied for their ecological relationships and their role in ecosystems. * A little more than half the named species are insects, which dominate terrestrial and freshwater communities worldwide the laboratories of systematises are filled with insect species yet to be named and described. Hence, the relationships of organisms to their environments and the roles that species play in the biosphere are only beginning to be understood. Management Strategies for human impacts on BPE Management strategies can be based on a come up of approaches such as reactionar y, precautionary or proactive care. * As many issues have multiple causal factors at a variety of scales any successful management strategies must be designed with this in mind. very much the real measure of success of a management strategy is a direct reflection of effectiveness or otherwise of a co-ordinating authority. * An example of this need for a co-ordinated response to management can be seen through reviewing the Murray Darling Basin Commission (MDBC).This authority must oversee management strategies in literally hundreds of sub-catchments of the Murray Darling river and across local, state and federal levels of jurisdiction. Natural Resources Definition of a Natural Resource A natural imagination is any part of the biophysical environment that can be used in some way to satisfy human needs. For example air, water, forests, minerals. They can either be either RENEWABLE or NON-RENEWABLE. RENEWABLE RESOURCES Renewable choices are those that are naturally renewed within a sufficiently short time span to be useful to human beings.There are two categories of renewable resources * Non-critical zone resources * Critical zone resources Non-critical zone renewable resources * These types of natural resources remain renewable irrespective of how much and how often humans use them * Some examples include solar energy, tides, wing, waves, water and air. Critical zone renewable resources * These are resources that naturally renew within short periods of time but can be affected by how much and how often humans use them, That is humans use them before they can be renewed. * Examples include fish, forests, animals, soil, underground water (aquifers)NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES * These are resources that have taken millions of years to form * These are resources that are deemed to be in fixed supply that is once they are used they can never be replaced. There are two categories of non renewable resources * CONSUMED BY USE and * RECYCLABLE OR theoretically RECOVERABLE Consumed by use Non-renewable * These are resources that once used they can not be replaced. These are basically the fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal. There are called fossil fuels because they were once living organisms million years ago. * Because of the rate of use in recent quantify these resources could ace exhaustion. It is predicted that after 2008 that oil will reduce as we have used it up. Recyclable or Theoretically Recoverable Non-renewable * These are the all-metal minerals that are mined such as iron ore, aluminum copper, gold, argent etc. These also take millions of years to be created and once used they too cannot be replaced the significant difference is that these resources can be reused or recycled. Think of aluminum cans or metal scrap yards. What constitutes a resource? For these resources defined earlier several conditions must exist before it can actually become a resource. 1.It must be recognized as being a resource indirectly or directly. 2. There must be the skills, equipment and social organization present to transform the resource into something useful. 3. The shifting must be achieved at a cost and convenience that make it more appropriate than an alternative. 4. The adverse impacts generated by the activity must be acceptable to society. What a natural resource is, depends on a number of factors 1. Economic what is the cost of extraction e. g. , extracting petroleum out of deep-sea deposits is big-ticket(prenominal) and risky the deep sea well in the golf of Mexico. 2.Cultural What is a resource for one culture might not be for another e. g. Kangaroo meat. 3. Technology the resource might not be technologically workable at the moment e. g. fusion power 4. Political governments might grow exploitation of natural resources for strategic, economic & political reasons e. g. the cotton industry in Australia is a result of government policy in the 1960s that cherished to reduce our reliance on imported cotton. 5. Environment and health factors concerns about the impact on the environment and the health of people and ecosystems may effect the nature and rater if resources exploitation.Environment + Impact Statements (EIS) are often used to assess the impact on ecosystems of the exploitation of a resource. Economic & political issues related to the use of natural resource, their ownership and management 1. Rate of use Supply and inquire * Economically, natural resources will be used at a high rate while that resource is in demand. * If demand is reduced over time it could have economic repercussions for the country that relied on its sale germane(predicate) to the economic well being of many developing countries. They take out large loans to help develop their country based on the carrying into action of selling their natural resources * Once demand decreases their ability to pay back the loan is reduced which then makes the country more in debt. * coin made from selling the resourc es is used to pay off interest on the loans and little is put back into the country to make it better off. 2. act demand for a resource * Can jeopardise economic successfulness due to economically unsustainable practices * Uncontrolled exploitation may jeopardise long term production levels.A good example of this is fishing. * May cause stocks to be reduced * Threat to the preservation of the fish species * Industry and jobs would be mixed-up * Boat owners would incur increasing debts * Food supplies would be threatened by high prices and limited availability Political Issues 1. Opposing views * Political issues of resource use can arise when competing groups wish to use the same resources. * Countries who enmity ownership of a major resource e. g. the waters of a river that flows through more than one country. * Subgroups within a society