1. Earth's Physical Geography
Unit 2
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2. How does the Earth move in space?
Our Planet, the Earth
How does the Earth move in space?
Why do seasons change?
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3. The Earth and the Sun Days and Nights
The Earth travels around the sun in an oval-shaped orbit.
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4. As the Earth revolves, it is also spinning on its __________________.
It takes _________________ year, for the Earth to complete one revolution around the sun.
As the Earth revolves, it is also spinning on its __________________.
Each rotation (or complete spin on the axis) takes about _____________.
It is daytime on the side facing the sun and night on the side away from the sun.
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5. The Earth and the Sun Understanding Seasons
Why are the days longer in some parts of the year?
The Earth’s axis is at an ___________________.
In about half of the Earth’s orbit, the tilt causes a region to face toward the sun for more hours than it faces away from the sun.
_______________________.
In other regions that face away from the sun for more hours, days are shorter.
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6. Why does the temperature change during the seasons?
The warmth you feel at any given time of year depends on how directly the sunlight falls on you.
Some regions receive a great deal of direct sunlight, while others receive very little.
_________________________________________________________________.
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7. Looking at Latitudes Gets Direct Sunshine on Line of Latitude
Where is it?
Seasons
Equator
March 21 September 23
Spring and fall equinoxes: Days and nights are almost equal everywhere 0º
Tropic of Cancer
23 1/2º N
June 21
Tropic of Capricorn
23 1/2º S
December 21
First day of winter, or winter solstice, in Northern Hemisphere
Arctic Circle
66 1/2º N
Never
Antarctic Circle
66 1/2º S
Never
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8. Zones of Latitudes
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9. Looking at Latitudes: Zones
Low Latitudes: The Tropics
Area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn
In this region, it is almost ____________.
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10. Middle Latitudes: The Temperate Zones
Area between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle
AND the area between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle
In this region, there are ______________, each with a distinct pattern of _________, _______________, and _____________.
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11. High Latitudes: The Polar Zones
Area between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole
AND the area between the Antarctic Circle and the South Pole
In this region it is very cool to ________ _______________.
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12. Land, Air, and Water What forces shape the land?
What are the Earth’s major landforms?
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13. Forces Inside the Earth
What is the Earth made of?
________________________________________________________________________.
Continents are unique, in part because of their landforms, which include mountains, hills, plateaus, and plains.
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14. Pangaea: The Supercontinent
Geographers theorize that millions of years ago the Earth had only ____________ ________________, which they call Pangaea.
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15. They believe that 200 million years ago, some force made Pangaea split into _____________ ___________ and begin to move apart, forming separate continents.
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16. The theory of plate tectonics explains why the continents separated.
Continents are part of plates that shift over time.
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17. The Movement of the Continents
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
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18. Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Shifting Plates
The world’s plates move in different directions, causing a variety of effects:
Ridges: In some places, plates move apart, and magma leaks through the cracks in the crust. In the oceans, over time, the cooling rock builds up to form lines of _______________________ called ridges.
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19. Volcanoes: In other places, the plates push against one another, forcing one plate under the other. Tremendous _____________________ builds up causing molten rock to explode on the surface.
Earthquakes:
Along plate boundaries, there are many __________ places in the Earth’s crust.
When plates push against each other, the crust cracks and splinters from pressure.
These cracks are called ______________________.
When the crust moves along faults, it releases great amounts of ______________________ in the form of _____________________.
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20. Forces on the Earth's Surface
Forces like volcanoes slowly build up the Earth. Other forces slowly break it down. These forces may not be as dramatic, but they have important and long-lasting effects.
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21. The Two Effects of Weathering:
Weathering breaks down rocks into tiny pieces, wearing away the Earth’s landforms. Many once-steep mountains are now low and rounded. Three things cause weathering: _________________.
Weathering helps create _______. Tiny pieces of _____ combine with ___________________________ material to form soil.
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22. Erosion
Once this breaking down has taken place, small pieces of rock may be ______________________ by erosion. Erosion, together with weathering, help slowly create new landforms.
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23. Air and Water: Two Ingredients for Life
The thick layer of gases that surrounds the Earth is called the __________________.
It provides life-giving oxygen for people and animals and life-giving carbon dioxide for plants.
It also acts as a _____________________ ______ from the sun to make life possible.
Winds distribute this heat around the globe.
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24. Water Roughly ____________ of Earth’s water is found in the oceans.
The rest is _________________________ ______.
Most of that is frozen at the poles.
Fresh water comes from lakes, rivers, and rain.
Much fresh water, called groundwater, is stored in the _________________.
People need fresh water—the Earth has enough, but ____________________, and _________________________________.
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25. Climate and What Influences It
What is climate?
How do landforms and bodies of water affect climate?
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26. Weather or Climate? Weather
What you check before you go outside in the morning
_______________ changes in the air
Measured primarily by temperature and precipitation
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27. What you know from experience happens from year to year
Climate
What you know from experience happens from year to year
The __________ weather over _____ ______________
The Earth has many _____________.
Climates are different in low, middle, and high altitudes because latitude affects temperature.
Landforms, wind, and water also affect climates.
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28. The Blowing Winds
Wind and water help spread the sun’s heat and keep the Earth from _____________________.
Winds blow east–west and west–east in part because of ________ _______________.
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29. Winds blow north–south and south–north because:
Hot air rises and circulates toward regions where the air is not as hot.
Hot, moist air from the Equator rises and moves toward the North Pole or South Pole.
Cold air sinks and moves toward regions where the air is warmer.
Cold, dry air from the poles moves toward the Equator.
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30. Ocean Currents: Hot and Cold
The Earth’s rotation creates ocean currents. Warm water from the Equator flows north or south to colder parts and cold water from the poles flows toward the warm areas near the Equator.
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31. The Ocean's Cooling and Warming Effects
Bodies of water affect climate in another way too:
Why is a beach on a hot summer day cooler by the ocean?
Water takes __________________than land.
In the summer, a place near the ocean or a lake will be cooler than an area farther away.
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32. Raging Storms
Wind and water can make climates milder, but they also can create _____. Some storms create great destruction.
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33. Similar to hurricanes, they take place in the Pacific Ocean.
Wind and rain storms that form in the tropics in the Atlantic Ocean
The winds at the center travel over 73 miles per hour.
They produce huge waves called storm surges, ____________________ and can destroy _________________.
Typhoons
Similar to hurricanes, they take place in the Pacific Ocean.
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34. Tornadoes
__________________________________________________________________________.
The powerful winds can wreck almost anything in a tornado’s path.
However, they only average about one half mile in diameter.
Therefore they affect a more limited area than hurricanes.
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35. How Climate Affects Vegetation
Where are the Earth’s major climate regions?
What kinds of vegetation grow in each climate region?
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36. Climate and Vegetation
Plants have features, called adaptations, that enable them to live in a particular climate.
Over a very long time, small, accidental changes in a few individual plants made them better able to survive in a particular place.
Therefore, geographers can predict the kinds of plants they will find in a climate.
____________________________________________________________________________.
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37. ________________________ Dry Moderate Polar
Geographers discuss five broad types of climates:
________________________
Dry
Moderate
Polar
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38. Tropical and Dry Climates
Tropical Climates
Dry Climates
Arid
Semiarid
Tropical Wet
Tropical Wet and Dry
Types
Hot
Temperature
Dry
Wet
Moisture
Sparse: Because there is so little rain, plants grow far apart and have shallow roots adapted to absorb scarce water before it evaporates. Some plants flower only when it rains.
Tropical rain forest: Because there is so much light, heat, and rain, thousands of kinds of plants grow here. The uppermost branches of tall trees create a canopy, and plants more adapted to shade grow beneath.
Vegetation
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39. Moderate Climates Types Temperature Moisture Vegetation
Mediterranean, Marine West Coast, Humid Subtropical
Types
Seasonal, but almost never below freezing
Temperature
Moderate rain
Moisture
In General: A wide variety—forests of deciduous trees, tall shrubs, low bushes, a variety of grasses
Humid Subtropical: Has the most heat and precipitation and many types of vegetation
Marine West Coast: Mountainous and cooled by ocean currents—supports more forests than grasses
Mediterranean: Rainy winters and hot, dry summers lead to plants with leathery leaves, which hold in moisture during the dry summers.
Vegetation
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40. A Vertical Climate
A mountain is an example of a vertical climate, where the climate changes according to the mountain’s height.
A hike up a tall mountain in a moderate climate would go something like this:
__________________ surround the base, and temperatures are _______________________.
You soon enter a region with less precipitation than below—there are short grasses, as in a continental climate.
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41. At the mountaintop is an icecap climate, with _____________________.
Next, you move through deciduous forests where it is cooler and drier.
Slowly the forests change to coniferous forests.
Then, you find only scattered, short trees and finally only low shrubs and short grasses.
Soon it is too cold and dry even for them and you begin to see mosses and lichens of a tundra.
At the mountaintop is an icecap climate, with _____________________.
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