GEG 1301 Lecture 2: Overview of Earth

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Geography
• Course: GEG 1301
• Professor: Denis Lacelle

Document Summary

Most of the landmass is found in the northern hemisphere. Africa: lacks mountains ranges (has mountains, but no ranges) South america: mountain range on west, sloping basin in east. Na: mountain range on west, and along the east (creates a funnel) Blocks west-east movement of air, amplifies north-south. Eurasia: mountain range extends from east to west. Only ~ 1/3 of landmass are habitable by humans. Ocean basin: pacific, atlantic (n & s), indian, southern, arctic, and mediterranean sea. The continental shelf was not always submerged [bering strait land bridge] East-west hemispheres are defined by the greenwich meridian. Erasthenes: calculated the circumference of the earth (within 1. 5% accuracy) Earth is not perfectly spherical, there is a bulge at the equator (geoid) Parallels (latitude) represent the angle relative to the equator. 5 key parallels: equator, tropic of cancer, tropic of capricorn, arctic circle and. Meridians (longitude) represent the angle relative to the prime/greenwich meridian. All meet at the north and south poles.