ANTH 1003 Chapter : 2 14 13
Document Summary
Physical geography is key to studying earth because of special approach. Five spatial themes of geographic science: location, region, human-earth relationships, movement, place. Physical geography spatial analysis of all the physical elements and processes that make up the environment: energy, air, water, weather, climate, landforms, soils, animals, plants, microorganisms, and earth itself. Systems in nature are generally not self contained (normally open) Earth is an open system in terms of energy. Earth is a closed system in terms of matter and resources. Negative feedback if feedback information discourages response in system. Further production in the system decreases growth of system. Positive feedback information encourages increased response in system (global climate change) Further production in the system stimulates growth of system. Steady state equilibrium rates of input and output are equal and amount of energy and matter in storage are constant. Dynamic equilibrium stead state that has a changing trend over time. Geodesy study of earths size and shape.
