Physical Geography

  1. Home
  2. Physical Geography

INTRODUCTION TO GEOGRAPHY

 
 

Introduction

Geography – it means “Study of the Earth”. It has two parts:

Physical geography:

  1. Landforms
  2. Atmosphere,
  3. Hydrosphere,
  4. Biosphere.

Human geography:

  1. Habitation
  2. Population
  3. Agriculture
  4. Location of Industries.

 

Fundamentals of geography:

 Latitudes:

  1. They represent angular distance from center of the earth.
  2. Latitudes or “Parallels” are concentric circles.
  3. Largest latitude: Equator [0°]
  4. Tropic regions: From equator to 23.5° N “Tropic of Cancer” and 23.5°S “Tropic of Capricorn”. Heat surplus regions.
  5. Temperate regions: from 23.5°N to 66.5°N and 23.5°S to 66.5°S. Heat deficit regions.
  6. Differential heating is responsible for different pressure and planetary winds.
  1. Seasons:
  2.  The Earth is tilted on its axis by angle of 23.5°. This is the reason for the seasons. The variation in the length of day and night from seasons is also due to the tilt.
  3. The Earth completes a rotation around sun in 365 days. In March the hemispheres are equidistant from the sun this is spring.
  4. In June the northern hemisphere is closer to the sun so it’s summer in the north and winter in the south.
  5. The autumn is in September when again both hemispheres are equidistant. In December the southern hemisphere is closer to the sun and hence there is summer in the south and winter in the north.
3.      Longitudes / Meridians
  1. They are the angular distance of a place from the prime meridian [0°].
  2. 0° = Greenwich line, UK and 180° = international date line
  3. From International Date Line moving to east subtracts a day and moving west adds a day. Western hemisphere is one day behind and eastern hemisphere is one day ahead.
  4. Every country selects its standard meridian [for India – 82.5°]. India’s time is 5.5 hrs ahead of Greenwich meridian time.

Miscellaneous Examples:

E.g. If 12 pm at Greenwich then at 15° E its 1 pm and 15° W its 11 am. Since 15° is 1 hour.

Note:  France has the highest number of time zones –> 12.

  • The Equator passes through: Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Maldives, and Indonesia.
 
  • Tropic of Capricorn: Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Botswana, Madagascar and Australia.
  • Tropic of Cancer: Mexico, Algeria, Niger, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, China, Oman, Bangladesh, Burma and Taiwan.
 
  • GMT runes through United Kingdom, France, Spain, Algeria, Mali and Ghana in Africa
 
  • IST runs through UP, MP, Orissa and Chhattisgarh

Chapter Review

Score more than 80% marks and move ahead else stay back and read again!

Q1: They represent angular distance from center of the earth?
1.longitudes
2.latitudes
3.meridiens
4.all

Q2:Heat surplus regions extends from
1.From equator to 23.5° N “Tropic of Cancer”
2.From equator to 23.5° S “Tropic of Capricorn”
3.both
4.none

Q3:The variation in the length of day and night from seasons is due to
1.rotation
2.revolution
3.rotation on tilted axis
4.gravitational pull of moon

Q4:Standard meriden of India is
1.30 °
2.82.5 °
3.75 °
4.60 °

Q5:The Equator passes through:
1.Ecuador
2.Colombia
3.Indonesia
4.All