Year 10 Geography

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Environmental change

Types of maps

continents

Key concepts

  • Sustainability: Developing ways to ensure the earths resources be used and managed responsibly so they can be maintained for future generations.
    
  • Place: A place a part of the earths surface that is identified and given meaning by people
    
  • Space: Geographers use the concept of space when investigating the way that things are arranged on the earths surface.
    
  • Environment: Environment means the living and non-living components and elements that make up an area, and the ways they are organised.
    
  • Interconnection: Geographers use the concept of interconnection to better the links between places and people, and how these interconnections affect the way we live.
    
  • Change: The earth is constantly changing. These changes can be a result of natural forces and human activity.
    
  • Scale: geographers study things that take place on many different special levels. They use the concept of scale to look for explanations and outcomes at different levels.
    

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• North America

• South America

• Africa

• Europe

• Asia

• Australia

• Antarctica

Oceans

• Pacific Ocean

• Atlantic Ocean

• Antarctic Ocean

• Artic Ocean

• Indian Ocean

Area and grid references

BOLTSS

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• Border

• Orientation

North

South

East

west

• Legend- a description, explanation, or table of symbols printed on a map or chart to permit a better understanding or interpretation of it

• Title

• Scale

-Linear scale

1:200 000 would be 1 cm on the map represents 200000 cm in real life.

  • Ratio scale/method

1 cm would be 1cm= 50000m or 50km

• Source

• Area references - Four digit reference of the bottom left corner of which the item is found.

• Grid references have six numbers from the bottom left corner use to beter locater an object with more accuracy.

Cross section

How to draw a cross section

  1. Place the straight edge of the paper along line x-y
    
  1. Mark the position of each contour
    
  1. Label the height of each contour and the positions of x and y.
    
  1. Prepare a horizontal grid making the lengths of the grid equal to x and y
    
  1. Mark in heights along the vertical lines and label x and y
    
  1. Lay the strip of paper along the base line and transfer the height to the grid
    
  1. Join the points with a smooth curve
    
  1. Shade the section
    
  1. Label any important features
    
  1. Give it a title
    

Features on a map

• Physical

-natural and are not modified by humans

  • eg. Mountains, oceans, lakes and forests

• Cultural

-made by humans

  • e.g. Houses, bridges, train stations and roads

4 S's Ecosystem Services

• Sources – provisioning services

  • Natural products that can be used or converted by humans for our use
    
  • mineral deposits such as coal which we then turn into fuel
    
  •  iron
    
  • Timber
    
  •  food sources
    

• Sinks – regulating Services

  • Processes in the natural environment that absorb our waste.
    
  • Micro-organisms in oceans break down oil spills
    
  • Bacteria in soil breaks down human waste
    

• Services- supporting services

  • Things that are done for us by the natural environment that don’t produce consumable resources.
    
  • Forests absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen
    
  • Wetlands filter water and slow floodwaters
    

• Spirituality – cultural services

  • The connection that indigenous Australians have with the land
    
  • The experience of spending time in the natural environment and the sense of wellbeing it brings like surfing and bushwalking
    

degrading land

Degrading the atmosphere

Degrading water

Biodiversity loss

climate change

Climate change is a long-term permanent shift in some or all parts of the weather conditions experienced in an area.

Global climate change is increasing at a rapid rate.

impacts: coral bleaching, sea water rising, ice melting,

Causes: land use changes, pollution, changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, changes in the nitrogen cycle and acid rain, climate alterations, and the introduction of exotic species, all coincident to human population growth

a decrease in biodiversity within a species, an ecosystem, a given geographic area, or Earth as a whole

3 main causes of clime change:

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• Fossil fuels

  • Make up 76% of greenhouse gas emissions.
    
  • When fossil fuels (coal) are burnt they produce carbon dioxide which contributes to the greenhouse gas effect causing the climate to change.
    
  • 1800s change- industrial revolution
    

• Agriculture- methane

  • 24% of our GHG emissions
    
  • Methane is the second largest contributor to global warming
    
  • Produce by livestock (cows, sheep) as they chew their food
    
  • Currently 1.4 billion cattle on earth. 1 cow produces 60-80kg of methane each year
    

• Deforestation

  • As trees grow, they remove and store carbon dioxide from the air
    
  • When trees are cut down or burnt, their stored carbon dioxide is released into the air as carbon dioxide.
    

Impacts:

• Methane and CO2 enter the atmosphere and increase the layer of GHGs, trapping heat which creates the enhanced greenhouse effect and warms the planet

  • biodiversity loss

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• Changes in temperature and rainfall

  • Increase in natural disasters
    
  • Droughts, floods, ect.
    

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• Ocean

  • Temperature increase
    
  • Sea levels
    
  • Coral bleaching
    

Research

• Biodiversity refers to the variety of living organisms on the planet

• It is measured by the number of species present in a particular ecosystem or region

• It is estimated that between 17,000 and 100,000 species are reaching extinction each year

• Biodiversity loss is when there is a decrease in the number, type or variety of living organisms within an environment

Five main Causes:

• Habitat change such as deforestation

• Over exploitation of resources such as fresh water

• Pollution of land, water and air

• The spread of invasive species

• Climate change brought about by human activity

Impacts of biodiversity loss:

• Threatens the structure and proper functioning of the ecosystem

• Structure of the food chain

• Humans rely on plants and animals for food and medicines

• Increases the spread of disease

• Impacts food security

Hot spots:

• A biodiversity hotspot is an area with unusual concentration of species, many of which are endemic (native)

• There are 35 biodiversity hotspots in the world

• Hotspots have already lost 86% of their original habitats

• Two criteria for a region to be classified as a biodiversity hotspot are:

o It must contain at least 1,500 species of native plants

o It has to have lost at least 70% of its original native habitat

India Hotspot

Causes

littering, land clearing,

creating tips and landfill, processing sewage and

industrial activities

Over fishing, water pollution,

contamination of rivers, lakes,wetlands, estuaries, seas and oceans through the release of harmful substances

The loss of productivity and decline in fertility of land-based environments as a result of human
activities are referred to as land degradation

affects about one-quarter of
the world’s total land area and about 38 per cent of the world’s farmed areas

Soil degradation

Impacts

refers to the loss of fertility
of the soil, often due to a chemical change

Ecosystem Decline

May be through loss of vegetation, the invasion of non native plants and animals or a decline in the quality of rivers and springs

Soil erosion

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clearing trees for
farming, accelerate erosion

cleared land is more vulnerable to wind
erosion, gully erosion and sheet erosion

This can lead to desertification

Natural ecosystems of an area, such as forests and streams, can become degraded

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becoming compacted by large machinery and hard-hooved animals such as cattle and sheep

becoming acidic due to a build-up of fertiliser or a loss of soil nutrients caused by farming the land too intensity

Topographical

Road map

Political

is when soil is gradually worn away by natural phenomena such as rivers, rain, waves, glaciers and the wind

Impacts

Biodiversity loss

reliance on water

Water becoming polluted

Damming rivers

Recovery

Air pollution

Impacts

Causes

is one of the main health risks the world faces today

1/2 of all India's die prematurely due to air pollution each year

due to cars and rapid growth with industries

Has the highest levels of air pollution

10 km above the earth sits a concentrated layer of Ozone

shields us from sun uv, due to pollution so we have more cases of cancer

Ban of chemicals sees the Ozone recovering

Layers of gas around the earth

water environments are some of the worlds most degraded environments

Disrupts flow of water

Disrupts ecosystem services

Food sources

Fertile soil

Pollutants in water

Causes

Is the contamination of water sources

Shipping

fishing

Water drilling

Lake chad

Increases cases of asthma

lung disease

Heart disease

Cooking

Fuel

animal waste

Population

Climate change

Over population- increase in population- increase in demand for water- houses and irrigation, agriculture- provides food- lies over 4 countries pop double 2050- desertification

Climate change – temp rises – decrease of mass rainfall events and high rates of evaporation- rainfall can’t refresh water supplies- size one tenth