Geography Unit 1

• The 5 themes of geography are location, place, region, movement, and human-environment interaction.
• Absolute location is the location of a point on the earth's surface as determined by lines of latitude and longtitude.
• Relative location is the location of a point in relation to other locations.
• The 5 climate regions are the tropical climates, dry climates, mid-latitudes, high latitudes, and highland climates.
• The Earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the Sun.
• There are two types of planets in our solar system: terrestrial planets and gas giants.
• Terrestrial planets are planets with a compact, rocky surface.
• Gas giants are planets that are larger and more gaseous than terrestrial planets.
• Which two climate regions share similar characteristics?

  high latitudes, highland climates
• The layers of the Earth are the inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust.
• The magma in the mantle follows a pattern of heating, rising, releasing heat, and sinking again.
• The Earth's core consists of a solid inner core and a liquid outer core.
• The water cycle consists of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and runoff.
• 3 key factors that affect the Earth's climate are the Earth's tilt, rotation, and revolution.
• The continental drift theory states that the continents move four inches per year.
• Subduction occurs when a sea plate dives beneath a continental plate.
• Accretion occurs when a sea plate slowly slides underneath a continental plate, causing continents to grow outward.
• Spreading occurs when sea plates pull apart.
• Folds are bends in the Earth's crust.
• Faults are cracks in the Earth's crust.
• Earthquakes are sudden, violent movements of plates that occur along a fault line.
• Weathering is a process by which rocks are broken down into smaller pieces.
• Erosion is a process by which rock is worn away by water, wind, or ice.
• The hydrosphere consists of all the water on the Earth's surface.
• The lithosphere consists of all the land on the Earth's surface.
• The atmosphere consists of the layers of gases surrounding the Earth.
• The biosphere consists of all life on Earth.
• Climate is the atmospheric conditions of a certain location over a long period of time.
• Weather is the atmospheric conditions of a location over a limited period of time.
• The Tropics are the final lines of longtitude that receive direct sunlight.
• Each polar region receives 6 months of indirect sunlight at a time.
• The greenhouse effect is when gases in the Earth's atmosphere trap heat from the sun.
• Global warming occurs due to an increase in greenhouse gases, which leads to rising sea levels and melting glaciers.
• Wind distributes the Sun's heat around the planet.
• What are Doldrums?

  areas with no wind
• Currents are cold or warm streams of seawater flowing through the oceans in a circular pattern.
• Physical geography is the study of the Earth's physical features.
• Human geography is the study of human activity in relation to the physical environment.
• Asteroids are small, irregularly shaped masses of rock and metals.
• Comets consist of icy dust particles and frozen gases. They appear from Earth as balls of bright light with long tails.