aardijkskunde geo guides

• Dimensions of a subject

  • Economic
  • Socio-cultural
  • Political
  • Physical
• Economic dimension


  Deals with the interests of those who own raw materials, those who work and those with wealth
• Socio-cultural dimension


  Looks at how different groups of people in society interact, how they treat each other and how they care for each other
• Political dimension


  Deals with the division of power. What is the role of government, big companies and interest groups when decisions are made?
• Physical dimension


  Looks at a subject from the interests of nature. The effects on nature often have an impact on human lives
• Physical dimension


  • Scarcity of raw materials
  • Climate change
• Tropics (or tropical zone)


  The zone at the equator where it is warm all year round
• As you go towards the poles

  It gradually gets colder
• Tropic of Cancer


  The circle of latitude at 23 1/2°N where the tropical zone ends and the temperate zone begins
• Tropic of Capricorn


  The circle of latitude at 23 1/2°S where the tropical zone ends and the temperate zone begins
• Temperate zone


  The zone between the circles of latitude at 23 1/2° and 66 1/2°, where it is not too hot and not too cold
• Subtropics


  The part of the temperate zone that is nearest to the tropics, where the average temperatures are less hot than the tropics but still hotter than the rest of the temperate zone
• Polar regions (or polar zone)


  The regions that begin at the circles of latitude at 66 1/2°N and 66 1/2°S, where the days are long in summer and short in winter
• Polar circles


  The circles of latitude at 66 1/2°N and 66 1/2°S
• The Earth's surface is 29% land and 71% water
• The Sun's rays fall either on land or on water
• Temperature difference


  If the Sun's rays are absorbed by land or by water
• Land


  • Warms up and cools down in a different way to water
• Beach on a summer's day

  • Sand can be so hot that it hurts your feet
  • Seawater is much cooler
• Evening on the beach

  • Sand has cooled down quite a lot
  • Temperature of the sea has not changed
• Land surface warms up faster than the sea or ocean, but also cools off faster
• Difference in warming up and cooling down

  Influences the temperature of the air above land and sea
• Air temperature above the sea

  • Never be very high or very low
  • The sea has a moderating effect on the temperature
• Air temperature above land

  • Can get very warm and also very cold
  • The temperature can also change very quickly
• Onshore and offshore winds
• When wind hits a mountain range

  It can only go in one direction: up
• Relief rainfall


  Precipitation caused when rising air is pushed against a mountain
• Windward side


  • The side of a mountain that faces the wind
  • Moist air is pushed upwards, cools down and brings rain
• Leeward side


  • The other side of the mountain that's out of the wind
  • The air on that side goes down and gets warmer
  • Little or no precipitation
• Rain shadow


  The area behind the mountain range
• We call the rain that falls at the equator convectional rainfall
• thelithosphere: the hard and solid land mass called the Earth’s crust and underneath
• the hydrosphere: the Earth’s waters 
• the biosphere: life on Earth
• The subtropical zone (or subtropics) is a transitional area between the temperate and tropical zone.
• The boreal zone is a transitional area between the temperate and the polar zone.
• arid zone (arid means dry), the boundaries are marked by the scarce amount of precipitation and not by temperature. 
•  The eluviation zone is the layer of soil left behind when substances are transported away by water. 
• The illuviation zone is the layer below where the substances are deposited. 
• The parent material is located at the very bottom, where there has not yet been any influence of soil formation.