physical geography
The Physical Geography (also Physiogeographie ) is the scientific approach to geography and is thus in addition to the human geography is one of the two sub-areas within the geography. It collects, describes and explains the earth's surface as a total system , composed of different subsystems.
object
The subject of physical geography is the earth's surface in the sense of the geosphere . The geosphere is the complex of five spheres:
- Biosphere (terrestrial habitat of flora and fauna )
- Earth's atmosphere (air envelope of the earth)
- Hydrosphere (water envelope of the earth: rivers , lakes, seas, glaciers)
- Lithosphere (rock shell of the earth: reaching to about 200 km depth)
- Pedosphere ( soil )
These five spheres are built up by the corresponding five geofactors climate, water, soil, rocks and vegetation.
Sub-areas of physical geography
Physical geography is divided into the sub-areas of climatic geography or climatology (climate), hydrogeography (water), soil geography (soil), geomorphology (surface forms), biogeography (vegetation and animals) and landscape ecology, each of which takes a closer look at one of these geofactors .
Geoecology has developed as a newer sub-area within physical geography, but also as an independent discipline . She tries to bring together the knowledge from the traditional sub-areas of physical geography and thus to consider the geosphere holistically. This means that the structure of geo- and biofactors, the material and energy balance of landscapes, the consequences of human intervention and the possibilities of responsible landscape design are examined.
Representatives of physical geography included Friedrich Simony , Alexander von Humboldt , James Hutton and William Morris Davis .
literature
- Roland Baumhauer: Physical Geography 1. Geomorphology . 3. Edition. WGB, Darmstadt 2013, ISBN 978-3-534-25634-1 .
- Roland Baumhauer et al .: Physical geography 2. Climate, hydro, soil, vegetation geography . 2nd Edition. WGB, Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3-534-24260-3 .
- Rüdiger Glaser et al .: Physical geography compact . Spectrum, Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8274-2059-6 .
- Rainer Glawion et al .: Physical geography . 2nd Edition. Westermann, Braunschweig 2012, ISBN 978-3-14-160354-5 .
- Andrew Goudie: Physical Geography. An introduction . 4th edition. Elsevier / Spektrum, Munich / Heidelberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-8274-1872-2 (English: The nature of the environment . Translated by Peter Wittmann, Jürg Rohner).
- Christiane Martin, Manfred Eiblmaier: Lexicon of Geosciences. Spectrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg et al. 2001, ISBN 3-8274-0420-7 .
- Alan H. Strahler, Arthur N. Strahler : Physical geography . 4th edition. UTB / Ulmer, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-8252-8159-5 (English: Introducing Physical Geography . Translated by Einar Eberhardt).
- Stephen J. Reynolds et al .: Exploring Physical Geography. [Strongly visually oriented textbook with more than 2500 photographs & illustrations]. McGraw-Hill Education, 2015. ISBN 978-0-07-809516-0
Web links
- Basics of physical geography Video recordings of a lecture. From TIMMS, Tübingen Internet Multimedia Server of the University of Tübingen .