FIELD OF STUDY OF GEOGRAPHY - GEOGRAPHY - 2025

The fields of study of geography can be classified into geomorphological, hydrographic elements, climatological elements, biological elements and human elements. Likewise, geography is responsible for the study of the interaction between human beings and the environment.

Geography is a science that is responsible for the study, description and interpretation of the elements that make up planet Earth, both physical (natural areas and regions, variations in landscape, natural phenomena, geographic facts, aquatic bodies, among others) and biological (fauna and flora).

As can be seen, geography encompasses various fields of study, including geomorphological elements (continental and marine landforms and relief), hydrographic elements (such as the distribution of bodies of water), climatic elements, biological or biotic elements (fauna and flora) and human elements (such as political organization, economy and demography).

In this sense, the fields of study of geography overlap with the areas of study of other sciences, such as biology, geology, geomorphology, hydrology and medicine, and even with human sciences such as history, politics and science. anthropology.

Main fields of study of geography

1- Geomorphological elements

Geomorphological elements refer to relief, that is, to the forms that the surface of the planet Earth can present (both the visible surface on the continents and that found under the seas and oceans).

In this sense, geography is responsible for studying the various forms of land relief and underwater relief. Among the forms of land relief, the mountains, the plains, the plateaus and the plateaus stand out.

Other landform formations are mountain ranges, mountain ranges, volcanoes, valleys and depressions.

Regarding the underwater relief, the marine trench, the continental platform (which is the part of the continents that is submerged in the oceans), the abyssal plains and the oceanic ridge (such as the mid-Atlantic ridge) stand out.

2- Hydrographic elements

The physical elements are made up of bodies of fresh and salt water, which is known as the “hydrosphere”. The hydrosphere constitutes three-quarters of the total surface of the planet.

Sweet water

Freshwater bodies are found within continents and can be surface or underground.

Among the superficial ones, the rivers, lakes, lagoons and glaciers stand out. For their part, underground bodies are pockets of water and streams.

Rivers

Rivers are streams of water with continuous flow that originate thanks to groundwater or the overflow of other bodies of fresh water. Generally, they flow into the sea, although they can also flow into lakes or feed other rivers.

Lakes

Lakes are bodies of water at rest that are found in depressions on the earth's surface. If the extension of the lakes is small, then it is considered a lagoon.

Glaciers

Glaciers are accumulations of frozen fresh water masses. Glaciers constitute 95% of fresh water on planet Earth and occupy 10% of its surface. They are found in areas of perpetual snow.

Saltwater

About 97% of the water on the planet is salty. The bodies of salt water are seas and oceans. The seas are smaller than the oceans and are close to the continents.

The oceans are vast and on planet Earth there are five: the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Antarctic Glacial Ocean and the Arctic Ocean.

3- Weather elements

The climatological elements refer to the climate, which is defined as the routine succession of an atmospheric time. The main elements of this group are temperature, atmospheric pressure and precipitation.

Temperature

Temperature is the degree of heat present in the atmospheric layer. This is affected by altitude (the higher the altitude, the lower the temperature), the latitude (the closer you are to the Equator, the higher the temperature), among others.

Atmospheric pressure

Atmospheric pressure is the weight that the atmosphere exerts on a point on the earth's surface.

Precipitation

Precipitation is understood as the fall of water from the atmosphere. When it comes to falling water in a solid state, it is called hail; if the state of the falling water is semi-solid, it is snow; and if the water falls in a liquid state, then it is rain.

4- Biological elements

The biological elements are divided into vegetation and fauna.

Vegetation

Vegetation is the set of plant species found in an area. According to the general characteristics of this group of species, we can speak of four types of vegetation: forests (made up of large trees), bushes (made up of shrubs), meadows and grasslands (made up of herbs and plants that do not exceed 90 cm) and xerophytic vegetation (composed of thorny bushes, with few leaves, typical of the desert).

Fauna

Fauna is the group of animals that occupy a specific territory. It can be classified as terrestrial and aquatic.

5- Human elements

As explained above, geography is in charge of studying the interaction between the human being and the environment in which it develops.

Among the human elements that are part of the fields of study of geography, political organization, geopolitical organization and economic organization stand out.

Political organization

Societies are organized into entities called States, which are political and social associations whose objective is to regulate the functioning of society, guarantee security and establish relations with other States.

Among the forms of political organization, centralism, federalism and central-federalism stand out.

Geopolitical organization

States are projected within a geographic space; This projection is known as geopolitics.

Economic organization

In order to survive, all societies must establish an economic system that consists of factors of production (companies), consumers (the family is the consuming unit par excellence) and markets (which establish a relationship between producers and consumers).

References

1. Dictionary of geographical terms. Retrieved on July 5, 2017, from resources.collins.co.uk
2. A Modern Dictionary of Geography. Retrieved on July 5, 2017, from geography.ums.ac.id
3. Gepgraphy. Retrieved on July 5, 2017, from en.wikipedia.org
4. What is geography? Retrieved on July 5, 2017, from rgs.org
5. What is geography? Retrieved on July 5, 2017, from nationalgeographic.org
6. Geography. Retrieved on July 5, 2017, from ox.ac.uk
7. Fields of Study. Retrieved on July 5, 2017, from geo.fu-berlin.de
8. Branches of geography. Retrieved on July 5, 2017, from thoughtco.com