Portal:Geography

The Geography Portal

Geography studies the location, extent, distribution, frequency and interaction of all significant elements of the human and physical environment on the Earth's surface, particularly its features and of the distribution of life on the earth, including human life and the effects of human activity. The word geography derives from the Greek γη (ge) or γαια (gaia) ("Earth") and γραφειν (graphein) ("to inscribe"). Physical geography focuses on Earth science (and is sometimes called Earth System Science). This provides an understanding of the physical, meteorological and ecological patterns of the Earth. Human geography includes economic, political and cultural geography and focuses on the social science or the non-physical aspects of the world. It examines how human beings adapt themselves to the land and how they impact the physical world. Geographers not only study the human and natural features of the Earth but also its place in the Solar System and the Universe and how this affects the Earth features (e.g. climate, sea currents and tides).

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Yarralumla is a large suburb within Canberra, the capital city of Australia. Located approximately 3.5 kilometres south-west of the city centre, Yarralumla extends along the southern bank of Lake Burley Griffin. Europeans first settled the area in 1828, and it was named Yarralumla in 1834 from the Ngunnwal Indigenous Australian name for the area. Yarralumla is most noted for being the site of Government House, the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia, built in 1891. The suburb was officially gazetted in 1928 and today is home to approximately 3000 people and many diplomatic missions. In recent years, it has become one of Canberra's most desirable and expensive suburbs because of its leafy streets, attractive lakeside setting and central location. (more...)

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Profile through the Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. Morphological main features in the deep sea are shown like the mid-ocean ridge (West Scotia Ridge), separating the Antarctic Plate from the South American Plate. The South Shetland Islands belong to an island belt, resulting from the subduction of the Pacific plate below the Antarctic plate. In the back arc basin, i.e. the Bransfield Strait, submarine volcanoes have been found. The upper graph shows salinity and temperature in surface water measured along a cruise track. The Polar front is an oceanographic feature which is characterized by a steep change in temperature by some degree. Image credit: Hannes Grobe

Did you know...

• ...that sandstone layers (pictured) now exposed in the Canyons of the Escalante in Utah were deposited during the Mesozoic period, when the area was covered with sand dunes about 180 to 225 million years ago?
• ...that the Firth of Clyde is Great Britain's first seabird reserve?
• ...that Amsterdam has a concentric belt of canals around it?
• ...that the Korotoa River, a small stream in Rajshahi Division of Bangladesh, was once a large and sacred river?
• ...that Belgium's sillon industriel (steelmaking) was the first fully industrialized area in continental Europe?