University Geography Spring Course
My Photo Journal
If this is my professor or TA, Mike or Jess, welcome to my photo journal! To anyone else who has come across this blog, let me explain a little about what it is.
To fulfill the requirements for my degree, I must take some science courses - hence why I am taking this geography course in the first place. I love nature and this course offered some outdoor experiences so it was the perfect fit - and to my surprise was one of my favourite classes of my whole degree! The following photos and text blurbs are a representation of most of the units I studied in an intense 3 week period. The original assignment was to take “selfies” in front of different places that related to the topics but me being a photographer, was given the opportunity to place an object in my photos to represent me instead of my face.
I decided to go with my sunglasses as my object. Some headings will have at-least one photo with my sunglasses but I will be adding way more photos of just the landscapes (how could I not)!
Physical Geography
Unit 1
On the surface, geography seems like a pretty straightforward area of study but to my surprise, in the first unit we learned about the multitude of areas in geography. Of the 9 categories in the textbook, we were focusing on physical geography which in itself has 8 subcategories. This photo is of Mike, my professor, who specializes in human geography which looks at the impact and behaviour of people and how they relate to the physical world. Physical and human geography has many close links and overlap.
The Planet Earth
Unit 2
There are five interacting spheres in the earth system. The atmosphere which is the blanket layer of air that adheres to the earth; the hydrosphere that includes all of the water that exists below, on and above the earth; the cryosphere which is encompasses all frozen water and is related to the hydrosphere but has its own properties; the biosphere which is the zone of life and the lithosphere (lithos meaning rock) which is the outermost shell of the earths surface.
Mapping the Earth’s Surface
Unit 3
As we all know (I hope), the world is a sphere. This creates a problem for cartographers (people who draw maps) because spheres are considered an undevelopable surface and cannot be flattened. There have been many ways created to project the earth onto a flat surface including the mercator projection that is one of the most popular ways. The mercator projection distorts the size of the northern hemisphere making it look much larger than its southern counterpart.
Earth’s Setting in Space
Unit 4
Our planet is nestled in the Milky Way galaxy which consists of over 100 billion stars including our middle sized star, the sun. Our galaxy is only one of many galaxies meaning there is an estimate of more than 200 billion-billion (200 x 10^18) stars in the universe. That means there are enough stars for each person currently on the planet to have 50 billion stars of their own. The idea of how small we are compared to the universe is quite humbling.
Composition & Structure of the Atmosphere
Unit 5
The atmosphere is broken up into multiple layers. The layer that we live in is called the troposphere and averages about 12km high off the ground. As you get higher into the troposphere, there is a lapse rate of temperature of 6.5 degrees per 1000 metres. That simply means that every 1000 meters you go up (like if you were climbing a mountain) the temperature will drop 6.5 degrees from where you started.
Atmospheric & Surface Temperature
Unit 7
Land heats up and cools down much faster than the body of water lying beside it. Water is actually a heat reservoir because of its ability to store energy and heat while the land does not allow radiation to penetrate it deep enough to hold a meaningful amount of heat. The oceans annual temperature range (-2 degrees - 32 degree) is much smaller than the lands annual temperature range (-88 degree - 58 degrees).
Air Pressure & Winds
Unit 8
Chinook wind occurs on the east side of the Rocky Mountains along the west side of the prairies. Chinook is a Native American word that means “snow eater” because of its ability to melt snow so quickly. Chinook winds are warmed and dried by their descent off of the mountains and affect southern Alberta. Calgary has about 25 chinook winter days a year.
Circulation Patterns of the Atmosphere
Unit 9
In the 14th century, there were many sailors who became very familiar with the winds of the sea. Some in particular were called doldrums and sailors dreaded being caught in them because of they were unpredictable. Ships could become stranded and drift aimlessly for days. They occur around the equator where the northern and southern trade winds converge in a zone that cause either calm seas or unpredictable breezes.
Hydrosphere
Unit 10
An El Niño is an intermittent anomaly in seawater off the coast of Peru and Ecuador. It raises the seawater temperature yearly about 2 degrees and lasts up to three months. It temporarily reduces the fish catch because it suppresses upwelling that transports nutrients that is crucial for the surface-layer food chain. Severe El Niño’s can linger up to three years and has a massive impact on fish and bird species in the area.
Atmospheric Moisture & the Water Balance
Unit 11
Water is essential to human life, let alone the existence of all other lifeforms. Water can be found in all three of its forms (water, ice, vapour) everywhere as it covers 71% of the earth and is integrated into everyday life. In this photo at the Athabasca Glacier, you can see all threes forms of water interacting in the same area (water, glacier, clouds).
Precipitation, Air Masses & Fronts
Unit 12
Orographical precipitation happens on mountains when coastal winds carrying precipitation hit the windward side of the mountain, cool down, lose their precipitation and move to the leeward side of the mountain warmer and able to carry much more moisture. Since the air can now carry more moisture, it creates a very dry environment on the leeward slope of the mountain.
Weather Systems
Unit 13
There are four stages in the life cycle of a mid-latitude cyclone: early, open wave, occlusion and dissipation. In the early stage, the cold and warm air are side by side causing a stationary front. Soon, the stationary front gains a kink and the cold front begins to interact with the warm front causing an open wave. The warm air starts to ride up over the cold air and then soon after the cold front completely picks up the warm air that turns into an occluded front. The warm air is then detached from the warm front and becomes surrounded by the cold air as the whole thing is moved by the polar jet stream.
Severe Weather
Unit 14
Lightening is defined as an “atmospheric discharge of electricity” which accompanies thunder during a thunderstorm. It can also occur during volcanic eruptions or dust storms. A lightening bolt can reach speeds of 60,000 m/s and temperatures of 30,000 degrees Celsius.
Weather Tracking & Forecasting
Unit 15
This photo specifically is a weather station on the Athabasca glacier. Weather stations report on the surface conditions of an area using many instruments to determine air temperature, dew-point temperature, air pressure, precipitation, wind speed and direction, relative amount of cloudiness, cloud types present and any other significant weather happening.
Climate Classification & Regionalization
Unit 16
The Koppen climate classifying system is a system that identifies plants with certain temperatures and regions. Wladimir Koppen mapped out a global distribution of temperatures and precipitation then compared it to the 1874 comprehensive global distribution of vegetation.
Global Climates
Unit 17
Dry winters are defined as a a time when there is very low precipitation and are too warm to sustain snow coverage. Dry winters are typically found in the tropics but are specifically associated with tropical latitudes at much higher elevation. The higher latitude creates a cooler climate, preventing places from being categorized as simply tropical.
Dynamics of Past & Present Climate Change
Unit 18
Climate change has always been an occurring event and fossils have helped paint a history of this. Information gathered from fossils can reveal past environments and living conditions like warm swamp conditions or ice ages. Specific plant and marine species thrived in certain conditions and from information gathered, it has been agreed upon that most dinosaurs lived in a warm and moist world with many swamps, tropical vegetation and marshes. However, prior to this the world was in an ice age keeping animals small, thick-shelled and sparse.
The Layered Interior
Unit 20
Relief in geography refers to the vertical difference between the the highest and lowest points in a given area. The Rocky Mountains are a perfect example of high relief while the flat prairies surrounding Edmonton are a low relief area. Even if the plain is at a high elevation, it is still low relief compared to mountains and valleys at a lower elevation. The key to relief is the difference between the highest and lowest points.
Impact Catering
Unit 21
There are many names to describe different types of space debris that we either encounter or see in the night sky. Meteorites are the space rocks that have actually fallen to earths surface and can greatly vary in size. They can be as small as a grain of dust to being so big that they weigh several tonnes. Above are photos of regular rocks meant to show the potential difference in size.
Minerals & Igneous Rocks
Unit 22
Interestingly, both diamonds and graphite are made out of pure carbon. They are completely opposite as diamonds are one of the hardest rocks while graphite is soft and used in pencils. Chemically they are the same but what differs is how they crystallize. Diamonds have more time to cool so their atoms are able to bond very close together making it incredibly strong.
Sedimentary & Metamorphic Rocks
Unit 23
Sedimentary rocks can be found in strata and tell a story of the past. Strata has very distinct layers and fossils are typically found in it. Stratigraphy is the interpretation of these layers and a-lot of our understanding of earth history has been obtained from analyzing the strata. Certain types of erosion scraps away at the sides of landforms, exposing the strata and perfectly showing the multitude of different layers.
Lithospheric Plates & Plate Movement
Unit 24
Isostasy means “to stand equally” and is seen in mountain formations. Interestingly, I learned that due to the asthenosphere under the crust, landforms like mountains are able to mirror themselves beneath the surface. Mountains in theory have their own roots and as they grow bigger, so do their roots. Isostasy is the balancing act between the floating landmasses and the asthenosphere beneath them.
Volcanism & Its Landforms
Unit 25
The photo I am putting here is not of a volcano but a photo with a “hot spot” in the top right corner. For volcanos, hot spots are concentrated, fixed areas of heat that the oceanic crust moves over. As the crust moves, new and active volcanos are formed as the old ones move away and become extinct. In photography, a hot spot is an area on a photo that the highlights are completely blown out and no detail is left because it is such a concentrated area of light.
Earthquakes & Landscapes
Unit 26
Earthquakes themselves create destruction on the surface but can also have secondary effects on the surrounding landscapes. Landslides can be a symptom of earthquakes as it can shake loosely compacted sediments. When these sediments are found on hillsides, they are much more likely to slide downhill causing a landslide. Neither of the photos I am including are earthquake induced landslides but I wanted to show a potential outcome from an earthquake.
Folds
Unit 27
When rocks are compressed, they react to stress by folding or faulting. It is common in sedimentary layers for folding to occur as all rocks have some capacity to fold before faulting. There are two very noticeable fold types - anticlines and synclines. Anticlines have centres that bend upwards like a lower case n, while synclines have a bend like a “u.”
The Formation of Landscapes & Landforms
Unit 28
Hoodoos are degradational landforms as they form through erosion and weathering. Hoodoos are made of a hard top part with a harder rock (usually well compacted sedimentary rock) and the bottom part is made out of a much softer stone that is more easily eroded away. Every rock has its own properties and from those properties, rocks can interact with each other and create many beautiful and interesting landforms.
Water in the Lithosphere
Unit 31
Hot springs have been enjoyed by people for a very long time, and were one of the important factors in creating the first national park in the world as well as the first national park in Canada (Banff). Hot springs come from groundwater in an aquifer. That aquifer lays on top of an aquiclude that is heated by a magma chamber. When the upper aquiclude cracks, the heated and pressured water rushes up the fault and creates a spring of hot running water. The photo above shows the jasper hot spring as well as the old bathhouse.
Slopes & Streams
Unit 32
Streams are in a state of dynamic equilibrium with constant inputs and outputs happening. There are many factors that dictate the dynamic equilibrium and they can be categorized in three groups: independent, semi-dependent and dependent. Independent factors are ones that the stream has no control over like climate or ultimate base levels and the stream must simply adjust to it. Semi-dependent factors somewhat rely on the independent factors but also interact amongst each other. There is only one dependent factor that relies on everything else which is the slope of the stream.
Aggradational Landforms of Streams
Unit 34
Oxbow lakes are created when rivers meander and then cut off the bend in the river. Soil deposit and erosion help with this process of creating a faster route for the water to travel. When the river cuts off the bend, it becomes its own crescent shaped separate lake.
Karst Processes & Landforms
Unit 35
Karst landscapes are created by chemical erosion. For a karst landscape to form, it is highly dependent on the rock type because it relies on dissolvable rocks. Another important role is water because the movement contributes to erosion through streams, underground drainage flows and groundwater. The circulation between the surface water and the groundwater is essential because it creates three solution processes: dissociation, solution and sulphidic weathering. They become very unique landscapes and form a variety of different caves and valleys.
Glacial Degradation
Unit 36
The Athabasca Glacier has been retreating since the mid 1800’s and as it has been doing that, it has been creating crevasses. When ice isn’t frozen to the bottom of a glacier, it moves more easily over bedrock and becomes a very effective agent of erosion. As alpine glaciers retreat, they create a U-shaped valley in its path with a relatively flat bottom and steep sides.
Continental Ice Sheets & Mountain Glaciers
Unit 37
Glacial erratic’s are pieces of rock that differ in size and type from the native rocks in the area that it is located. These rocks are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundreds of kilometres. The one pictured here is an example of a glacial erratic that was most likely deposited by the columbian ice field.
Coastal Processes
Unit 41
Wind plays a big role in shaping coastal landforms. Most waves are generated by wind and are effective erosional agents. The energy carried in the wind is transferred to the water, creating waves. Large waves are created by high velocity wind, persistent wind direction, long wind duration and long fetch of the wind. When conditions are not this favourable, much smaller waves are created but can be more complex.
Coastal Landforms & Landscapes
Unit 42
Coral reefs are built by tiny marine organisms and release calcium carbonate. I thought it was extremely cool that atolls existed. Atolls are roughly circular reefs that have no land on the inside of the circle. It is thought that atolls were formed around the rim of volcanic cones. As the cones eroded away, it left a circular reef where the base once sat.
Climate, Soil, Plants & Animals
Unit 43
I think it is extremely important for people to take care of the plants, animals and resources around us. Sustainable development is key to biodiversity and it is important to see the value in protecting the environment around us. Knowledge, awarenesses and advocacy are important tools to use in conservation efforts. People have to come together and collectively see the importance and fragility that animals, plants and resources have.
I have so many more photos from my three weeks in this class and I wish I could include them all! This experience has by far been one of the best classes I have taken in university and I am so thankful for Mike and Jess for being so awesome and supportive. Hope you all enjoyed my little recap!
