STANDARD COMPETENCIES:

 

 1. Discuss the role of maps, identify and use map scale, and identify some of the problems associated with maps and map projections.

 2. Identify locations on maps and be familiar with the geographic grid and other coordinate systems.

 3. Analyze and utilize USGS Topographic maps.

 4. Discuss groundwater and examine some of the issues surrounding groundwater use.

 5. Identify and explain processes by which soil is created. Describe soil orders and taxonomy.

 6. Explain the organization of the geologic timetable.

 7. Identify three major classes of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.

 8. Discuss the structure of the Earth.

 9. Discuss continental drift and plate tectonics. Describe internal and external processes that have formed Earth’s landscapes.

 10. Define and identify the differences between weathering, mass wasting, and erosion.

 11. Describe the role of fluvial processes in creating landforms.

 12. Describe the role of glaciers in creating landforms.

 13. Describe the role of wave action in creating landforms.

 14. Identify the processes of landform and topography creation in specific environments including arid landscapes, coastal landforms, and karst topography.

 15. Identify the relationship between human activity and the natural environment.

 TOPICAL OUTLINE:

 

 I. The tools of physical geography: maps, map projections, Latitude/Longitude, remote sensing, and GIS.

 II. Soils

 III. The lithosphere: the age of the Earth, geologic time, uniformitarianism

 IV. The structure and composition of the Earth

 V. The rock cycle, types of rocks

 VI. Plate tectonics: continental drift, earthquakes, volcanism

 VII. Mass wasting, weathering, and erosion

 VIII. Landforms produced by gravity

 IX. Landforms produced by the channeled flow of water and water working on limestone and dolomite

 X. Landforms produced by the work of wind

 XI. Landforms produced by the action of waves

 XII. Landforms produced by glaciers