Geography 1

Student Learning Outcomes (or things you should know after you take this course):

  1. Identify and explain the distortions produced by basic map projections, and recognize the

  2. suitability of a projection for the study of various geographic phenomena.

  3. Describe and explain the changes in Earth-Sun relations associated with the annual

  4. change of seasons.

  5. Describe and explain the heating processes of the atmosphere, and the causes and significance of land-water temperature contrasts. D. Evaluate and interpret global temperature patterns.

  6. Describe and explain wind patterns around high and low pressure cells, and the general global atmospheric circulation patterns of wind and pressure.

  7. Examine and explain the concept of relative humidity, and the relationships between relative humidity and adiabatic processes in the atmosphere.

  8. Analyze and explain global patterns of precipitation.

  9. Identify and describe the characteristics, location, and causes of typical midlatitude and tropical atmospheric disturbances and storms, including midlatitude cyclones, midlatitude anticyclones, and tropical cyclones.

  10. Analyze and interpret the global distribution of climate types following the Koppen climate classification system, including the general location, characteristics and controls of each major climate type.

  11. Analyze and assess evidence that supports the model of plate tectonics.

  12. Explain the topographic features and tectonic activity associated with the three major kinds of plate boundaries, and how mantle plumes and terranes are incorporated into the model of plate tectonics.

  13. Identify and explain the major kinds of faults and the most common landforms associate with faulting.

  14. Examine and interpret the relationships between different kinds of magma, the style of volcanic eruption, and the types of volcanic mountains that develop from these magmas.

  15. Describe and explain the major processes of mechanical and chemical weathering.

  16. Identify and describe the main categories of mass wasting and the landforms typically produced by these processes.

  17. Analyze and interpret processes of fluvial erosion and deposition, including common landforms produced by these processes.

  18. Describe and explain landforms associated with karst topography and hydrothermal processes.

  19. Analyze and explain the characteristic conditions and special processes influencing landform development in desert regions.

  20. Explain the coastal processes of erosion, sediment transport and deposition, and the typical landforms produced by these processes.

  21. Explain the various processes of glacial erosion, transportation, deposition and glaciofluvial action, and the typical landforms associated with mountain and continental glaciation.