What is geography?

Focus Points
• The geography of a country
• Different Landforms
• Water Everywhere
• Climate and Plant Life
• Physical Processes
Unit 2 – Chapter 3 – Lesson 2 – Our Country’s Geography
♦ All places on Earth have features that make them special.

♦ Some of these are physical features.

♦ Physical features include land, water, climate, and plant life.

 Different Landforms
♦ Like other landforms, mountains can be different shapes and sizes.
♦ There are many mountain ranges in the United States.
♦ A mountain range is a chain of mountains.
♦ The Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States are low and rounded.
♦ The Rocky Mountains in the west are tall and sharply pointed.
♦ Other landforms include valleys and plateaus.

♦ A valley is a low area of land that lies between hills or mountains.

♦ A plateau is a landform with steep sides that rise to a flat top.

 Water Everywhere
♦ Bodies of water are another kind of physical feature.
♦ The largest bodies of water are the oceans, which cover more than half of Earth.
♦ All ocean water is salty.
♦ On the continents are many smaller bodies of water, such as lakes, ponds, rivers,
and streams.
♦ Most of these contain fresh water, or water that is not salty.

♦ Fresh water, after it is treated, is the kind of water we drink and use in
our homes.
 Climate and Plant Life
♦ The vegetation, or plant life, in a place is another physical feature.
♦ Vegetation is affected by the climate.
♦ Palm trees grow well in hot, wet places.
♦ Climate also affects the growing season, or the time when plants can grow.
♦ Places with short, warm winters have longer growing seasons.
 Physical Processes
♦ Earth is always changing.
♦ These changes are often the result of physical processes.
♦ Physical processes affect all things on Earth.
♦ Some physical processes are slow.
♦ They take millions of years to change Earth.
♦ One slow process is erosion.
♦ Erosion is the wearing away of Earth’s surface.
♦ Water, wind, and sand can all cause erosion.
♦ Running water erodes riverbanks.
♦ Wind carries sand, which can wear away rock.
♦ Physical processes affect ecosystems every day.
♦ An ecosystem is made up of the plants, animals, land, water, and climate that
make up an area.
♦ Plants and animals in an ecosystem need each other to survive.
♦ Trees in a forest provide food and shelter for animals.
♦ In turn, the animals spread the seeds of the trees.
♦ Trees also provide shade for other plants.
 Focus Points
• The geography of a country
• Different Landforms
• Water Everywhere
• Climate and Plant Life
• Physical Processes
 Vocabulary
• physical feature_ A feature of a place’s land, water, climate, or
plant life.
• mountain range_ A large chain of mountains.
• valley_ A low land that lies between hills or mountains.
• plateau_ A landform with steep sides and a flat top.
• vegetation_ The plants that grow in a place.
• growing season_ The time in which plants can grow.
Thanks ………………..

Designed By

Mr / Hesham Mohamed