SC Geography

Geography notes

Geographic Skills

Topographical Maps:

A topographical map is a detailed large-scale map of part of the earth’s surface, illustrating selected features of the physical and built environments. It shows the height, relief and slope of the land, drainage patterns and vegetation and a range of built features such as settlement and transport linkages.

Climate:

The long-term weather pattern for a place or region.

Weather:

The day-to-day condition of the atmosphere at a particular place. It includes all the daily changes in

temperature	precipitation	wind
atmospheric pressure	sunshine	humidity

• Winds strongest where isobars are close together
• Wind direction and strength is like an arrow. More ‘feathers’ more power and arrow direction.

Investigating Australia’s identity

Flora

Australia has distinctive flora and fauna, which has resulted from the separation of Australia from the mainland of Asia, 30 to 40 million years ago.

As a result of this isolation, 80 % of all Australian plant species are endemic (don’t occur naturally elsewhere)

16% of Australia’s 20000 species of plant are said to be rare or threatened with extinction.

Eucalypts are the most widespread of Australian Flora vegetation

Non Eucalypt vegetation includes Acacias (eg. Wattles and mulga in woodland and arid regions), Casuarinas (river plants), and Hummock grasses (dry plains)

Fauna

Australia has unique fauna because they have evolved from the species that were present when the landmass broke away from Gondwanaland

Three types of mammals are:

• Monotremes
• Marsupials
• Placentals

• Australia has many nomadic bird species because there are different regions, so the birds move around to take advantage of places where conditions are good.
• Invertebrates = Animals without backbones

Australia in general

Australia is one of the seven continents.

It is the smallest continent and the biggest island

There is only one country on this continent – Australia

Closest neighbour = Papua New Guinea

Latitude = UP Longitude = LENGTH

 

 

 

 

Australia’s Diverse Physical Environments

Coral reef ecosystem

• Example: Great Barrier Reef

• Dominant features: Water and Coral
• Climate: Slight Rain
• Flora: Coral
• Fauna: Sea Animals

Tropical Rainforest ecosystem

• Example: Daintree rainforest

• Dominant features: Plants and trees
• Climate: Plenty of Rain
• Flora: Unique tropical rainforest plants

Desert (dune) ecosystem

• Example: Simpson Desert

• Dominant features: Desert/Sand
• Climate: Very little rain
• Flora: Plants requiring very little water like Hummock Grasses

Salt Lake Ecosystem

• Example: Lake Eyre

• Dominant features: Salt
• Climate: Little to no rain
• Flora and Fauna: Saltbush

Mountain (alpine) ecosystem

• Example: Southern Highlands

• Dominant features: Snow and mountain
• Climate: Rain in the mountain area
• Flora and Fauna: Eucalypt

Wetland Ecosystem

• Example: Kakadu

• Dominant features: Water, plants and cliff
• Climate: Slight Rain
• Flora and Fauna: Casuarinas and magpie geese

Coastal Ecosystem

• Example: Cronulla

• Dominant features: Water and rocks
• Climate: Clear, and slight rain which occasional heavy storms
• Flora and Fauna: Eucalypts

Desert (gibber) ecosystem

• Example: Sturt Desert

• Dominant features: Desert and rocks
• Climate: Rarely rains
• Flora and Fauna: Hummock Grass

Fresh water (aquatic) ecosystem

• Example: Murray-Darling River

• Dominant features: Plants, mountain and water
• Climate: Often rains
• Flora and Fauna: Casuarinas

Savanna ecosystem

• Spinifex grassland

• Dominant features: Dry plants
• Climate: Low amount of rain
• Flora and Fauna: Acacias

Changing Australian Environments

Droughts

Effect:

A drought is a period of dryness over an unusually long period of time. There is insufficient water to meet essential needs.

Cause:

Large low pressure area and is replaced by high pressure conditions and dry weather.

Warnings:

Monitoring changes in the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean and below-average rainfall

Floods

Effect:

Overflowing of a river bank, which covers the surrounding land with water.

Cause:

An unusually heavy rainfall resulting in the rising of a river

Warning:

Electronic data collection system of rainfall and river heights

Tropical Cyclones

Effect:

Rapid rise in sea level with strong winds that force water to accumulate near the shoreline-severe storm

Cause:

An intense low pressure system that forms over warm tropical waters. They are usually associated with gale force winds and torrential rainfall.

Warning:

Prediction of wind speeds and other conditions by BoM and then precautions are told

Bushfires

Effect:

Any out of control fires burning

Cause:

Extreme heat, lightning strikes and human activity

Earthquakes

Effect:

The movement of rock strata deep within the earth’s crust

Cause:

Vibration waves through the rocks

Warning:

Monitoring movements in the earth’s crust

Kakadu

Outline two factors

creating change in a specific Australian community. eg. Kakadu (eg. Five marker)

Tourism

• Positive changes

• Economic benefits like jobs
• Greater appreciation for cultural heritage

Negative changes

• Damage caused to the soil
• Damage caused to artifacts

Mining

• Positive changes

• Run off from uranium mining can be used to irrigate wetlands
• Economic benefits like jobs

Negative changes

• Land degradation
• Possible poisoning and pollution on wetlands
• Potential danger from the uranium (nuclear)

Outline how these two impacts are being

managed

Tourism

• Lessening of tourist numbers
• Directing tourists to see other more man made parts of Kakadu

Mining

• Introduction of strict laws and regulations

• Prevents and slows mining companies from mining

Advances in ways of ridding waste

Having a team of people to make sure things are safe from harm.

• People who changed Kakadu

• Aboriginal Australians
• European Australians

• What have they done (the issues of Kakadu)

Introduced species

• Mimosa pigra
• Densely pack together so no native vegetation can survive under it
• Destroy the habitat of magpie geese

Salvinia

Clogs waterways

Para grass

Spreads rapidly in the East Alligator River system

Replaces vastly more-complex natural ecosystems

Water buffaloes

Compacts soil

Inhibits plant growth

Causes erosion of river banks

Competes with native wildlife for food

Other introduced species: Feral pigs, horses, cats, dogs and cane toads

• Tourism

• Jabiru, the main town in Kakadu was built for uranium miners but now is the centre of the tourism industry.
• Most tourists come in the dry season.
• More than 300,000 tourists visit Kakadu each year. Large scale tourism puts pressure on two things:

• The physical environment

• Because of the need for infrastructure such as roads, airstrips and hotels
• Because of the need for Four Wheel Drive vehicles which can cause erosion.

The cultural environment

• Tourists can intentionally and unintentionally damage the rock art that the aboriginal people of long ago created

• Mining

• Groups interested in the debate about usage of Kakadu’s resources

• Mining Companies
• Conservationists
• Traditional owners of the land - the Gagudju people

Findings of the Ranger Uranium Inquiry were that uranium mining should proceed but:

• Subject to strict environmental controls
• Gagudju people should be granted land rights
• Major national park be established

• World Heritage

• In 1998 the Federal Govt. approved an uranium mine at Jabiluka

• UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) declared Kakadu a World Heritage danger site.

Criteria used to justify its listing was:

• Its diverse wildlife
• Spectacular scenery
• Presence of endangered species
• Aboriginal heritage

 

Issues in Australian Environments

Urban Growth

Impacts

• Decline in:

water quality in river systems	Ocean Pollution
Solid waste disposal	Air Quality

• Urban growth affects Australia’s human and physical environment and is a contemporary geographical issue in Sydney.

• The consequences of the geographical processes include declining water quality river in rivers systems, in which rivers are often seriously degrade from:

Urban and industrial runoff	Stormwater debris and pollution
Roadway oil and rubber	Dog droppings
Sewage effluent

• Another environmental impact is ocean pollution of people’s sewage and storm runoff.

• The air quality is lowering as increased car exhaust emissions contribute to air pollution. Furthermore, a short supply of suitable sites for solid waste disposal results in community protests against proposals of a land fill site nearby.
• Severe impacts

of urban growth are:

• Increasing inequalities between rich and poor
• Rising crime rates
• Vandalism
• Isolation

Effects of Resource Exploitation

Land Degradation :

Any change in the land that reduces its existing or potential productivity

Impacts:

• Wind and water erosion
• Soil that has been stripped of its vegetation is easily blown or washed away

• Water erosion includes:

• Gully erosion
• Rill erosion
• Sheet erosion

Dry land salinity

When the land is cleared of its natural vegetation, ground water is gradually drawn towards the surface by evaporation

• This brings dissolved salts to the surface, killing trees and crops

Irrigation salinity and water logging

Occurs when the water table is raised by excessive irrigation

• In addition to tree and crop loss, it can result in increased salinity in water ways

Soil-structure decline

The cultivation of land changes the structure of the soil

• Makes it more susceptible to erosion and soil compaction
• Reduces infiltration and the amount of organic matter present in the soil
• Any decline in organic matter results in a loss of nutrients

Loss of natural vegetation

Clearing on steeply sloping land has resulted in deep penetration of water into the soil

• Makes soil unstable when wet, causing land slips

Replacement of natural vegetation with pasture

Grasses are much less effective than natural vegetation at pumping water into the atmosphere

• Replacement of natural vegetation with pasture results in rising water tables, salinisation and water logging

Soil acidification

Results from the use of super-phosphates and the growth of nitrogen-fixing legumes such as subterranean clover

• Acidification can lead to a decline in productivity of up to 50%
• Causes loss of Biodiversity
• Causes reduction in vegetation cover which allows increased wind and water erosion to occur
• Problem made worse if the soil is broken up by the hooves of grazing animals or if it is compacted which leads to increased runoff.

• Solutions:

• Federal
• National LandCare program

• Promote the efficient and sustainable management of the country’s natural resources for the benefit of all

Fosters an integrated approach to the sustainable management of land, water and vegetation

Coastcare

Allows for participation in coastal management activities such as

• Rehabilitating and protecting sand dunes, estuaries and wetlands
• Controlling feral animals and weeds
• Monitoring coastal environments and implementing management plans
• Ensuring recreational activities and tourism activities are sustainable and don’t degrade the environment
• Education to the community in the responsible use of coastal areas

NGOs

• Greening Australia

Works to achieve sustainable land management by planting trees and conserving existing vegetation

National Waterwatch program

Monitoring of water quality in our waterways

Aims to foster environmental awareness

Recognition that we all have a responsibility for protecting the quality of water in our catchments

Local

• Bushcare Groups

Protect and Rehabilitate remaining bushland in city areas

Introduced species -

The introduction of exotic species of plants and animals has caused massive disruption to Australia’s ecosystems

Impacts:

• Rabbits
• Introduced into Victoria in 1857 and spread quickly across continent
• Strip the land of its vegetation
• Exposing the soil to the agents of erosion-wind and running water

• Control methods

• Drought
• Myxomatosis
• Calicivirus

Rubber vine

Imported from Madagascar in the mid-1870s to beautify north Queensland mining towns

Most feral plant - spreads aided by the release of millions of parachute-suspended seed pods containing 300 germinating seeds, which the wind carries from infested areas and can easily produce 1 billion seeds

Control of rubber vine is very difficult, labour-intensive, and expensive

• Control methods

• Herbicides
• Burning
• Ploughing followed by burning

Introduced plants

Cause of the most serious ongoing degradation of flood plains

• Examples are minosa pigra, salvinia and para grass

Introduced animals

Cause environmental damage

Compete with native animals for food and destroy their habitats

Eat and trample vegetation

Cause soil erosion

• Examples are water buffalo, brumbies, feral pigs, cattle, donkeys and cats

Solutions

• Fencing
• Trapping
• Poisoning
• Shooting
• Often used to control feral animals

Poisoning

Ploughing

Burning

Often used to control weed infestations

Biological controls eg:

Predator introduction

Parasites

Disease-carrying bacterium or virus

Are also used to kill introduced species

The best way to prevent the introduction of further exotic species is to ban importation

• Mining

Example: extraction of mineral sands

Carried out by separating heavy materials from sand

Extraction destroys the fragile dune ecosystem and trying to restore extraction to original condition is very difficult

Exploitation of natural resources

• Solutions:

Environmental impact statements (EIS)	The cost of rehabilitation is taken into account
Social impacts of resource-based projects considered

Loss of Biodiversity

Examples: Logging

Biodiversity is the variety of living organisms on earth

It is reduced when people modify ecosystems and destroy the habitat of plants and animals

• Solutions:

Promote sustainable development	Contemporary approaches to land and water management
Take stock of what we have	Recognise the intrinsic value of living things
Recognise that plants and animals have a utility value	Develop strategies to protect endangered habitats and species.
Protect remaining areas of wilderness	Promote ecotourism
Educate people about their impact on the environment	Improve water quality

Interest groups

What is an interest group?

Group of people who are interested in changing local, state and federal government policies in some way to suit themselves, their beliefs, ideas, etc.

What action do they take and how this affects government policy?

The opinion of the interest group to the decision makers

• Petitions to parliament

• Within parliament, petitions (written requests signed by people who are concerned about a particular issue) are read out in parliament

• Few receive attention

Deputations to Members of Parliament

• Gaining the support of a MP through a deputation
• A small group representing the views of a larger group meet with the member who approaches the relevant minister or raises the issue in parliament

Direct appeals to Ministers

• A Lobbyist is employed to present the group’s point of view - dealing directly to Ministers or their senior advisers

Letter writing

• Used to persuade decision makers that there is widespread community concern about a particular issue.

Direct political interventions

• Intervening directly by:

• Standing their own candidates in elections
• Influencing the political outcome in marginal electorates

Legal interventions

• Use of the legal system to achieve their objectives

• Example:

• Conservation groups often appeal to the Land and Environment Court in an effort to stop developments to which they are opposed

• Influencing and projecting public opinion through:

• Letters to the editor
• Advertising on television, newspapers, the internet, radio stations, magazines
• Participation in talk-back radio
• Demonstrations and other forms of protest used to attract media attention and publicity which may affect public opinion
• Public meetings to educate and inform the public
• Bumper stickers, posters and slogans on T-shirts

Specific interest group examples

Two types:

• Sectional

• Interest groups which aim to look after the interests of a particular section of society

• Examples:

• Trade unions, professional associations, the Churches, motorist organisations, pensioner groups, ethnic associations and business and farming groups

Promotional

• Two most important types of promotional groups are:

• Environmental issues groups

• Concerned with the preservation of wilderness areas

Examples: The Greens Party, Australian Conservation Foundation, The Wilderness Society, Friends Of The Earth, Greenpeace and World Wide Fund For Nature.

Coastal Management

Waves: Waves are formed by wind blowing over the ocean surface

Waves of Oscillation- When the wave is underwater

Waves of translation- When the wave is near the shore and goes on the shore

Swash-When the wave produced a turbulent rush of water which surges up the beach

Backwash- When the water goes back out to see

Longshore drift- When the waves crash at an angle to the beach causing sand to pile up on the beach.

Coastal dunes:

Sand blows up the beach and plants trap the sand	Over time, the dunes build up
Dunes change shape as storm waves remove sand	Man’s intervention with seawalls and buildings stop the sand from moving and waves erode the beach sand

Strategies to manage coastal environments:

Riprap stone protection	Shade cloth fencing
Building of signs, fences and walkways to restrict	Offshore sand dredging and sand carting to beaches

Australia in its Regional and Global Context

- Reconciliation means better relations between indigenous communities and others who share the land in a form of agreement that deals with the legacy of past history and taking us forward as a nation.

Economic and cultural integration

Six forces that have promoted the process of globalisation:

• Expansion in the international trade in goods and services
• Emergence of a global financial system operating beyond the control of national governments
• Activities of TNCs
• Global satellite and cable-based communication systems
• International migration of workers seeking relatively short-tern jobs while maintaining family and citizen ship connections in their home country
• The emergence of global media networks promoting lifestyle products

National Sovereignty:

The government power of a country

Transnational Corporations (TNCs):

Large companies, which operate across a number of countries but have their headquarters in developed, industrialised nations (eg. US)

They differ from other large companies because they:

• Transfer goods, services, funds and technology internally, from one country to another
• Attempt to reduce production costs by encouraging governments to compete for the ‘privilege’ of hosting TNC branches, plants, headquarters, and infrastructure
• Minimise tax liability by the use of transfer pricing techniques- that is, taking advantage of international differences in tax rates. It is when a large firm deliberately understates the value of a resource, good or service that it buys from one of the companies it controls
• Dominate the production of manufactured goods throughout the developed world

• Advantages:

• Research
• Development

Disadvantages:

• Cause of bad environmental issues
• Bad treatment of workers in developing countries
• Form vertically integrated businesses (agribusinesses) [controlling the whole production chain]

Australia’s Global and Regional Military Links

Regional and Global military ties of Australia include:

Historical alliances Britain United States (Pacific Campaign) ANZUS treaty between Australia, New Zealand and United States. A security treaty aimed to establish a system for regional security. Reinforces the security and defence relations with NZ	Treaty agreements Five Power Defence Arrangements: Malaysia, Singapore, NZ and UK ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) Regional Forum
Joint military activities United Nations Australia conducts regular military exercises with the US, Singapore, New Zealand and the UK	Training of overseas military personnel Training relationships with Canada, Singapore, NZ, UK, US and PNG

 

• These links are bilateral, regional and multilateral in nature

Tourism

Definition: Travel away from your normal place of work and residence, including travel undertaken for business and pleasure

Tourism is important because it is an important source for revenue and employment

• Inbound Tourism is travel TO a country other than Australia
• Outbound Tourism is travel FROM Australia to another country

International Treaties

International laws and agreements are known as treaties

Australia follows more than 920 treaties and are followed because it:

Is in Australia’s national interest

Enhances Australia’s image as a responsible ‘international citizen’

An economic and political necessity for small countries like Australia

Human Rights

Human rights are the recognition of inherent dignity and of the equal rights of all human beings

Australia doesn’t have a perfect record following humans rights because:

• Australia didn’t recognise the Indonesian takeover of East Timor
• Disadvantages are experienced by Australia’s indigenous population
• Coalition’s refusal to apologise to the Stolen Generation