EDUCATION

Settlements are among the most fundamental expressions of human geography — the places where people choose, or are compelled, to live, work, and organize their social lives in relationship to the land, resources, and other people around them. A settlement is broadly defined as any place where people have established a permanent or semi-permanent residence, … Read more

Desertification is one of the most insidious and far-reaching environmental crises of the modern era — the process by which fertile, productive land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid regions is degraded into barren, desert-like conditions through a combination of climatic variation and human activities that strip the land of its vegetation, destroy its soil … Read more

Deforestation — the permanent or long-term removal of forest cover from land that is subsequently converted to non-forest use — is one of the most significant and consequential environmental transformations occurring on the surface of the Earth today. Forests cover approximately 31 percent of the Earth’s total land surface — roughly 4.06 billion hectares — … Read more

Vegetation zones — also known as biomes or plant communities — are the great regional assemblages of plant life that cover the Earth’s land surface in broad, recognizable belts and patches, each shaped by the interplay of climate, soils, topography, and evolutionary history into a distinctive community of species adapted to the conditions of that … Read more

Peninsulas are among the most geographically fascinating and historically significant landforms on the surface of the Earth — extensions of land projecting outward from a larger landmass and surrounded by water on three or more sides while remaining connected to the mainland by an isthmus or neck of land. The word peninsula comes from the … Read more

Plateaus are among the most distinctive and geologically significant landforms on the surface of the Earth — elevated, relatively flat or gently undulating expanses of terrain that stand conspicuously above the surrounding landscape, bounded on at least one side by steep escarpments or cliffs that mark the abrupt transition from the elevated surface to the … Read more

Plains are among the most fundamental and far-reaching landforms on the surface of the Earth — vast, open expanses of relatively flat or gently undulating terrain that cover more of the planet’s land surface than any other landform type. Stretching across continents in sweeping horizons that seem to extend forever, plains lack the dramatic visual … Read more

Cliffs are among the most visually arresting and geologically revealing features of the natural world — vertical or near-vertical faces of rock, soil, or ice that rise abruptly from the surrounding terrain, exposing the internal architecture of the Earth’s crust in cross-section and creating some of the most dramatic landscapes found anywhere on the planet. … Read more

Islands have captured the human imagination since the earliest seafarers first ventured beyond the sight of the mainland and discovered land rising from the open ocean. Defined simply as bodies of land completely surrounded by water, islands are among the most diverse and ecologically remarkable features on the surface of the Earth, ranging from tiny … Read more

Coastlines are among the most dynamic and constantly changing features of the Earth’s surface — the restless boundaries where the solid world of rock and soil meets the fluid, tireless energy of the ocean. Stretching for an estimated 620,000 kilometers around the world’s continents and islands, coastlines encompass an extraordinary range of environments, from towering … Read more