LEARNING MODULE 06 GEOGRAPHY of UTAH

LEARNING MODULE 06 – GEOGRAPHY of UTAH

REGIONS… fifth of the five themes of Geography.

LM06

LM06-CC00 – Overview – of module

THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS MODULE IS to understand why REGIONS are special to geography (what’s special about geography… it’s spatial… that’s a clue).

WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW IS:

That the 17 words approach guarantees success in this course.

REGIONS… the theme for Part II of the course… regions based on 5 subsystems of Earth systems.

COURSE LOGISTICS:

Coaching for posting

HW04, 05, 06

Terms

ALL these prep you for the midterm… and it is worth __ points… so… important but not to get too worried about… here’s how to get at least a B- … list the “17 words”

How to get an A… show you see, appreciate, and understand the web of relationships among the five themes of geography… Location, Place, Interactions, Movement, and Regions… applied to Utah

BY THE END OF THIS LECTURE you should

You should be able to discuss "what" questions such as:

• What is meant by a region?

You should be able to articulate "why" questions about regions… although you are not expected to know Utah’s regions based either on the 5 subsystems of Earth systems or the 7 perspectives of Soc/Behav science.

Here are a couple “why” questions you should be happy to think about:

(a) Why do regions based on politics differ from based on the hydrosphere (drainage basins/watersheds)?

(b) why do geographers draw boundaries?

Major concepts

• A region is a relatively sizable area that is has more similarities within its borders than the areas beyond its borders … for a specific characteristic.
• Geographers see, understand and appreciate spatial patterns. We draw boundaries and create regions to better see, understand, and appreciate… webs of relationships.
• Therefore regions are one of the five themes of geography.

LINKS (LM = learning module; CC = content chunk)

LM06-CC01 – Why have “regions”?

Powell’s map revisited

Thought questions:

Content:

So what?.

LM06-CC02 – What regions are

New Yorker’s view of regions

Thought questions:

Concept:

Some concepts and terms: Regions are large areas with important similarities

Relatively HOMOGENEOUS with respect to some attribute

Regions for different reasons – so some attributes will be RELEVANT versus IRRELEVANT

Can be human... (name the depts in College of Social and Behavioral Science)... regions based on ANTHROPOLOGY, economics, family and consumer studies, POLITICAL SCIENCE, psychology, and SOCIOLOGY. Culture regions...

Can be physical... name the subsystems of Earth systems...

So what?

.

LM06-CC03– Geographer’s special relationship to regions

Diagrams of contiguous…

Thought questions:

Concept:

Geographic terminology, e.g. GIS. Regions are polygons (areas... not lines or points). The are based on an attribute that can be subjectively or objectively differentiated across the region... meaning the attribute has different patterns of value across the terrain, and terrain that shares the same generalize values are lumped as regions so long as they are ... continuous, contiguous, and cohesive.

LM06-CC04 – Cartography… the art of map making

Brewer – map design – cover page

Thought questions:

How cultural are maps…? How think of space and place and location.

Mental maps

Use of maps

Concept:

Lines on a map: can be features such as roads or rivers;

How differ from BOUNDARIES

So what? GIS spells JOB

LM06-CC05 – Utah through cartographers’ maps

Miera’s map – of 1776

Evolution of geographic knowledge of Utah and the Intermountain West.

What did the early explorers know? How did their knowledge expand?

Miera1778 map of Escalante-Dominguez route for "New Mexico" LINK and Escalante1779 LINK for Utah. Interpret features.

Pre Lewis and Clark LINK

Arrowsmith 1802 LINK and DETAIL

Arrowsmith 1804 LINK and DETAIL

Lewis and Clark LINK

IrvingsAstoriaLINK

FREMONT - Great Salt Lake

Bonneville LINK

LM06-CC06 – Regions based on an attribute… physical geography…

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

FOURTH – REGIONS based on an attribute... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... to be understood and memorized, hopefully with meaning... we'll examine each of these up to the mid-term. All these are shown on a map base of the relief map of Utah, specifically a DEM (digital elevation model) by R. Sterner of Fermi Labs, used with permission.

5 REGIONS based on biosphere, LINK

4 REGIONS based on atmosphere, LINK

3 REGIONS based on geosphere, LINK

2 REGIONS based on hydrosphere, LINK

1 GREAT STATE ... with 29 counties, LINK to colored DEM with Counties

5 regions called ecoregions based on the biosphere... most difficult to picture... biosystems... life and habitats. You don't have to memorize these and their boundaries but you should be able to discuss them. Note there are 5 plus small portions of two others. Also note that they are named for classic locations rather than for characteristic species.

4 regions called climate zones based on atmosphere (weather and climate, specifically the amount of precipitation for life, note the interconnection between bio and atmo)

desert

steppe

montane

humid continental.

3 regions, called physiographic provinces, based on the geosphere, specifically, based on landforms.

Colorado Plateau physiographic province,

RockyMountain physiographic province, and

Basin and Range physiographic province.

2 regions, called drainage basins or drainage areas, based on surface-water characteristics of the hydrosphere (plus a tiny bit of a third hydrologic basin).

the Great Basin

the Colorado River drainage basin.

1 great State with 29 counties.

LM06-CC07 – Discuss… Regions based on an attribute… cultural geography

LM06-CC08 – Next steps:

More on the Atlas project, mid-term, terms… course exhortations …

HW06- People Places and Connections… Atlas for a UtahSchool Project