Physical Geography
Physical Geography
This domain tests Earth systems and processes: Earth–Sun relationships, atmosphere and climate, plate tectonics, weathering and erosion, landforms, soils, and biomes. Questions often ask you to connect a process to a landform or a latitude to a climate pattern.
Core rules
- Seasons result from axial tilt (23.5°) changing solar angle and day length, not from distance to the Sun.
- Atmospheric circulation: unequal heating creates pressure gradients; Coriolis deflects moving air (right in Northern Hemisphere, left in Southern); global belts include trade winds, westerlies, and polar easterlies.
- Climate controls: latitude, altitude, continentality, ocean currents, prevailing winds, and mountain barriers.
- Plate boundaries: divergent (rifting, seafloor spreading), convergent (subduction, collision, volcanoes), transform (strike-slip faults).
- Weathering vs. erosion: weathering breaks rock in place; erosion transports sediment.
- Biomes reflect climate and disturbance; tropical rainforest, savanna, desert, temperate grassland, boreal forest, tundra.
Worked example
A coastal mountain range receives heavy rain on its windward slope, while the leeward side is dry. Explain the pattern. Reasoning: moist air is forced upward, cools, and condenses, producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends the leeward side, it warms and its relative humidity drops, creating a rain shadow. The key is the prevailing wind direction plus the mountain barrier, not latitude alone.
Traps
- Saying summer occurs because Earth is closer to the Sun; perihelion is in January.
- Confusing weather (short-term) with climate (long-term average).
- Reversing Coriolis deflection between hemispheres.
- Treating weathering and erosion as synonyms.
- Assuming all convergent boundaries produce volcanoes; continental collision builds mountains without subduction.