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Scale and time - Lecture notes 12
Geographical Perspectives (ENV-4010Y)
University of East Anglia
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Scale and time
Different types of scale in geography Scale – space, spatial scale - Cartography: ratio of distance on a map to the actual distance on the ground. - Any means of measuring an object, mechanism or process, e. Richter scale, kilometres Time – temporal scale Thematic scale e. people, cities, nations Scale of analysis, e. resolution Phenomena scale, “size at which geographic structures exist and over which geographic processes operate in the world.” Montello (2001, p13503) Cf ‘Reference frame’ in physical sciences
Geology and geomorphology Theory of the Earth (1785) by James Hutton Founder of modern geology ‘no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end’ Landsurface shaped by the slow erosive action of water rather than by catastrophic events Slow but continuous operation of processes that we can see today can explain the present configuration of the Earth’s surface 1726-
Geology and geomorphology Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell Uniformitarianism “The present is the key to the past” Natural laws are constant in time and space If past events can be explained by processes operating today, then additional unknown causes should not be evoked 1797-
‘Time’scale
Indigenous timescales: non-linearity accountability to the future, as well as explaining the past ‘As the Anangu people of Uluru explain, the land contains proof of a spoken narrative, like a photograph. The land’s markings are the archives, the inscriptions revealing and proving deep history stories.’ McGrath ‘The Conversation, 2021 ) ‘the concept of territory is usually closest to the scientific notion of “ecosystem” than to the western concept of “land”. However, it differs in that the perception of the territory by most indigenous people is also based on the idea that everything in the
environment has life and spirit’ (Pardo et al., 2015)
Geomorphology
o Longer term, properties that are fixed at the short term can become variable o E. river meander, channel morphology develops
Changing patterns over time: atmospheric CO2 concentrations
esrl.noaa/gmd/ccgg/trends/history.html
Atmospheric CO
Different processes are apparent in the data over different timescales:
- Seasonal cycle (within 1 year) 2 activity (200 years)
- Glacial/interglacial cycles (100,000 years)
Non-linear physical geography: changing states Changing states Greenland Ice Sheet Elevation o Mean elevation 1922m o Max elevation 3275m Dry adiabatic lapse rate 9 °C/km, moist ALR is between 4 °C/km and nearly 9 °C/km
Scale and time - Lecture notes 12
Module: Geographical Perspectives (ENV-4010Y)
University: University of East Anglia
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