Abril Romero

Geog 1700
Wallace
E-Portfolio
I learned many things this semester in Natural Disasters. I was surprised when I
found out that this class had to do with a lot of Geography. Geography in my mind
had always just meant where things were located, but I very quickly learned that it
was much more than that. Geography is looking at Earths landscapes, peoples,
places, and environments. It is about the world in which we live. The places and
communities in which we live and work, our natural environments, the
interconnectedness of the world and our communities within it. How and why the
world is changing, globally and locally, how our individual and societal actions
contribute to those changes, the choices that exist in managing our world for the
future, and the importance of location in business and decision making.
Another very interesting thing that I learned was the five themes if Geography. The
first theme is location, absolute and relative. The second is place, the natural and
human characteristics of a particular site. The third theme is region, areas on the
earths surface with unifying characteristics. We then have movement, of people,
materials, and information from location to location. And finally the fifth theme is
human/environment interactions, positive and negative effects of human
occupation.
Knowing the differences in these five themes was very important to everyday life.
One of our very first assignments was to create a map taking us from school all the
way home. We drew specific buildings, roads, and some even drew mountain
ranges, and lakes. This was a great first assignment, because we learned about the
importance of what should be found on a map. This included landmarks, absolute
and relative directions, and much more!
During the semester we covered ten different chapters of our book. The first chapter
covered natural hazards. Hazards are events that previously produced disasters and
are now producing catastrophes.
Chapter two covered the internal structure of earth and plate tectonics. We learned
about the internal structure of the earth, plates, and convection.
In the third chapter we covered Earthquakes. We learned about the magnitude,
Richter scales, the process of an earthquake, fault types, and epicenters. We also
learned that earthquakes could cause other natural disasters such as Tsunamis.
That brings us to chapter four. Tsunami is Japanese for harbor wave. They are
caused by a sudden vertical displacement of ocean water, such as earthquakes,

underwater landslides, volcano flank collapse, submarine volcanic explosion, and

asteroids.
In the fifth chapter we learned about volcanoes. We learned that volcanic activity is
directly related to plate tectonics. We covered how magma forms, the types of
volcanoes, and about their different features, we even learned about their
geographic regions and where they can be found.
Chapter six was about flooding. We learned about rivers, their velocity, discharge,
erosion, and deposition. Types of floods, like flash floods, and downstream floods.
In seven we went over mass wasting, which is in essence landslides. This includes
earth flows, rock falls, and avalanches.
Chapter eight covered subsidence and soils. We covered soils and hazards. We
learned that this also included the cave system, and karst topography.
Nine was about atmosphere and severe weather. The following was covered;
energy, heat transfer, heat energy, electromagnetic energy, structure of the
atmosphere, clouds, weather process, general circulation of the atmosphere,
stability of air, and hazardous weather.
And finally in chapter ten we covered Hurricanes and extratropical cyclones. A
cyclone is an area or center of low pressure with rotating winds. We learned how
these storms are named. We also learned about hurricane structures, and their
paths and demise.
We learned so much about these natural disasters that happen all around us. I
would recommend any of my peers to take this course. It is important to learn what
to expect, and not only that but how to prepare for these disasters. I have grown up
listening to people tell us to prepare for disasters. I have been advised to have a
seventy -two hour kit accessible to me just in case of an emergency.
This class was informational and important. I learned things that I had never
considered or worried about. Being prepared is half the battle.