Tamil Nadu Open University

M.Sc. Geography Syllabus for AY 2018-19

Non-Semester

1. Eligibility for Admission

A Candidate who (1) has passed B.A. / B.Sc. Degree Examination of this University
with Geography as the main subject of study or (2) is a graduate in any faculty (viz.) Arts,
Science, Commerce, Languages, Law, Engineering or (3) an equivalent examination of any
other university is eligible for admission
2. Duration
The course of the Degree of Master of Science shall consist of two academic years.
3. Medium of Instruction: Tamil and English
4. Course for Study and Scheme of Examinations.
Course Maximum Minimum
Course Title Credits Duration
Code Marks Marks (%)
FIRST YEAR
MGEO-11 Physical Geography 8 3 100 50
MGEO-12 Urban Geography 6 3 100 50
MGEO-13 Digital Cartography 6 3 100 50
MGEO-14 Geography of India 6 3 100 50
Practical I:
Techniques of
MGEO-15 Mapping and Map 8 3 100 50
Analysis

SECOND YEAR
Economic
MGEO-21 6 3 100 50
Geography
Geographical
MGEO-22 6 3 100 50
Thought
Regional Planning
MGEO-23 6 3 100 50
and Development
Practical II:
Quantitative
MGEO-24 8 3 100 50
Techniques and Geo-
informatics
MGEO-25 Project 8 3 100 50
Grand Total 68

5. Scheme of Examinations (Practical)

Practical sessions for a total period of five days in terms of practical counselling
classes and Examination will be conducted and the attendance for such practical counselling
classes is compulsory and a minimum of 80 percent of attendance to be gained by each
candidate. The practical examination shall be conducted on the fifth day, after completion of
the practical exercises. For the purpose of examination, the record work completed and duly
signed at the Compulsory Practical Contact Sessions alone will be considered for
examination. All practical exercises will be recorded in A4 Size sheets and filed or bound
appropriately.

Passing
Maximum
Pattern of Examination Minimum
Marks
Marks (%)
First Year
Mapping techniques I
Exam 50
60:40=100
Record 50
Second Year
Maping Techniques II
Exam 50
60:40=100
Record 50
Project
Record 50
60:40=100
Viva Voce 50

6. Question Pattern for Theory Paper:

Time: 3 Hours Maximum: 100 Marks

Passing Min: 50 Marks
Part A: (3 x 5 = 15)
(Answer any three questions out of five )

Part B: (4 x 15 = 60)
(Answer any four questions out of seven)
 MGEO 11

First Year
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
Block 1
Geomorphology: Factors controlling landform development; endogenetic and exogenetic
forces; Origin and evolution of the earth’s crust; Fundamentals of geomagnetism; Physical
conditions of the earth’s interior; Geosynclines; Continental drift; Isostasy; Plate tectonics;
Block 2
Recent views on mountain building; Vulcanicity; Earthquakes and Tsunamis; Concepts of
geomorphic cycles and Landscape development; Denudation chronology; Channel
morphology; Erosion surfaces; Slope development; Applied Geomorphology: Geo-hydrology,
economic geology and environment.
Block 3
Climatology: Temperature and pressure belts of the world; Heat budget of the earth;
Atmospheric circulation; atmospheric stability and instability. Planetary and local winds;
Monsoons and jet streams; Air masses and fronto; Temperate and tropical cyclones;
Block 4
Types and distribution of precipitation; Weather and Climate; Koppen’s, Thornthwaite’s and
Trewartha’s classification of world climates; Hydrological cycle; Global climatic change and
role and response of man in climatic changes, Applied climatology and Urban climate.
Block 5
Oceanography: Bottom topography of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans; Temperature
and salinity of the oceans; Heat and salt budgets, Ocean deposits; Waves, currents and tides;
Marine resources: biotic, mineral and energy resources; Coral reefs, coral bleaching; sea level
changes; law of the sea and marine pollution.
Books for References:

1) Small, R.J. 1978: The Study of Landforms, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
2) Sparks, B.W. 1960: Geomorphology, Longman, London.
3) Strahler, A.N. and Strahler, A.H. 1984: Elements of Physical Geography, John Wiley,
New York.
4) Thornbury, W.D. 1954: Principles of Geomorphology, John Wiley, New York.
5) Critchfield II.J. 1980 ‘General Climatology’, Printice Hall, New york.
6) Lal D.S. 1988 ‘Climatology’, Chitanya Publishing House, New Delhi.
7) Savindra Singh 1998 ‘Climatology’, Pryag Pustak Bhawan – India.
8) Trewartha G. T. & Horn L.A. 1980 ‘Introduction to Climate’, Mc Graw Hill company,
London.
9) King, C.A.M. 1962: Oceanography for Geographers, Arnold, London.
10) Meinzer, O.E. 1942: Hydrology, Dover Publication Inc. New York.
 MGEO - 12
First Year
URBAN GEOGRAPHY
Block I
Nature, scope and significance of Urban Geography; recent trends – definition of urban
centres – origin and growth of urban centres – process of urbanization – factors associated
with the growth of cities.

Block II
Classification of urban centres on the basis of a) size b) function c) rank size rule and d) laws
of prime city, Harris and Ullman Nelson’s scheme of classification – classification of Indian
cities by Ashok Misra.

Block III
Urban centres – their spatial and functional relationships, Central Place theory of
Chirstraller and Losch, theories of Perroux and Bourdeville. Economic bases of urban
settlement.

Block IV
Urban morphology; land use models – theories of Burgess, Harris and Hoyt’s Central
Business district and its characteristics; morphology of Indian cities, Urban fringe – its
characteristics and development.

Block V
Urban housing – Urban slums – urban housing policies and programmes. Process of
urbanization in India – problems and prospects. Social Area Analysis.

Books for References:

1) Hall, Tim, 1998, Urban Geography, Routledge, Londo
2) Cherry, Gordan, E1974, Urban Planning Problems, Leonard Hills Books, London.
3) Alam, S.M.& Alikhan F Eds’87, Poverty in Metropolltan Cities, Concept, New Delhi.
4) Alikhan F.1987, Urbanisation in the Third World: An African Experience Booklinks,
Hyderabad.
5) Naidu, Ratna, 1990, Old Cities, New Predicaments, A Study of Hyderabad, Sage, New
Delhi.
6) Sengupta, Chandan, 2000, Urban Poverty & Vulnerability in India, Oxfam, India
Trust.
7) Alam, S.M.& Khan, W.1972, Metropolitan Hyderabad and its Region, Allied, Bombay.
8) Alam,S M ,1964, Hyderabad—Secunderabad, Twin Cities, Asia Publishing House,
Bombay
9) Carter H 1972, The Study of Urban Geography, Edward Arnold, London
10) Singh K and Steinberg, F eds,1998, Urban India in Crises, New Age Interms, New
Delhi.
 MGEO 13

First Year
DIGITAL CARTOGRAPHY

Block I
Map: Definition, Classification based on Function, Scale, Characteristics –Shape of Earth –
Ellipsoid and Geoid – Projections and Co-ordinate System - Rectangular and Geographic
Coordinates – UTM and UPS - Types of Map Projections – Basics of 2D transformations –
Affine transformation - Choice of Map Projection –Evolution of cartography- Geo-Spatial,
Spatial and Non-spatial data – Definition of GIS – Evolution GIS – Components of GIS
Block 2
Concepts of Point, Line Polygon / Area, elevation and surface –Concepts of Tessellations
Attributes and Levels of Measurement - Data Sources – Ground and Remote Sensing survey
– Collateral data collection – Input: Map scanning and digitization, Registration and
Georeferencing – Concepts of RDBMS - Raster Data Model – Grid – Data Encoding - Data
Compression – Vector Data Model – Topological properties – Arc Node Data Structure –
Raster Vs. Vector Comparison – File Formats for Raster and Vector – Data conversion
between Raster and vector.
Block 3
Raster Data analysis: Local, Neighborhood and Regional Operations – Map Algebra – Vector
Data Analysis: Topological Analysis, point-in-polygon, Line-in-polygon, Polygon-in-Polygon
– Proximity Analysis: buffering, Thiessen Polygon – Non-topological analysis: Attribute data
Analysisconcepts of SQL– ODBC
Block 4
Network – Creating Network Data - Origin, Destination, Stops, Barriers – Closest Facility
Analysis, Service Area Analysis, OD Cost matrix analysis, Shortest Path Analysis – Address
Geocoding – Surface Analysis – Point data to Surface: Various methods of interpolation-
DEM: View shed Analysis
Block 5
Map Compilation – Cartographic functionalities for Map Design – Symbolization –
Conventional signs and symbols - Meta Data – Web based GIS: Definition, Merits -
Architecture – Map Server – Case Studies - Open Source GIS – Import and Export of spatial
data
References:

1. Burrough, P.A., (1986). Principles of Geographical Information Systems for Land

Resource Assessment, Oxford University Press Inc., New York.
2. Geogre P. Kellay, (1979). Map Projections, B.I. Publications, New Delhi.
3. Keates, J.S., (1973). Cartographic Design and Production, Longman Inc., London.
4. Menno Jan Kraak, and Ormeling, F., (2004). Cartography - Visualization of
Geospatial Data (2nd Edition), Pearson Education, New Delhi.
5. Misra, R.P., and Ramesh, A., (2002). Fundamentals of Cartography, Concept
Publishing Company, New Delhi.
6. Arthur H. Robinson, (1995). Elements of Cartography, John Wiley & Sons, New York.
7. Arthur H. Robinson et al., (2004). Elements of Cartography, John Wiley & Sons,
New York.

MGEO 14
First Year
GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA

Block 1
Physical Setting: Space relationship of India with neighboring countries; Structure and
relief; Drainage system; Physiographic regions; Mechanism of Indian monsoons and rainfall
patterns, Tropical cyclones and western disturbances; Floods and droughts; Climatic
regions; Natural vegetation; Soil types and their distributions.
Block 2
Agriculture: Infrastructure: irrigation, seeds, fertilizers, power; Institutional factors: land
holdings, land tenure and land reforms; Cropping pattern, agricultural productivity,
agricultural intensity, crop combination, land capability; Agro and social forestry; Green
revolution and its socioeconomic and ecological implications; Significance of dry farming;
Livestock resources and white revolution; aqua - culture; sericulture, apiculture and poultry;
agricultural regionalisation; agro-climatic zones; agro- ecological regions.
Block 3
Industry: Evolution of industries; Locational factors of cotton, jute, textile, iron and steel,
aluminium, fertilizer, paper, chemical and pharmaceutical, automobile, cottage and agro-
based industries; Industrial houses and complexes including public sector undertakings;
Industrial regionalisation; New industrial policies; Multinationals and liberalization; Special
Economic Zones; Tourism including eco -tourism.
Block 4
Transport, Communication and Trade: Road, railway, waterway, airway and pipeline
networks and their complementary roles in regional development; Growing importance of
ports on national and foreign trade; Trade balance; Trade Policy; Export processing zones;
Developments in communication and information technology and their impacts on economy
and society; Indian space programme.
Block 5
Cultural Setting: Historical Perspective of Indian Society; Racial, linguistic and ethnic
diversities; religious minorities; major tribes, tribal areas and their problems; cultural
regions; Growth, distribution and density of population; Demographic attributes: sex-ratio,
age structure, literacy rate, work-force, dependency ratio, longevity; migration (inter-
regional, intra- regional and international) and associated problems; Population problems
and policies; Health indicators.

MGEO 15
First Year
PRACTICAL I: TECHNIQUES OF MAPPING AND MAP ANALYSIS

Block 1
Profile Analysis: a) Serial Profiles; b) Superimposed Profiles; c) Composite Profiles; d)
Projected Profiles; e) Longitudinal or valley Thalweg Profile.
Block 2
Relief and Areal Aspect of Streams: a) Area Height Curve; b) Altimetric frequency curve; c)
Hypsographic Curve. d) Drainage Frequency; e) Drainage Texture/Density
Block 3
Slope Analysis: a) Wentworth’s Method of Average Slope; b) G. H. Smith’s Method of
Relative Relief.
Block 4
Climate data representation by diagrams and maps: a) Line and bar graph
b) Poly graph; c) Climograph ; d) Hythergraph; e) Wind rose diagram
Block 5
Distribution maps: a) Dot method; b) - Choropleth (monovariate and bivariate);
c) Age and Sex pyramid; d) Flow diagram, and Accessibility maps.

Books for References

1. Buch T.W. 1980 ‘Maps – Topographical and Statistical’, Oxford, London press,
London.
2. Chorley R.J. 1972 ‘Geomorphology’, Methuen, London.
 3. Monkhouse F.F. 1980 ‘Maps and Diagrams’, Wilkinson H.R. Methuen and Co. Ltd.
4. Negi, Balbir Singh 1995 ‘Practical Geography’, 3rd edition, Kedar Nath and Ram
Nath, Meerut, Delhi.
5. R.K. Sharma 1987 ‘Hydrology and Water Resources’, Dhanpatrai & Sons.
6. Ragunandan Singh & Kannja 1990 ‘Map work and Practical Geography’, Central Book
Depot, Allahabad.
7. Clark, W.A.V. and Hosking, P.L. 1986: Geographical Methods for Geographers,John
Wiley and Sons, New York
8. Croxton, F.E., Cowden, D.J. & Klein, S 1969: Applied General Statistics, Prentice Hall
of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi
9. Dickinson, G.C. (1973): Statistical Mapping and Presentation of Statistics
10. Goon, A.M., Gupta, M.K. & Dasgupta, B. 1992: Fundamentals of Statistics,Volume 1,
The World Press Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata

MGEO 21

Second Year
ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

Block 1
Definition: Nature, Scope and Recent trends of Economic Geography – Its relation with
economics and Allied subjects. World Economies: bases of classification, patterns and
characteristics of developed and developing economies of the world. Classification of
Economies, Local and Spatial organization – Sectors of Economy –Primary, Secondary and
Tertiary – The Impact of Economic activities on environment.
Block 2
Natural resources: Classification – Renewable and Non-renewable – Biotic and Abiotic –
Conservation of resources – Changing nature of economic activities – Mining, Forestry,
Agricultural, Industry, Trade and Transport. Agriculture: Physical, Social, Cultural
environment influencing crop production – Spatial Distribution of major food and cash
crops of the world – Agricultural types and classification.
Block 3
Minerals and Industries: Classification of Minerals – Ferrous and Non-Ferrous and their
World Distribution – Energy Minerals and Resources - Industries: Factors of Localization –
Major Industries – Iron and Steel, Textile, Chemicals, Cement, Paper, Ship building, Small
scale and Cottage industries, Information &Technology industries(IT)
Block 4
Trade and Transport: Geographical Factors in their development – Major water, land and air
transport –Network structure and economic activities, impact of transport on economic
activities, Edward Ullman’s spatial interaction model. Basic concepts in location problems,
location models of Weber, Christaller and Losch
Block 5
Concept of economic growth and development, globalization and pattern of economic
development. Recent trends in pattern of international trade. Emergence of a new global
economy – transnational integration and its spatial outcomes. Major regional trade blocks of
the world, free trade initiatives (GATT, UNCTAD, WTO) – Globalization and their effect on
Developing Countries of the World.

Books for References:

1. Jones, C.F. and Darkenwald, G.G. 1954, Economic Geography, Macmillan, New York.
2. Leong. G.C. and Morgan, G.C. 1975: Human and Economic Geography, Oxford
University Press, Hong Kong.
3. Miller, E. 1962: A Geography of Manufacturing, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliff, N. J.
4. Morgan, W.B. and Manton, R.J.C. 1971: Agricultural geography, Methuen, London.
5. Paterson, J.H. 1976: Land, Work and Resources- An Introduction to Economic
Geography, Edward Arnold , London
6. Sen, A. 1990: Jibanjatra O Arthaniti (Bengali) Ananda Publishers, Kolkata.
7. Simmons, I. G. 1981: The Ecology of Natural Resources, ELBS/ Edward Arnold,
London.
MGEO 22
Second Year
GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT

Block 1
Nature of Geography and its place among sciences -Evolution of relationship between
Systematic Sciences and Systematic Geography. Need for a Regional concept in geography.
Block 2
Nature of Geographic knowledge during ancient (Greek and Roman) and medieval (Arab)
periods - Foundation of Modern Geography-contributions of Varenius, Kant, Humboldt and
Ritter.
Block 3
Emergence of Geography as a study of (i) physical features (ii) chorology (iii) landscapes.
Concepts and dualism in Geography: Environmental Determinism and Possibilism, Areal
Differentiation; Physical vs Human Geography, and Systematic vs Regional Geography.
Block 4
Appearance of Time and Genesis dimension in geography Paradigms in geography. Cognitive
explanations in geography. Causal, Temporal and Ecological explanations in geography.
Quantitative Revolution and Theory Building. Behavioral Approach in geographical learning.
Block 5
Relevance Movement in geography. Humanistic and Radical approaches. Positivism in
Geography. Revival of Ecological Studies in geography. Spatial System Theory and
Postmodern Geography.
Books for References:
1. Dickinson, R E (1969), The Makers of Modern Geography, London.
2. Dikshit, RD (1997), Geographical Thought- A Contextual History of Ideas, Prentice
3. Hall of India, New Delhi.
4. Harvey David (1989), Explanation in Geography, Edward Arnold, London.
5. Hartshorne, R (1959), Perspectives on the Nature of Geography, Rand MacNelly,
Chicago.
6. James PE and Martin J Geoffrey (1972) All possible Worlds, John Wiley and Sons,
New York.
7. Johnston, RJ (1983) Geography and Geographers, Edward Heinemann, London
8. Peet, Richard (1998) Modern Geographical Thought, Oxford, Blackwell Publishers.

MGEO 23

Second Year
REGIONAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Block 1
Regional concept in Geography, Conceptual and theoretical framework, merits and
limitations for application to regional planning and development; changing concept of the
region from an interdisciplinary view-point.
Block 2
Concept of space, area and locational attributes. Approaches to delineation of different types
of regions and their utility in planning. Planning process - sectoral, temporal and spatial
dimensions.
Block 3
Indicators of development and disparities - case study of India. Regional development
strategies - concentration verus dispersal, case studies for plans of developed and developing
countries.
Block 4
Short- term and long term planning in a national context. Regional plans of India; Regional
development in India - problems and prospects.
Block 5
Concept of Multi-level planning: Decentralised planning; Peoples participation in the
planning process; Panchayati Raj system. Role and relationship of Panchayati Raj
institutions (Village Panchaayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad) and administrative
structure (Village, Block and District).

Books for References:

1. Spate, OHK, India and Pakistan , 1974, Methuen & Co., London ,1967.
2. R.L. Singh (ed ) , India – A Regional Geography , National Geographical Society of
India, Varanasi, 1971.
3. Deshpandey, C.D., Regional Geography of India.
4. Tiwari, Geography of India,1992.

MGEO 24

Second Year
PRACTICAL II: QUANTITATIVE TECHNIQUES AND GEOINFORMATICS

Block 1
Bi-variate Distribution and Correlation: Scatter diagrams; Spearman’s rank correlation;
Frequency distribution; Lorenz curve; Crop combinations and concentration techniques –
Weaver’s and Doi’s method – Crop diversification.

Block 2
Measures of central tendency: average, median, mode, and weighted mean; Measures of
position: quartiles, deciles, and percentiles; Measures of variation: range, variance, and
standard deviation; Co-relation coefficient. Students‘t’ test, F test, Chi-square test and
ANOVA: One way and Two way ANOVA- Testing of Hypothesis
Block 3
Visual Interpretation and Mapping of Aerial photographs: i) Land use/ Land cover mapping;
ii) Annotations of Satellite image; Visual and Digital interpretation of satellite image: Land
use and Land cover mapping. Preparation of Thematic Maps.

Block 4
Remote Sensing: Image Registration: Image to map and Image to Image; Image
Enhancement Techniques: Histogram Equalization; supervised and unsupervised
classification; land use / Land Cover Mapping.
Block 5
GIS Data Structures –Geo referencing - Creation of Geo-data base and shape file. GIS Data
Analysis – Input, Editing and Output; Overlays. Application of GIS – On screen
digitization/vectorisation of spatial data in the form of 3 layers: Point, Polyline and polygon.

Books for References:

1) Saroj K. Paul : Statistics for Geoscientists : Techniques and Applications, Concept

Publishing Company, New Delhi, 1998.
2) C. B. Gupta : An Introduction to Statistical Methods, Vikas Publishing House,
Delhi,1974.
3) S. Gregory, : Statistical Methods and the Geographers, Longman, London, 1964.
4) R. J. Johnston : Multivariate Statistical Analysis in Geography, Longman Scientific
and Technical, John Wiley & Sons, 1989 ( 4th edition).
5) Rogerson. P.A. (2010), Statistical Methods for Geography, (A Student’s Guide), 3rd
Edition,
6) Burrough, P.A and McDonnell, R.A.,1998: Principles of Geographical Information
Systems, Oxford University Press, Oxford
7) Campbell, J.B. 1996: Introduction to Remote Sensing, Taylor & Francis, London.
8) Heywood, I., Cornelius, S. and Carver, S., 2001: An Introduction to Geographical
9) Information Systems, Pearson Education, Indian Branch, Delhi
10) Lillesand, T.M. & Kiefer, R.W. 2003: Remote Sensing & Image Interpretation, John
Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York.

MGEO 25

Second Year
PROJECT

DISSERTATION AND VIVA-VOCE

At the end of the first year, the problem of the project work will be decided and
approved for each candidate. The candidate shall submit project report at the end of the
second year. The Viva on the Project will be conducted after evaluation of the project report.

PROJECT:
1. Preparation of project report mainly based on data collection, analysis, mapping and
interpretation
2. Evaluation of report
3. viva-voce on report

GUIDANCE:
 Projects shall be on any area of interest in Geography. Any topic can be chosen by the
candidate.
 The students will have to attach themselves to select higher educational institutions
for doing their projects.
 The students can approach any Government and aided Colleges and Universities for
guides to work on the Project.
 Project Guide should be as a permanent faculty in an institution in the level of
Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor.
 At the end of the first year a student can get approval for the guide from the Tamil
Nadu Open University.
 Project title and the guide should be approved by the Tamil Nadu Open University.
Remuneration for the guideship will be paid as per TNOU norms.
 Students also can choose the course co-coordinator for the guideship from TNOU.
 Viva date and venue will be intimated to the students during the second year.

REPORT WRITING
Text of the report should ideally be divided into the following sections:
 Introduction,
 Statement of problem(s)
 objectives
 Materials and methods,
 Analysis
 Results and Discussions
 Conclusion
 References/bibliography,
Maps, diagrams and sketches, excluding photographs, should not exceed 100 pages of A4
size paper. Each of the reports is to be produced individually by the students and this must be
stated clearly in a certificate from the supervisor(s). Photocopying is not to be allowed in any
form.