Geography 7 - Lab 1 - UPDATED

 

Shown above is the topographic map for the Central California portion of the Sierra Nevada mountains, with a focus on the Bishop area in California.  The map was acquired from an image excerpt from a website selling a topographic map of the Sierra Nevadas (http://www.boredfeet.com/mappages/map9780966534528.php). The area of Bishop was a main point of intrigue for me because that area is surrounded by numerous mountains and climbing enthusiasts can usually be found in what is known as the mecca for rock climbing in the United States - Bishop. In addition to numerous cliff climbs for rope climbing found in the Bishop area, there are also great boulders to be found for bouldering, with boulder fields spread throughout the local area - all as a result of the formation of the Sierra Nevada Mountain ranges. With the formation of the Sierra Nevadas (by subduction of the tectonic plates), a gorge (known as the Owen's River gorge) can be found running through the Bishop area in the Sierra Nevadas - as can be seen in the above map.

 

The second map above shows the population density for the country of Russia. This map is of interest due to the fact that Russia has the largest land area in the world but can be considered to be the one of the less dense countries in terms of the density per square mile for a country. The map was acquired through a website that hosts other maps of interset (http://www.roebuckclasses.com/maps/placemap/placemapindex.htm) for those with a curious mind. The density in the map is classified by the shade of red visible on the map - the darker the shade, the more dense the population within that area. Notice that the larger densities are located near bodies of water, with some cities found near rivers. By establishing settlements near bodies of water, the earlier settlements had the resources needed for sustaining life - water for farming and general sustenance of life for the inhabitants.

This final map of interest was acquired from the same source as the previous map, http://www.roebuckclasses.com/maps/placemap/placemapindex.htm , a collection of world maps, ranging from population maps to quirky maps such as lights of the world (above image). This map essentially shows an image captured from space of all the lights around the world that are visible in space. I'm sure there are people out there who have always wondered to themselves just how bright the lights of the world are and what sort of pattern can be observed if looked at from a macro standpoint - this map provides that information. Looking at the map, it's obvious that the developed nations of the world (countries of Europe and the US itself) should possess the greatest light density in the world, but another interesting phenomenon would be the country of India. For a developing nation such as India, it's intriguing just how bright the country is despite the fact it's still considered a developing country - it almost possesses the same density of lights as some of the other developed countries visible on the map.