Physical geography (also known as
geosystems or
physiography) is one of the two major subfields of
geography. Physical geography focuses on understanding the processes and patterns in the
natural environment, as opposed to the
built environment which is the domain of
Human geography. Within the body of physical geography the Earth is often split either into several
spheres or into different environments, with the main spheres being the;
Atmosphere,
Biosphere,
Cryosphere,
Geosphere,
Hydrosphere,
Lithosphere and
Pedosphere. Within physical geography there are various fields of study, mainly but not exclusively focusing on the spheres of the earth. Research in physical geography is often interdisciplinary and uses the
systems approach.
Physical geography and Earth Science journals communicate and document the results of research carried out in universities and various other research institutions. Most journals cover a specific field and publish the research within that field, however unlike human geographers, physical geographers tend to publish in inter-disciplinary journals rather than predominantly geography journal; the research is normally expressed in the form of a scientific paper. Additionally, textbooks books and magazines on geography communicate research to laypeople, although these tend to focus on environmental issues or cultural dilemmas. Examples of journals that publish articles from physical geographers are
href="/Biogeography_related.html" title="Biogeography">Biogeography&_160;· Climatology & paleoclimatology&_160;· Coastal geography&_160;· Geomorphology&_160;· Glaciology&_160;· Hydrology & Hydrography&_160;· Landscape ecology&_160;· Limnology&_160;· Oceanography&_160;· Palaeogeography&_160;· Pedology&_160;· Quaternary science
