Modern geosciences. What is the name of earth science? The meaning of the word "historical geography". Features of the scientific discipline

Geosciences– a complex of sciences that study the Earth, its geosphere, their natural properties, population and its results economic activity. The earth sciences include natural and social Sciences. Any of the Earth sciences is divided into general and regional. General Science studies the patterns inherent in all objects studied by this science, and regional - the characteristics of these objects in a certain territory.

The sciences that study our planet (geology, tectonics, climatology, hydrology, geography, etc.) are combined into a branch of natural science called geoscience. Let us give only the most modest list of sciences, the scope of which includes the study of our planet.

Geology– the science of the composition, structure, history of the development of the Earth’s interior, primarily earth's crust, as well as the distribution of minerals in the earth’s crust. The components of geology include mineralogy (the science of the composition and properties of minerals), petrography (the science of the composition and structure of rocks), paleontology (the science of extinct plants and animals), geochronology, tectonics (studies the occurrence of geological bodies, the movements of the earth crust), hydrogeology (the science of groundwater), geophysics (studies physical properties all geospheres and physical processes, occurring in the shells of the Earth), etc.

Geography– a system of natural, physical-geographical and social, economic-geographical sciences that study the geographical envelope of the Earth, natural and industrial territorial complexes, their components and relationships between them.

The physical and geographical sciences include general geoscience (the study of the Earth as a world body and its geographic envelope in general), landscape science (study of the patterns of territorial differentiation of the geographic envelope), sciences that study individual components of the geographic envelope: geomorphology (studies the structure, origin and development of the Earth’s relief), meteorology (the science of the Earth’s atmosphere and the processes occurring in it), climatology , oceanology, land hydrology, glaciology, soil geography, biogeography, paleogeography (studies the history of the development of the geographical envelope for the period preceding the modern one).

Economic and socio-geographical sciences include population geography, demography, industrial geography, Agriculture, transport, non-production sphere, political geography, social geography, economic geography, regional studies, geography of recreation and tourism and other areas.

Ecology– biological science about the relationship of organisms and their communities with environment. Currently, ecology is characterized by a kind of “dispersion” of research and the subject of study. The following areas were highlighted: environmental management, urban ecology, agroecology, industrial ecology, environmental engineering, etc.

Geodesy- a science that studies the shape and size of the Earth, methods of measuring distances, angles and heights on earth's surface. The branch of geodesy, which includes the technology and organization of measurements on the ground to create maps and plans, is usually called topography. The science of maps, their creation and use is called cartography.

Which studies planets, their satellites, asteroids, meteorites and comets. Often, when talking about the Earth sciences, they use a more general term: Earth and Universe sciences.

Main directions

Geological Sciences

see also

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Literature

• Yanitsky I. N. New in Earth Sciences. - M., Agar, 1998. - ISBN 5-89218-080-8

Links

• V Open Encyclopedia Project

Excerpt describing Earth Sciences

This person is also needed to justify the last collective action.
The action is completed. The last role has been played. The actor was ordered to undress and wash off the antimony and rouge: he would no longer be needed.
And several years pass in which this man, alone on his island, plays a pathetic comedy in front of himself, petty intrigues and lies, justifying his actions when this justification is no longer needed, and shows the whole world what it was like what people took for strength when an invisible hand guided them.
The manager, having finished the drama and undressed the actor, showed him to us.
- Look what you believed! Here he is! Do you see now that it was not he, but I who moved you?
But, blinded by the power of the movement, people did not understand this for a long time.
The life of Alexander I, the person who stood at the head of the countermovement from east to west, is even more consistent and necessary.
What is needed for that person who, overshadowing others, would stand at the head of this movement from east to west?
What is needed is a sense of justice, participation in European affairs, but distant, not obscured by petty interests; what is needed is a predominance of moral heights over one’s comrades—the sovereigns of that time; a meek and attractive personality is needed; a personal insult against Napoleon is needed. And all this is in Alexander I; all this was prepared by countless so-called accidents of his entire past life: his upbringing, his liberal initiatives, his surrounding advisers, Austerlitz, Tilsit, and Erfurt.
During a people's war, this person is inactive, since he is not needed. But how soon is the need common European war, the face is in this moment appears in its place and, uniting the European peoples, leads them to their goal.
The goal has been achieved. After last war 1815 Alexander is at the pinnacle of possible human power. How does he use it?
Alexander I, the pacifier of Europe, a man who from his youth strove only for the good of his people, the first instigator of liberal innovations in his fatherland, now that he seems to have the greatest power and therefore the opportunity to do the good of his people, while Napoleon exile makes childish and deceitful plans about how he would make humanity happy if he had power, Alexander I, having fulfilled his calling and sensing the hand of God on himself, suddenly recognizes the insignificance of this imaginary power, turns away from it, transfers it into the hands of those despised by him and despised people and says only:
- “Not for us, not for us, but for your name!” I am a man too, just like you; leave me to live as a human being and think about my soul and God.

Just as the sun and each atom of the ether is a ball, complete in itself and at the same time only an atom of a whole inaccessible to man due to the enormity of the whole, so each personality carries within itself its own goals and, at the same time, carries them in order to serve common goals inaccessible to man. .
A bee sitting on a flower stung a child. And the child is afraid of bees and says that the purpose of a bee is to sting people. The poet admires a bee digging into the calyx of a flower and says that the bee’s goal is to absorb the aroma of flowers. The beekeeper, noticing that the bee collects flower dust and brings it to the hive, says that the bee's goal is to collect honey. Another beekeeper, having studied the life of a swarm more closely, says that the bee collects dust to feed young bees and breed the queen, and that its goal is to procreate. The botanist notices that, by flying with the dust of a dioecious flower onto the pistil, the bee fertilizes it, and the botanist sees the bee’s purpose in this. Another, observing the migration of plants, sees that the bee promotes this migration, and this new observer can say that this is the purpose of the bee. But the final goal of the bee is not exhausted by either one, or the other, or the third goal, which the human mind is able to discover. The higher the human mind rises in the discovery of these goals, the more obvious to it is the inaccessibility of the final goal.
Man can only observe the correspondence between the life of a bee and other phenomena of life. The same goes for the goals of historical figures and peoples.

The wedding of Natasha, who married Bezukhov in 13, was the last joyful event in the old Rostov family. That same year, Count Ilya Andreevich died, and, as always happens, with his death the old family fell apart.
Events last year: the fire of Moscow and the flight from it, the death of Prince Andrei and Natasha’s despair, the death of Petya, the grief of the countess - all this, like blow after blow, fell on the head of the old count. He did not seem to understand and felt unable to understand the meaning of all these events and, morally bending his old head, as if he was expecting and asking for new blows that would finish him off. He seemed either frightened and confused, or unnaturally animated and adventurous.
Natasha's wedding occupied him for a while with its external side. He ordered lunches and dinners and, apparently, wanted to appear cheerful; but his joy was not communicated as before, but, on the contrary, aroused compassion in the people who knew and loved him.
After Pierre and his wife left, he became quiet and began to complain of melancholy. A few days later he fell ill and went to bed. From the first days of his illness, despite the doctors' consolations, he realized that he would not get up. The Countess, without undressing, spent two weeks in a chair at his head. Every time she gave him medicine, he sobbed and silently kissed her hand. On the last day, he sobbed and asked for forgiveness from his wife and in absentia from his son for the ruin of his estate - the main guilt that he felt for himself. Having received communion and special rites, he died quietly, and the next day a crowd of acquaintances who had come to pay their last respects to the deceased filled the Rostovs’ rented apartment. All these acquaintances, who had dined and danced with him so many times, who had laughed at him so many times, now all with the same feeling of inner reproach and tenderness, as if making excuses for someone, said: “Yes, whatever it was, there was a most wonderful Human. You won’t meet such people these days... And who doesn’t have their own weaknesses?..”

Geography is one of the most interesting and fascinating sciences. After all, it is directly related to travel and adventure. But what is the meaning of the term “geography”? The meaning of the word is quite interesting. And we will try to explain it in our article.

Earth Science

One of the oldest is geography. We will look at the meaning of the word a little later, but now we will get acquainted with the history of this discipline. It is known that the basics modern geography were founded back in the days of the ancient Hellenes. Their research was summarized and systematized by the ancient Greek scientist Ptolemy in the first century AD. It was in Greece that geography developed by leaps and bounds. In parallel with the study of the Earth, they were also interested in Ancient Egypt. Already in the 3rd millennium BC, the first sea expeditions across the waters of the Red and Mediterranean Seas were carried out here. Individual elements geographical descriptions can also be found in the ancient books of India - the Vedas or the Mahabharata.

How did geography develop in subsequent centuries? The importance of this science especially increased in the 16th century, during the so-called Columbus and Magellan, James Cook and brought from their voyages a lot of new information and facts about our planet, which needed to be studied and systematized in detail. Geography in its modern academic form was founded in the first half of the 19th century by Alexander Humboldt and Karl Ritter. Today, humanity has already conquered the Moon and plans to land on Mars in the very near future. However, there are still many unexplored places on Earth - “white spots” where no human has ever set foot. Therefore, geographers in the 21st century will have something to occupy themselves on this planet.

Geography: meaning of the word, origin of the term

When did the term “geography” originate? Who invented it and assigned it to this science? Let's try to explain the meaning of the word "geography". This term female comes from two ancient Greek words: “geo” (earth) and “grapho” (I write, describe). That is, it can be translated into Russian as follows: “land description.”

The term “geography” was invented and introduced into science by ancient Greek philosopher and the scientist Eratosthenes. This happened around the 3rd century BC. How and when is the term “geography” used today? The meaning of the word today can be considered in two aspects. It can be used:

1. As a science that combines many smaller disciplines. They study the Earth, the features of nature, the localization of population, minerals, etc. on its surface.
2. As an area of ​​distribution across the territory of a phenomenon or process. For example, oil reserves or the level of general literacy of people.

What does the science of geography study?

According to universal definition, geography is a science that studies the so-called Earth. The latter, in turn, includes four sections: litho-, atmospheric-, hydro- and biosphere. But that is not all. Sometimes they add the technosphere, that is, everything that is created by human hands on the planet.

The main object of scientific research can be called natural laws and patterns of distribution and interaction of various components of the geographical shell (soils, rocks, vegetation, water, etc.). Modern science is divided into three large blocks: physical, social and The first studies nature, the second - population and living conditions of people, the third - features and patterns economic development territories and countries.

The meaning of the word "historical geography". Features of the scientific discipline

As mentioned above, geography is a complex science. It includes many different disciplines. One of them is historical geography. What is she studying?

Historical geography is a special section that tries to explain various historical processes and events through geographical knowledge. In other words, this science studies history through space. And a special place in it is given to geographical (territorial) factors.

Finally

Geography is considered one of the oldest sciences on Earth. The meaning of this term is very interesting. The word was invented in Ancient Greece. And it can be translated into Russian as “description of land”. The term was introduced back in the third century BC by the ancient Greek scientist Eratosthenes. By the way, it was he who first measured the parameters of our planet. And he did it quite accurately, without having modern instruments and technologies at hand.

IN Lately I began to hear a lot of words starting with the prefix "-geo". As it turns out, most people have this prefix. modern sciences exploring our world. Having decided to find out how many there are, I looked at my home encyclopedia. And there were really a lot of these sciences: I personally counted more than twenty! I will tell you about some of them now.

What sciences study the Earth?

Today, many sciences are engaged in studying our planet and its cosmic regions. And one of the leading ones is geology. She mainly deals description of the surface layers of the earth's crust, study of their composition, internal structure and origin.

Geological science unites within itself many disciplines that simply cannot exist separately from each other:

• geochemistry. Doing research chemical elements in various parts of the lithosphere;
• mineralogy. Has a connection with physics, studies the origin, composition and internal crystal structure of minerals;
• tectonics. Looks for connections between the movements of the solid layers of the Earth.
• geomorphology. Studies the relief, its forms and diversity. Particularly interested in the processes affecting him.

Also worth mentioning volcanology, paleontology and many other sciences that study the depths of our planet.

In addition, there are many more branches of geology, young and old.

Other sciences studying the Earth

As mentioned above, our planet is studied by a lot of individual sciences and their branches. Now I would like to list some of the most interesting sciences that are not branches of geology:

• geography. Its very name brings back memories of school lessons;
• geodesy. Calculates the laws by which our planet moves;
• gemology. A science specializing in the study of gems;
• hydrology. Studies natural waters and their connection with other layers of the Earth;
• meteorology. Simply put, the science of weather.

Relatively young is geoinformatics, it creates information programs that facilitate modern geological research. It helps a lot, for example, work geostatistics.

Plus a lot others independent sciences about our planet. It is worth noting once again that they are all, one way or another, connected to each other and share data with each other, helping mutual work.