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Landscape

geography Maturity 11-13 Next article →

A landscape is the collection of visible features in an area of land. It includes physical landforms and how they integrate with natural or human-made elements. Landscapes are often studied for their aesthetic appeal, which refers to how beautiful or pleasing they look.

Adams The Tetons and the Snake River
Adams The Tetons and the Snake River

A landscape is a living synthesis of people and place. This combination of physical origins and cultural presence can take millennia to form. Because of this, landscapes are vital to local and national identity. They provide a sense of place that makes one region feel different from another.

To understand a landscape, one must look at its many moving parts. Physical elements include geophysically defined landforms like mountains, hills, and cliffs. Water bodies, such as rivers, lakes, ponds, and the sea, are also essential components.

Laurent Guetal Le lac de l'Eychauda
Laurent Guetal Le lac de l'Eychauda

Living elements consist of land cover, such as indigenous vegetation. Human elements include land use, buildings, and various structures. Finally, transitory elements like lighting and weather conditions can change the appearance of a landscape instantly.

Many different types of landscapes exist across the Earth. You might encounter icy landscapes in polar regions or vast, arid desert landscapes. There are mountainous landscapes, islands, and coastal landscapes. Densely forested areas include boreal forests and tropical rainforests.

Inside the Batad rice terraces
Inside the Batad rice terraces

Other varieties include agricultural landscapes in temperate and tropical regions. Even urban areas have a specific type of landscape called a cityscape. A cityscape is an artistic or physical representation of a city's urban area.

Central park manhattan 2 New York photo D Ramey Logan
Central park manhattan 2 New York photo D Ramey Logan

Geomorphology is the scientific study of how these landscapes evolve. Geomorphologists investigate the origin of topographic and bathymetric features. These features are created by physical or chemical processes near the Earth's surface.

El Turbó (Baixa Ribagorça)
El Turbó (Baixa Ribagorça)

The surface is sculpted by surface processes. These include the action of water, wind, ice, and fire. Living things and chemical reactions that form soils also contribute. Gravity plays a role by affecting the stability and rate of topographic change. These surface processes are often mediated by climate.

Deep beneath the surface, geologic processes also shape the land. These processes include the uplift of mountain ranges and the growth of volcanoes. Isostatic changes can alter land surface elevation in response to surface processes. Deep sedimentary basins may also form when the surface drops and fills with eroded material.

Damarri001
Damarri001

The Earth's topography is the intersection of these geologic processes with climatic, hydrologic, and biologic actions. This complex interaction ensures that landscapes are constantly changing over time.

The word landscape has a long history in the English language. The terms landscipe or landscaef arrived after the fifth century with the Anglo-Saxons. These early terms referred to human-made spaces on the land. Around the turn of the sixteenth century, the meaning shifted toward art. Dutch painters used the term landschap to describe paintings of natural scenery.

Salomon van Ruisdael Deventer
Salomon van Ruisdael Deventer

The modern English word landscape was first recorded in 1598. It was borrowed directly from these Dutch painters' terminology.

In modern times, humans actively modify landscapes through landscaping. This involves changing contours and vegetation to improve aesthetic appearance. However, rapid urbanization has introduced new challenges to color landscapes. These are compositions where artificial elements like roads blend with natural features. Some cities face "color pollution" from bright buildings and lighting clusters.

Lisse, Netherlands - panoramio (44)
Lisse, Netherlands - panoramio (44)

This can affect people physically and psychologically. Furthermore, the homogenization of colors between cities can cause a loss of cultural identity. Researchers are now looking for ways to help cities preserve their unique characters.

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🖼️ Images & Media (14)
File:Stanisław Masłowski (1853-1926), Autumn landscape in Rybiniszki, 1902.jpeg
Stanisław Masłowski (1853-1926), Autumn...
File:Lisse, Netherlands - panoramio (44).jpg
Lisse, Netherlands - panoramio (44).jpg
File:El Turbó (Baixa Ribagorça).jpg
El Turbó (Baixa Ribagorça).jpg
File:Medieval Ridge and Furrow above Wood Stanway - geograph.org.uk - 640050.jpg
Medieval Ridge and Furrow above Wood...
File:Inside the Batad rice terraces.jpg
Inside the Batad rice terraces.jpg
File:Stourhead garden.jpg
Stourhead garden.jpg
File:Jichang Yuan.jpg
Jichang Yuan.jpg
File:Central park manhattan 2 New York photo D Ramey Logan.jpg
Central park manhattan 2 New York photo D...
File:Damarri001.jpg
Damarri001.jpg
File:Hambledon Hill towards Stourton Tower 20070730.jpg
Hambledon Hill towards Stourton Tower 20070730.jpg
File:Adams The Tetons and the Snake River.jpg
Adams The Tetons and the Snake River.jpg
File:Salomon van Ruisdael Deventer.jpg
Salomon van Ruisdael Deventer.jpg

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