Geographical feature

Geographical features are the components of the Earth. There are two types of geographical features, namely natural geographical features and artificial geographical features. Natural geographical features include but are not limited to landforms and ecosystems. For example, terrain types, bodies of water, natural units (consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical factors of the environment) are natural geographical features. Meanwhile, human settlements, engineered constructs, etc. are types of artificial geographical features.

Natural geographical features

Ecosystems

"Any unit that includes boring of the organisms (ie: the "community") in a given area the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecosystem."^[1] Living organisms are continually engaged in a set of relationships with every other element constituting the environment in which they exist, and "ecosystem" describes any situation where there is relationship between organisms and their environment.

A biome is a geographically defined area of ecologically similar communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, often referred to as ecosystems. Biomes are defined based on factors such as plant structures (such as trees, shrubs, and grasses), leaf types (such as broadleaf and needleleaf), plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna), and climate. Unlike ecozones, biomes are not defined by genetic, taxonomic, or historical similarities. Biomes are often identified with particular patterns of ecological succession and climax vegetation. An ecosystem is also where animals live in biomes(Ocean, Deserts, Grasslands, savannas, and so on.)

Landforms

A landform comprises a geomorphological unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such, is typically an element of topography. Landforms are categorized by features such as elevation, slope, orientation, stratification, rock exposure, and soil type. They include berms, mounds, hills, cliffs, valleys, rivers and numerous other elements. Oceans and continents are the highest-order landforms.

A body of water is any significant accumulation of water, usually covering the Earth. The term body of water most often refers to large accumulations of water, such as oceans, seas, and lakes, but it may also include smaller pools of water such as ponds, puddles or wetlands. rivers, streams, canals, and other geographical features where water moves from one place to another are not always considered "bodies" of water, but are included here as geographical formations featuring water.

Artificial geographical features

Settlements

Engineered constructs

Engineered geographic features such as highways, bridges, airports, railroads, buildings, dams, and reservoirs, which are part of the anthroposphere because they are man-made, are artificial geographic features.

Cartographic features

Cartographic features are a type of abstract geographical feature - they appear on maps but not on the planet itself, even though they are located on the planet. For example, the Equator is shown on maps, but it does not physically exist on Earth; it is a theoretical line used for reference, navigation, and measurement.

See also

• Geography
• Physical geography
• Human geography
• Landscape

References