现代自然地理

Humans are spatial actors. We profoundly influence vast areas because of our mobility and access to energy and technology. In turn, Earth's systems influence our activities in a most obvious way-these systems give us life.

We simplify geographic science using five spatial themes: location, region, human-Earth relationships, movement, and place.

Within these five geographic themes, a method rather than a specific body of knowledge governs geography. The method is spatial analysis. Using this method, geography synthesizes (brings together) topics from many fields, integrating information to form a whole-Earth concept. Geographers view phenomena as occurring in spaces and areas having distinctive characteristics. The language of geography reflects this spatial view space, territory, zone, pattern, distribution, place, location, region, sphere, province, and distance. Geographers analyze the differences and similarities among places and

locations.

Process, a set of actions or mechanisms that operate in some special order is central to geographic analysis. As examples in Geosystems, numerous processes are involved in Earth's vast water-atmosphere-weather system, or in continental crust movements and earthquake occurrences, or in ecosystem functions. Geographers use spatial analysis to examine how Earth's processes interact over space or area.

Therefore, physical geography is the spatial analysis of all the physical elements and processes that make up the environment: energy, air, water, weather, climate, landforms, soils, animals, plants, microorganisms, and Earth itself. We add to this the oldest theme in the geographic tradition, that of human activity. As a science, physical geographers employ the scientific method.

译：地理学是研究自然系统、地理空间、社会、文化活动，以及所有这些在空间上依存关系的学科。空间是指物理空间的性质和特征，它的测量以及事物的分布。例如，今天以你自己的路线去教室或图书馆，或者如何运用你所学的街头模式、交通事故点、单行道、停车场、自行车架位置知识来缩短你上班的步行距离。这些都是空间问题。

人类是空间的主体。由于我们的流动和获得能源和技术而深刻影响着

这个巨大的空间。相反，在很大的行为方式上——地球系统给了我们生命影响着我们的行为活动。

我们用五个空间主题来概括地理学：位置、区域、人地关系、运动、地点。这五个地理主题所包含的是一种方法而不是具体的知识体系来管理地理学。这一方法就是空间分析法。运用这一方法，地理学综合了来自许多领域的主题，整合信息形成一个完整地球的概念。地理学家认为现象发生在空间和领域有独特的特征。地理这一术语反映出空间视图空间、领域、地带、模式、分配、地方、位置、地域、范围和距离。地理学家分析地方和位置之间的不同和相似性。过程，一系列的行为和控制某一特殊地区的机制是地理研究的中心。以地理系统为例，许多的过程涉及到地球的water-atmosphere-weather大系统中，或大陆地壳运动和地震事件中，或生态系统中。地理学家运用空间分析的方法来调查地球发展过程是如何影响空间和地区的。

因此，自然地理学是所有自然因素和过程的空间分析，它组成了环境包括：能量、大气、水、天气、气候、地形、土壤、动物、植物、微生物和地球自身这些因子。我们增加这个地理最古老的主题传统——人类活动。作为一门学科，自然地理学者使用了科学的研究方法。