Environmental Processes and Landscapes in Southern Africa

Main Outcomes 

On completion of the module students should be able to:

• Identify the climate of different regions of southern Africa and describe the frequency of droughts and floods.
• Interpret synoptic charts and identify common weather systems.
• Contrast the causes and effects of natural climate changes with those of global warming.
• Propose measures to reduce the impact of extreme weather events on infrastructure and communities.
• Understand and describe macroscale geomorphic processes occurring in southern Africa.
• Compare processes and dynamics of different geomorphic landscapes including periglacial, arid and semi-arid and coastal.
•  Explain the difference between mixed, bedrock and alluvial rivers and recommend how each should be managed to protect water resources.
• Compare worldviews and how they impact upon the goals and intentions of environmental management.
• Explain the relationship between climate, geomorphology, and biomes in southern Africa.
• Use maps and images to identify and investigate landscape processes.
• Understand and apply geographic research methods pertaining to satellite images, aerial photographs, and maps.

Main Content

Climate:

• South African climate and common weather systems
• Causes of climatic variability (drought and flood cycles, El Niño) and climate change (global warming vs natural variation)
• Kӧppen climate classification
• Extreme weather events and disaster planning

Geomorphology:

• A brief geological history of South Africa
• Uplift and erosion of the subcontinent
• An introduction to periglacial, arid and semi-arid, coastal  and river geomorphic processes

Methods (to be integrated into Climatology and Geomorphology):

• Introduction to geographical methods of studying the earth
• Basic graph skills and introduction to statistics
• Elementary cartographic and geo-referencing principles, and map work techniques.