Living Physical Geography is divided into four main parts, focusing on the atmosphere, the biosphere, the building up of the lithosphere, and the wearing down of the lithosphere. Each part focuses on the flow and work of energy. Solar energy drives processes in the atmosphere, in the biosphere, and in the wearing down of the lithosphere. Earth’s internal heat energy drives processes that build the lithosphere. Figure GT.11, reprinted here, illustrates the book’s organization.

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Part I: Atmospheric Systems: Weather and Climate

All meteorological phenomena are powered by the Sun. For example, wind is solar powered because it derives its energy from the unequal heating of Earth’s surface by the Sun. Similarly, rainfall is the result of evaporation of water from the oceans by the Sun.

Part II: The Biosphere and the Geography of Life

Solar energy fuels the biosphere. Life on Earth obtains its energy from the Sun (with the exception of the organisms around some hydrothermal vents on land and in the deep ocean). Plants convert solar energy to chemical energy. When plants are eaten, their chemical energy flows into the organism consuming them.

Part III: Tectonic Systems: Building the Lithosphere

Earth’s internal heat energy (geothermal energy) lifts, buckles, and breaks the crust. Earth’s internal heat also creates new rocks and moves the plates of the lithosphere, forming mountains, valleys, volcanoes, and ocean basins.

Part IV: Erosion and Deposition: Sculpting Earth’s Surface

Solar energy sculpts the lifted crust. Sunlight evaporates water into the atmosphere. That water subsequently falls to the ground as precipitation, then returns to the oceans through flowing streams and flowing glaciers. These streams and glaciers erode the crust, reducing its height and smoothing it.

Living Physical Geography features discussion of the hydrosphere throughout the text as it naturally occurs rather than treating it as a separate entity. For example, water runs through and influences nearly all of Earth’s physical systems, including the atmosphere, ecosystems and biomes, fluvial and glacial systems, and the crust’s groundwater. Additionally, Living Physical Geography devotes an entire chapter to the oceans by examining their physical structure and the geographic patterns of life found in them.

The contents of this book follow a logical sequence, but each instructor approaches the discipline in a different way and may present topics in a different order. For this reason, each chapter is largely self-contained and makes cross-references to key information in other chapters only when needed.