Geography GEO 1310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Mekong, Sea Level Rise, Soil Fertility

• School: Texas State University
• Department: Geography
• Course: Geography GEO 1310
• Professor: Hartsell

Document Summary

Southeast asia: mainland and insular regions, asean supranational organization. Environmental issues: almost entirely tropical, typhoon seasons, monsoon seasons, deforestation, pollution, dams. Patterns of physical geography (inlands: rugged uplands, river valleys and deltas, mighty mekong river. Patterns of physical geography (islands: technically active, tsunamis, year-round precipitation, typhoons (hurricanes) Smoke and air pollution: el nino droughts, commercial forest cutting, emissions from cars and factories. Dam-building in southeast asia: controversies in laos, burma and cambodia. Climate change: sea level rise in low lying areas, reduced rice yields, benefits in dry areas with increased rain, carbon emissions from burning peatlands. Population and settlement: sparsely settled, high density areas, deltas, coasts, fertile soil zones. Settlement and agriculture: java, worlds highest rural population density, swidden in the uplands (laos, thailand, burma) slash and burn agriculture, switch to cash crops when needed, golden triangle second largest opium and heroin producing area (laos, Thailand, burma: plantation agriculture rubber, sugarcane, tea , coffee, palm oil, rice in the lowlands.