Program Overview

Department of Geography

The Department of Geography offers various undergraduate and graduate programs.

Undergraduate Programs

• Undergraduate Program
  • Geography Program
  • Environmental Studies Program
  • International and Global Studies
  • Certificates
• Undergraduate Menu
  • Prospective Students
  • Learning Goals
  • Major in Geography
  • Minor in Geography
  • Course Descriptions
  • Course Schedule
  • Prizes & Research Stipends
  • Rutgers Undergraduate Geography Society (RUGS)
  • Study Abroad Program
    • Study Abroad Options
• Environmental Studies
  • Learning Goals
  • Major in Environmental Studies
  • Minor in Environmental Studies
  • Course Schedule
  • Study Abroad Program
  • Affiliated Faculty
• Minor in International and Global Studies
  • Learning Goals
  • Approved Courses
  • Course Schedules
  • Study Abroad Program

Course Details

01:450:101 Earth Systems

• Course Code: 01:450:101
• Semester(s) Offered: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer
• Credits: 3
• SAS Core Certified: CCO, NS
• Requirement: Geography Core Earth's physical environment, its atmosphere, landscapes, water resources, and geology change from place to place. With this comes environment affects on people's everyday lives. Yet people also influence their surrounding environments. Dry, wet, warm or cold regions present different challenges for the human population.

How do the earth's physical landscapes develop and evolve? Why does New Jersey’s climate vary from season to season and year to year, and why is it changing? How does this differ from deserts in the southwestern US, the Florida Everglades, and the Alaskan tundra? Why does the landscape change from the Rocky Mountains to the New Jersey barrier islands? How do water, ice and wind sculpt these landscapes? Where do humans fit into these “equations”?

This course uses a systems approach to delve into linkage amongst these aspects of the physical environment, in particular exploring their geographic dimensions.