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It may well be said that there can be no geography at all without physical geography, which cencen IS itself with the solid rocks the actual shape and form of the land surface, the configuration and extent of the seas and oceans, the enveloping atmcsphere without which lif~ as we know it cannot exist, the physical processes which take place in that atmosphere, tile thin vital layer of the soil and the 'green mantle' of vegetation
Each of these various aspects "as an interest in its own right, and the geologist, the meteorologist, the soil scientist and the botanist are intimately concemed with the understanding of the various phenomena falling within their respective fields. From these allied natural sciences physical geography necessarily draws much of its data. But geography, physical or otherwise, is far from being a mere descriptive compilation of facts derived en bloc from these extemal sources. The geographer seeks to use this information so as to describe and attempt to explain the features of the stage on which man plays his part.
Twenty years have passed since the first edition was published, during which the scope and content of physical geography, as of all other aspects of the subject, have enormously expanded. There has been much talk of 'the new geomorphology', in terms of climatomorphology, of such concepts as dynamic equiligpum of landforms, and an emphasis on structure ar.d process (with less stress on stage) in the evolution of these landforms. There has been a rather contemptuous dismissal of the cyclic concepts of W. M. Davis as obsolete, or at best obsolescent. Muchnew information is available conceming the physics of the earth and its effects or. the surface features; the body of ocoanoqraphical research is enormous; in many respects the approach to climatology has been modified by new concepts in meteorology.
The seventh edition sought to retain 'the best of the old' yet provide an initial appreciation of some of the novel implications and developments. This eighth edition has gone a little further in modifying and updating both approach and content. Certain classifications have been reorqarused: the significance of such concepts as plate tectonics has been mentioned; modified ideas conceming geocronology, glacial processes, coral reefs, the structure of the upper atmosphere, etc., have been introduced. The conclusion too has been substantially rewritten to review the place of physical geography in the current discipline