{"id":181,"date":"2014-06-13T19:41:07","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T19:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/geography\/?post_type=chapter&p=181"},"modified":"2014-09-02T16:20:42","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T23:20:42","slug":"9-2-introduction","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/geography\/chapter\/9-2-introduction\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction","rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"raw":"\u201cBeautiful British Columbia\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cThe Best Place on Earth\u201d\r\n\r\n\u201cSuper, Natural British Columbia\u201d\r\n\r\nThese official slogans for British Columbia (BC) have all been inspired by the rugged physical geography that characterizes\u00a0the province. Physical geography is the study of processes and patterns of the natural environment that creates these characteristic\u00a0landscapes. Physical geography includes a diverse range of natural phenomena, studying, for example, the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and geosphere.\u00a0In this chapter we will introduce several physical geography\u00a0sub-disciplines as they relate to BC's\u00a0different regions.\r\n

Overview of Regions in British Columbia<\/h2>\r\nBC has an array of physical characteristics that\u00a0make up its\u00a0unique and diverse landscape. Because of the variety of\u00a0physical and cultural regions, the province is sometimes called \"a region of regions\" (McGillivray, 2005).\u00a0British Columbia is customarily divided into three main regions, the\u00a0Interior, the\u00a0Coast\u00a0and the\u00a0Lower Mainland. These are broken up by a loose and often overlapping system of cultural-geographic regions, often based on river basins but sometimes spanning them. Examples of the former are\u00a0the\u00a0Kootenays, the\u00a0Okanagan, and the\u00a0Chilcotin; examples of\u00a0latter are\u00a0the\u00a0Lillooet country\u00a0and\u00a0the Cariboo. Important subareas of these include the\u00a0Fraser Valley, part of the Lower Mainland, the\u00a0Fraser Canyon\u00a0(which overlaps with various regions) and the\u00a0Robson Valley, which is the uppermost basin of the Fraser River southeast of Prince George. Vancouver Island is considered\u00a0its own region, as are Haida Gwaii\u00a0(Queen Charlotte Islands) and the\u00a0Gulf Islands.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_178\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"400\"]\"Figure<\/a> Figure 8.1 Physiographic region of British Columbia[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe spatial layout of major features of BC's physical geography are illustrated in the map in Figure 8.1, which displays some of the major mountain ranges: the Coast Mountains, Columbia Mountains, and Rocky Mountains and plateaus such as the Thomson and Chilcotin Plateaus.\r\n\r\nBC's\u00a0complex landscape includes varied topography and\u00a0physiography, many microclimates, and both\u00a0terrestrial\u00a0and\u00a0marine\u00a0ecosystems.\u00a0Important characteristics of marine ecosystems include\u00a0temperature, salinity, seabed configuration and water depth, whereas terrestrial ecosystems are heavily influenced by\u00a0climatic zones that occur where specific soils, plant and animal communities, and aquatic systems interact with the geologic and geomorphic processes.\u00a0Marine and terrestrial ecosystems interact to create a unique and vibrant coastal zone.\r\n\r\nThere are several different biogeoclimatic\u00a0zones<\/strong><\/a>[footnote]see\u00a0http:\/\/cfcg.forestry.ubc.ca\/resources\/cataloguing-in-situ-genetic-resources\/about-bec-and-bgc-units\/<\/a> for more information on BC biogeoclimatic zones[\/footnote] that include diverse\u00a0vegetation reflecting climatic and physiographic differences. These zones include:\r\n