COMMON ERRORS IN GEOGRAPHY

By NCHANGVI Sebastian KANGANG

The performance of some our students in certificate examinations has been poor due in
part to the use of wrong content material extracted from some of the books we have written.
Some of these errors are so frequent and widespread to be described here as ‘common errors or
mistakes’ in geography.
The objective here is to identify these common errors and to propose the right versions
with a scientific backing. It is hoped that, authors, teachers, students and the authorities of the
subject will usefully exploit these proposals and adopt them for optimal output. On the table that
follows, the errors are stated in the second column (as extracted from the books, whose titles and
pages have been withheld), while the corrections are made in the third column.

Common Errors Corrections

1. The Adamawa plateau experiences a Dry Adamawa experiences a humid tropical
climate. continental climate and not a dry climate.
This explains why, the Adamawa plateau
serves as the major watershed of
Cameroon.
2. Depletion of ozone layer causes global Yes, ozone depletion allows more
warming as more ultraviolet (UV) ultraviolet (UV) radiation to reach the
radiations reaches the earth’s surface. surface but this does not cause global
warming. Ozone is a greenhouse gas and
its depletion has more of a cooling than a
warming effect. Consequently, ozone layer
depletion should never be cited as a cause
of global warming.
3. The two types of soil erosion are sheet Sheet and gully erosions are forms of soil
and gully erosion erosion caused by water. Wind and ice do
not cause sheet and gully erosion. Rather,
the two main types of soil erosion
recognized are geologic and accelerated
erosion. While the first is slow and caused
by natural factors, accelerated erosion is
very rapid and caused by human action
such as vegetation removal,
overcultivation, overgrazing etc which lay
bare the surface for rapid removal of top
by by wind or water.
4. An ecosystem is the relationship between Relationships bind the components of an
living and non-living things ecosystem together but an ecosystem is a
unit, large or small where living and non-
living things exist and interact through the
flow of energy and the cycling of materials
e.g a pond, a lake, tropical rainforest
ecosystems.
5. Laterite is a soil type in the humid tropics Laterite is not a soil type. It is a hard rock-
 like mass of iron and aluminum commonly
found in soils in humid regions such as
ferrallites and ferruginous soils. If you
must use the term for a soil type, this
should be lateritic soil. i.e soil which
contains laterites.
6. The earth has two motions in space: Should rather say the earth performs two
rotation and revolution MAIN motions in space. This is because in
reality there are FIVE motions: (i) it
rotates on its axis once every 24 hours,
with a (ii) slow wobble which takes 26,000
years to complete. (iii) It revolves around
the sun at 181/2 miles per second, making
the circuit in 3651/4 days. (iv) It speeds
with the rest of our solar system at 12
miles per second toward the star Vego. (v)
Finally, our entire galaxy, with its billions
of stars, is rotating in space – our part of it
at a speed of 170 miles per second.
7. The earth rotates from West to East This is a fact but some specifications must
be made. It is better to say the earth rotates
N in an anticlockwise direction from West to
East. Look at the diagram, both arrows
show East movements, but one is
clockwise above (wrong) and the other
S anticlockwise below (right)
8. The components of the hydrological When viewed as a system, the
cycle are evapotranspiration, hydrological cycle is made up of
precipitation etc components and linkages. The
components are rather the water storages
e.g ocean, soil moisture, ground water etc;
while the linkages are the flows or
processes e.g infiltration, percolation,
evapotranspiration, precipitation etc at a
global scale.
9. The global hydrological cycle is an open At a global scale the hydrological cycle
system made up of inputs and outputs. rather operates as a closed system. A
closed system does not exchange matter,
which in this context is water, across its
boundaries but is opened only to energy.
The atmosphere and lithosphere combined
have a finite amount of water and there are
no gains and losses in the overall cycle (no
water comes in from, or leaves to the other
planets)
10. Horst latitude It is rather horse latitude and this refers the
 sub-tropical high pressure belts located
between latitudes 25 and 35 degrees N &S
of the equator. It is so described because
sailing ships carrying horses from Spain to
the New World often became becalmed
and ran out of food and water for the
animals. The sea was sometimes littered
with bodies of starved horses which had
been thrown overboard.
11. The sub-tropical high pressure belt In reality, the subtropical high pressure
occupies latitude 25o and 35o North and belt does not form a uniform and
South of the equator. continuous area of high pressure through
this latitudinal belt stretching across the
world. Instead, it occurs as several
localized anticyclonic cells of high
pressure within this belt. Some of these
are permanent and others semi-permanent.
E.g Azore, Sahara, st Helena high pressure
cells. The peculiar distribution of land and
water prevents the subtropical cells from
joining into a globe-encircling belt and this
, in turn, explains why deserts do not fill a
complete zone of latitude.
12. Precipitation is an input into the drainage An input is usually a substance and not a
basin hydrological cycle process. Hence, say water is the input
brought via precipitation
13. Fog is a gaseous form of precipitation. This is a wrong statement. Fog consists of
tiny liquid droplets of water close to the
earth’s surface and is rather considered as
ground cloud and not a form of
precipitation. This occurs when water
vapour condenses close to the ground. It
cannot be a gas because water in the
gaseous state (water vapour) is invisible,
while fog is visible. Water is visible (can
be seen) only after it changes from vapour
to the liquid or solid state.
14. The effects of global warming include a A rise in temperature is an evidence or
rise in temperature etc indicator that global warming occurs. The
consequence of the rise in temperature
such as ice melts, heat waves etc are the
effects of global warming.
15. Volcanic eruptions lead to global Scientifically, this is wrong. Volcanic
warming. eruptions rather lead to cooling. Research
rather shows that periods of intense
volcanic eruptions correlate directly with
 cold periods or ice ages. The dust and
gases emitted form an insulating roof
which blocks solar radiation from reaching
the earth’s surface.
16. An example of a fault scarp is the The steep slope separating Up-station and
Bamenda fault scarp downtown Bamenda is not a fault scarp
because the rocks on either side are not the
same. The rocks in Downtown consist of
old basement complex of Precambrian age,
while those at Up-station are recent
volcanic rocks (rhyolite). Hence, the scarp
should be thought of as a sharp edge of
solidified acidic lava flow.
17. The speed of flow or velocity of rivers is Rather, rivers flow swiftly at the upper
low in the upper course due to high course due the steep gradient of slope of
frictional resistance caused by the the channel. What is low at this stage is
roughness and narrow nature of the stream efficiency. This has to do with the
channel. ability of the stream to use its energy in
overcoming friction and in doing its work
of erosion and transportation. A less
efficient stream uses more of its energy in
overcoming friction caused by the rough
channels and less for doing its work.
18. The two air masses which affect the The monsoon and the harmattan are meso-
climate of Cameroon are the South West scale winds and not air masses. The air
Monsoon and the Harmattan masses that affect the climate of Cameroon
are the Tropical or Equatorial Maritime
air mass (Tm or Em) and Tropical
Continental air mass (Tc). Admittedly,
the winds (SW Monsoon and Harmattan)
help to convey or carry the air masses
about to bring different weather conditions
with changes in seasons. It should be noted
that air masses are formed in high pressure
areas and when they start moving (due to
differences in barometric gradient or
carried by winds) they are called air
streams.
19. Insolation or temperature Often times, these two terms are used as if
they are synonymous. This is not the case.
Though intimately related, insolation
relates to the amount of solar energy that
reaches a given surface at a given time,
measured in megajoule/m2 (by the World
Meteorological Organisation), while
temperature relates to how cold or hot a
 place or air is, after receiving insolation. It
is measured in oC, oF, oK etc. note that at
high mountain tops, insolation is high due
to reduce losses of energy, but temperature
is rather low at same height due to narrow
nature of radiative surface area with height
20. Temperatures are high in continental This statement is an overstatement and is
interiors and low in coastal areas often used when explaining continentality
(distance from the sea) as a factor
influencing spatial variations in
temperature. Instead, say that coastal areas
have moderate temperatures while
continental interiors experience extremes
of temperature. This is so because water
heats up and cools slowly. For this reason,
the temperature range in coastal areas is
low. Conversely, land heats up and also
cools rapidly resulting in a high
temperature range.
21. The intensity of agriculture decreases The right thing to say is from the city and
with increasing distance from the city not city centre. This is because the city
centre centre is the Central Business District
(C.B.A) where agriculture is not practised.
22. There are nine planets in the solar system This used to be the accepted number of
planets in the past. Today, there are
officially 8 planets in the solar system.
This is what is being taught in the western
world. In 2006, the International
Astronomical Union classified Pluto that
was discovered in 1930 as a dwarf planet,
reducing the number of planets in our solar
system to eight. This means our teaching
of the solar system is more than a decade
outdated.
23. All lines of longitude are Great Circles This is an overstatement. Remember, a
Great circle is any line which divides the
globe into two equal parts. One line of
longitude alone does not form a Great
Circle. Rather two opposite lines of
longitude that sum up to 180 degrees will
form a Great circle. Put differently, each
longitude and its ante meridian (opposite
longitude) form a Great circle. This
explains why in citing examples of Great
circles, we quote one longitude in the east
and the opposite one in the west. E.g
 longitudes 0 and 180 degrees together
form a great circle. 30E and 150W, 60W
and 120E etc. the trick is the two values
must sum up to 180 degrees.
NB: Do you know that all lines that do not
divide the globe into two equal parts are
called Small Circles? E.g all latitudes
except the equator are small circles.
24. The total amount of rainfall per annum is This is the reverse of the right thing.
higher in the Southern Cameroon Low Although the Southern Low Plateau of
Plateau than on the Western Highlands. Cameroon witnesses convectional rainfall
throughout the year because of its
latitudinal location which places it in the
equatorial low pressure area of air
convergence and uplift, the total amount of
rainfall in this region is less than the
amount recorded in the Western
Highlands. Although the latter has a
seasonal pattern of rainfall, it experiences
orographic rainfall, which is also
monsoonal. Let us recall that the wettest
place or places in the world are those
experiencing orographic rainfall. E.g
Cherrapunji on the windward slopes
Mount Assam in India, Mt Waialeale in
Hawaii, USA, and Debunscha in
Cameroon.
25. In a fieldwork exercise to investigate - Investigating size of gully is an aspect of
variations in the size of gully with physical geography. Questionnaires are
distance downslope, the students cited the mainly used for investigating human
use of a questionnaire under methods and features or activities.
a calculator as one of the tools used. - The calculator is not a tool or equipment
for field measurements. It is not used in
the field. It is used during the processing
of data in the classroom. Naming it as a
tool for obtaining data on the field is
wrong (Nwana, 750 Geography whatsApp
group 16/10/2016).
26. An ageing population is one in which the An ageing population is rather a
number of old persons dominate. population with an increasing number of
old persons or reducing number of the
young. The number of people aged 65 and
over is increasing and not dominant.
Nowhere in the world has the number of
old persons exceeded 20%. Italy which
was declared as the ‘oldest’ nation in the
 world in the year 2000 had only 18% of its
population made up of the old. The use of
the word ‘dominate’ means that the
proportion of the old is over 50%, which is
not the case.

SOURCE: Excepts from NCHANGVI’S DIARY