Final answer:
The study mentioned is Physical Geography, which includes analyzing landforms, climate, and the distribution of species, and is also related to understanding the impact of human activity on earth.
Step-by-step explanation:
The study of the way the land is formed, its physical features, as well as the plants and animals of the land, is known as Physical Geography. This branch of geography focuses on the natural phenomena of the environment, including various landforms like mountains, valleys, and other aspects of the earth's surface. One of the key subfields within Physical Geography is Biogeography, which is the study of the geographic distribution of species.
Physical Geography also investigates the relationship between the earth's physical systems, which include the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. The study encompasses various forms such as Geomorphology, which looks at earth's surface features, and Climatology, which examines climate and climate change. It goes beyond the shape of landforms to understand how human activity impacts the earth and involves studying the physical systems of the planet as a whole.
Geologists have used concepts such as Plate Tectonics to comprehend how the earth's landforms were created, with heat from the earth's interior shaping mountains, valleys, and continents. This deeper understanding was not fully realized until the mid-twentieth century, showing the dynamic nature of this field of study.