Glossary of geography terms

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This glossary of geography terms is a list of definitions of words and phrases used in geography and related fields, which describe and identify natural phenomena, geographical locations, spatial dimension and natural resources. Geographical terms are classified according to their functions, such as description, explanation, analysing, evaluating and integrating.

Video Glossary of geography terms

A

absolute humidity

The mass of water vapor in the atmosphere per unit of volume of space.

absolute location

The location of a point on the Earth's surface that can be expressed by a grid reference such as latitude and longitude.

accessibility resource

A naturally occurring landscape feature that facilitates interaction between places.

accessibility

A locational characteristic that permits a place to be reached by the efforts of those at other places.

acid rain

Rain that has become more acidic than normal (a pH below 5.0) as certain oxides present as airborne pollutants are absorbed by the water droplets. The term is often applied generically to all acidic precipitation.

active volcano

A volcano that is currently erupting, or one that has erupted during the last 10,000 years (the Holocene) or during recorded history.

aerosol

Fine liquid or solid particles suspended in the atmosphere. Aerosols resulting from volcanic eruptions are tiny droplets of sulfuric acid--sulfur dioxide that have picked up oxygen and water.

agricultural geography

A subdiscipline of geography which studies the spatial relationships between humans and agriculture and the cultural, political, and environmental processes that lead to parts of the Earth's surface being transformed by humans through primary sector activities into agricultural landscapes.

air mass

A very large body of atmosphere defined by essentially similar horizontal air temperatures. Moisture conditions are also usually similar throughout the mass.

alluvia

Clay, silt, gravel, or similar detrital material deposited by running water.

alluvial soils

Soils deposited through the action of moving water. These soils lack horizons and are usually highly fertile.

altitude

The height of an object in the atmosphere above sea level. Compare elevation.

Antarctic Circle

anthracite

A hard coal containing little volatile matter.

anthropization

The conversion of open spaces, landscapes, and natural environments by human action.

antipodes

A pair of points on the Earth's surface that are diametrically opposite to each other, such that a straight line connecting them would pass through the Earth's center. Such points are as far away from each other as possible, with the great-circle distance between them being approximately 20,000 kilometres (12,000 mi).

archipelago

A collection of islands in a sea.

arête

A sharp, narrow mountain ridge. It often results from the erosive activity of alpine glaciers flowing in adjacent valleys.

arroyo

A deep gully cut by a stream that flows only part of the year; a dry gulch. A term normally used only in desert areas.

Arctic Circle

ash

Fragments less than ¹/₃ centimetre (0.13 in) in diameter of lava or rock blasted into the air by volcanic explosions.

Atlantic Seaboard fall line

The physiographic border between the Piedmont and Atlantic coastal plain regions. The name derives from the river rapids and falls that occur as the water flows from the hard rocks of the higher piedmont onto the softer rocks of the coastal plain.

atlas

A bound collection of maps.

atmosphere

The mixture of gases, aerosols, solid particles, and water vapor that envelops the Earth.

atoll

A ring-shaped coral reef that partially or completely encircles a lagoon.

Maps Glossary of geography terms

B

badlands

An area of irregular topography resulting from extensive wind and water erosion of sedimentary rock.

barrier ridge

Unnavigable steep terrain isolating one terrain from another.

base level

The lowest level to which a stream can erode its bed. The ultimate base level of all streams is, of course, the sea.

basin

See depression.

batholith

A very large body of igneous rock, usually granite, which has been exposed by erosion of the overlying rock.

bay

Part of a sea or lake within a wide or narrow indentation of the shoreline.

beach

A landform along the shoreline of an ocean, sea, lake, or river with a loose surface of sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, shells, stones or coral.

bedrock

The solid rock in the Earth's crust that underlies all soil or other loose material; the rock material that breaks down eventually to form soil.

bight

A bend or curve in a coastline, river, or other geographical feature typically indicating a large, open bay. It is shallower than a sound.

biological diversity

A concept recognising the variety of life forms in an area of the Earth and the ecological interdependence of these life forms.

biogeography

biosphere

The realm of all living things.

biota

The animal and plant life of a region considered as a total ecological entity.

bituminous

A soft coal that, when heated, yields considerable volatile matter.

blowout

A sandy depression formed when wind erodes into patches of bare sand on otherwise vegetation-stabilized sand dunes at the margins of coastal and arid ecosystems.

bocage

A landscape of mixed woodland and pasture, with fields and winding country lanes sunken between low, narrow ridges and banks surmounted by tall, thick hedgerows, especially as found in rural parts of western Europe.

boundary

A line indicating the limit of a country, state, or other political jurisdiction or geographical entity.

break-in-bulk point

Commonly, a transfer point on a transport route where the mode of transport (or type of carrier) changes and where large-volume shipments are reduced in size. For example, goods may be unloaded from a ship and transferred to trucks at an ocean port.

butte

An isolated hill or mountain with steep or precipitous sides, usually having a smaller summit area than a mesa.

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C

caldera

A large, cauldron-like depression that forms through the subsidence and collapse of a ground surface following the evacuation of an underlying magma chamber.

canal

A navigable artificial water channel, usually built as a conduit for human activity.

canyon

A deep cleft between cliffs or escarpments, or a rift between two mountain peaks, resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over long periods of geologic time. Also called a gorge, or spelled as cañon.

cape

A large headland or promontory extending into a body of water, usually the sea.

caprock

A stratum of erosion-resistant sedimentary rock (usually limestone) found in arid areas. Caprock forms the top layer of most mesas and buttes.

carrying capacity

The number of people that an area can support given the quality of the natural environment and the level of technology of the population.

cartography

The study and practice of making maps and charts. A person who draws or makes maps or charts is called a cartographer.

cartogram

A map in which some thematic mapping variable, such as travel time, population, or gross national product, is substituted for traditional measures of land area or distance such that the geometry or space of the map is distorted in order to convey and emphasize the information of the alternate variable.

cave

cay

A small, sandy, low-elevation island on the surface of an otherwise submerged coral reef; a type of coral island. Compare atoll.

central business district

A centrally located commercial business district in an urban area, typically containing a concentration of office and retail activities.

census-designated place (CDP)

A concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes.

channel

chaparral

A dense, impenetrable thicket of shrubs or dwarf trees.

chinook

A warm, dry wind experienced along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. Most common in winter and spring, it can result in a rise in temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) in a quarter of an hour.

cinder cone

A steep-sided volcano formed by the explosive eruption of cinders that form around a vent. Cinders are lava fragments about 1 centimetre (0.39 in) in diameter.

cirque

cliff

climax vegetation

The vegetation that would exist in an area if growth had proceeded undisturbed for an extended period. This would be the "final" collection of plant types that presumably would remain forever, or until the stable conditions were somehow disturbed.

col

The lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks. Also called a gap or notch.

compass rose

A figure on a compass, map, nautical chart, or monument used to display the orientation of the four cardinal directions -- North, East, South, and West -- and their intermediate points.

confluence

The place at which two or more streams flow together to form one larger stream.

coniferous

Bearing cones; from the conifer family.

continent

One of several very large, contiguous landmasses into which the Earth's land area is divided, generally by geographical or political convention rather than any strict criteria. Geologically, continents correspond largely to areas of continental crust on continental plates.

continental climate

The type of climate found in the interior of the major continents in the middle, or temperate, latitudes. The climate is characterized by a great seasonal variation in temperatures, four distinct seasons, and a relatively small annual precipitation.

continental divide

The line of high ground that separates the oceanic drainage basins of a continent; the river systems of a continent on opposite sides of a continental divide flow toward different oceans.

continental shelf

continentality

The quality of being located on a continent.

contour lines

Lines marked on topographic maps to show the shape and elevation of the land. They connect points of equal elevation.

conurbation

An extensive urban area formed when two or more cities, originally separate, coalesce to form a continuous metropolitan region.

core area

The portion of a country that contains its economic, political, intellectual, and cultural focus. It is often the center of creativity and change (see hearth.

coulee

A dry canyon eroded by Pleistocene floods that cut into the lava beds of the Columbia Plateau in the western United States.

crater

Any large, roughly circular depression, pit, or hole in the Earth's surface. Craters can be classified into different types based on their ultimate causes; see impact crater, volcanic crater, and pit crater.

crater lake

crop-lien system

A farm financing scheme whereby money is loaned at the beginning of a growing season to pay for farming operations, with the subsequent harvest used as collateral for the loan.

crust

The Earth's outermost layer.

cryosphere

The ice and snow on the Earth's surface, such as glaciers; sea, lake, and river ice; snow; and permafrost.

cryoturbation

The mixing of materials from various horizons of the soil down to the bedrock due to freezing and thawing. Also called frost churning.

cuesta

A long low ridge with a steep scarp slope and gentle backslope (dip slope).

culture

The accumulated habits, attitudes, and beliefs of a group of people that define for them their general behavior and way of life; the total set of learned activities of a people.

culture hearth

The area from which the culture of a group diffused. See hearth.

cut bank

Cyclopean stairs

A term referring to the longitudinal profile of some glaciated valleys which have been eroded into a series of consecutive hanging valleys resembling stairs.

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D

dale

de facto segregation

The spatial and social separation of populations that occurs without legal sanction.

de jure segregation

The spatial and social separation of populations that occurs because of legal measures.

deciduous forest

A forest in which the trees lose their leaves each year.

degree

A unit of angular measure. A circle is divided into 360 degrees, represented by the º symbol. Degrees are used to divide the roughly spherical shape of the Earth for geographic and cartographic purposes.

degree day

Deviation of one-degree temperature for one day from an arbitrary standard, usually the long-term average temperature for a place.

dell

delta

A landform at the mouth of a river where the main stem splits up into several distributaries. It is formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river.

demography

The systematic analysis of population.

depression

Any landform that is sunken or depressed below the surrounding area. Depressions include an enormous variety of landforms and can form by a number of different mechanisms, including erosion, ground collapse, tectonic activity, volcanism, and meteorite impacts.

desert

discriminatory shipping rates

A transportation charge levied in a manner that is inequitable to some shippers, primarily because of those shippers' location.

dome

A steep-sided mound that forms when very viscous lava is extruded from a volcanic vent. An uplifted area of sedimentary rocks with a downward dip in all directions; often caused by molten rock material pushing upward from below. The sediments have often eroded away, exposing the rocks that resulted when the molten material cooled.

dormant volcano

An active volcano that is in repose (quiescence) but is expected to erupt in the future.

draw

A terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them.

dry farming

A type of farming practiced in semi-arid or dry grassland areas without irrigation using such approaches as fallowing, maintaining a finely broken surface, and growing drought-tolerant crops.

dry point

dune

A hill of loose sand built by the movements and erosional and depositional processes of wind or water, often occurring in deserts and coastal areas.

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E

economic geography

A subdiscipline of geography which studies the location, distribution, and spatial organization of economic activities across the world.

economies of agglomeration

The economic advantages that accrue to an activity by locating close to other activities; benefits that follow from complementarity or shared public services.

edgelands

elevation

The height of a point on the Earth's surface with respect to sea level.

emergent coastline

A shoreline resulting from a rise in land surface elevation relative to sea level.

enclave

A tract or territory completely surrounded by and enclosed within the territory of one other state, country or other political entity. Unlike enclaves, exclaves can be surrounded by more than one other state.

endorheic basin

Equator

An imaginary circle around the Earth halfway between the geographic poles which is assigned a latitude of zero degrees and is therefore used as a reference point for all other lines of latitude. It is the largest circumference of the Earth.

erratic

A boulder that has been carried from its source by a glacier and deposited as the glacier melted. Thus, the boulder is often of a different rock type from surrounding types.

escarpment

A long cliff or steep slope separating two comparatively level or more gently sloping surfaces and resulting from erosion or faulting.

estuary

The broad lower course of a river that is encroached on by the sea and affected by the tides.

evapotranspiration

The water lost from an area through the combined effects of evaporation from the ground surface and transpiration from the vegetation.

exclave

A portion of a state or territory that is geographically separated from the main part by surrounding foreign territory of one or more other states or political entities. Many exclaves are also enclaves.

exotic stream

A stream found in an area that is too dry to have spawned such a flow. The flow originates in some moister section.

extinct volcano

A volcano that is not expected to erupt again.

exurb

A region or district that lies outside a city and usually beyond its suburbs.

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F

fall line

A geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock.

fallow

Agricultural land that is plowed or tilled but left unseeded during a growing season. Fallowing is usually done to conserve moisture.

fault

A fracture in the Earth's crust accompanied by a displacement of one side of the fracture.

fault-block mountain

A mountain mass created by either the uplift of land between faults or the subsidence of land outside the faults.

fault zone

An area of numerous fractures in the Earth's crust along which movement has occurred. The movement may be in any direction and involve material on either or both sides of the fractures.

federation

A form of government in which powers and functions are divided between a central government and a number of political subdivisions that have a significant degree of political autonomy.

fen

field

A quantity that can be theoretically assigned to any point of space, such as temperature, soil moisture, or population density. Both scalar and vector fields are found in geographic applications, although the former is more common. Also called a spatially dependent variable.

fish ladder

A series of shallow steps down which water is allowed to flow; designed to permit salmon to circumvent artificial barriers such as power dams as the salmon swim upstream to spawn.

fjord

A long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by glacial erosion.

floodplain

focality

The characteristic of a place that follows from its interconnections with more than one other place. When interaction within a region comes together at a place (i.e., when the movement focuses on that location), the place is said to possess "focality".

forest

functional diversity

The characteristic of a place where a variety of different activities (economic, political, or social, for example) occurs; most often associated with urban places.

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G

gazetteer

A geographical dictionary or directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas and containing information concerning the geographical make-up, social statistics, and physical features of a country, region, or continent.

geodesy

geoid

geoinformatics

The science and technology which develops and uses information science infrastructures to address problems and analyze data within geography, cartography, geoscience, and related branches of science and engineering.

geographic information science (GIS)

The scientific study of data structures and computational techniques for capturing, representing, processing, and analyzing geographic information.

geographic information system (GIS)

Any system of computer software tools designed to allow users to record, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present large sets of spatial or geographic data.

Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)

A digital public-domain database developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names which contains name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States and its territories. Each feature recorded in the database receives a unique feature record identifier called a GNIS identifier.

geography

The scientific study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth.

geolocation

The identification or estimation of the real-world geographic location of an object involving the generation of a set of geographic coordinates in order to determine a more meaningful description of location, such as a street address.

geomorphology

The study of the arrangement and form of the Earth's crust and of the relationship between these physical features and the geologic structures beneath.

geosphere

The collective non-living parts of the Earth: the lithosphere, the atmosphere, the cryosphere, and the hydrosphere.

ghetto

Originally, the section of a European city to which Jews were restricted. Today, this is commonly defined as a section of a city occupied by members of a minority group who live there because of social restrictions on their residential choice.

glacial till

The mass of rocks and finely ground material carried by a glacier, then deposited when the ice melted. This creates an unstratified material of varying composition.

glaciation

Having been covered with a glacier or subject to glacial epochs.

glacier

A thick mass of ice resulting from compacted snow that forms when more snow accumulates than melts annually.

globe

A true-to-scale map of the Earth that duplicates its round shape and correctly represents areas, relative sizes, and shapes of physical features, distances, and directions.

graben

great-circle distance

A route which follows a line defined by the intersection of the Earth's surface with an imaginary plane passing through the Earth's center. It is the shortest route between two places on the Earth's surface. Also called orthodromic distance.

grid

A pattern of lines on a chart or map, such as those representing latitude and longitude, which helps determine absolute location.

growing season

The period from the average date of the last frost (in the United States, this occurs in the spring) to the first frost in the fall.

groyne

A rigid hydraulic structure built from an ocean shore (in coastal engineering) or from a bank (in rivers) that interrupts water flow and limits the movement of sediment.

gulch

A deep, V-shaped valley often containing a small stream or a dry stream bed and formed by erosion, especially one in xeric areas.

gulf

A large arm of an ocean or sea that lies within a curved coastline; similar to a bay but usually larger.

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H

hanging valley

harmonic tremor

Continuous rhythmic earthquakes in the Earth's upper lithosphere that can be detected by seismographs. Harmonic tremors often precede or accompany volcanic eruptions.

hazardous waste

Unwanted by-products remaining in the environment and posing an immediate potential hazard to human life.

hearth

The source area of any innovation. The source area from which an idea, crop, artifact, or good is diffused to other areas.

heath

A shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining, infertile, acidic soils and characterized by open, low-growing, woody vegetation. Also called heathland.

hemisphere

Half of the Earth, usually conceived as resulting from the division of the globe into two equal parts of either north and south or east and west.

hill

hinterland

An area tributary to a place and linked to that place through lines of exchange or interaction.

hotspot

An area in the middle of a lithospheric plate where magma rises from the mantle and erupts at the Earth's surface. Volcanoes sometimes occur above a hotspot.

human geography

humus

Partially decomposed organic soil material.

hydrography

The study of the surface waters of the Earth.

hydrosphere

The water that covers 71 percent of the Earth's surface as oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams. The hydrosphere also includes ground water, water that circulates below the Earth's surface in the upper part of the lithosphere.

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I

ice age

A time of widespread glaciation (see Pleistocene).

iceberg

A large chunk of freshwater ice that has broken off a larger body of ice (such as a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water.

igneous rock

Rock formed when molten (melted) materials harden.

impact crater

Inertia Costs of Location

Costs borne by an activity because it remains located at its original site, even though the distributions of supply and demand have changed.

inlet

inselberg

insular

Either of an island, or suggestive of the isolated condition of an island.

integrated geography

interfluve

International Date Line

A line of longitude generally 180 degrees east and west of the Prime Meridian. The date is one day earlier to the east of the line.

intervening opportunity

The existence of a closer, less expensive opportunity for obtaining a good or service, or for a migration destination. Such opportunities lessen the attractiveness of more distant places.

Intracoastal Waterway System

A U.S. waterway channel, maintained through dredging and sheltered for the most part by a series of linear offshore islands, that extends from New York City to the southern tip of Florida and from Brownsville, Texas to the eastern end of Florida's panhandle.

inverted river delta

island

Any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water.

islet

A very small island.

isohyet

A line on a map connecting points that receive equal precipitation.

isthmus

A narrow piece of land connecting two larger land areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated.

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J

jurisdiction

The right and power to apply the law; the territorial range of hills between mountains.

jhum cultivation

Clear-cutting and/or setting fire to an area of land so it can be used for farm cultivation. Also called jhoom cultivation or slash-and-burn agriculture.

jungle

An area covered with dense vegetation dominated by trees, often tropical.

K

karst

An area possessing surface topography resulting from the underground solution of subsurface limestone or dolomite.

kettle

kudzu

A vine native to China and Japan but imported into the United States. Originally planted for decoration, for forage, or as a ground cover to control erosion, it now grows wild and is considered an invasive plant in many parts of the southeastern United States.

L

lacustrine plain

A nearly level land area that was formed as a lakebed.

lagoon

A small area of water connected to the ocean but otherwise blockaded by one or more islands.

lake

A body of water localized in a basin and surrounded entirely by land. Lakes are often defined as separate from any river or stream that serves to feed or drain them.

land bridge

landform

A natural feature of the solid surface of the Earth. A combined set of landforms makes up the terrain of a given area, and their arrangement in a landscape is known as topography.

landmark

Any natural or artificial feature that is recognizable enough to be used for navigation; a feature that stands out enough from its environment to be visible across long distances.

landmass

Any large contiguous area of land surrounded by ocean. Compare continent.

lateral blast

A sideways-directed explosion from the side or summit of a volcano.

latitude

A measure of distance north or south of the Equator. One degree of latitude equals approximately 110 kilometers (68 mi). Lines of latitude are the imaginary lines that cross the surface of the Earth in an east-west direction (parallel to the Equator) and measure how far north or south of the Equator a place is located.

lava

The term used for magma once it has erupted onto the Earth's surface.

leaching

A process of soil nutrient removal through the erosive movement and chemical action of water.

leeward

The side of a landmass sheltered from the wind. It is the opposite of windward.

legend

A key for understanding the meaning of the symbols or pictures in a map.

LEDC

An acronym for Less Economically Developed Country.

life-cycle stage

A period of uneven length in which the relative dependence of an individual on others helps define a complex of basic social relations that remains relatively consistent throughout the period.

lignite

A low-grade brownish coal of relatively poor heat-generating capacity.

lithosphere

The Earth's hard, outermost shell. It comprises the crust and the upper part of the mantle. It is divided into a mosaic of 16 major slabs or plates, which are known as lithospheric plates or tectonic plates.

lithospheric plates

A series of rigid slabs (16 major ones at present) that make up the Earth's outer shell. These plates float on top of a softer, more plastic layer in the Earth's mantle. Also called tectonic plates.

loess

A soil made up of small particles that were transported by the wind to their present location.

longitude

A measure of distance east or west of a line drawn between the North and South Poles and passing through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England. Lines of longitude are the imaginary lines that cross the surface of the Earth in a north-south direction (parallel to the Prime Meridian) and measure how far east or west of the Prime Meridian a place is located.

M

magma

Molten rock containing liquids, crystals, and dissolved gases that forms within the upper part of the Earth's mantle and crust. When erupted onto the Earth's surface, it is called lava.

mainland

mantle

A zone in the Earth's interior between the crust and the core that is 2,900 kilometers (1,800 mi) thick. The lithosphere is composed of the topmost 65-70 kilometres (40-43 mi) of the mantle and the crust.

map

A picture of a place that is usually drawn to scale on a flat surface.

map projection

A systematic transformation of the latitudes and longitudes of locations from the surface of a three-dimensional shape, such as a sphere or an ellipsoid, into locations on a two-dimensional plane. Maps of locations on the Earth require map projections to represent features in a convenient format that is easy to view and interpret, though all map projections necessarily distort the true properties of the Earth's surface to some degree.

maritime climate

A climate strongly influenced by an oceanic environment, found on islands and the windward shores of continents. It is characterized by small daily and yearly temperature ranges and high relative humidity.

marsh

A wetland dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species and often found at the edges of lakes and streams, where it forms a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

Mason-Dixon line

massif

meander

MEDC

An acronym for More Economically Developed Country.

Mediterranean climate

A climate characterized by moist, mild winters and hot, dry summers.

mesa

An isolated, relatively flat-topped natural elevation, usually more extensive than a butte and less extensive than a plateau.

metamorphic rock

Rock that has been physically altered by heat and/or pressure.

metes and bounds

A system of land survey that defines land parcels according to visible natural landscape features and distance. The resultant field pattern is usually very irregular in shape.

metropolis

A large city or conurbation which is considered a significant economic, political, or cultural center for a country or geographic region and/or an important hub for regional or international connections and communications.

metropolitan coalescence

The merging of the urbanized areas of separate metropolitan regions; a megalopolis is an example of this process.

monadnock

An isolated hill or mountain of resistant rock rising above an eroded lowland.

moor

An upland habitat in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes characterized by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and generally referring to uncultivated hills but also including low-lying wetlands. Also called moorland.

moraine

The rocks and soil carried and deposited by a glacier. An "end moraine," either a ridge or low hill running perpendicular to the direction of ice movement, forms at the end of a glacier when the ice is melting.

mountain

A large landform that rises prominently above the surrounding land in a limited area, usually in the form of a rocky peak with great vertical relief; a mountain is generally steeper than a hill. Mountains are formed by volcanic or tectonic forces and erode slowly through the actions of rivers, glaciers, and weathering. Most exist within extensive mountain ranges.

mountain range

mudflow

A flowing mixture of water and debris (intermediate between a volcanic avalanche and a water flood) that forms on the slopes of a volcano. Sometimes called a debris flow or lahar, a term from Indonesia where volcanic mudflows are a major hazard.

multilingual

The ability to use more than one language when speaking or writing. This term often refers to the presence of more than two populations of significant size within a single political unit, each group speaking a different language as their primary language.

N

national mapping agency

natural landscape

New England

The northeastern United States.

nodal region

A region characterized by a set of places connected to another place by lines of communication or movement.

North Geographic Pole

North Magnetic Pole

O

oasis

ocean

A vast, contiguous body of salt water covering more than 70% of the Earth's surface area and surrounding the continental landmasses, or a portion of this larger body of water that is divided and distinguished from the other portions, each of which is called an ocean, by the presence of the landmasses.

open range

A cattle- or sheep-ranching area characterized by a general absence of fences and in which livestock are allowed to roam freely.

orographic rainfall

Precipitation that results when moist air is lifted over a topographic barrier, such as a mountain range.

outwash

Rocky and sandy surface material deposited by melted water that flows from a glacier.

overburden

Material covering a mineral seam or bed that must be removed before the mineral can be removed in strip mining.

oxbow

A wide U-shaped meander in a river or stream, or the lake formed when a meander is cut off from the main stem of the river, creating a separate body of water.

P

palisades

A line of bold cliffs.

panhandle

A narrow projection of a larger territory, either physical or political, such as a state.

permafrost

A permanently frozen layer of soil; permanently frozen ground at high latitude and high elevation.

peninsula

physical geography

physiographic region

A portion of the Earth's surface with a common topography and common morphology.

physiography

Another name for physical geography.

piedmont

Lying or formed at the base of mountains; in the United States, an area in the southern states at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

pit crater

place identity

plain

plate tectonics

A geologic theory that the bending (folding) and breaking (faulting) of the solid surface of the Earth results from the slow movement of large sections of that surface called plates.

plateau

platted land

Land that has been divided into surveyed lots.

plural society

A situation in which two or more culture groups occupy the same territory but maintain their separate cultural identities.

pole of inaccessibility

political geography

polynodal

Many-centered.

populated place

A place or area with clustered or scattered buildings and a permanent human population (a city, settlement, town, or village) that is referenced with geographic coordinates.

post-industrial

An economy that gains its basic character from economic activities developed primarily after manufacturing grew to predominance. Most notable would be quaternary economic patterns.

pothole

Precambrian rock

The oldest rocks, generally more than 600 million years old.

prevailing winds

The direction from which winds most frequently blow at a specific geographic location.

primary sector

That portion of a region's economy devoted to the extraction of basic materials (e.g., mining, lumbering, agriculture).

Prime Meridian

An imaginary line running from north to south through Greenwich, England which is assigned a longitude of 0 degrees and is therefore used as the reference point for all other lines of longitude.

pueblo

A type of Indian village constructed by some tribes in the southwestern United States. A large community dwelling, divided into many rooms, up to five stories high, and usually made of adobe. This is also a Spanish word for town or village.

Q

quaternary sector

That portion of a region's economy devoted to informational and idea-generating activities (e.g., basic research, universities and colleges, and news media).

R

rail gauge

The distance between the two rails of a railroad.

rainshadow

An area of diminished precipitation on the lee (downwind) side of a mountain or mountain range.

region

An area having some characteristic or characteristics that distinguish it from other areas; a territory that is of interest to people, for which one or more distinctive traits are used as the basis for its identity.

reservoir

resource

Anything that is both naturally occurring and of use to humans.

retroreflector

rift valley

riparian rights

The rights of water use possessed by a person owning land containing or bordering a watercourse or lake.

ria

A drowned river valley that remains open to the sea.

river

riverine

Located on or inhabiting the banks or the area adjacent to a river or lake.

S

salt pan

scale

The relationship between a linear measurement on a map and the distance it represents on the Earth's surface.

scarp

A steep cliff or steep slope, formed either because of faulting or by the erosion of inclined rock strata. Also called an escarpment.

sea

sea level

The average level of the surface of one or more of Earth's oceans from which heights such as elevation and altitude are commonly measured. Often called mean sea level (MSL), it is a type of standardized geodetic vertical datum that is used in numerous applications, including surveying, cartography, and navigation. Mean sea level is commonly defined as the midpoint between the mean low and mean high tide at a particular location.

seamount

second home

A seasonally occupied dwelling that is not the primary residence of the owner. Such residences are usually found in areas with substantial opportunities for recreation or tourist activity.

secondary sector

That portion of a region's economy devoted to the processing of basic materials extracted by the primary sector.

sedimentary rock

Rock formed by the hardening of material deposited in some process; most commonly sandstone, shale, and limestone.

seismograph

A scientific instrument that detects and records vibrations (seismic waves) produced by earthquakes.

settlement

A place where people live and form communities.

shield

A broad area of very old rocks above sea level that is usually characterized by thin, poor soils and low population densities.

shield volcano

A volcano that resembles an inverted warrior's shield. It has long gentle slopes produced by multiple eruptions of fluid lava flows.

shoal

sinkhole

A crater formed when the roof of a cavern collapses; usually found in areas of limestone rock.

site

Features of a place related to the immediate environment on which the place is located (e.g., terrain, soil, subsurface, geology, ground water).

situation

Features of a place related to its location relative to other places (e.g., accessibility, hinterland quality).

smog

Mixture of particulate matter and chemical pollutants in the lower atmosphere, usually over urban areas.

Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA)

A statistical unit of one or more counties that focus on one or more central cities larger than a specified size, or with a total population larger than a specified size. This is a reflection of urbanization.

snowline

The lowest elevation at which snow remains from year to year and does not melt during the summer.

soil horizon

A distinct layer of soil encountered in vertical section.

soluble

Capable of being dissolved; in a geographical context, the characteristic of soil minerals that leads them to be carried away in solution by water (see leaching).

sound

South Geographic Pole

South Magnetic Pole

space economy

The locational pattern of economic activities and their interconnecting linkages.

spatial citizenship

spatial complementarity

The occurrence of location pairing such that items demanded by one place can be supplied by another.

spatial interaction

Movement between locationally separate places.

spatial reference system (SRS)

A coordinate-based local, regional, or global system used to locate geographical entities and which defines a specific map projection as well as transformations between different systems.

spreading ridges

Places on the ocean floor where lithospheric plates separate and magma erupts. About 80 percent of the Earth's volcanic activity occurs on the ocean floor.

spring

Any location where water naturally emerges from an underground aquifer to the Earth's surface.

stack

A coastal geological landform consisting of a steep and often vertical column or columns of rock in the sea formed by erosion by wave action. Also called a sea stack.

steppe

An ecoregion in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.

strait

stratovolcano

A steep-sided volcano built by lava flows and tephra deposits. Also called a composite volcano.

subduction zone

The place where two lithospheric plates come together, one riding over the other. Most volcanoes on land occur parallel to and inland from the boundary between the two plates.

surveying

The technique, profession, and science of determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional positions of points on the surface of the Earth and the distances and angles between them. These points are often used to draw maps and establish boundaries for property ownership, construction projects, and other purposes required by government or civil law.

syrt

A denudational highland or elevated flatland in Russia and Central Asia; a kind of dissected plateau.

T

taiga

A moist subarctic coniferous forest that begins where the tundra ends and is dominated by spruces and firs.

temperature inversion

An increase in temperature with height above the Earth's surface, a reversal of the normal pattern.

tephra

Solid material of all sizes explosively ejected from a volcano into the atmosphere.

terrain

The vertical and horizontal dimensions of a land surface, usually as expressed in terms of elevation, slope, and orientation of geographical features. Also called topographical relief or simply relief.

territory

A specific area or portion of the Earth's surface; similar to though distinct from a region.

tertiary sector

That portion of a region's economy devoted to service activities (e.g., retail and wholesale operations, transportation, insurance).

thalweg

The line of lowest elevation within a valley or watercourse. Thalwegs often acquire special significance in political geography because disputed rivers borders are often defined as the river's thalweg.

time distance

A time measure of how far apart places are (how long does it take to travel from place A to place B?). This may be contrasted with other distance metrics such as geographic distance (how far is it?) and cost-distance (how much will it cost to get there?).

time geography

time zone

topographic map

A map that uses contour lines to represent the three-dimensional features of a landscape on a two-dimensional surface.

topographical relief

See terrain.

topography

The physical features of a place, or the study and depiction of physical features, including terrain relief.

township and range

The rectangular system of land subdivision of much of the agriculturally settled United States west of the Appalachian Mountains; established by the Land Ordinance of 1785.

transferability

The extent to which a good or service can be moved from one location to another; the relative capacity for spatial interaction.

transhumance

The seasonal movement of people and animals in search of pasture. Commonly, winters are spent in snow-free lowlands and summers in the cooler uplands.

tree line

Either the latitudinal or the elevational limit of normal tree growth. Beyond this limit, closer to the poles or at higher or lower elevations, climatic conditions are too severe for such growth.

tree rings

Concentric rings formed annually in the wood of a tree as the tree grows and visible within a cross-section of the tree's trunk.

Tropic of Cancer

The most northerly circle of latitude on the Earth at which the Sun may appear directly overhead at its culmination, which lies at 21.5 degrees N latitude.

Tropic of Capricorn

The most southerly circle of latitude on the Earth at which the Sun may appear directly overhead at its culmination, which lies at 21.5 degrees S latitude.

tropics

The area of the Earth's surface between the Tropic of Cancer (21.5 degrees N latitude) and the Tropic of Capricorn (21.5 degrees S latitude), characterized by the absence of a cold season. Often used to describe any area possessing what is considered a hot, humid climate.

tundra

A treeless plain characteristic of the arctic and subarctic regions.

U

underpopulation

Economically, a situation in which an increase in the size of the labor force will result in an increase in per-worker productivity.

uniform region

A territory with one or more features present throughout and absent or unimportant elsewhere.

urban geography

V

valley

A low area between hills or mountains, often with a river running through it; a type of depression that is longer than it is wide.

vent

An opening at the Earth's surface through which volcanic materials (lava, tephra, and gases) erupt. Vents can be at a volcano's summit or on its slopes; they can be circular (craters) or linear (fissures).

volcanic avalanche

A large, chaotic mass of soil, rock, and volcanic debris moving swiftly down the slopes of a volcano. Volcanic avalanches can also occur without an eruption due to an earthquake, heavy rainfall, or unstable soil, rock, and volcanic debris. Also called a debris avalanche.

volcanic crater

volcano

A vent (opening) in the Earth's surface through which magma erupts, or the landform that is constructed by eruptive material.

W

water

A clear transparent fluid.

water mapping

A collection of data represented as a map showing different aspects related to water supplies.

water pollution

The contamination of water by chemical or biological constituents which make it unfit for use.

water table

The level below the land surface at which the subsurface material is fully saturated with water. The depth of the water table reflects the minimum level to which wells must be drilled for water extraction.

weathering

The breaking of rocks into smaller rocks, gradually becoming soil.

windward

The side of a landmass facing the direction from which the wind is blowing. It is the opposite of leeward.

Z

zoning

The public regulation of land and building use to control the character of a place.

See also

• Earth
• Index of geography articles
• List of basic geography topics
• Topic outline of geography

Notes

This initial material was copied from U.S. government works which are in the public domain because they are not eligible for copyright protection.

References

Source of the article : Wikipedia