GeogWeb Geography Resources for Prep School Geography

Glossary of Geographical Terms

XYZ

A		Associated words
abrasion	The wearing away of the land by rivers, glaciers and the sea armed with a load of debris. (Also known as corrasion).	erosion
agriculture	Farming	arable pastoral dairy market gardening
alluvium	Fine sediment deposited by a river.	silt
anemometer	An instrument for measuring wind speed.
anticyclone	An area of high pressure generally associated with light winds clear skies and settled weather.
aquifer	An underground layer of rock which holds large amounts of water.
arable	A type of farming: growing crops (e.g. wheat)	agriculture
atmosphere	The layer of air which surrounds the Earth: up to 15 km in depth at the equator and less thick in higher latitudes. The atmosphere comprises Oxygen (21%), Nitrogen (78%), Argon, Helium and other gases in minute quantities.
attrition	The wear and tear particles transported either by rivers and waves or the wind. These particles collide with each other and break down into smaller pieces	erosion

B		Associated words
backwash	The backwards movement of water back down the beach after a wave has broken and advanced.	swash longshore drift
bank	The side of a river channel.	river bed
barometer	An instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure.	air pressure
basalt	An igneous rock forms when magma emerges onto the earth's surface and cools rapidly.
bay	An indentation in the coastline with headlands on either side, resulting from the more rapid erosion of softer rocks.
beach	A collection of deposited material. These can be found on the coast as well as on the inside bend of a river where the water is moving slowest. The material on a beach is often sorted or graded from large to small.	river coast transportation deposition
bearing	A compass reading between 0 and 360 degrees (where 0° is North), indicating direction of one location from another.
bed	The bottom of a river channel.	river bank
birth rate	The number of live births per 1,000 people in a population per year.	population
brownfield site	An area in a town which has been used in the past but can be redeveloped.

C		Associated words
caldera	A large crater formed by the collapse of the summit cone of a volcano during an eruption.
capital	The money tied up in a factory or business.
channel	The depression in the land that a river flows in.	bed bank
climate	The general or average atmospheric conditions that an area experiences.
coast	Where the land meets the sea. There are two main types of coasts, those created by the action of erosion and those by deposition.
commercial	Commercial farming is the growing of crops or rearing of animals for sale and to make profit.	agriculture
confluence	The point at which two rivers meet.	drainage basin
constructive	Places where two plates are pulled apart by convection currents in the mantle. New crust is created in these zones.	mid-ocean ridge
continental crust	Continental crust is thicker and less dense than oceanic crust. It is what the continents are made of.	plate
contour lines	Lines on a map that show relief. When they are close together then the slope is steep, when they are far apart then the slope is gentle.	plate
core(1)	In physical geography, the core is the innermost zone of the earth, probably solid at the centre and at very high temperatures, composed of iron and nickel.
core(2)	In human geography, the term core refers to a central place, usually the centre of economic and political activity in a nation or region.	peripheral
corrasion	See abrasion.
corrosion	A form of erosion where water dissolves the rock.
crust	The solid outer-most layer of the Earth. There are two types: oceanic crust and continental crust.	plate

D		Associated words
dairy	Types of farming that take products from livestock without harming them.	agriculture
deposition	The 'dropping' of transported material. Evidence of deposition is normally in the form of some sort of beach.	erosion transportation
demography	The study of population.
drainage basin	The area drained by a river and all of it's tributaries.	tributary watershed

E		Associated words
earthquake	A movement of the earth's surface.	plate seismic
economic activities	The things that people do to earn a living.	primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary activities
environment	The physical surroundings including soil, vegetation, wildlife and atmosphere.
epicentre	The point on the surface directly above the focus of an earthquake. This is where the earthquake is felt strongest.

erosion	The wearing away of the land by running water, moving ice, the wind or the sea.	attrition abrasion corrasion corrosion hydraulic action

F		Associated words
fault	A large crack in a layer of rock or the Earth's crust.
farming	The management of the environment to produce to produce food.	agriculture
fluctuate	To move above and below a fixed point.
focus	The point underground where two sides of a fault slip past each other and cause an earthquake. The deeper the focus is, the weaker the magnitude of the earthquake of the earthquake on the surface.	epicentre
freeze-thaw	See frost action.
frost action	The breaking down of rocks by the repeated freezing and thawing of water in cracks. The freezing makes the water expand in the crack and forces to the crack to enlarge. When it thaws, the water trickles further into the crack and the process is repeated. Shards of rock known as scree fall away. This process happens in areas where the temperature fluctuates around freezing point (0°C): e.g. mountain areas. This process is sometimes known as freeze-thaw weathering.	weathering

G		Associated words
glacier	A body of ice which flows down a valley.	erosion
greenfield site	An area which has never been developed before, often on the edge of a town.

H		Associated words
human geography	The study of people and their activities.	physical geography
hydrological cycle	The water cycle.
hydraulic action	Type of erosion. The wearing away of the land by the action of water alone.	erosion river coast

I		Associated words
igneous	A rock which originated as magma at depth in or below the earth's crust.
in situ	"Happening in one place". With no movement.	weathering

J		Associated words

K		Associated words

L		Associated words
labour	The workforce: i.e. people who work in a firm.
lava	The name given to molten rock (magma) when it comes to the surface.	volcano
livestock	Farm animals.	agriculture pastoral dairy
load	The material carried by rivers and glaciers.	transport(1)
longshore drift	The movement of beach material along a beach in the same direction as the prevailing wind. This process leads to the creation of depositional landforms such as spits and tombolos.	transportation deposition swash backwash

M		Associated words
magma	The molten rock below the Earth's crust.	lava
magnitude	The strength or size of an event. Usually used when discussing earthquakes or hurricanes.	seismic
mantle	The layer of the Earth directly below the crust made up of slow moving molten rock or magma.
map	A scale drawing showing a plan or birds-eye view of an area.	contour lines
market	The buyers for a particular product.
market gardening	Growing fruit and vegetables for sale.	agriculture arable commercial
minerals	Naturally found chemicals (often salts) that are useful to plants, animals and peoples.
mouth	Where a river ends in a sea or lake.	estuary

N		Associated words

O		Associated words
oceanic crust	Oceanic crust is denser and thinner than continental crust. It makes up the ocean floors of the Earth.	mantle plate
onion skin	The breaking down of rocks due to repeated extreme heating and cooling. The changes in temperature make the rocks expand and contract until the outer layer can be peeled away like the skin of an onion. This type of weathering occurs in areas with a large daily variation in temperature: e.g. hot deserts.

P		Associated words
pastoral	Types of farming that involve the rearing of livestock.	agriculture
physical geography	The study of the natural environment.	human geography
plate	Plates, otherwise known as tectonic plates, are large, rigid slabs of the Earth's crust. The crust is divided into a number of these gigantic slabs, up to 100km thick, which float on the Earth's molten mantle.	earthquake volcano
periphery	The outlying area around a core area.
primary activities	These are economic activities that people do which involve getting raw materials from the natural environment. E.g. farming	secondary, tertiary and quaternary activities

Q		Associated words
quaternary activities	These are specialised economic activities that involve research and development. E.g. medical research	primary, secondary and tertiary activities

R		Associated words
rapids	A part of a river with turbulent water caused by the uneven nature of the river bed. Often this is caused by the river flowing over narrow bands of hard and soft rock: they are like a series of small waterfalls.	hard rock soft rock waterfall
relief	The shape of the land.	map contour lines
Richter Scale	A logarithmic scale used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes. Each step on the scale is ten times greater than the previous one.	seismic
river	A moving body of water that flows from a source in a highland area to it's mouth where it meets a lake or sea.	channel drainage basin

S		Associated words
scree	The sharp stones found at the bottom of rocky outcrops where freeze thaw weathering is happening
secondary activities	These are economic activities that involve creating a finished product: i.e. manufacturing.	primary, tertiary and quaternary activities
seismic	To do with earthquakes.	magnitude Richter seismometer seismograph
seismograph	A graph that is produced by a seismometer, showing the magnitude and length of earth movements.	siesmic earthquake Richter
seismometer	A machine that measures the magnitude of earthquakes.	siesmic Richter
source	A place where a river begins, usually in a highland area.	spring
spit	A coastal landform that comprises an arm of beach material sticking out into the sea. It is created by the action of longshore drift.	transportation deposition beach coast
spring	A place where water comes to the surface, often the source of a river. Water from spring is often thought to be pure and have health-giving properties as it picks up minerals from the rocks that it has passed through underground.	source
stream	A small river.	beck rill
swash	The movement of a wave going up the beach. This happens in the direction of the prevailing wind and can lead to longshore drift.	backwash transportation deposition beach coast

T		Associated words
tectonic	see plate
tertiary activities	These are economic activities that do not produce a finished product: they are service industries: E.g. tourism	primary, secondary and quaternary activities
transport	The methods of moving something from one place to another. This can be the ways that people move about (bus, car, bicycle, etc.) or the way in which natural forces such as wind, wave and rivers move material.	load
tributary	A small stream that joins the main river in a drainage basin.	confluence
tombolo	A coastal landform created when a beach links the coast with an island. It is created by the action of longshore drift.	transportation deposition beach coast

U		Associated words
'u'-shaped	Valleys created by the erosion of glaciers. These valleys tend to have a distinctive rounded floor and steep sides (a 'u' shape).

V		Associated words
valley	A long area of low land between stretches of high land. There is normally a stream at the bottom.	'v'-shaped
viscous	Viscous liquids are very sticky and slow moving. Viscous magma leads explosive volcanoes.
volcano	A cone-shaped mountain formed by material ejected from the Earth's interior.	plate earthquake shield magma lava
'v'-shaped	River valleys tend to have a 'v' shape caused by the river eroding downwards strongly.	erosion

W		Associated words
water cycle	The continuous movement of water between seas, the atmosphere and the land.	hydrological cycle
watershed	The high land that marks out the edge of a drainage basin.	river
weather	The state of the atmosphere at a particular moment in time. The elements of the weather include wind, precipitation, air pressure and humidity.
weathering	Weathering is the breaking down of materials in situ by frost action, biological action, chemical action and onion skin weathering.	erosion

XYZ		Associated words