Term | Definition |
Geography | The study of the earth's surface and the process that shape it, the connections between people and their environments. |
Gis | A geographic information system, witch uses computer technology to collect and analyze data about the earth's surface in order to solve geographic problems. |
Absolute location | The position on the earth in which a place can be found. |
Hemispheres | A half of the earth; the equator divides the Northern and Southern hemispheres; the Prime Meridian divides the eastern and western hemispheres. |
Relative location | The position of a place in relation to another place. |
Character of a place | The physical and human characteristics that help to distinguish a place from other places. |
Perception | A viewpoint that is influenced by one's own culture and experience. |
Formal Regions | A group of places that have similar attributes, for foe example, a political region. |
Functional regions | A group of places connected by movement, for example, the region drained by the amazing river and its tributaries. |
Pereceptual regions | A group of places that is defined by people's feelings and attitudes. |
Core | The earth's center, consisting of very hot metal that is dense and solid in the inner core and molten, or liquid, in the outer core. |
Mantle | A thick layer of mostly solid rock beneath the earth's crust that surrounds the earth's core. |
Crust | The solid, rocky, surface layer of the earth. |
Lithosphere | The surface features of the earth, including soil, rocks, and land forms. |
Atmosphere | The layer of gases, water vapor, and other substances above the earth. |
Hydrosphere | The water contained in oceans, lakes, rivers, and under the ground. |
Biosphere | The world of plants, animals, and other living things in earths land and waters. |
Continents | Any of the seven large landmasses of the earth's surface: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America. |
Relief | The differences in elevation, or height, of the land forms in any particular area. |
Plate tectonics | The theory that the earth's outer shell is composed of a number of large, un-anchored plates, or slabs of rock, who's constant movement explains earthquakes and volcanic activity. |
Continental drift theory | the idea that continents slowly shift their positions due to movement of the tectonic plates on which they ride. |
Ring of fire | A ring of volcanic mountains surrounding the pacific ocean. |
Weathering | The chemical or mechanical process by which rock is gradually broken down, eventually becoming soil. |
Mechanical weathering | The actual breaking up or physical |
Chemical weathering | |
Acid rain | |
Erosion | |
Sediment | |
Loess | |
Glacier | |
Moraine | |