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World Geo 101
Ch 1
Term | Definition |
---|---|
1. Geography | The study of the earths surface and the processes that shape the connection between places, and the complex relationships between people and the environments. |
2. GIS | A geographic information system, which uses computer technology to collect and analyze data about the earth's surface in order to solve geographic problems. |
3. Absolute Location | The position on earth in which a place can be found. |
4. Heispheres | a half of the earth; the equator divides the Northern and Southern hemispheres; the Prime Meridian divides the eastern and western hemispheres. |
5. Relative Location | the position of a place in relation to another place. |
6.Character of a Place | The physical and human characteristics that help to distinguish a place from other places. |
7. Perception | A viewpoint that is influenced by ones own culture and experiences. |
8. Formal Regions | a group of places that have similar attributes, for ex, a political region. |
9. Functional Regions | group of places connected by movement, for example, the region drained by the amazon river and its tributaries. |
10. Perceptual Regions | a group off places that is defined by people's feelings and attributes. |
11.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. |
12. Mantle | Thick layer of mostly solid rock beneath the earth's crust that surrounds the earth's core. |
13. Crust | Solid, Rocky surface that is covering the earth. |
14. Lithospere | The surface features of the earth, soil, rock, and land forms. |
15. Atmospere | Layer of gases, water vapor, and other substances above the earth. |
16. Hydrosphere | The water contained in oceans, lakes, and river, and under the ground. |
17. Biosphere | The world of plants animals and other living things in earth's land and water. |
18. Continent | Any of the seven large landmasses of earth's surface: Africa, Antarctica, North America, Australia, Europe, Asia and South America. |
19. Relief | The differences in elevation, heights, of the landforms in any particular area. |
20. Plate Tectonics | The theory that the earths outer shell is composed of a number of large anchored plates, or slabs of rock whose constant movement explains earthquakes and volcanoes. |
21. Continental Drift Theory | The idea that continent slowly shift their positions due to movement of of the tectonic plates on which they ride. |
22. Ring of Fire | A ring of volcanic mountains surrounding the Pacific Ocean. |
23. Weathering | Chemical or mechanical process by which rock is gradually broken down, eventually becoming soil. |
24. Mechanical Weathering | The actual breaking up of physical or physical weakening of rock by forces such as ices and roots. |
25. Chemical Weathering | Process in which the actual chemical structure of the rock is changed, usually when water and carbon dioxide cause a breakdown of the rock. |
26. Acid Rain | Rain whose high concentration of chemicals, usually from industrial pollution, pollutes water, kills plant and animal life, and eats away at the surface of stone and rock: a form of chemical weathering. |
27. Erosion | The movement of weathered materials, including gravel, soil, sand, usually caused by wind, water and glaciers. |
28. Sediment | Small particles of soil, sand and gravel carried and deposited by water. |
29. Loess | Fine-grained, mineral-rich loam, dust, or silt deposited by the wind. |
30. Glacier | Huge, slow moving mass of snow and ice. |
31. Moraine | A ridge-like mass of rock, gravel, sand, and clay carried and deposited by a glacier. |