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ALL NE GeoBee Terms
Glossary of ALL Northeast School Family Geography Bee Terms 2015
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Distance above sea level | altitude |
| An underground reservoir of water that can be extracted for surface use | aquifer |
| A group of islands or a sea studded with islands | archipelago |
| A bound collection of maps | Atlas |
| Also known as northern lights; spectacular colored lights that appear in the sky in the far Northern Hemisphere | Aurora Borealis |
| A generic term for any slide of snow, ice, and debris | avalanche |
| A wide area of water extending into land from a sea or lake | bay |
| Lines indicating the limits of countries, states, or other political jurisdictions | boundaries |
| A man-made water course designed to carry goods or water | canal |
| A large but narrow gorge with steep sides | canyon |
| A piece of land extending into water | cape (or point) |
| A person who draws or makes maps or charts | cartographer |
| The art and science of making maps | cartography |
| The long-term trends in weather conditions for an area | climate |
| A device used to determine geographic direction, usually consisting of a magnetic needle | compass |
| A symbol on a compass or map that is circular with graded points indicating the directions | compass rose |
| One of the large, continuous areas of the Earth into which the land surface is divided | continent |
| The current theory that the continents of the Earth move across the earth on giant tectonic plates | Continental Drift |
| The extension of the continents into the ocean; the ___ land would be exposed if the sea level dropped | continental shelf |
| A map that shows points of equal elevation as a line | contour map |
| The fan-shaped area at the mouth, or lower end, of a river, formed by eroded material that has been carried downstream and dropped in quantities larger than can be carried off by tides or currents | delta |
| A land area so dry that little or no plant life can survive. They can be hot or cold. | desert |
| The raising of a portion of the Earth’s crust relative to its surroundings, as in a mountain range; or the altitude of an object, such as a celestial body, above the horizon | elevation |
| The point on the Earth’s surface directly above the hypocenter, where the energy of an earthquake is first released | epicenter |
| An imaginary circle around the Earth halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole; the largest circumference of the Earth | equator |
| Forces that shape the Earth’s surface. Includes water, wind and ice | erosion |
| The wide end of a river when it meets the sea; salty tidal water mixes with the fresh water of the river here | estuary |
| A fracture in rock where there has been movement and displacement | fault |
| A narrow, steep-sided inlet of the sea that was carved by a glacier | fjord |
| A flat, low-lying area near a river or stream that is subject to flooding | floodplain |
| A large body of ice that moves slowly down a mountainside from highlands toward sea level | glacier |
| A body with the shape of a sphere, especially a representation of the Earth in the form of a hollow ball | globe |
| A large arm of an ocean or sea extending into a land mass | gulf |
| Half of the Earth, usually conceived as resulting from the division of the globe into two equal parts, north and south or east and west | hemisphere |
| A tropical storm that contains winds of at least 74 miles per hour (119km/h). Also known as a cyclone in the northern Indian Ocean and a typhoon in the western Pacific Ocean | hurricane |
| A thick mass of ice extending from a polar shore. The seaward edge is afloat and sometimes extends hundreds of miles out to sea | ice shelf |
| An imaginary line of longitude generally 180° East or West of the prime meridian. The date becomes one day earlier to the east of the line | International Date Line |
| An area of land, smaller than a continent, completely surrounded by water | island |
| A narrow strip of land located between two bodies of water, connecting two larger land areas | isthmus |
| A shallow area of water separated from the ocean by a sandbank or by a strip of low land | lagoon |
| A body of fresh or salt water entirely surrounded by land | lake |
| The angular distance north or south of the equator, measured in degrees | latitude |
| Magma that reaches the Earth's surface through a volcanic vent or fissure | lava |
| A listing that contains symbols and other information about a map | legend |
| The angular distance east or west of the prime meridian, measured in degrees | longitude |
| Molten rock that lies beneath the surface of the Earth; once exposed, magma becomes lava | magma |
| A representation, usually on a plane surface, of a region of the Earth | map |
| An explanatory description or legend to features on a map or chart | map key |
| A line of longitude | meridian |
| A large, flat-topped but steep-sided landform; they shrink to become buttes | mesa |
| A wind system in Southeast Asia that changes direction seasonally, creating wet and dry seasons | Monsoon |
| A high point of land rising steeply above its surroundings | mountain |
| A spot in a desert made fertile by water | oasis |
| The salt water surrounding the great land masses, and divided by the land masses into several distinct portions, each of which is called an ……… | ocean |
| A line of latitude | parallel |
| The highest point of a mountain | peak |
| A piece of land extending into the sea almost surrounded by water | peninsula |
| A large area of land, either level or gently rolling, usually at low elevation | plain |
| An elevated area of mostly level land, sometimes containing deep canyons | Plateau (or Tableland) |
| A map that shows such things as national and state boundaries and the names and locations of towns and cities | Political Map |
| A map that shows identifiable landmarks such as mountains, rivers, lakes and oceans, and other permanent geologic features | Physical Map |
| The surface of the Earth is composed of many large plates that slowly move around the planet, meeting and diverging, creating a variety of earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains at their margins | Plate Tectonics |
| The number of people inhabiting a place | population |
| An imaginary line running from north to south through Greenwich, England, used as the reference point for longitude | Prime Meridian |
| A group or chain of high elevations | range (or mountain range) |
| A chain of rocks, often coral, lying near the water surface | reef |
| A map that depicts land elevations | Relief Map |
| A man-made lake where water is kept for future use | reservoir |
| A stream, larger than a creek, generally flowing to another stream, a lake, or to the ocean | river |
| The relationship of the length between two points as shown on a map and the distance between the same two points on the Earth | scale |
| A relatively large body of salt water completely or partially enclosed by land | sea |
| The ocean surface; the mean level between high and low tides | sea level |
| A narrow body of water connecting two larger bodies of water | strait |
| The permanent swamp of the Nile | Sudd |
| A tract of permanently saturated low land, usually overgrown with vegetation. (A marsh is temporarily or periodically saturated.) | swamp |
| Areas of the Earth that have adopted the same standard time, usually referred to as the local time | time zone |
| A detailed, large-scale contour map showing human and physical features | Topographic Map |
| The physical features of a place; or the study and depiction of physical features, including terrain relief | Topography |
| A stream; flowing into a larger stream | tributary |
| A relatively long, narrow land area lying between two areas of higher elevation, often containing a stream | valley |
| A vent in the Earth's crust caused by molten rock coming to the surface and being ejected, sometimes violently | volcano |
| A sudden drop of a stream from a high level to a much lower level | waterfall |
| The area into which a river and its tributaries drain | watershed |
| Having to do with mountains or high elevations | alpine |
| Very dry because of having little water | arid |
| A bowl-shaped depression made by the impact of a meteorite on earth's surface | crater |
| A unit of angular measure. | degree |
| A rapid movement of rock or earth down a steep slope | landslide |
| Either of two points where the earth's axis meets the earth's surface | pole |
| A flat grassland with scattered trees found in hot, dry regions | savanna |
| The region of the earth that is near the equator and has the world's most humid climate | tropics |
| The treeless biome in high altitudes that has permafrost | tundra |
| A marsh, swamp, or other low-lying are where the ground is wet or flooded during all or parts of the year | wetland |
| A hot spring through which jets of heated water and steam erupt | geyser |
Created by:
cpierre_03