| Term | Definition |
|---|
| landform | A natural land shape or feature |
| mountain | land with steep sides that rises sharply from surrounding land; generally larger and more rugged than a hill |
| plateau | an area of high, flat land |
| plate | a piece of the Earth's crust that is believed to drift slowly |
| plate tectonics | the theory that pieces of Earth's crust are in constant motion, driven by convection currents in the mantle |
| erosion | the process of moving sediment from one place to another |
| weathering | the process that crumbles, cracks, and breaks down rocks (slow change by wind and water) |
| physical map | A map that shows mountains, hills, plains, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc. |
| political map | A map that shows all the boundaries of nations and other political units, usually uses colour |
| atmosphere | a mixture of gases that surrounds a planet or moon |
| weather | the day to day conditions in the atmosphere: temperature and wind and clouds and precipitation |
| climate | the weather in some location averaged over some long period of time |
| precipitation | the falling to earth of any form of water (rain or snow or hail or sleet or mist) |
| latitude | distance north or south of the Equator, measured in degrees |
| longitude | distance east or west on the earth's surface, measured in degrees from a certain meridian (line from the North to the South Pole). |
| key | shows what the symbols stand for on a map |
| Location | tells where something is; absolute and relative |
| topography | the surface features of a place or region. The topography of a region includes hills, valleys, streams, lakes, bridges, tunnels, and roads. |
| topographic map | shows surface features of an area such as mountains, valleys, plains, and plateaus by using contour lines to show changes in elevation |
| contour lines | lines that show elevation, relief and slope on a topographic map |
| contour intervals | the difference in elevation between 2 side-by-side contour lines |
| spot height | points on topographic maps where the exact height in metres is given. |
| synoptic chart | a map showing the atmospheric conditions of air pressure which is used to make weather forecasts |
| high pressure systems | Rotating body of air that exerts high pressure on surface of earth because air descends towards the surface in the centre, usually signifying dry and stable conditions |
| low pressure systems | An area of lower than normal atmospheric pressure, usually associated with frontal systems and cloudy or rainy weather. Wind circulates around low pressure cells, or lows, in a counterclockwise direction..... tend to have unstable and quickly changing weather |
| meterology | The scientific study of the weather. |
| fronts | The boundary between two differing air masses. |
| cold front | forms when cold air moves under warm air which is less dense and pushes air up (produces thunderstorms heavy rain or snow |
| warm front | moving weather front along which a warm air mass slides over a cold air mass, producing stratiform clouds and precipitation |
| trough | an elongated region of relatively low atmospheric pressure, often associated with fronts |
| cyclone | Storm with heavy rains and high winds that blow in a clockwise pattern around an area of low atmospheric pressure. |
| isobars | lines joining places on the map that have the same air pressure |
| hectopascals | unit of measurement for air pressure |
| area referende | 4 digit number for locating objects on a topographic map |
| grid reference | a set of 6 numbers which locate a place on a topographic map |
| bearings | Bearings are determained by the direction from one position to another using compass reference lines |
| plain | area of level land, usually at low elevation and often covered with grasses |
| spatial dimension | where things are and why they are there. |
| ecological dimension | how humans interact with environments. |
| equator | an imaginary circle around the middle of the earth, halfway between the North Pole and the South Pole |
| prime meridian | line of the global grid running from the North Pole to the South Pole through Greenwich, England; starting point for measuring degrees of east and west longitude |
| international date line | is an imaginary line of longitude generally 180° (degrees) east or west of the Prime Meridian. The International Date Line is where each new day begins. |
| tropics | the part of the Earth's surface between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn |
| tropic of capricorn | a line of latitude about 23 degrees South of the equator |
| tropic of cancer | a line of latitude about 23 degrees North of the equator |
| temperate zone | the part of the Earth's surface between the Arctic Circle and the Tropic of Cancer or between the Antarctic Circle and the Tropic of Capricorn |
| polar zone | the region between 66.5 degrees north and south latitudes and the poles; the sun's rays strike at a very small angle in the polar zone |
| rivers | are large, natural streams of fresh water. |
| oceans | salt water that cover 71% of all surface on earth and contain many orgainisms |
| seas | are large bodies of salt water; smaller than oceans. |
| gulf | part of a large body of water that extends into a shoreline, generally larger and more deeply indented than a bay |
| cape | point of land that extends into a river, lake, or ocean |
| peninsula | a piece of land, connected to a larger land mass, that juts out and is almost completely surrounded by water |
| Great Australian Bight | a wide bay of the Indian Ocean in southern Australia |
| Great Barrier Reef | coral reef located off the northeastern coast of Australia |
| Ningaloo Reef | coral reef located off the west coast of Australia |
| Shark Bay | most westerly point of the west coast of Australia |
| Cape Byron | most easterly point of the east coast of Australia |
| Tasman Sea | an arm of the southern Pacific Ocean between southeastern Australia and New Zealand |
| Arafura Sea | a part of the western Pacific Ocean north of Australia and south of New Guinea and the eastern islands of Indonesia |
| Coral Sea | sea containing the Great Barrier Reef & located off the northeastern coast of Australia |
| Indian Ocean | ocean between Africa and Australia |
| Pacific Ocean | largest ocean in the world, off the east coast of Australia |
| Canberra | the capital city of Australia |
| Sydney | capital of New South Wales and Australia's largest city |
| Hobart | Capital of Tasmania. |
| Melbourne | the capital of Victoria state and 2nd largest Australian city |
| Adelaide | South Australia's capital city |
| Perth | the state capital of Western Australia |
| Darwin | Capital of Northern Territory |
| Brisbane | capital and largest city of Queensland state |
| Lake Eyre | This is the largest drainage basin in Australia located in South Australia |
| Kimberleys | mountain range in the north west of Western Australia |
| Nullabor Plain | the section of southern land between Norseman in Western Australia and Ceduna in South Australia. Nullarbor means 'no trees' |
| Kakadu | Australia's largest and world Heritage listed national park in the Northern Territory |
| Australian states | Queensland; New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia |
| Australian Territories | Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory; Australian Antarctic Territory. |
| Barometer | an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure |
| meterologist | studies atmosphere conditions and forcastes the weather |
| stakeholders | People inside or outside of an organization who have the potential to be affected by organizational decisions. |
| drought | long periods of unusually low precipitation |
| el nino | a disruption of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific and have important consequences for weather around the globe |
| la nina | The water in the Eastern Pacific Ocean is cooler than usual-opposite from El Nino |
| southern oscillation index | a measure of the difference in air pressure across the Pacific Ocean |
| Port Headland | the main port for the Pilbara iron ore in north west Western Australia |
| Broome | third largest town in Western Australia, north west of the state, home of the Australian Pearl Industry. |
| Cooktown | town in far north Queensland, named after the English explorer who claimed NSW for the British. |
| Broken Hill | large inland mining town close to western border of New South Wales |
| Murray Darling System | largest river system in Australia |
| Cairns | northeastern most city of Australia |
| Mount Kosciusko | highest mountain in Australia, located in New South Wales |
| Great Dividing Range | a mountain range running along the eastern coast of Australia |
| rain shadow effect | Low precipitation on the far side (leeward side) of a mountain when prevailing winds flow up and over a high mountain or range of high mountains. This creates semiarid and arid conditions on the leeward side of a high mountain range., Precipitation falls on the windward side of a mountain range, resulting in lush vegetation & a warm, moist climate on one side, but a desert area on the leeward side. |
| winward | refers to the side of the mountain facing into the wind |
| leeward | side of a mountain range that faces away from the prevailing wind |
| arid | describing a dry, rainless climate |
| Great Victoria Desert | largest desert in Australia lying in both South Australian and Western Australia |
| vegetation | all the plant life in a particular region |
| ecosystem | collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place, together with their nonliving environment |
| cloropleth map | a thematic map in which ranked classes of some variable are depicted with shading patterns or colours for predefined zones, eg. amount of rainfall, or altitude. |
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