Physical Geography Terms
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30 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 archipelago | a group or chain of islands |
| basin | a natural depression in the surface of the land often with a lake at the bottom of it |
| canal | long and narrow strip of water made for boats or for irrigation |
| canyon | deep and narrow valley with steep walls |
| cape | a strip of land projecting into a body of water |
| reservoir | lake used to store water for community use |
| plateau | an area of high, flat land |
| delta | flat, low-lying land built up from soil carried downstream by a river and deposited at its mouth |
| mouth | the point where a stream or river issues into a larger body of water |
| prairie | large area of level or rolling land with grass but few or no trees |
| mesa | broad, flat-topped landform with steep sides; smaller than a plateau |
| reef | a submerged ridge of rock or coral near the surface of the water |
| plain | area of level land, usually at low elevation and often covered with grasses |
| rain forest | dense forest that receives high amounts of rain each year |
| peninsula | land surrounded by water on three sides |
| oasis | a fertile tract in a desert (where the water table approaches the surface) |
| glacier | a large ice mass that moves slowly down a mountain or over land |
| gulf | an arm of a sea or ocean partly enclosed by land |
| isthmus | a relatively narrow strip of land (with water on both sides) connecting two larger land areas |
| savanna | a flat grassland in tropical or subtropical regions |
| steppe | Treeless plains, especially the high, flat expanses of northern Eurasia, which usually have little rain and are covered with coarse grass. |
| strait | a narrow channel of the sea joining two larger bodies of water |
| tundra | a vast treeless plain in the arctic regions between the ice cap and the tree line |
| Tropic of Cancer | a line of latitude about 23 degrees North of the equator, the farthest point north where the sun is directly overhead at noon |
| Tropic of Capricorn | a line of latitude about 23 degrees South of the equator, the farthest point south where the sun is directly overhead at noon |
| Arctic Circle | Latitude 66.5 N, marking the southern boundary of that portion of the N. Hemisphere that receives a 24 hour period of sunlight once each year - occurs on June 22. |
| Antarctic Circle | Latitude 66.5 S, marking the northern boundary of that portion of the S. Hemisphere that receives a 24 hour period of sunlight once each year - occurs on December 22. |
| 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 |
| parallel | an imaginary line around the Earth parallel to the equator |
| meridian | a line of longitude |
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