physical geo/ human geo
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31 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 geography | study of the earth's surface |
| absolute location | exact location of a place on the earth described by global coordinates |
| relative location | the regional position or situation of a place relative to the position of other places |
| latitude | an imaginary line around the Earth parallel to the equator |
| latitude | an imaginary line around the Earth parallel to the equator |
| hydrologic cycle | the natural process by which water is purified and made fresh through evaporation and precipitation. The cycle provides all the fresh water available for biological life. |
| ocean | a large body of water constituting a principal part of the hydrosphere |
| lake | a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land |
| river | a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek) |
| volcano | a fissure in the earth's crust (or in the surface of some other planet) through which molten lava and gases erupt |
| strait | a narrow channel of the sea joining two larger bodies of water |
| peninsula | a large mass of land projecting into a body of water |
| gulf | an arm of a sea or ocean partly enclosed by land |
| marsh | low-lying wet land with grassy vegetation |
| delta | a low triangular area where a river divides before entering a larger body of water |
| oasis | a fertile tract in a desert (where the water table approaches the surface) |
| butte | a hill that rises abruptly from the surrounding region |
| swamp | low land that is seasonally flooded |
| island | a land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water |
| praire | a large area of level or rolling grassland (meadow). |
| steppe | extensive plain without trees (associated with eastern Russia and Siberia) |
| mountain | a land mass that projects well above its surroundings |
| valley | a long depression in the surface of the land that usually contains a river |
| mesa | ... |
| plateau | a relatively flat highland |
| canyon | a ravine formed by a river in an area with little rainfall |
| weather | the meteorological conditions: temperature and wind and clouds and precipitation |
| climate | the weather in some location averaged over some long period of time |
| greenhouse effect | warming that results when solar radiation is trapped by the atmosphere |
| ecosystem | a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment |
| biome | a major biotic community characterized by the dominant forms of plant life and the prevailing climate |
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