World Geography
Terms
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- weathering
- the process of breaking surface rock into boulders, gravel, sand, and soil due to water and frost, chemicals, and even plants.
- revolution
- one complete orbit around the sun
- solar system
- earth, eight other planets and thousands of smaller bodies that all revolve around the sun
- leap year
- a year that has an extra day; it occurs every 4th year
- mantle
- a layer of rock that surrounds the core that is about 1800 miles thick
- weathering
- the breakdown of rocks by the action of the weather
- isthmus
- a narrow piece of land that connects two larger pieces of land
- Earth
- the 3rd planet from the sun;
- Mount Everest
- The world's tallest mountain, located in South Asia's Himalayan mountain range, is 29,035 feet or nearly 5.5 miles high.
- hills
- A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain, in a limited area.
- mountains
- a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area.
- island
- a land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water
- year
- 365 days
- canyon
- A canyon is a deep valley with very steep sides - often carved from the Earth by a river.
- peninsula
- a piece of land with water on three sides
- orbit
- path that a body in the solar system travels around the sun.
- landsat
- A series of satellites that produce images of the earth.
- environment
- natural surroundings
- magma
- melted rock
- Mariana Trench
- The deepest trench or valley in the Pacific Ocean, it is 35,840 feet below sea level.
- river source
- his is where the river originates
- elevation
- height above sea level
- equinox
- when the day and night are equal length in both hemispheres
- summer solstice
- on or about June 21st, the day with most hours of sunlight and the fewest hours of darkness in the Northern Hemisphere
- valley
- a long stretch of land between hills, often with a river flowing through it
- continent
- massive land area located on the crust
- region
- A large, usually continuous segment of a surface or space; area.
- plains
- low-lying stretches of flat or gently rolling land
- Hemisphere
- Either the northern or southern half of the earth as divided by the equator or the eastern or western half as divided by a meridian.
- crust
- the outer layer of the earth that is only 31-62 miles thick (50-100 km)
- landforms
- individual features of the land
- channel
- a body of water wider than a strait between two pieces of land
- axis
- the imaginary line that runs through the Earth's center between the North and South Poles
- strait
- a narrow body of water between two pieces of land
- faults
- cracks in the earth's crust
- GPS
- Global Positioning System is a group of satellites traveling around the earth that receive signals that determine the exact latitude and longitude of a certain thing
- plateaus
- flat, high land that is higher than the surrounding land
- seasons
- One of the four natural divisions of the year, spring, summer, fall, and winter, in the North and South Temperate zones. Each season, beginning astronomically at an equinox or solstice, is characterized by specific meteorological or climatic conditions.
- continental shelf
- a plateau off the coast of a continent that lies under the ocean and stretches for several miles
- fossils
- remains of animal or plant life from the past
- atmosphere
- the layer of air surrounding the Earth
- delta
- area formed from soil deposited by a river at its mouth
- core
- the center of the earth
- trenches
- ocean valleys
- erosion
- the process of wearing away or moving weathered material on the earth's surface
- geography
- the study of the earth in all its variety
- artifact
- any object made by man, such as tools, pottery, paintings, weapons etc.
- plate tectonics theory
- The crust is not an unbroken shell but is made up of plates or huge slabs of rock that move. Oceans and continents sit on these gigantic places.
- sun
- the star that is the source of heat and light for the planets in the solar system
- GIS
- Geographic Information Systems is special computer software that helps geographers gather many different kinds of information about the same place that can be combined and put on maps.
- 23 1/2
- the degree of tilt of the earth that produces the seasons
- glaciers
- giant, slow-moving sheets of ice
- river mouth
- The end of a river where it enters the sea or a lake.
- moon
- any natural satellite of a planet;
- Maps and Globes
- human characteristics of our planet
- earthquake
- a violent and sudden movement of the earth's crust