Geography 1 - Foundational Skills Flashcards
An angular distance north or south of the Earth’s equator, usually expressed in degrees and minutes.
Latitude
An angular distance east or west of the Earth’s equator, usually expressed in degrees and minutes.
Longitude
A circle on the surface of a sphere whose plane passes through the center. It represents the shortest distance between two points.
Great Circle
North, south, east, and west.
Cardinal Directions
Helps a person read a map by explaining the symbols and/or colors used on the map.
Legend
An object showing the principal directions printed on a map or chart.
Compass Rose
The relationship (or ratio) between distance on a map and the corresponding distance on the surface of the Earth.
Scale
A map that depicts land configuration, including elevation.
Relief
Collective term for lines of latitude and longitude that form an imaginary grid over Earth’s surface, making it possible to locate a specific point.
Grid System
24 longitudinal divisions of the globe, roughly 15 degrees wide, in which clocks show the same time.
Time Zones
Lines of latitude and longitude are mapped as horizontal and vertical lines. Distortion is greater in high latitudes.
Cylindrical Projections
Reduces distortion in shape and area near tangent or secant parallels.
Conic Projections
Projects onto a plane. Directions from a central point are preserved. Great circles through central point are straight lines.
Azimuthal Projections
an imaginary line about which a body rotates.
Axis
move in a circle on a central axis.
Revolve/ Revolution
A specific pairing of latitude and longitude on a coordinate grid.
Absolute Location
A system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of spatial or geographical data.
GIS – Geographic Information System
A point on the earth in relation to another point or place.
Relative location
A navigation system that allows land, sea, and airborne users to determine their exact location anywhere in the world.
GPS – Global Positioning System
A set of closely grouped islands.
Archipelago
A ring of low-lying islands
Atoll
An inlet of the sea where the land curves inward
Bay
A deep, narrow valley with steep slopes, usually with a river running through it.
Canyon
A point of land that extends into the water.
Cape
A wide waterway between two close, large landmasses.
channel
A sheltered coastal inlet, smaller than a bay.
cove
A fan shaped area where a river meets a larger body of water. Land builds up from river sediments.
Delta
An area where freshwater from a river or stream meets the ocean, and the water mixes.
Estuary
A long, narrow, inlet from the sea between steep slopes of a mountainous coast.
Fjord
A flat area next to a river, formed by river sediments and subject to flooding
Floodplain
A large area of sea or ocean, partially enclosed by land.
Gulf
An area of land surrounded by a body of water.
Island
The part of a river that meets a larger body of water; lake, sea, ocean.
Mouth (of a River)
A piece of land surrounded on 3 sides by water, but connected to the mainland.
Peninsula
A lowland area between mountains or highlands. Formed by separation of continental plates.
Rift Valley
A body of water partially or fully enclosed by land, usually connected to the ocean.
Sea
A long, wide inlet of the ocean.
Sound
A narrow waterway that connects two larger bodies of water.
Strait
A stream that feeds into a larger stream or river.
Tributary
Plates of land which float on and travel over Earth’s mantle.
Tectonic Plates
The region of Earth’s interior between the crust and core.
Mantle
The outermost solid shell of our planet.
Lithosphere
Molten rock from the mantle
Magma
The theory that the continents were once connected and the plates slowly separated.
Continental Drift
The scientist who first theorized about Continental Drift
Alfred Wegener
An underwater mountain range, where plates diverge and the sea floor spreads
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Where a dense ocean plate collides with a lighter continental plate. The heavier plate gets pushed below into the mantle.
Subduction Zones
the breakdown of the materials of Earth’s crust into smaller pieces.
Weathering
A massive chain of volcanoes surrounding the Pacific Ocean
Ring of Fire
The process by which water, ice, wind, or gravity moves fragments of rock and soil.
Erosion
rock and soil fragments.
Sediment
large masses of rock are physically broken into smaller pieces.
Physical
the laying down of sediments in a new location.
Deposition
changes the chemical makeup of rocks (rocks dissolve in acidic environments. Many caves have been formed this way.)
Chemical
Wind carries small particles of dust, sand, and soil from one place to another.
Wind Erosion
Glaciers are large bodies of ice that move across Earth’s surface. They are formed over time as layers of snow press together and turn into ice.
Glacial Erosion
removes vegetation from the land and leads to soil erosion.
Deforestation
Water erosion begins when spring water and rainwater flow downhill in streams, cutting into the land and wearing away soil and rock.
Water Erosion
ll
lines longitude
=
lines latitude
Rearrange these steps that lead to precipitation: (Think about cause and effect)
- Air mass cools
- Air mass rises
- Water vapor condenses (clouds form)
