Geography Christmas Exam Flashcards
Weathering
Weathering is the process where rock is dissolved, worn away or broken down into smaller and smaller pieces.
Erosion
The process by which soil and rock is removed from one area of the Earth through natural causes such as wind, water, and ice and transported elsewhere.
Exfoliation
Exfoliation, also called unloading, which is when the outer layers of rock break away from the rest of the rock.
Gradient
A gradient is the measure of the steepness of the slope.
Transportation
The movement of things.
V shaped valley
A V-valley is formed by erosion from a river or stream over time.
Interlocking spurs
When there are areas of hard rock which are harder to erode, the river will bend around it. This creates interlocking spurs.
Meander
A meander is a curve in a river.
Oxbow lake
An oxbow lake is a lake, or area of water, in a U-shape.
Drainage basin
A river basin or drainage basin is an area of land drained by a river. This can be compared to a sink or basin, which catches the water falling into it.
Delta
A delta is a triangular piece of land which is found at the mouth of a river. It is formed when a river deposits the sediments as it flow towards its mouth (a place where a river drain into a lake, sea or an ocean).
Glaciers
Glaciers are huge masses of ice that “flow” like very slow rivers. They form over hundreds of years where fallen snow compresses and turns into ice.
Corries
A corrie is an semi-circular hollow found on the side of a mountain. This is where a glacier forms.
Corry lake
After the glacier has melted in the corrie a lake forms in the hollow. This is called a corrie lake or tarn.
Arete
A sharp ridge between two corries.
U shaped valley
U-shaped valleys have steep sides and a wide, flat floor. They are formed in river valleys which, during the ice age, have been filled by a large glacier
Hanging valley
A high-level. tributary valley from where there is a sharp fall to the level of the lower, main valley. A hanging valley is a valley that leads into another valley. This can often lead to waterfalls.
Truncated spur
The glaciers slice through the interlocking spurs leaving thee truncated which really means “Cut off”.
Moraine
The material that the glaciers carry is called moraine.
Till
All of the rock , sand and mud that it was carrying gets left behind when a glacier melts.
Weather
Weather is what the sky and the air outside are like, such as cold and cloudy. Weather changes every day.
Climate
Climate is like the weather, but over a long time
Troposphere
The weather takes place mainly in the lowest layer, the troposphere. This layer has the air we breathe and the clouds in the sky. The air is densest in this lowest layer.
Tropic of cancer
The Tropic of Cancer is an imaginary latitude line located above the equator that runs across the globe at about 23 degrees north.
Tropic of Capricorn
The Tropic of Capricorn lies at 23d 26’ 22” (23.4394 degrees) south of the Equator.
Equator
An equator is an imaginary line around the middle of a planet or other celestial body.
Arctic circle
The very top part of the planet – the northern part of the globe.
Antarctic circle
The Antarctic Circle is a special line of latitude that circles the Earth near the South Pole.
Solstice
Solstice is the shortest day of the year in winter and the longest day of the year in summer.
Equinox
Equinox is when you have 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of night time.
Albedo
Reflective capacity of a surface. Snow has more albedo than water.
Insolation
How much sun energy is reaching the earth.
Adiabatic processes
As air rises, it expands, its pressure decreases and it cools. When air decends it condenses, its pressure increases and it warms up.
Orthographic lifting
When an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. Air is pushed up over a mountain by prevailing winds.
Convection lifting
In convective lift, moist air is warmed as it moves over warm ground. As the warm air rises, it cools and forms rain clouds. Air is heated to a higher temperature than the surrounding air.
Frontal lifting
Frontal Lifting is when less dense warm air is forced to rise over cooler, denser air as weather fronts move. Most common in winter.
When two air masses of different temp and moist converge or come into contact with each other.
Air mass
An air mass is a large volume of air in the atmosphere that is mostly uniform in temperature and moisture.
Barometric pressure
The pressure due to the weight of the atmosphere; also called air pressure or atmospheric pressure. Measured in millibars (mb).
High pressure. (Cold air, clockwise)
A high pressure system is a whirling mass of cool, dry air that generally brings fair weather and light winds. When viewed from above, winds spiral out of a high-pressure center in a clockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere. Sunny.
Low pressure (wet air, counter clockwise)
A low pressure system is a whirling mass of warm, moist air that generally brings stormy weather with strong winds. When viewed from above, winds spiral into a low-pressure center in a counterclockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere. Rainy, cloudy.
Isobars
a line on a map to indicate areas having the same atmospheric pressure
Cold front
A cold front is a boundary between two air masses, one cold and the other warm, moving so that the colder air replaces the warmer air
Warm front
A warm front is a boundary between two air masses, one cool and the other warm, moving so that the warmer air replaces the cooler air.
Occluded front
An occluded front is a weather pattern. It brings cold weather and leaves cold weather. (Cold air is denser than warm air)
Stationary front
A stationary front is a boundary between two air masses that more or less doesn’t move.
