Glossary of Epic Terms Flashcards
When material carried by moving water or wind hits exposed rock surfaces thus wearing them away
- Abrasion
Removal of water avalible in the environment. Also refers to the removal of too much water.
- Abstraction and Over-abstraction
Any alteration or adjustment in the structure or function of an organism or system which enables it to survive in changing environmental conditions
- Adaptation
These are the people who impact on a place whether through living, working, or trying to improve that place.
- Agents of change
When companies in similar industries locate near each other because of the benefits gained by sharing ideas and resources (such as Detroit).
- Agglomeration
The reflectivity of a surface.
- Albedo
Rapid warming in the Arctic
- Arctic amplification
Factors tha are caused by human beings
- Anthropogenic factors
An area that receives less than 250mm of precipitation per year
- Arid
The part of the mantle which lies directly beneath the lithosphere
- Asthenosphere
An organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances using light or chemical energy.
- Autotroph
The action of water receding back down the beach towards the sea
- Backwash
The max discharge that a river chanel is capable of carrying without flooding
- Bankfull
This represents the normal day to day discharge of the river
- Base flow
The ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water
- Benthic
An agreement on trade (or aid) that is negotiated between two countries or two groups of countries
- Bilateral (agreement)
The mapping of emotions shown by people to certain places
- Biomapping
A rapid drop in pressure (more than 24 millbars in 24 hours).
- Bomb cyclogenesis
The total sum of all living matter. The biological component of Earth systems.
- Biosphere
When local people are consulted and supported in making decisions to undertake projects or developments that meet one or more of their specific needs.
- Bottom up approach
An acronym used to describe a group of four countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) whose economies have grown very rapidly.
- BRIC
A term used in urban planning to describe land previously used for industrial purposes or commercial uses
- Brownfield site
A term used for the theft of oil from pipelines or other sources
- Bunkering
The movement of money for the purpose of investment, trade or to produce goods/provide services.
- Capital flows
The capture of CO2 from the atmosphere or from anthropogenic sources
- Carbon sequestration
A store of carbon that absorbs more carbon than it releases
- Carbon sink
The maximum population size that an area or environment can sustain
- Carrying capacity
The centre of an urban area containing major shops, offices and entertainment
- CBD (Centeral Business District)
Wind redirected down long straight canyon like streets where there is less friction
- Channelling
The processes leading to the decomposition of breaking down of rocks due to chemical reactions.
- Chemical weathering
A term used to describe urban retail areas dominated by national and in some cases international chain stores.
- Clone town
The balance between sediment being added to and removed from the coastal system
- Coastal sediment budget
A group formed by countries in geographical proximity in which trade barriers for goods and services are emliminated.
- Common markets
Prearranged measures that aim to reduce the loss of life and property damage
- Community preparedness
A collection of different companies or organisations which may be involved in different business activities but all report to one parent company. (Most TNCs are this)
- Conglomerates
Waves with a low wave height but with a long wavelength and low frequency. There swash tends to be more powerful than their backwash and as a consequence beach material is built up.
- Constructive waves
A system of standardised transport that uses large standard size steel containers.
- Containerisation
The impact of increasing distance from the coast on the climate of an area
- Continentality
A systematic analysis of the advantages and disadvantages likely to result from a development project
- Cost-benefit analysis
The movement of people from large urban areas into smaller urban areas or into rural areas.
- Counter urbanisation
Water locked up on the Earth’s surface as ice.
- Cryosphere
The existence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups within a society.
- Cultural diversity
A trade bloc which allows free trade with no barriers between its member states but imposes a common external tariff to trading countries outside the bloc (e.g EU).
- Customs unions
The movement of population and industry from the urban centre to outlying areas
- Decentralisation
Where wind removes loose sand, silt and clay particles from the surface and transports them away
- Deflation
The benefit a country gets when its working population outgrows it dependents such as children and the elderly.
- Demographic dividend
Opposite to the multiplier effect when a withdrawal of income or investment leads to the closure of an activity such as a factory.
- De-multiplier effect
When the velocity of the wind or water decreases until it can no longer transport the grains it is carrying.
- Deposition
State of buildings having been abandoned and become dilapidated.
- Dereliction
Waves with a high wave height with a steep form and high frequency. Their swash is generally stronger than their backwash so more sediment is removed than is added.
- Destructive waves
A group of people with a similar heritage or homeland who have settled elsewhere in the world.
- Diaspora
The amount of water in a river flowing past a particular point.
- Discharge
In geological terms these are ore deposits that are scattered throughout a rock.
- Disseminations
This is an area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.
- Drainage basin
An inland terminal directly connected by road or rail to a seaport.
- Dry ports
The difference between levels of living standards income.
- Economic inequality
In the context of place this refers to the characteristics of the place itself. This would include aspects such as location physical geography, land use and social and economic characteristics.
- Endogenous characterisitics
Streams that flow intermittently in hot desert areas following heavy thunderstorms
- Ephemeral streams
Describes changing patterns of population age distributions, mortality, fertility, life expectancy, life expectancy, and causes of death.
- Epidemiological transition
A global change in sea level resulting from an actual fall or rise in the level of the sea itself
- Eustatic change (positive and negative eustacy)
Occurs when excess fertilisers are washed off the land by rainwater into rivers and lakes
- Eutrophication
The total output of water from the drainage basin directly back into the atmosphere.
- Evapotranspiration
Process of mechanical weathering that results in the breaking, splitting or peeling off of the outer rock layers.
- Exfoliation
This refers to the relationship of one place with other places and the external factors which affect this. Demographic, socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of a place shaped by shifting flows of people resources money and investment.
- Exogenous characteristics
A view of a hazard event that suggests that people cannot influence or shape the outcome therefore nothing can be done to mitigate against it.
- Fatalism
Refers to the distance of open water over which a wind blows uninterrupted by major land obstacles. The length of fetch helps to determine the magnitude and energy of the waves reaching the coast.
- Fetch
Used to describe an activity such as an industry that can be placed at any location without having to consider factors such as raw materials or transport.
- Footloose
The animals of a particular region habitat or geological period.
- Fauna
The plants of a particular region, habitat or geological period
- Flora
Food security exists when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain healthy and active lives.
- Food security
The buying and renovating of properties often in more run-down areas by wealthy individuals
- Gentrification
The study of international relations as influenced by geographical factors.
- Geopolitics
A process by which national economies, societies and cultures have become increasingly integrated.
- Globalisation
A term used to describe products or services that are distributed globally but which are fashioned to appeal to the consumers in a local market.
- Glocalisation
An area of undeveloped land.
- Geenfield site
Water stored underground in the cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock.
- Groundwater
The slow movement of water through underlying rocks.
- Groundwater flow
Making a physical change to the coastal landscape using resistant materials such as concrete
- Hard Engineering
Computer controlled mirrors which keep the sun reflected on a target as the sun moves across the sky
- Heliostats
A coastline where strong steady prevailing winds create high energy waves and the rate of erosion is greater than the rate of deposition.
- High energy coastline
The process of making things uniform or similar leading to places becoming indistinct from one another.
- Homogenisation
A discontinuos layer of water at or near the Earth’s surface. It includes all liquid and frozen surface water, groundwater, atmospheric water vapour.
- Hydrosphere
The means by which a wildfire can be started
- Ignition source
A person moving into an area or country to which they are not native in order to settle there
- Immigrant
UK government qualitative study to measure deprivation in England
- Index of Multiple Deprivation
An organism whose presence absence or abundance reflects a specific environmental condition.
- Indicator Species
The movement of water from surface into soil
- Infiltration
Number of children who die before their first birthday per 1000 live births
- Infant mortality rate
The precipitation that falls on vegetation surfaces or human made cover and is temporarily stored on these surfaces
- Interception storage
The interaction and the exchange of ideas between different cultral groups
- Interculturalism
A chain of volcanic islands associated with an ocean trench where subduction is taking place
- Island arc
Land rising or falling relative to the sea
- Isostatic change
A factor of production defined as the aggregate of all human physical and mental effort used to created goods or provide services
- Labour
The time between the peak rainfall and peak discharge
- Lag time
A flow of wet material down the side of a volcano
- Lahars
The removal of pollution or contaminants from the ground which enables areas of derelict former industrial land to be brought back in commercial use
- Land remediation
The loss of soluble substances and colloids from the top layer of soil by percolating precipitation. Materials lost are carried downward (eluviated) and are generally redeposited (illuviated) in a lower layer
- Leaching
Refers to a loss of income from and economic system. It most usually refers to the profits sent back to their base country by TNCs.
- Leakages
The crust and the uppermost mantle.
- Lithosphere
Aspects of urban living which make life more comfortable and endurable for city dwellers. It can mean many different hings to different people. It may include natural amenities such as parks or political stability or basic safety.
- Liveability
This is the place where something happens or is set, or that has particular events associated with it
- Locale
Where a place is e.g the coordinates
- Location
Where waves approach the shore at an angle and swash and backwash then transport material along the coast in the direction of the prevailing wind and waves.
- Longshore or littoral drift
A coastline where wave energy is low and the rate of deposition often exceeds the rate of erosion of sediment
- Low energy coast
The assessment of the size of the impact of a hazard event
- Magnitude
Are those that operate upon a coastline that are connected with the sea such as waves, tides, and longshore drift
- Marine processes
A manufacturing operation located in a free trade zone in Mexico. They import materials for assembly and export the final product without any trade barriers.
- Maquiladora
The movement of material donwhill under the influence of gravity but may also be assisted by rainfall
- Mass movement
A city with more than 10 million people
- Megacity
A conurbation (group of towns/cities/urban areas) with more than 20 million people
- Metacity
The small variations in temperature, precipitation, humidity, windspeed, and evaporation that occur in a particular environment such as urban areas
- Microclimate
An acronym referring to the more recently emerging economies of Mexico, Indonesia,Nigeria, and Turkey
- MINT
Includes any actions to offset the known detrimental impacts of a process
- Mitigation
The agricultural practice of continually producing or growing a single crop, plant or livestock species over a period of time
- Monoculture
This term can be used to describe the incidence of a disease within a society.
- Morbidity
An agreement negotiated between more than two countries or groups of countries at the same time
- Multilateral agreement
A situation where an initial injection of investment or capital into an economy in turn creates additional income
- Multiplier effect
A generic term to describe a flammable liquid comprised of various hydrocarbon mixtures
- Naphtha
The difference between birth rates and death rates. If death rates high its Natural decrease. If birth rates are higher its natural increase in population.
- Natural change
The number of children each woman needs to have to maintain current population levels
- Net replacement rate
A medical condition of disease that is by definition no infectious and non-transmissible among people
- Non-communicable diseases
Any non profit voluntary citizens group with a common intrest which is organised on a local, national or international level
- Non government organisations (NGOs)
The movement of nutrients in the ecosystem between the three major stores of soil biomass and litter.
- Nutrient cycling
Not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts
- Objective
A cost saving strategy used by companies who arrange for goods or services to be produced or provided by other companies usually at a location where costs are lower
- Outsourcing
The tendancy of water to flow horizontally across land surfaces when rainfall has exceeded the infiltration capacity of the soil and all surface stores are full to overflowing
- Overland flow
An ecological term refferring to a point when the population and its associated consumption of resources exceed the long term carrying capacity of its environment
- Overshoot
A form of air pollution caused by the release of particles and noxious gases into the atmosphere.
- Particulate air pollution
The point on a flood hydrograph when river discharge is at its greatest
- Peak discharge
With regard to hazards or place this is the way in which an individual or a group views the threat of a place or hazard event
- Perception
The downward movement of water within the rock under the soil surface
- Percolation
Processes and landforms associated with the fringle or area near to an ice sheet or glacier
- Periglacial
A form of air pollition that occurs mainly in cities and can be dangerious to health. Exhaust fumes become trapped by temperature and in the presence of sunlight low level ozone forms.
- Photochemical
Defined as the loss of uniqueness of a place in the cultural landscape so that one place looks like the next
- Placelessness
The deliberate shaping of an environment to facilitate social interaction and improve a community’s quality of life
- Placemaking
The plant community that exists when human interference prevents the climatic climax vegetation being reached
- Plagioclimax
A compacted layer within the profile of a cultivated soil resulting from repeated compaction from ploughing
- Plough Pan
The average number of people living in a specific area
- Population density
The pattern of where people live
- Population distribution
Water that is suitable for drinking (it does not have to be pure but must not contain unacceptable levels of hazardous materials)
- Potable water
A fine grained hard igneous rock which contains large crystals and can contain hydrothermal ore deposits such as copper
- Porphyry
The effects of a hazard event that result directly from that event.
- Primary effects
The sector of the economy making direct use of natural resources
- Primary sector
A deliberate policy by government to impose restrictions on trade in goods and services with other countries. (USA and Trump)
- Protectionism
Also known as nuees ardentes formed from a mixture of hot gas and tephra. After ejection from the volcano they can flow down the sides of a mountain at speeds of 700km/h.
- Pyroclastic flows
Plants adapted to tolerate fire
- Pyrophytic vegetation
Areas of former wave cut platforms and their beaches which are at a level higher than the present sea level
- Raised beach
A hydrological process involving the downward movement of water by infiltration and percolaation causing the replenishment of natural groundwater
- Recharge
The age at which women can give birth. Considered usually to be between 15 and 44.
- Reproductive age
A newly colonised region where resources have been discovered and are brought into production for the first time
- Resource Frontier
This marks the point in time when the maximum production rate of a resource occurs with production declining in subsequent years
- Resource peak
Chemicals sprayed onto fires in order to slow them down. They are composed of nitrates, ammonia, phosphates and sulphates and thickening agents.
- Retardants
In earthquake prone areas buildings and other structures can be fitted with devices such as shock absorbers and cross bracing to make them more earthquake proof
- Retrofitting
Former river valleys drowned by rising sea levels
- Ria
This describes the land adjacent to a stream or river. In water conflicts and disputes it is used as a legal term to determine the rights of those living on the banks of a river to access the water.
- Riparian
All the water that enters a river channel and eventually flows out of the drainage basin
- Run-off
Movement of oceanic crustal plates away from divergent/constructive plate boundaries such as in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean
- Sea floor spreading
The build up of salts in soil eventually to toxic levels for plants
- Salinisation
A process where sand sized particles are transported by bouncing and hopping along the surface
- Saltation
This applies to any water store that has reached its maximum capacity
- Saturated
These are the effects that result from the primary impact of the hazard event.
- Secondary effects
