Key Terms Flashcards
Acid rain
Chemicals combine with water vapor in the air and then fall back to earth as acid rain
Absolute location
A location’s position on the globe.
Atmosphere
The layers of air around the earth
Authoritarian government
A form of govt. where only one person or group controls the government
Biome
Major types of ecosystems found throughout the world
Biosphere
All of the earth that is occupied by plants, animals, and other living organisms
Birthrate
Number of live births each year per 1,000 people
Carnivore
An animal that only eats meat
Chapperal
A type of forest that is made up of small evergreens and ow bushes or scrub with leathery leaves to hold water from the wet winter for the dry dummer
Character of a place
Includes physical and human characteristics of a place
Chemical weathering
Weathering that changes the chemical composition of rock
Climate
The weather patterns of a place over a long period of time
Cloud
Masses of tiny particles of water and dust
Command economy
A type of economy where the government controls what is made, how much of it is made, where its sold, its selling price, and how much of it is sold
Commercial farming
The production of food and other agricultural products for sale in the market
Commercial industry
The production of goods for a profit
Confederation
A type of government where smaller political units keep their sovereignty and give the central government only certain powers
Coniferous
Trees that keep their leaves year round and drop cones with their seeds in them
Continent
A large land mass
Continental climate
Areas on the inner part of a continent that have cold snowy winters, and hot summers
Continental drift theory
The theory that the continents once were all together (in the for, of the supercontinent Pangaea) but drifted apart
Convectional precipitation
A type of precipitation that happens in the tropics when hot humid air rises from the earth’s surface cools and then rain falls (since it can’t hold much water)
Core
The innermost part of the Earth that contains very hot metal (mostly iron with some nickel)
Cottage industry
An industry where goods are made by hand
Crust
The rocky surface of the earth
Cultural convergence
When skills, ideas, art, habits, and institutions of one culture meet those of another culture
Cultural divergence
The restriction of a culture from outside cultural influences
Culture
The beliefs and actions that define a group of people’s way of life
Cultural hearth
Refers to a place from where important ideas begin and from where they spread to surrounding cultures
Deciduous
A type of tree that loses its leaves during one season of the year (generally fall)
Democracy
A type of government where people choose their leaders and have the ability to set government policy
Dictatorship
A type of government where the power is concentrated in one small group or one person
Diffusion
The process by which cultural ideas transfer to another culture
Ecosystem
Formed by interaction between plant life, animal life, and the physical features of the area
Emigrant
A person who leaves a country to live in another place
Equinox
Dates in the spring and the fall when the daylight and the nighttime are exactly equal
Erosion
Movement of weathered materials
Export
Goods that are made in one country and sold in another
Federation
A type of government where some powers are given to the national government and others are reserved for the local government
Formal region
A region defined by political boundaries
Fossil fuel
Coal, oil, and natural gas which were made thousands of years ago from the remains of ancient plants and animals
Front
Air masses
Frontal precipitation
Precipitation that occurs when two fronts meet (one warm and one cold)
Functional region
Consist of a central place and the areas it affects
Geography
The study of where people, places, and things are and how they relate to each other
Geothermal energy
Energy that comes from the Earth’s internal heat
GIS
Geographic information system- a computer that collects, displays, analyzes, and manipulates data about the earth’s surface
Glacier
Huge slow moving sheets of ice
Hemisphere
Half of the earth split into North and South, East and West
Herbivore
An animal that eats only plants
Hydrosphere
All of the water on the earth including lakes, reservoirs, oceans, and underground water supplies
Immigrant
A person that moves from his/her country to live in another
Import
Goods that are brought into a country to be sold that were made in another country
Lithosphere
The earth’s crust and the brittle upper layer of the mantle that is broken up into plates
Loess
Wind blown deposits
Mantle
A thick layer of rock around the core. Scientists believe that the upper layer of the mantle is made of flexible rock
Market economy
A type of economy that is controlled by supply and demamd
Mechanical weathering
Weathering that is caused by physical processes
Monarchy
A type of authoritarian government where the ruler is part of a line of rulers that are related (usually in the form of a king or queen)
Moraine
Ridge like piles of rocks and debris
Natural resource
A resource that is found in nature
Nonrenewable resource
A natural resource that once it is gone cannot be replenished
Nuclear energy
Energy that is created from the fission of uranium atoms
Orographic precipitation
Air flows from the ocean towards a mountain, clouds form, rain falls, the clouds move to the leeward side of the mountain without much rain making the leeward side have a desert climate
Ozone layer
A band of ozone gas in the atmosphere that absorbs the sun’s UV rays
Perception
A viewpoint that is influenced by one’s one’s culture and one’s experiences
Perceptual region
Regions defined by people’s perceptions
Permafrost
Soil in the tundra that stays permanently frozen
Photosynthesis
The process by which plants convert CO2 and sunlight into energy and oxygen
Plate tectonics
The theory that the earth’s lithosphere is broken up into plates that move and shift
Population density
The number of people in every square kilometer (or square mile)
Prairie
Temperate grasslands of N. America
Precipitation
All forms of water that fall from earth’s atmosphere to its surface
Primary economic activity
A type of economic activity that directly involves natural resources
Quaternary economic activity
An economic activity that involves the acquisition, processing, and sharing of knowledge
Relative location
A places location relative to another place
Relief
The difference in elevation between the highest and lowest points
Renewable resource
A resource that can be can be renewed after its been used. Ex. Trees
Revolution
One complete orbit around the sun
Ring of fire
A circle of volcanoes around thenPacific Ocean
Rotation
The Earth spinning on its axis for a complete 360 degrees
Rural
Countryside
Savanna
Tropical grasslands
Secondary economic activities
Economic activities that are involved in processing natural rsources
Sediment
Small particles of soil, sand, and gravel
Solar energy
Energy from the sun
Solstice
Days that mark changes in the seasons (during the summer and the winter). In the summer it is the longest day of the year and in the winter it is the shortest day of the year
Sovereignty
A nation’s freedom from outside control
Subsistence farming
Farming just enough to provide for your needs
Tertiary economic activities
Service industries. Ex. Lawyers, salespersons, doctors, etc.
Totalitarianism
A type of dictatorship where the ruler controls all parts of society
Traditional economy
Economies where little surplus is made, there is little trade, and it is based mainly on subsistence farming
Troposphere
The lowest layer of the atmosphere where weather occurs
Tundra
Regions where the temperatures are almost always cool or cold
Unitary system
The central govt. makes laws for the entire nation and local governments only have the power that the central government gives them
Urbanization
The process by which people move from rural areas to urban areas
Water power
Power that is generated by the movement of falling water
Weather
The status of the troposphere in one place over a short period of time
Weathering
The breakdown of rock into smaller and smaller pieces at or near the earth’s surface
