Landscapes & Landforms Flashcards
What is a Landform?
A landform is a specific shape or physical feature of the Earth’s surface which has been produced by a natural process.
What is a Landscape?
A landscape is a part of the Earth’s surface. It consists of a variety of geographical features that are characteristic of an area.
What is the Definition of ‘Aesthetic Value’?
The worth of something’s beauty or emotional appeal
What is the Definition of ‘Cultural Value’?
Cultural value is linked to the importance of landforms and landscapes as expressed by people through creative means.
What is Salinity?
Salinity refers to a high level of salt in the soil, which kills plants.
What is Desertification?
Desertification is the transformation of fertile land into dry, desert-like areas.
What causes Desertification?
Human activities such as deforestation, overgrazing and poorly managed agriculture can cause desertfication.
What is soil erosion?
Soil erosion is the removal of topsoil faster than the soil-forming processes can replace it.
What are the two types of Salinity?
Dryland Salinity and Irrigated Salinity.
What is irrigated Salinity?
When extra water from irrigation enters the ground it also forces the water table to rise.
What is Dryland Salinity?
Salt in the underground water is forced to rise when we remove trees with deep root systems that keep the water table low in the ground.
Why is soil important?
Soil is important as it supports plants and animals. Soil is damaged by overfarming and other poor agricultural practices, affecting agriculture.
What are the four layers of the Earth?
Inner core, Outer Core, Mantle, Crust
What are the three types of Mountains?
Fold mountains, Block mountains, Volcanic Moutains.
What is a Block Moutain?
Block mountains are created when cracks in the Earth’s crust- known as faults- force blocks of land upwards.
What are fold Mountains?
Fold mountains are created by upward pressure where two tectonic plates collide.
What are Volcanic Mountains?
Volcanic mountains are created by volcanoes. They are created when magma pushes its way from beneath the Earth to the crust.
What are Hotspots?
A point not on a plate boundary where there is tectonic activity
What is a Shield Volcano?
A wide, gently sloping mountain made of layers of lava and formed by quiet eruptions
What is a Geomorphic Hazard?
A geomorphological hazard is a danger that occurs as a result of changes to a landform, affecting the stability of the site and resulting in devastating effects on the area and those living there.
What is a Natural Disaster?
A natural disaster is the occurrence of an expected natural event that adversely affects the environment and people in that area.
What is a Natural Hazard?
A natural hazard is a known feature of an area that may cause loss of life, injury and/or property damage.
What is a Landslide?
A landslide is the movement of rock, debris, or eath down a slope.
What are some processes that contribute to a landslide?
- Heavy rains
- Building on slopes making the land less stable
- Hard surfaces (increases the runoff)
- Growth of cities means that people live in unsafe areas
- Clearing
What is the World Heritage List?
The World Heritage List is a list of the world’s most important natural and human features.
What does ‘sustainable’ mean?
able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.
What is a Glacier?
Large frozen river of ice that slowly moves down a valley in response to gravity
What is a Cirque?
Bowl-shaped hollow at the head of a valley or on a mountainside formed by glacial erosion
What is a ridge?
Long, narrow elevation of land
What is a Saddle?
The lowest point along a ridge or between two mountain tops
What is a Karst Landscape?
A region underlain by caves in limestone bedrock; the collapse of the caves creates a landscape of sinkholes separated by higher topography, or of limestone spires separated by low areas.
What is a Riverine Landscape?
Formed by the natural movement of a water system such as a river.
What is a Tomographic Map?
A map that shows the surface features of an area.
What are contour lines?
Lines that connect points of equal elevation
What is an alphanumerical Grid?
Grid that uses letters and numerals to identify squares of a grid pattern on a map
What is Erosion?
The wearing away of the Earth’s surface by wind, water or ice
What is land degradation?
Damage of the natural environment from natural causes such as erosion and human activities such as overgrazing, deforestation, land clearing, etc.
What does Urban Mean?
Relating to a city
What is a Tsunami?
A giant wave usually caused by an earthquake beneath the ocean floor
What is a Pyroclastic Flow?
The flow of ash, cinders, bombs, and gases down the side of a volcano during an explosive eruption
What is the Mantle?
The layer of hot, solid material between Earth’s crust and core.
What is Magma?
Molten rock beneath the Earth’s surface
What is Lava?
The molten material that flows from a volcano
What is a Lahar?
An avalanche of volcanic water and mud down the slopes of a volcano
What is a Tectonic Plate?
One of the immense, slowly moving pieces that make up the Earth’s surface (or crust) that carry the continents and oceans
What is Tectonic Activity?
processes that tend to build up the various features of the Earth’s crust (e.g. types of mountain building, volcanic action, folding and faulting)
What is a Natural Process?
A natural action, change or function that brings about a result in the Earth’s surface (e.g. erosion)
What is Deposition?
The laying down of solid material which has been eroded and transported from another part of the Earth’s crust
What is Urban?
Relating to a city
What is another name for a Destructive Plate Margin?
A destructive plate margin is also known as a convergent plate margin.
What is a destructive plate margin?
This is when an oceanic
plate and a continental plate move towards each other.
What is the “Oceanic Plate” covered by?
oceanic tectonic plate is mostly covered by sea.
What is the “Continental Plate” covered by?
A continental tectonic plate is mostly covered by land.
What is the ‘Ring of Fire’?
The ‘Ring of Fire’ refers to the margins of the Pacific plate.
What is the name used for volcanoes that form away from tectonic plate boundaries?
Hot Spot
What are the Two types of Volcanoes?
Shield volcanoes and Composite Volcanoes
What are the four types of materials that are ejected from craters into the atmosphere?
Gas
Thick Ash
Volcanic Bombs
Lava
What is the difference between magma and lava?
Lava is magma that has reached the surface.
How are shield volcanoes different to composite volcanoes?
Shield volcanoes have gentle, sloping sides. The erupt in a less-violent manner.
Where are shield volcanoes found?
Shield volcanoes are found on constructive margins or at ‘hot spots’.
Where are composite volcanoes found?
Composite volcanoes are found at the margins of destructive plates.
Summarise what happens at a constructive plate margin.
At a constructive plate margin, two
tectonic plates move apart and magma rises and fills the gap.
What is another name for a Constructive Plate Margin? What happens?
A constructive plate margin is also known as a divergent plate margin. This is when two plates move apart.
What are the 4 types of Landslides?
Soil Creeps, Mud Slides, Slumping, Avalanches
Is a beach a Landform or a Landscape?
Landform
