Useful Geography Key Words 2

Question 1

Development gap

Answer 1

Difference in standards of living and wellbeing between the world’s richest and poorest countries

Question 2

Dune regeneration

Answer 2

Building up dunes and increasing vegetation to prevent excessive coastal retreat

Question 3

Economic opportunities

Answer 3

Chances for people to improve their standard of living through employment

Question 4

Ecosystem

Answer 4

A community of plants and animals that interact with each other and their physical environment

Question 5

Ecotourism

Answer 5

Nature tourism usually involving small groups with minimal impact in the environment

Question 6

Erosion

Answer 6

Wearing away and removal of material by a moving force, such as a breaking wave

Question 7

Estuary

Answer 7

Tidal mouth of a river where it meets the sea - wide banks of deposited mud are exposed at low tide

Question 8

Flood

Answer 8

Where river discharge exceeds river channel capacity and water spills onto the floodplain

Question 9

Floodplain

Answer 9

Relatively flat area forming the valley floor either side of a river channel that is sometimes flooded

Question 10

Floodplain zoning

Answer 10

Identifying how a floodplain can be developed for human uses

Question 11

Flood relief channels

Answer 11

Artificial channels that are used when a river is close to maximum discharge; they take the pressure off the main channels when floods are likely

Question 12

Fluvial processes

Answer 12

Processes relating to deposition, erosion, and transport by a river

Question 13

Food chain

Answer 13

Connections between different organisms (plants and animals) that rely upon one another as their source of food

Question 14

Food web

Answer 14

A diagram which shows a complex hierarchy of plants and animals relying on each other for food

Question 15

Gabion

Answer 15

Steel wire mesh filled with boulders used in coastal defences

Question 16

Globalisation

Answer 16

The process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of massively increased trade and cultural exchange

Question 17

Gorge

Answer 17

A narrow steep-sided valley, often formed as a waterfall retreats upstream

Question 18

Greenfield site

Answer 18

A plot of land, often in a rural or on the edge of an urban area that has not been built on before

Question 19

Gross national income (GNI)

Answer 19

Measurement of economic activity calculated by dividing the gross (total) national income by the size of the population

Question 20

Groyne

Answer 20

A wooden barrier built out into the sea to stop the longshore drift of sand and shingle, and allow the beach to grow

Question 21

Hard engineering

Answer 21

Using concrete or large artificial structures to defend against natural processes, either coastal, fluvial or glacial

Question 22

Headlands and bays

Answer 22

A rocky coastal promontory (high point of land) made of rock that is less resistant to erosion: headlands lie between bays of less resistant rock where the land has been eroded by sea

Question 23

Human development index (HDI)

Answer 23

A method of measuring development where GDP per capita, life expectancy and adult literacy are combined to give an overview

Question 24

Hydraulic action

Answer 24

Power of the water eroding the bed and banks of a river

Question 25

Hydraulic power

Answer 25

Process where breaking waves compress pockets of air in cracks in a cliff; the pressure may cause the cracks to widen, breaking off rock

Question 26

Informal economy

Answer 26

Employment outside the knowledge of the government

Question 27

Interlocking spurs

Answer 27

Outcrops of land along the river course in a valley

Question 28

Irrigation

Answer 28

Artificial application of water to the land or soil

Question 29

Levee

Answer 29

Raised bank found on either side of a river, formed naturally by regular flooding or built up by people to protect the area against flooding

Question 30

Long profile

Answer 30

The gradient of a river, from its source to its mouth

Question 31

Longshore drift

Answer 31

Transport of sediment along a stretch of coastline caused by waves approaching the beach at an angle

Question 32

Managed retreat

Answer 32

Controlled retreat of the coastline, often allowing flooding to occur over low-lying land