Geographic Dictionary

The following texts are the property of their respective authors and we thank them for giving us the opportunity to share for free to students, teachers and users of the Web their texts will used only for illustrative educational and scientific purposes only.

All the information in our site are given for nonprofit educational purposes

The information of medicine and health contained in the site are of a general nature and purpose which is purely informative and for this reason may not replace in any case, the council of a doctor or a qualified entity legally to the profession.

Geographic Dictionary

Absolute location – exact location of a place on the earth described by global coordinates

Basin – area of land drained by a given river and its branches; area of land surrounded by lands of higher elevation

Bay – part of a large body of water that extends into a shoreline, generally smaller than a gulf

Canyon – deep and narrow valley with steep walls

Cape – point of land that extends into a river, lake, or ocean

Channel – wide strait or waterway between two landmasses that lie close to each other; deep part of a river or other waterway

Cliff – steep, high wall or rock, earth, or ice

Continent – one of the seven large landmasses on the earth

Cultural feature – characteristic that humans have created in a place, such as language, religion, housing, and settlement patterns

Delta – flat, low-lying land built up from soil carried downstream by a river and deposited at its mouth

Divide – stretch of high land that separates river systems

Downstream – direction in which a river or stream flows from its source to its mouth

Elevation – height of land above sea level

Equator – imaginary line that runs around the earth halfway between the North and South Poles; used as the starting point to measure degrees of north and south latitude

Glacier – large, thick body of slowly moving ice

Gulf – part of a large body of water that extends into a shoreline, generally larger and more deeply indented than a bay

Harbor- a sheltered place along a shoreline where ships can anchor safely

Highland – elevated land area such as a hill, mountain, or plateau

Hill – elevated land with sloping sides and rounded summit; generally smaller than a mountain

Island – land area, smaller than a continent, completely surrounded by water

Isthmus – narrow stretch of land connecting two larger land areas

Lake – a sizable inland body of water

Latitude – distance north or south of the Equator, measured in degrees

Longitude – distance east of west of the Prime Meridian, measured in degrees

Lowland – land, usually level, at a low elevation

Map – drawing of the earth shown on a flat surface

Meridian – one of many lines on the global grid running from the North Pole to the South Pole; used to measure degrees of longitude

Mesa – broad, flat-topped landform with steep sides; smaller than a plateau

Mountain – land with steep sides that rise sharply (1000 feet or more) from surrounding land; generally larger and more rugged than a hill

Mountain peak – pointed top of a mountain

Mountain range – a series of connected mountains

Mouth (of a river) – place where a stream or river flows into a larger body of water

Ocean – one of the four major bodies of salt water that surround the continents

Ocean current – stream of either cold or warm water that moves in a definite direction through an ocean

Parallel – one of the many lines on the global grid that circle the earth north or south of the Equator; used to measure degrees of latitude

Peninsula – body of land jutting into a lake or ocean, surrounded on three sides by water

Physical feature – characteristic of a place occurring naturally, such as a landform, body of water, climate pattern, or resource

Plain – area of level land, usually at a low elevation and often covered with grasses

Plateau – area of flat or rolling land at a high elevation, about 300 – 3000 feet high

Prime Meridian – line of the global grid running from the North Pole to the South Pole through Greenwich, England; starting point for measuring degrees of east and west longitude

Relief – changes in elevation over a given area of land

River – large natural stream of water that runs through the land

Sea – large body of water completely or partly surrounded by land

Seacoast – land lying next to a sea or ocean

Sea level – position on land level with the surface of a nearby ocean or sea

Sound – body of water between a coastline and one or more islands off the coast

Source (of a river) – place where a river or stream begins, often in highlands

Strait – narrow stretch of water joining two larger bodies of water

Tributary – small river or stream that flows into a larger river or stream; a branch of a river

Upstream – direction opposite the flow of a river; toward the source of a river or stream

Valley – area of low land between hills or mountains

Volcano – mountain created as liquid rock or ash erupts from inside the earth

Source : http://www.freedomschools.k12.wi.us/faculty/jvanrossum/Geographic%20Dictionary.doc

Web site link: http://www.freedomschools.k12.wi.us

Google key word : Geographic Dictionary file type : doc

Author : not indicated on the source document of the above text

If you are the author of the text above and you not agree to share your knowledge for teaching, research, scholarship (for fair use as indicated in the United States copyrigh low) please send us an e-mail and we will remove your text quickly.