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Geog. & History A
WCHS Geog. & History A - Chapters 1-3
Word | Definition |
---|---|
fault | a fracture in the earth's crust |
sediment | weathering process that creates smaller and smaller pieces of rock, very fine particles of rock |
hurricane | storms that form over warm, tropical ocean waters |
equator | the imaginary line that divides the north and south halves |
La Nina/El Nino | winds that blow warm water to the lands on the western Pacific rim, brings dry weather to Americans; Winds that blow over the Pacific ocean, brings heavy rains to North America |
climate | the typical weather conditions at a particular location as observed over time |
deciduous | broadleaf trees, such as maple, oak, birch and cottonwood |
tectonic plates | an emormous moving shelf that forms the earth's crust |
mechanical weathering | the natural processes that break rock into smaller pieces |
richter scale | a way to measure information colllected by seisographs to determine the relative strength of an earthquake |
convection | the transfer of heat in the atmoshpere by upward motion of the air |
absoulute location | the exact place on earth where a geographic feature is found |
tundra | a flat treeless lands forming a ring around the Arctic Ocean, the climate region of the Arctic Ocean |
coniferous | needleleaf trees, such as pine, fir, cedar |
physical weathering | there is a physical change to the substance, size or shape; can occur during mechanical or chemical weathering |
glaciation | the changing of landforms by slowly moving glaciers |
permafrost | the subsoil is constantly frozen |
greenhouse effect | the layer of gases released by the burning ocal and pertoleum that traps solar energy, causing global temperature to increase |
biome | the ecosystem of a region; divided into forest, grassland, desert, and tundra |
relative location | describes a place in comparison to other places around it. |
savana | tropical grassland region, the flat, grassy, mostly treeless plains |
chemical weathering | occurs when rock is changed into a new substance as a result of interaction between elements in the air or water and the minerals in the rock. |
seismograph | a device that measures the size of waves created by an earthquake |
taiga | a nearly continuous belt of evergreen coniferous forest across the Northern Hemishpere, in North America and Eurasia |
longitude lines | the set of imaginary lines that go around the earth over the poles |
map projection | a way of drawing the earth's surface that reduces distortion caused by presenting a round earth on flat paper |
continental drift | the hypothesis that all continents were once joined into a supercontinent that split apart over millions of years |
tsunami | caused by an earthquake, it is a giant wave in the ocean; it can travel up to 450 mph, and over thousands of miles; can reach 50 to 100 feet high |
rain shadow | land on the leaward side of the mountain. it gets very little rain from the descending dry air |
chaparral | biome of drought resistant trees |
latitude lines | the set of imaginary lines that run parallel to the equator |
globe | three-dimensional representation of the earth |
magma | hot molten rock, can form in the mantle and rise through the crust |
ring of fire | a zone around the rim of the Pacific Ocean, is the location of the vast majority of active volcanoes |
Humus | an organic material in soil |
tornado | a powerful funnel-shaped column of spiraling air |
prime meridian | the imaginary line dividing the earth east and west |
hemisphere | the set of imaginary lines that divide the earth in to two equal halves, either north and south or east and west |
topographic map | a general reference map that is a representation of natural and manmade features on the earth |