Geography and Natural Disasters Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering geographical terms, natural phenomena, specific locations, and types of natural disasters.

Arid climate

A dry climate characterized by a lack of available water.

Humid climate

A wet or moist climate.

Archipelago

A group of islands.

Peninsula

A piece of land almost surrounded by water or projecting out into a body of water.

Isle

An island, usually used as part of a geographical name.

Cape

A headland or promontory of large size extending into a body of water.

Cliff

A steep rock face on the coast; a steep slope or escarpment.

Canal

An artificial waterway, channel, or trench.

Shore

The land along the edge of a sea, lake, or ocean, but not a river.

Conflagration

A large, extensive, and destructive fire.

Crevasses

Fissures or deep cracks in the ice of a glacier.

Estuary

The tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream; a delta.

Floodplain

An area of low-lying ground adjacent to a river, formed mainly of river sediments and subject to flooding.

Fossil fuel

A natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms.

Glacier

A slowly moving mass of ice.

Fjord

A long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs, typically formed by submergence of a glaciated valley.

Isthmus

A narrow strip of land with sea on either side, forming a link between two larger areas of land.

Latitude

The angular distance of a place north or south of the earth's equator.

Longitude

The angular distance of a place east or west of the meridian at Greenwich.

Everglade

A marshy tract of low-lying land, sometimes overgrown with tall grass.

Thaw

A period of warm weather during which snow and ice melt.

Smog

Fog or haze intensified by smoke or other atmospheric pollutants.

Subcontinent

A large distinguishable part of a continent, such as North America or the part of Asia containing India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Chalybeate spring

A mineral spring containing iron salts.

Stalactite

A long piece of rock hanging down from the roof of a cave, formed by the slow dropping of water containing the mineral lime.

Stalagmite

A long piece of rock sticking up from the floor of a cave, formed by the slow dropping of water containing the mineral lime.

Zephyr

A soft gentle breeze.

Simoom

A hot, dry, dust-laden wind blowing in the African and Asian deserts in spring and summer.

Monsoon

A seasonal prevailing wind in South and Southeast Asia, blowing from the southwest between May and September (wet) or from the northeast between October and April (dry).

Mount Everest (Chomolungma)

The highest mountain peak in the world, located in the Himalayas at a height of $8848\,m$.

Mariana Trench

An ocean trench in the western Pacific with a greatest known depth of $36,201$ feet ($11,034\,m$).

Indigenous population

The native or original inhabitants of a specific region.

Contiguous

Sharing a common border; touching; adjacent.

Drought

A prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a shortage of water.

Heatwave

A period of unusually hot weather.

Downpour

A sudden and unexpected heavy fall of rain.

Tsunami

A long, high sea wave caused by an earthquake or other disturbance.

Avalanche

A mass of snow, ice, and rocks falling rapidly down a mountainside.

Hurricane

A storm with a violent wind, in particular a tropical cyclone in the Caribbean.

Blizzard

A severe snowstorm with high winds.

Volcano

A mountain or hill, typically conical, having a crater or vent through which lava, rock fragments, and gas are erupted from the earth's crust.

Inundate

To overwhelm with things or people to be dealt with; to flood.

Casualties

A person killed or injured in a war or accident.