GEO 101 Exam 1

absolute direction

A compass direction such as north or south.

absolute distance

The distance that can be measured with a standard unit length, such as a mile or kilometer.

absolute location

Exact location of a place on the earth described by global coordinates

Accessibility

the relative ease with which a destination may be reached from some other place

Administrative region

Geographic region created by law, treaty, or regulation

Connectivity

The degree of economic, social, cultural, or political connection between two places

cultural landscape

The visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape. The layers of buildings, forms, and artifacts sequentially imprinted on the landscape by the activities of various human occupants.

environment

the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates.

Formal/Uniform Region

An area in which everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics

Functional/Nodal Region

An area organized around a node or focal point. The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at a central focus or node and diminishes in importance outward.

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.

human interaction

The communication and interdependencies between people

Human Systems

communities, culture, economies, interactions with the environment

location

The position of anything on Earth's surface.

natural landscape

The physical landscape or environment that has not been affected by human activities.

Perceptual (vernacular, popular) region

A region perceived to exist by its inhabitants or the general populace. It has reality as an element of popular culture or folk culture represented in the mental maps of average people.

Physical systems

Geographers examine Earth's physical processes, such as earthquakes and volcanoes

region

An area distinguished by a unique combination of trends or features.

relative direction

Directions such as left, right, forward, backward, up, and down based on people's perception of places

relative distance

Approximate measurement of the physical space between two places.

relative location

The position of a place in relation to another place

scale

the relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole

situation

The location of a place relative to other places; valuable to indicate location: finding an unfamiliar place and understanding its importance by comparing location with familiar one and learning their accessibility to other places

site

the physical character of a place; the absolute location of a place or activity described by local relief, landform, and other physical characteristics.

spatial diffusion

The ways in which phenomena, such as technological innovations, cultural trends, or even outbreaks of disease, travel over space.

techniques of geographic analysis

Emphasis on the nature of maps and the skills necessary to create them

area cartogram (value-by-area map)

a type of map in which the areas of the units are proportional to the data they represent

Azimuthal Projection

A map projection in which the plane is the most developable surface.

Cartography

The science of making maps

Choropleth Map

A thematic map that uses tones or colors to represent spatial data as average values per unit area.

Conformal Projection

A map that maintains the correct shape of features on the Earth but distorts their relative size to one another

contour interval

the difference in elevation from one contour line to the next

contour line

A line on a topographic map that connects points of equal elevation

equal-area (equivalent) projection

a projection that preserves the relative size of Earth's regions

equidistant projection

map that maintains distance but distorts other properties

flow-line maps

Maps that are good for determining movement, such as migration trends.

geographic database

a digital record of geographic information from such sources as maps, field surveys, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery

geographic grid

a system of imaginary arcs drawn in a grid pattern on Earth's surface

Geographic Information System (GIS)

A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.

globe properties

the characteristics of the grid system of longitude and latitude on a globe

International Date Line

An arc that for the most part follows 180° longitude, although it deviates in several places to avoid dividing land areas. When you cross the International Date Line heading east (toward America), the clock moves back 24 hours, or one entire day. When you go west (toward Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day.

Landsat satellites

Record reflected wavelengths of energy from earths surface

Latitude

distance north or south of the Equator, measured in degrees

Longitude

Distance east or west of the prime meridian, measured in degrees

map projection

a way of representing the spherical Earth on a flat surface

Prime Meridian

0 degrees longitude - passes through Greenwich, England

topographic map

A map that shows surface features of an area such as mountains, valleys, plains, and plateaus by using contour (isoline) lines to show changes in elevation

Alluvium

the sorted material deposited by a stream

Asthenosphere

The soft layer of the mantle on which the lithosphere floats and tectonic plates move

chemical weathering

The process that breaks down rock through chemical changes

continental drift

The hypothesis that states that the continents once formed a single landmass, broke up, and drifted to their present locations

Diastrophism

deformation of the Earth's crust, and more especially to folding and faulting

erosional agents

the forces of wind, moving water, glaciers, waves, and ocean currents that carve, wear away, and remove rock and soil particles

fault

a break in Earth's crust where masses of rock slip past each other

Floodplain

The area subject to flooding during a given number of years according to historical trends.

fold

a bend in layers of rock, sometimes caused by plate movement

glacier

A large mass of moving ice and snow on land

Gradational Processes

The processes of weathering, gravity transfer, and erosion that are responsible for the reduction of the land surface

igneous rock

a type of rock that forms from the cooling of molten rock at or below the surface

Lithosphere

A rigid layer made up of the uppermost part of the mantle and the crust.

Loess

A wind-formed deposit made of fine particles of clay and silt

mass movement

Any one of several processes by which gravity moves sediment downhill.

mechanical weathering

The type of weathering in which rock is physically broken into smaller pieces

metamorphic rock

A type of rock that forms from an existing rock that is changed by heat, pressure, or chemical reactions.

mineral

a naturally occurring, inorganic solid that has a crystal structure and a definite chemical composition

Permafrost

Ground that is permanently frozen

Plate techtonics

theory that the lithosphere is made up of plates that float on the athenosphere and that the plates posible are moved by convection currents

sedimentary rock

A type of rock that forms when particles from other rocks or the remains of plants and animals are pressed and cemented together

Subduction

The process by which oceanic crust sinks beneath a deep-ocean trench and back into the mantle at a convergent plate boundary.

Tsunami

A giant wave usually caused by an earthquake beneath the ocean floor.

Volcanism

Any activity that includes the movement of magma toward or onto Earth's surface

Warping

a special-effects process in which an object is bent or twisted out of shape

water table

The upper level of the saturated zone of groundwater

Weathering

The breaking down of rocks and other materials on the Earth's surface.

air mass

A huge body of air that has similar temperature, humidity, and air pressure at any given height

Air pressure

The measure of the force with which air molecules push on a surface

Blizzard

heavy snowstorm with strong winds, reduced visibility

Climate

Overall weather in an area over a long period of time

Convection

The transfer of heat by the movement of a fluid (liquid or gas)

convectional precipitation

The formation of precipitation due to surface heating of the air at the ground surface

Coriolis effect

The effect of Earth's rotation on the direction of winds and currents. Causes moving air and water to turn left in the southern hemisphere and turn right in the northern hemisphere due to Earth's hemisphere.

Cyclone

A swirling center of low air pressure

cyclonic (frontal) precipitation

the rain or snow that is produced when moist air of one air mass is forced to rise over the edge of another air mass

Dew point

The temperature at which condensation begins. When the air is completely full or saturated with water vapor.

El Nino Southern Oscillation

the periodic changes in winds and ocean currents in the South Pacific, causing weather changes throughout much of the world

frictional effect

causes wind to follow an intermediate path

Front

A boundary between two air masses of different density, moisture, or temperature

Global warming

An increase in the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere (especially a sustained increase that causes climatic changes)

Greenhouse effect

Natural situation in which heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere by carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and other gases

humid continental climate

Humid climate type that possesses warm-to-cool summers and bitterly cold winters.

hurricane

A severe storm that develops over tropical oceans and whose strong winds of more than 120 km/h spiral in toward the intensely low-pressure storm center

Insolation

incoming solar radiation (sunlight)

jet stream

a high-speed high-altitude airstream blowing from west to east near the top of the troposphere

Land breeze

the flow of air from land to a body of water during the night

lapse rate

The rate at which temperature decreases with an increase in altitude.

Marine west coast climate

weather pattern characterized by rainy and mild winters and cool summers

Monsoon

seasonal wind, especially in the Indian Ocean and Southern Asia

Mountain breeze

The movement of air caused by cool air sinking and moving down the slope of a mountain.

North Atlantic Drift

an ocean current that brings warm, moist air across the Atlantic Ocean