Introduction to Geography - Key Terms and Concepts

Flashcards covering various geographic terms and concepts including physical systems, cultural geography, and geographic technology.

What is the definition of abiotic?

Composed of nonliving or inorganic matter.

What is acculturation?

The process of changes in culture that result from the meeting of two groups, each of which retains distinct culture features.

How is assimilation defined?

The process by which a group's cultural features are altered to resemble those of another more dominant group.

What is the atmosphere?

The thin layer of gases surrounding Earth.

What does behavioral geography study?

The study of the psychological basis for individual human actions in space.

What is the biosphere?

All living organisms on Earth, including plants and animals, as well as microorganisms.

What does biotic mean?

Composed of living organisms.

What is cartography?

The science of making maps.

What is citizen science?

Scientific research by amateur scientists.

How is climate defined?

The long-term average weather condition at a particular location.

What is concentration in a geographic context?

The spread of something over a given area.

What is connection?

The relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.

What is the definition of conservation?

The sustainable management of a natural resource.

What is contagious diffusion?

The rapid, widespread diffusion of a feature or trend throughout a population.

What is cultural ecology?

A geographic approach that emphasizes human-environment relationships.

What is the cultural landscape approach?

An approach to geography that emphasizes the relationships among social and physical phenomena in a particular study area.

What is culture?

The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits that together constitute a group's distinct tradition.

What is density?

The frequency with which something exists within a given unit of area.

What is diffusion?

The process of spread of a feature or trend from one place to another over time.

What is distance decay?

The diminished importance and eventual disappearance of a phenomenon with increasing distance from its origin.

What is distribution?

The arrangement of something across Earth's surface.

What is ecology?

The scientific study of ecosystems.

What is an ecosystem?

A group of living organisms and the abiotic spheres with which they interact.

What did the approach of environmental determinism argue?

A nineteenth- and early twentieth-century approach which argued that geography was the study of how the physical environment caused human activities and that general laws for human geographers could be found in the physical sciences.

What is expansion diffusion?

The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in an additive process.

What is a formal region (or uniform region)?

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

What is a functional region (or nodal region)?

An area organized around a node or focal point.

What is geographic information science (GIScience)?

The development and analysis of data about Earth acquired through satellite and other electronic information technologies.

What is a geographic information system (GIS)?

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

What is geotagging?

Identification and storage of a piece of information by its precise latitude and longitude coordinates.

What is a Global Positioning System (GPS)?

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

What is globalization?

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

What is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)?

The time in the zone encompassing the prime meridian, or $0^{\circ}$ longitude.

What is a hearth?

The region from which innovative ideas originate.

What is hierarchical diffusion?

The spread of a feature or trend from one key person or node of authority or power to other persons or places.

What is humanistic geography?

The study of different ways that individuals form ideas about place and give those places symbolic meanings.

What is the hydrosphere?

All of the water on and near Earth's surface.

What happens when the International Date Line is crossed?

When crossed heading east (toward America), the clock moves back $24$ hours, or one entire day. When crossed heading west (toward Asia), the calendar moves ahead one day.

What is latitude?

The numbering system used to indicate the location of parallels drawn on a globe and measuring distance north and south of the equator ($0^{\circ}$).

What is the lithosphere?

Earth's crust and a portion of upper mantle directly below the crust.

What is location?

The position of anything on Earth's surface.