AQA GCSE Geography Vocabulary

Higher income country (HIC)

A subdivision of countries based on World Bank GNI per capita income classifications, which in 2022 was High Income $13,205 or above.

Lower income country (LIC)

A subdivision of countries based on World Bank GNI per capita income classifications, which in 2022 was Low Income $1,085 or below.

Newly emerging economies (NEEs)

Countries experiencing higher rates of economic development and industrialisation, no longer relying primarily on agriculture (e.g. BRICS countries).

Hazard risk

The probability or chance that a natural hazard may take place.

Natural hazard

A natural event that threatens people or has the potential to cause damage, destruction and death.

Conservative plate margin

Tectonic plate margin where two tectonic plates slide past each other.

Constructive plate margin

Tectonic plate margin where rising magma adds new material to plates that are diverging or moving apart.

Destructive plate margin

Tectonic plate margin where two plates converge and oceanic plate is subducted, associated with violent earthquakes and volcanoes.

Earthquake

A sudden or violent movement within the Earth's crust followed by a series of shocks.

Immediate responses

The reaction of people as the disaster happens and in the immediate aftermath.

Long-term responses

Later reactions that occur in the weeks, months and years after the event.

Monitoring

Recording physical changes, such as earthquake tremors, to help forecast when and where a natural hazard might strike.

Plate margin

The margin or boundary between two tectonic plates.

Planning

Actions taken to enable communities to respond to and recover from natural disasters through emergency plans and warning systems.

Prediction

Attempts to forecast when and where a natural hazard will strike, based on current knowledge.

Primary effects

The initial impact of a natural event on people and property caused directly by it.

Protection

Actions taken before a hazard strikes to reduce its impact, such as educating people or improving building design.

Secondary effects

The after-effects that occur as indirect impacts of a natural event, sometimes on a longer timescale.

Tectonic hazard

A natural hazard caused by movement of tectonic plates, including volcanoes and earthquakes.

Tectonic plate

A rigid segment of the Earth's crust which moves across the heavier, semi-molten rock below.

Volcano

An opening in the Earth's crust from which lava, ash and gases erupt.

Economic impact

The effect of an event on the wealth of an area or community.

Environmental impact

The effect of an event on the landscape and ecology of the surrounding area.

Extreme weather

When a weather event is significantly different from the average and is especially severe or unseasonal.

Global atmospheric circulation

The worldwide system of winds which transports heat from tropical to polar latitudes.

Management strategies

Techniques of controlling, responding to or dealing with an event.

Social impact

The effect of an event on the lives of people or a community.

Tropical storm

An area of low pressure with powerful winds and heavy rainfall moving in a spiral around a central eye.

Adaptation

Actions taken to adjust to natural events, such as climate change, to reduce potential damage or cope with consequences.

Climate change

A long-term change in the Earth's average temperature and weather patterns.

Mitigation

Action taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from natural hazards.

Orbital changes

Changes in the pathway of the Earth around the Sun.

Quaternary period

The geological time period from about 2.6 million years ago to the present, characterised by human development.

Abiotic

Relating to non-living parts of an ecosystem.

Biotic

Relating to living parts of an ecosystem.

Consumer

An animal that eats animals and/or plant matter.

Decomposer

An organism, such as a bacterium or fungus, that breaks down dead tissue to recycle into the environment.

Ecosystem

A community of plants and animals that interact with each other and their physical environment.

Food chain

The connections between different organisms that rely on one another as their source of food.

Food web

A complex interconnection of all the food chains in an ecosystem.

Nutrient cycling

Processes whereby organisms extract minerals for growth from soil or water before passing them through the food chain.

Global ecosystem

A very large ecological area with fauna and flora adapting to their environment, such as tropical rainforests.

Producer

An organism able to absorb energy from the sun through photosynthesis.

Biodiversity

The variety of life in the world or a particular habitat.

Commercial farming

Farming to sell produce for a profit to retailers or food processing companies.

Debt reduction

A political agreement where countries are relieved of debt in return for protecting their rainforests.

Deforestation

The chopping down and removal of trees to clear an area of forest.

Ecotourism

Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains local people's wellbeing.

Logging

The business of cutting down trees and transporting the logs to sawmills.

Mineral extraction

The removal of solid mineral resources from the earth, including ores, precious stones, and solid fuels.

Selective logging

Cutting out mature or inferior trees to encourage growth of the remaining forest.

Soil erosion

Removal of topsoil faster than it can be replaced due to natural, animal, and human activity.

Subsistence farming

Agriculture producing food and materials solely for the benefit of the farmer and their family.

Sustainability

Actions and progress meeting present needs without reducing future generations' ability to meet theirs.

Appropriate technology

Technology suited to the needs, skills, and resources of local people in their environment.

Desertification

The process by which land becomes drier and degraded due to climate change or human activities.

Hot desert

An ecosystem characterised by high average temperatures and very low precipitation.

Over-cultivation

Exhausting the soil by over-cropping the land.

Overgrazing

Grazing too many livestock for too long so vegetation cover is depleted and unable to recover.

Fragile environment

An environment easily disturbed and difficult to restore, with species unable to tolerate environmental changes.

Infrastructure

Basic equipment and structures like roads, utilities, and water supply needed for a region to function.

Permafrost

Permanently frozen ground found in polar and tundra regions.

Polar

Regions surrounding the North and South Poles dominated by polar ice caps.

Tundra

Flat, treeless Arctic regions where the ground is permanently frozen and supports mosses and dwarf shrubs.

Wilderness area

A natural environment that has not been significantly modified or developed by human activity.

Landscape

An extensive area of land regarded as being visually and physically distinct.

Abrasion

The wearing away of cliffs or river beds by sediment flung or carried by waves and rivers.

Arch

A wave-eroded passage through a small headland, formed by a widened and deepened cave.

Attrition

Erosion caused when rocks and boulders bump into each other and break into smaller, smoother pieces.

Bar

Where a spit grows across a bay, eventually enclosing it to create a lagoon.

Beach

The zone of deposited material extending from the low water line to the limit of storm waves.

Beach nourishment

The artificial addition of new material (sand or shingle) to a beach.

Beach reprofiling

Changing the profile or shape of a beach, usually by transferring material from lower to upper beach.

Cave

A large hole in a cliff caused by waves forcing their way into cracks.

Chemical weathering

The decomposition or breakdown of rock caused by a chemical change within the rock.

Cliff

A steep high rock face formed by weathering and erosion along the coastline.

Deposition

Occurs when material being transported is dropped due to a loss of energy.

Dune regeneration

Action taken to build up sand dunes and increase vegetation to prevent coastal retreat.

Erosion

The wearing away and removal of material by a moving force such as waves or rivers.

Gabion

Steel wire mesh filled with boulders used in coastal defences.

Groyne

A wooden barrier built into the sea to stop longshore drift and trap sand to build beaches.

Hard engineering

The use of concrete and large artificial structures to defend land against natural erosion.

Headlands and bays

Headlands of resistant rock lying between bays of less resistant rock eroded by the sea.

Hydraulic power

The process by which breaking waves compress air in cracks, widening them and breaking off rock.

Longshore drift

The zigzag movement of sediment along a shore caused by waves hitting at an oblique angle.

Managed retreat

Allowing controlled coastal erosion or flooding in certain areas to save money and create natural environments.

Mass movement

The downhill movement of weathered material under the force of gravity.

Mechanical weathering

Weathering processes causing physical disintegration of rock without chemical change, e.g. freeze-thaw.

Rock armour

Large boulders dumped on a beach as part of coastal defences to absorb wave energy.

Sand dune

Coastal sand hill above high tide mark shaped by wind and covered with grasses.

Sea wall

A concrete wall providing a barrier to reflect wave energy and prevent coastal erosion.

Sliding

Rapid downhill movement of loose, saturated surface material after heavy rain.

Slumping

Rapid mass movement where a whole cliff segment moves down-slope along a saturated shear-plane.

Soft engineering

Managing erosion by working with natural processes to restore beaches and ecosystems.

Spit

A depositional landform where a finger of sediment extends from the shore out to sea.

Stack

An isolated pillar of rock left when the top of a sea arch collapses.

Transportation

The movement of eroded material by wind, water, or ice.

Wave cut platform

A rocky, level shelf at sea level representing the base of retreated cliffs.

Waves

Ripples in the sea caused by energy transfer from wind blowing over the surface.

Cross profile

The side-to-side cross-section of a river channel and/or valley.