Geography Revision Flashcards

Geography flashcards for year 7 students, covering topics from biomes and ecosystems to map skills and tectonic plates.

Ecosystem

A community of living organisms (plants and animals) sharing an environment.

Biome

A very large ecosystem, e.g., Tropical Rainforest.

Environment

The natural or physical surroundings where plants and animals live.

The non-living environment

Rocks, soil, the air, and climate are the non-living parts of this.

The living environment

Animals, birds, fish, insects, and people.

Biosphere

The part of the Earth's surface inhabited by living things.

Temperate

A region characterized by a mild climate between the tropics and polar/boreal regions.

Deciduous

A tree or shrub that sheds its leaves annually.

Taiga

Coniferous forest of high northern latitudes.

Coniferous

Evergreen trees that bear foliage throughout the year.

Tundra

The coldest biome, characterized by treeless vegetation.

Permafrost

Permanently frozen ground where only the surface layer thaws during the brief summer.

Inuit

Indigenous people who live in the tundra.

Indigenous

Original people of that area.

Sustainable

Using resources in a way that lets them naturally repair and thus be available for use by future generations.

Mediterranean biome

A temperate biome, characterized by hot-dry summers and mild and rainy winters.

Xerophytes

Plants adapted to very dry conditions.

Aftershocks

Lots of earthquakes which follow the main earthquake.

Cone

A triangle-shaped hill formed as material from volcanic eruptions piles up around the volcano vent.

Composite volcano

Steeper-sided volcanoes built up due to layers of lava over time.

Shield volcano

Much larger but flatter volcano.

Crater

The hollow around the vent at the top of a volcano.

Destructive

Describes the type of plate boundary where one tectonic plate sinks and melts into the mantle.

Epicentre

The point directly above the focus at the Earth's surface where the earthquake is felt.

Fault

A split in the rock where plates are moving.

Fissure

A narrow opening in the Earth's crust caused by splitting.

Focus

The location deep in the Earth's crust where earthquakes start.

Friction

When plates rub against one another to create heat and stress.

Himalayas

The highest mountain range in the world located in Asia.

Landslides

A mass movement of material down the slope of a hill or cliff.

Lahars

Mudflows that occur when ash and mud mix with rainwater.

Lava

Above-ground liquid rock.

Lithosphere

The crust and upper mantle together.

Magma chamber

Source of liquid rock within the Earth's mantle inside a volcano.

Magnitude

The amount of energy an earthquake gives out.

Montserrat

Caribbean Island which experienced an erupting volcano for many years beginning in 1995

Mudflow

A river of mud.

Plate margins or boundary

The area where two or more tectonic plates meet.

Primary effects

Occur instantly and as a direct result of the hazard.

Pyroclastic flow

Hot rocky gas and ash clouds from explosive eruptions that can travel at up to 200mph and reach 800 degrees Celsius.

Secondary effects

Result of something happening after the shaking occurs.

Tephra

Fragments of rock ejected into the air by an erupting volcano.

Strain energy

Stored pressure within the rock that builds over time.

Vent

Main opening of a volcano.

Vulcanologists

Volcano scientists.

Ring of Fire

An area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where most active volcanoes on Earth are located

Seismic waves

A wave of energy passing through the Earth due to plate movement.

3 Ps

Predict, Plan, Prepare for tectonic events.

Seismometer

Device to measure energy given off by an earthquake.

Richter scale

Scale that measures the magnitude of an earthquake from zero upwards.

Mercalli scale

Scale that visually describes level of destruction from an earthquake.

Subduction

Sinking of a dense plate into the mantle.

Tsunami

Giant waves caused by earthquakes on the ocean floor.

Basalt

A type of rock (usually volcanic) of which the oceanic crust is made

Granite

A type of rock of which continental crust is made.

Continental crust

lighter rock which forms the continents of the world.

Convection current

Heat carrying currents of hot rock within the mantle.

Convergent

Describes the type of continental plates e.g., Nazca and South-American plates that are moving toward one another.

Conservative

Describes the type of continental plates e.g., North American and Pacific plates that are moving past one another

Continental Drift

The movement of continents and tectonic plates, which is driven by convection currents in the mantle.

Crust

The solid, rocky shell layer (lithosphere) over the mantle around the Earth, upon which sit continents and oceans.

Divergent

also known as a Constructive plate boundary describes the type of plate boundary where tectonic plates e.g., Eurasian and North America plates are moving away from each other.

Fold mountains

Where continental crust gets squeezed up to form mountain ranges.

Inner core

The centre of the Earth, which consists of mainly iron and a little nickel and is around 6000°C.

Magma

Liquid rock within the Earth's mantle.

Mantle

Forms about half of the Earth and is roughly about 2830km in depth; made of heavier rock of which the upper mantle is hard and lower mantle is soft and runny in places.

Marianas Trench

A scar in the Earth's crust located in the western Pacific.

Mid-Atlantic ridge

A mid-ocean ridge, a divergent plate boundary located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean forming a large mountain range.

Sedimentary

Rock created from deposited layers.

Igneous

Rock created from lava/magma.

Metamorphic

Sedimentary/igneous changed by heat and pressure.

Nazca plate

An oceanic tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America.

Oceanic crust

Made up of basalt and a denser section of the Earth's crust.

Oceanic ridge

Underwater mountain range created at a divergent plate boundary.

Oceanic trench

Long, narrow depressions on the seafloor which form the deepest parts of the ocean that can occur at convergent plate boundaries

Outer core

The outer section of the centre of the Earth, which consists of mainly iron and a little nickel and is a liquid rock.

Plate tectonics

Term used to describe the Earth's crust is fragmented into tectonic plates that float on the mantle.

Upland

Areas of high land.

Lowland

Areas of low altitude.

Glaciation

Long periods of global cold weather when literal rivers of ice flow slowly over the land shaping it in distinct ways.

Weather

moment to moment, day to day conditions of the atmosphere.

Climate

The long-term conditions of the atmosphere over a particular region..

Atmosphere

Envelope of gases surrounding the earth.

Temperate

A mild and moderate climate.

Prevailing

The direction from which something comes from.

Air Mass

A large body of air with similar heat and moisture characteristics.

Immigrant

Someone coming into a country.

Emigrant

Someone leaving a country.

Population Density

The number of people in a set area, usually per square kilometre.

Primary Sector

Extractive sector. Taking raw materials from nature.

Secondary Sector

Manufacturing sector. Making things generally in a factory.

Tertiary Sector

Service sector. Providing services to people and other sectors.

Quaternary

Research & development sector.

Compass Rose

A circle on a compass or map used to display the orientation of the cardinal directions.

Contour

A line on a map joining places that are the same height above sea level.

Cross section

Shows the shape of a feature viewed from the side

Eastings

The vertical lines on an Ordnance Survey map.

Environmental Geography

The study of our surroundings and how we look after them.

Equator

An imaginary line around the middle of the Earth.

Geography

The relationships between people and their environments.