Geography: Landscapes, Coastal Processes, and Plate Tectonics

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering human landscapes, landscape values, coastal landforms and erosion processes, plate tectonic boundaries, volcanoes, and the Ring of Fire.

Human landscape

An area shaped by human culture and activities.

Urban area

A type of human landscape characterized by buildings, roads, and infrastructure.

Urban sprawl

The expansion of urban areas, most commonly driven by increased population and demand for housing.

Sustainability (in human landscapes)

A concept that promotes the responsible use of resources to maintain human environments.

Aesthetic value

A way of valuing a landscape based on its beauty or attractiveness, which different people interpret in different ways.

Cultural value

A long-term connection and emotional attachment formed with a landscape, where the place becomes part of cultural identity and helps define who people are.

Spiritual value

The significance of landscapes and landforms incorporated into the stories and beliefs of Indigenous people, or connected to through outdoor recreation.

Economic value

The financial worth of landscapes utilized to generate money, such as through the mining industry (extracting coal or minerals) and the tourism industry.

Headland

A finger of harder rock that resists erosion on either side of a bay.

Arch

A coastal erosional landform created when caves on either side of a headland join, leaving a gap.

Cave (coastal)

A large hole formed along a coast as waves attack softer rock.

Stack

Pillars of rock separated from coastal cliffs or left behind when an arch collapses.

Tombolo

A depositional feature formed when waves deposit a bar of sand that links an island to the coast.

Spit

A narrow bar of deposited sand linked to the coast.

Wave-cut platform

Flat eroded areas of rock at the base of coastal cliffs.

Sand dune

A hill of sand that forms at the back of beaches from wind-blown sand.

Sandbar (offshore bar)

A ridge of deposited sand in the ocean that is exposed at low tide.

Hydraulic action (hydraulic power)

A type of coastal erosion where the power of seawater crashing against rocks forces air into cracks, causing the rocks to break apart.

Abrasion (corrasion)

Erosion caused by the sandpaper effect of rocks and boulders rubbing against rock surfaces.

Attrition

An erosion process where rocks carried in a body of water smash together and break into smaller, smoother, and rounder particles.

Freeze-thaw weathering

A weathering process where water continually seeps into cracks, freezes, and expands, widening the cracks and breaking the rock apart.

Wetting and drying

Weathering of softer rocks (like clay) that expand when wet and contract when dry, causing cracks to appear, rocks to crumble, and leading to landslides.

Solution (coastal weathering)

The breakdown of rocks caused by chemical reactions where seawater contains minerals that react with, change, and dissolve minerals in coastal rocks.

Storm surge

A significant increase in sea level brought on by intense storms, where strong winds push water towards the coast and low air pressure causes sea levels to rise by up to three metres.

Destructive plate boundary

A tectonic plate boundary occurring when part of an oceanic crust and continental crust move towards each other.

Constructive plate boundary

A tectonic plate boundary where plates move apart from one another, allowing magma from the mantle to rise up and construct new crust.

Conservative plate boundary

A tectonic plate boundary where plates move past each other or side by side at different speeds.

Collision plate boundary

A tectonic plate boundary formed when two continental plates move towards each other and collide.

Mantle convection

A process where heat generated by the breakdown of radioactive minerals in the mantle is redistributed by currents rising at mid-ocean ridges and descending at ocean trenches.

Composite cone (stratovolcano)

A volcano with steep sides and a cone shape whose eruptions release gas, ash, and blown-up rock pieces that often form pyroclastic flows instead of lots of lava.

Shield volcano

An enormous volcano with gently sloping sides that builds up from the sea floor and features gentle eruptions compared to other types.

Ring of Fire

A 25 000 mile horseshoe-shaped line around the edge of the Pacific Ocean that is home to around 75% of the world's volcanoes and 90% of the world's earthquakes.

Challenger Deep

The deepest known part of the world's oceans, situated along tectonic plate margins in the Pacific Ocean.