Want to know what an aclinic line or natural bridge is? Discover some of the most common terms used in study of geography.
Depending on who you ask, urban sprawl is either the best thing that ever happened to growing families -- or the downfall of civilization and the environment as we know it. Learn about the history and consequences of this American phenomenon. See more »
Grassland, an area in which the natural vegetation consists mainly of grasses. The word grassland is also used for a plant community, or biome, made up primarily of grasses and related plants.
See more »Great Circle, on a sphere, any circle whose plane passes through the center of the sphere.
See more »Gulf, an indentation in the shoreline of an ocean or sea. Gulfs are usually larger than bays, but there are many exceptions.
See more »Harbor, a sheltered body of water, usually an arm of the sea, in which ships are protected from high seas, storms, and other natural forces.
See more »Hemisphere, a half sphere. Any great circle—a circle whose plane passes through a sphere's center—divides a globe into two equal halves, making possible an infinite number of hemispheres.
See more »Inland Waterway, a navigable lake, river, or canal, or any navigable combination of lakes, rivers, and canals.
See more »Island, or (usually poetic) Isle, a body of land surrounded by water. Islands differ from continents chiefly in size.
See more »Jungle, a term with no precise definition, but often used to describe dense, virtually impenetrable tropical vegetation.
See more »Ritter, Karl (1779-1859), a German geographer. Through his researches and writings, he helped show the importance of a systematic, comparative study of the earth's features.
See more »Lagoon, a relatively shallow body of water separated from the open ocean, usually by long, narrow barrier islands or by coral atolls.
See more »Lake, a sizable inland body of standing water. Not having a precise meaning, the word lake has been applied to many different bodies of water.
See more »Latin America, the part of the New World south of the United States where the dominant language is Spanish, Portuguese, or French.
See more »Latitude, the distance in degrees on the earth's surface measured north and south of the Equator.
See more »Longitude, angular distance on the earth's surface measured in degrees from a certain meridian.A meridian is an imaginary line extending from the north pole to the south pole at right angles to the equator.
See more »Mountain, a landform rising prominently above the surrounding land or bordering sea.
See more »Municipality, a political unit that provides local government in a prescribed urbanized area.
See more »National Parks, a general term for various kinds of areas a national government sets aside for the people because of their natural scenery or historical values.
See more »Natural Arch and Natural Bridge, two terms that are generally used interchangeably, but are sometimes considered to have slightly different meanings.
See more »Oceania, a collective name for the groups of islands in the central and southern Pacific Ocean, sometimes known as the South Sea Islands.
See more »Ooze, a slimy, fine-grained mud deposited under water. Although the term ooze can apply to any water-deposited mud, in geology it specifically refers to sea-bottom deposits.
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