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 »
Park, an area kept in its natural state or landscaped to create a place of beauty and set aside for public enjoyment.
See more »Peninsula, a tongue of land projecting from a mainland base into a body of water.
See more »Plain, an extensive area of flat or gently rolling land. Most plains are of low elevation, but some, such as the Great Plains of the western United States, slope gradually upward to higher altitudes and are called high plains.
See more »Plateau, or Tableland, an extensive area of flat or gently rolling land rising above the adjacent land, having one or many sharply elevated sides unless it is bounded by mountains.
See more », the chief territorial division of certain countries. In some countries, such as Canada, the provinces have a degree of self-government comparable to that of the states of the United States.
See more »Rift Valley, a depression in the earth's crust, formed when a block of land slips downward between two parallel, vertical faults,or fractures of the crust.
See more »Seiche, a temporary rising and falling of water that occurs occasionally in lakes and certain coastal waters.
See more »Sink, or Sinkhole, a funnel-shaped hollow in the earth's surface. Sinks are formed by the seepage of water in soluble rocks, such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum.
See more »Snow Line, the line, usually in mountains, above which there is permanent snow. Below the line, temperatures are sufficiently high during the warmest months to melt the covering of snow.
See more »Spring, a natural flow of water issuing at the surface of the earth. A spring occurs where underground water held in porous rock, called an aquifer, discharges at the surface through a natural opening, usually on a hillside slope.
See more »State, a division of the United States and of certain other nations that have a federal system of government.
See more »Taiga, a vast coniferous forest of the Northern Hemisphere, extending from Scandinavia across the northern part of Europe and Asia to the Pacific coast of Russia.
See more »Territory, in United States government, an area under the sovereignty of the United States that is not part of any state or the District of Columbia.
See more »Geodetic Center of North America, the central point used in making governmental surveys of North America.
See more »Tidal Bore, a wall of water that travels upstream from the mouth of a tidal river as the tide rises.
See more »Tidal Wave, a term sometimes applied to an unusually large ocean wave that overflows the land.
See more »Tide, the rhythmic rising and falling of the surface of the oceans, seas, and other bodies of water.
See more »Town, a unit of local government. In most of New England, it is a subdivision of a county.
See more »Tropical Rain Forest, a forest of mainly evergreen broad-leaved trees found in continually moist, warm climates in areas of the world near the Equator.
See more »Tropics, the region circling the earth between the Tropic of Cancer (23°27' N.) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23°27' S.).
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