Geography Terms +

A graded slope which is an alluvial fan, extending from a mountain base to playa or a temporary lake or lake bed in a desert: A broad bajada is formed by various alluvial fans merging together.

An island near and parallel to the main coastline: A barrier island is a landform created by long linear wave deposits that form parallel to the shoreline.

A coral reef separated from the shoreline by a lagoon: A barrier reef can create an obstruction between the open sea and the water beside the coastline.

The number of species present in an ecosystem: Mr. Smart, Jeff's biology teacher, asked his students to find out the biodiversity of the area near their homes, also including the variety of species of animals and plants

The science of the geographic distribution of living species: Ivy wanted to study biogeography in order to learn more about the scattering patterns of plants and animals and the processes that produce those patterns.

1. The dry weight of living organic matter in a particular ecosystem: The units of biomass are grams of organic matter per square meter.

2. Plant-derived material usable as a renewable energy source: Biomasses can be produced from wood energy crops, such as hybrid poplars and willow trees. Biomasseses can also be obtained from agricultural crops like soybeans and corn, and animal and other wastes.

Biomass is one of the two most common energy sources in the U.S. today, along with hydropower. Forms of biomass, such as wood, can be burned to produce heat and generate electricity.

Agricultural crops can be chemically converted into fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel. These are the only known renewable liquid energy sources, and may one day replace petroleum and fossil-fuel.

A local group of interdependent plants and animals that are often found together: A biotic community exists when living things of different species live together in the same region and depend on one another in order to thrive successfully.

1. An organic variable affecting an ecosystem: One biotic factor relates to the changing population of elephants and its effect on the African savanna.
2. A circumstance created by a living thing or any living component within an environment in which the action of the organism affects the life of another organism, for example, when a predator consumes its prey in a quail’s environment: The biotic factors include the living elements of the environment, such as the quail’s prey: insects, seeds, etc., and the quail’s predators, the coyotes.

The number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year; birthrate: The birth rate in a country might rise if the production of food is improved and public health care is provided everywhere.

A small waterway with shallow channels that carry multiple flows: Judy read in her biology book about braided streams that were various natural channels of water that divided and then reunited again.

Piles of rocks built parallel to the shore to prevent damage to watercraft or construction: While walking along the shore near the city, Alice saw the many breakwaters that were massive walls into the ocean to protect the harbor from the force of the waves.

A steep-sided circular depression, or large crater, of a volcano: A caldera is the result of the explosion and subsidence of a large composite volcano.

The breakage of blocks of glacial ice into the ocean which forms icebergs: The process of calving in the news pertained to an iceberg that breaks off from a glacier or ice shelf.

A material cycle in which carbon flows through an ecosystem: In his textbook, Jim read about carbon cycles that included the process of decomposition, respiration, carbonification. and photosynthesis.

A simplified map designed to present a single idea in a diagrammatic way, usually not to scale: A cartogram is a thematic map that often uses colors to show different features, like countries, provinces, population, etc.) whereby their geographic sizes are changed proportionately to the selected variable.