Geography Terms +
(geography includes mapmakers, scientists, explorers of the earth and provides a way to look at both the physical world and the people who live in various parts this globe)
carbon cycle
A material cycle in which carbon flows through an ecosystem.
cartogram
A simplified map designed to present a single idea in a diagrammatic way, usually not to scale.
cash crops
Crops grown for sale on the market for profit.
cataract
A waterfall which forms a single long drop.
cation
A positively charged ion or an atom with an electrical force created by adding or removing an electron.
central business district, CBD
The central nucleus of commercial land uses which exist in cities.
central place theory
The interpretation of city systems set forth by German geographer Walter Christaller in 1933 which centers on consumer demand, including the maximum distance consumers will travel for a given product and the minimum market size necessary to sustain them.
centrality
The functional dominance of cities, in terms of economic, political, and cultural activities, within an urban system.
chinook
A very dry wind which occurs when air that is blown up on the windward side of the Rocky Mountains turns downward.
cirque
1. A semicircular hollow with steep walls formed by glacial erosion on mountains.
It often forms the head of a valley.
2. A bowl-shaped basin which holds the collecting ground and the firn of an Alpine glacier.Firn is the partially consolidated snow that has passed through one summer melting season but which is not yet glacial ice.
colloids
Extremely small mineral particles which can remain in suspension in water indefinitely.
The particles can be large molecules like proteins, or solid, liquid, or gaseous aggregates and the suspension is of finely divided particles in a continuous medium from which the particles do not settle out rapidly and are not readily filtered.
condensation
The process that turns water vapor into liquid water.
condensation number
In physics, the ratio of the number of molecules condensing on a surface to the total number of molecules touching that surface.
congregation
Territorial and residential clustering of specific groups or subgroups of people in city neighborhoods.
1. Those parts of the world's primary continuous expanses of land (Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America): "Europe is one of the seven continents in the world."
2. Etymology: from Latin terra continens, "continuous land" or literally, "the land that holds together". At first, in the 16th century, it referred to any large continuous expanse of territory; and then from the early 17th century onward, it was specifically applied to any of the Earth's major landmasses.
2. Etymology: from Latin terra continens, "continuous land" or literally, "the land that holds together". At first, in the 16th century, it referred to any large continuous expanse of territory; and then from the early 17th century onward, it was specifically applied to any of the Earth's major landmasses.
