GCSE Geography Glossary

Settlements
Site describes physical nature of settlement location.
Aspect direction in which the land faces.
Dry Point Site slightly raised from the surrounding area.
Wet Point Site has access to water, usually through being beside a river.
Route Centres called Nodal Points. Where two routes meet.
Confluence point where 2 rivers join and flow together.
Situation description of settlement in relation to the other settlements and physical features around it.
Settlement part of the urban hierarchy.
Urban Hierarchy pyramid shaped diagram.
Sphere of Influence describes area served by a settlement, for a particular function.
Range maximum distance someone would travel to obtain that good or service.
Threshold Population minimum number of people needed, to allow that shop/service to be successful.
Function describes main activities that occur in the settlement.
Multi-functional settlement that performs a range of different functions.
Urban Models MEDCs Burgess's, Hoyt's and Harris & Ullmans.
MEDCs More Economically Developed Countries.
CBD Central Business District.
Urban Model for LEDCs Waugh's.
LEDCs Less Economically Developed Countries.
Shanty Towns illegal squatter settlements.
Rural-urban Fringe land at the edge of an urban area.
Greenbelts prevent continued growth of cities of England and Scotland.

Populations
Birth Rate number of births per 1000 people in the population per year in a country.
Death Rate number of deaths per 1000 people in the population per year in a country.
Emigration migration of people out of a country.
Immigration migration of people into a country.
Migration permanent or semi-permanent movement of people to live and work in another area or country.
Natural Increase relationship between birth rate and death rate.
Population Growth difference between (BR + immigration) and (DR + emigration).
Population Density describes the pattern of where people live in the world.
Demographic Model four-stage model of a country's population.
Pull Factors things that entice someone to a new place.
Push Factors things encouraging someone to move from a place.
En-route Factors intervening obstacles that might hinder migration.
Rural to Urban MIgration movement of people from rural areas to urban areas.

Agriculture
Farm system with inputs, throughputs (or processes), outputs and feedback.
Physical Inputs water, raw materials and land.
Human/Cultural Inputs money, labour and skills.
Processes/Throughputs milking, harvesting and shearing.
Negative Outputs waste products and soil erosion.
Positive Outputs finished products, such as meat, milk, and money gained.
Feedback what is put back into the system, for example money.
Arable growing crops.
Pastoral rearing animals.
Comercial Farming farming for a profit. Can be arable, pastoral or mixed.
Intensive Farming fairly small area of land, aim to have very high output, through massive inputs of capital and labour.
Extensive Farming farms are large in comparison to the money injected into it or labour used on it.
Subsistence Farming only produce enough to feed themselves and their family, without having any more to sell for profit.
Shifting Cultivation farmers are nomadic, they move around the country using a piece of land for a while and then moving on.

Development
GNP Gross National Product.
Gross National Product looks at wealth of a country and compares it to others.
Infant Mortality Rate no. of children who die before 1 years old, measured per 1000 born.
Life Expectancy average age someone living in that country will live to.
Population per Doctor total population ÷ no. of doctors in the country.
Adult Literacy percentage of population who are literate.
HDI Human Development Index.
Natural Hazards earthquakes, volcanoes and floods.
Diseases bilharzia, cholera and malaria.
The Brandt Report "North-South: a programme for survival".
Interdependence LEDC's and MEDC's rely on each other.
Top-down Aid large-scale aid given to the government of the developing country.
Bottom-up Aid small-scale aid projects without government interference.
Conditional Aid given by donor country to a receptor country to finance projects in that country.
Long-term Aid aims to help the country in future.
Multilateral Aid central international organisations such as World Bank and world health organisation.
Short-term Aid known as emergency aid.

Industry
Agglomeration concentration of different parts of the same industry in one area.
Brownfield Sites reclaimed industrial or residential land that is cleared.
Capital money invested in companies.
Communications an all-encompassing word for all transport methods.
Footloose Industry not tied to a location by its need for raw material.
Greenfield Sites rural land, outside cities, cleared for industry.
Labour workforce.
Market where the company will sell its product.
Industrial System inputs, throughputs/processes, outputs and feedback.
Primary Industries produce raw material.
Secondary Industries manufacturing.
Tertiary Industries provide services.
Quaternary Industries research and development
Physical Factors accessibility, climate, land, power and raw materials.
Socio-economic Factors: capital, communications, government, policy, labour supply and markets.

Tourism & Resources
Renewable Resources never run out, naturally/through good management.
Non-renewable Resources eventually run out, finite.
Fossil Fuels first group of non-renewable resources.
Minerals other group of non-renewable resources, such as diamonds and iron ore.
Industrialised countries more developed.
HEP Hydroelectric Power.
Recycling bottle banks, paper and tin recycling.
Ecotourism/Green Tourism protects natural environments while allowing tourists.

Tectonics
Tetonic Plates move due to convection currents in the mantle.
Convection Current hot currents of molten rock, slowly move within the mantle, causes plates above to move.
Plate Types oceanic (dense, thin) and continental (light but thick).
Destructive Plate Boundaries cause violent volcanoes and earthquakes, deep-ocean trenches and fold mountains.
Constructive Plate Boundaries cause volcanoes, earthquakes and mid-ocean ridges to form.
Conservative Plate Boundaries cause earthquakes, can be fairly violent and frequent.
Collision Plate Boundaries two plates push into each other, force material into huge fold mountain ranges.
Volcanoes molten rock (magma) is allowed to escape to the surface of the Earth.
Vents cracks in the crust where volcanoes take place.
Volcanic Cones acid lava cones, composite cones and shield cones.
Earthquakes occur along faults, caused by the sudden jerking movements of the fault, either laterally or vertically.
Focus point at which an earthquake begins below the Earth's surface.
Epicentre point directly above the focus.
Richter Scale measures magnitude of an earthquake using a seismograph.
Mercalli Scale measures damage caused by an earthquake.
Effects of Earthquake primary effects or secondary effects.
Fold Mountains Uses farming, tourism, forestry, industry and hydroelectric power production.

Rocks and Landscapes
Igneous Rocks originate from magma in the mantle, can be extrusive or intrusive.
Extrusive Rocks formed by being thrown out during a volcanic eruption.
Intrusive Rocks formed under the surface of the Earth.
Sedimentary Rocks small sediments accumulate on sea floors in layers and compress over millions of years.
Metamorphic Rocks rocks that have changed in shape or form, by heat/pressure. Can be igneous/sedimentary rocks.
Freeze Thaw water enters cracks in rock during day, overnight temperatures drop and water freezes, as it freezes it expands, cracking the rock.
Exfoliation heating of outer layer of rock during day, causing expansion, at night rock contracts. Expanding and contracting leads to layers of rock pealing away.
Hydrolysis dissolves and disintegrates rock.
Chalk called cretaceous limestone. An example of porous rock.
Clay product of weathering and river erosion. Porous and becomes impermeable when wet.

Rivers
Condensation cooling of a gas so it changes into a liquid.
Delta build up of sediment at the point where a river meets a sea or lake.
Drainage Basin area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.
Estuary point at which a river begins to meet the sea.
Evapo-transpiration combination of evaporation and transpiration.
Hydrology study of water.
Infiltration downward movement of water that seeps into the soil or a porous rock.
Mouth end of the river where it meets the sea or a lake.
Overland Flow when water flows over the surface of the ground.
Percolation movement of water though the soil or underlying porous rock.
Precipitation water falling to Earth in any form e.g. rain, sleet, hail, snow and dew.
Throughflow movement of water within the soil sideways, towards the river.
Transpiration water loss from vegetation in to the atmosphere.
Tributaries small rivers running into the main one.
Watershed imaginary dividing line between neighouring drainage systems.
River Profiles long profile and cross profile.
Long Profile of a river looks at its full length.
Cross Profile of a river looks at the shape of the river channel.
Fluvial Processes erosion, transportation and deposition.
Abrasion erosion of river bottom and riverbank by material carried by the river.
Attrition rocks and pebbles carried by the river crash against each other, becoming smaller, rounded pebbles.
Corrosion chemical erosion of rocks of the riverbank by the slightly acidic water.
Hydraulic Action water forces air to be trapped and pressured into cracks in the rocks.
Traction force of the water rolls rocks along the bottom of the river.
Saltation smaller rocks are bounced along the riverbed.
Suspension water carries smaller particles of material.
Solution material is dissolved within the water and carried along by it.
Interlocking Spurs river cuts deep V-shaped valleys in its upper course.
Meanders bends in the river. Faster water on the outside bend has cut into the bank, eroding it and creating a river cliff.
Waterfalls formed where a band of harder rock lies over a softer one.
Flood Plain area of alluvial deposits found beside the river in its lower course.
Alluvial Deposits deposited sand and silt.
Levees naturally formed banks along the sides of a river channel.
River Regime difference in the discharge of the river throughout the year.
Flooding occurs due to a sudden increase into the amount of water travelling down a river.
Flood/Storm Hydrogram shows the discharge of a river.

Coasts
Waves formed by wind blowing across surface of the water, creating ripples, which grow into waves.
Fetch determines how powerful a wave may be. It is the distance that the wave has travelled.
Destructive Waves stronger backwash than swash, removes material from the beach.
Constructive Waves stronger swash than backwash, causing the beach to be built up by deposited material.
Sub-Aerial Processes impact of rainwater, wind and frost on the cliffs.
Longshore Drift material is moved along the coastline by the waves.
Beaches created by constructive waves.
Spits long, narrow ridge of sand attached at one end to the coast.
Salt Marshes material often accumulated in the area of standing water occurs behind a spit.
Bars ridge of sand that blocks off a bay or river mouth.
Tombolos bar of deposited material linking the mainland to an island.
Sea-Level Change caused by water freezing during the Ice Age.
Sea Walls aim to completely block waves and their effects. Often built in front of seaside resorts.
Wooden Groynes wooden fences built at right angles to coastline. Aim to stop movement of material along the beach.
Gabien Groynes large steel mesh cages filled with large rocks.
Rip Rap/Rock Armour large boulders, used as a sea wall

Glaciers
Glaciers originate from heavy snowfalls over a prolonged period of time.
Ablation melting of ice, mainly during summer months.
Accumulation build up of the glacier due to snow being compacted into ice.
Calving splitting of the end of the glacier into smaller sections.
Ice Sheets large masses of ice, which cover an entire land surface.
Snout lower end of the glacier.
Negative Regime rate of accumulation is less than rate of ablation; glacier will retreat.
Erosional Features arêtes, corries, glacier trough, hanging valleys, pyramid peaks, ribbon lakes, truncated spurs and U-shaped valleys.
Deposited Features boulder clay/till, drumlins, erratics and moraines.
Boulde Clay/Till mixed angular material found on valley floor, deposited by the glacier as it melts. Made up of sand, stones and clay.
Drumlins smooth mounds of deposited material formed parallel to the direction of the movement of the glacier.
Erratics large boulders carried by the glacier and deposited in an area of differing rock type
Moraines terminal moraine, lateral moraine, medial moraine, ground moraine and recessional moraine.

Weather & Climate
Climate describes temperature, precipitation and other weather conditions of a certain area.
Weather describes day-to-day changes in temperature, wind and precipitation.
Altitude temperature falls the higher you are.
Distance From Sea sea takes longer to heat up but retains that heat far better than the land.
Latitude lines of latitude are those that run horizontally around the world.
Ocean Currents affect areas beside the sea. Can be either warm or cold currents.
Prevailing Winds when travels over a warm surface will bring warm weather, if it travels over a cold surface will bring cold weather.
Climate Graphs useful in comparing annual temperature and rainfall of places around the world.
Rainfall plotted on climate graphs as a bar chart, coloured blue.
Temperature plotted on the climate graph as a line graph, coloured red.
Convectional Rainfall occurs when warm land surfaces heats air above it, causing it to rise, cool and condense.
Frontal Rainfall occurs when two air masses meet, with warmer air being forced to rise over cooler air. The rising air cools and condenses.
Relief Rainfall occurs when moist air reaches the coast and is forced to rise over mountains and hills. The rising air cools and condenses.
Depressions areas of low pressure that bring clouds and rain to the UK.
Anticyclones areas of high pressure. Bring warm, stable conditions, with clear skies and lots of sunshine.
Droughts below average rainfall for a period of time, causing water supplies to dry up and run out.
Tropical Storms known as hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons, and willy willies.
Global Warming heating of the atmosphere due to release of greenhouse gases.
Carbon Dioxide produced by power stations, vehicles, and animals breathing.
Ozone gas in the atmosphere that prevents harmful ultra-violet rays from affecting us.

Ecosystems
Ecosystems entire living communities of plants and animals.
Abiotic elements that are non-living.
Biotic elements that are living.
Producers organisms within the biotic element, convert sunlight into energy through the process of photosynthesis.
Consumers organisms within the biotic element, which feed on other organisms.
Coniferous (Boreal) Woodlands coniferous trees are evergreens; they have leaves all year round and therefore can always photosynthesise
Deciduous Woodland deciduous trees drop their leaves in the autumn.
Deserts soils are alkaline and are very dry with little humus.
Tropical Rainforests soils are called latsols. Boast a huge variety of vegetation and animal life.