Key Words and Meanings - Year 10 Geography

• The Living World

  Abiotic	components in an ecosystem that are non-living environmental factors such as climate (temperature and rainfall), soil, water temperature and light
  Biome	global-scale ecosystems such as a tropical rainforest or deciduous woodland
  Biotic	components in an ecosystem that are living such as plants and fish
  Component	an individual part or element of a wider system
  Consumer	organism that eats herbivores and/or plant matter
  Decomposer	organisms such as bacteria or fungi that break down plant and animal material
  Ecosystem	a community of plants and animals that interact with each other and their physical environment
  Food chain	connections between different organisms (plants and animals) that rely upon one another as their source of food
  Food web	a complex hierarchy of plants and animals relying on each other for food
  Global atmospheric circulation	large scale circulation (movement) of the atmosphere
  Global ecosystems	large scale ecosystem, such as tropical rainforest or tundra
  Lines of latitude	lines that run parallel to Earth’s Equator, measured in degrees
  Nutrient cycle	on-going recycling of nutrients between living organisms and their environment
  Producer	an organism or plant that is able to absorb energy from the sun through photosynthesis
  Achuar tribe	a primitive tribe of about 11,000 who live in the Peruvian Amazon
  Biodiversity	the variety of life in the world or a particular ecosystem
  Canopy	the continuous layer of branches in a forest, which in tropical rainforests hosts the majority of plant and animal species
  Carbon sink	the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere
  Climate	the average weather over a long period of time
  Climate change	a long-term change in the earth's climate, especially a change due to an increase in the average atmospheric temperature
  Conservation	managing the environment in order to preserve, protect or restore it
  Debt reduction	countries are relieved of some of their debt in return for an agreement that they preserve and protect their natural environments
  Deforestation	the cutting down and removal of forest
  Ecotourism	nature tourism usually involving small groups with minimal impact on the environment
  Equator	an imaginary line that divides Earth’s surface into a northern and southern hemisphere
  Global warming	the increase of global temperatures
  Hardwood	important resource provided by tropical rainforests
  Indigenous tribes	native to a particular place, usually living in harmony with the natural environment, using resources without causing long-term harm
  Infertile soil	soil which is unable to reproduce or sustain life
  International agreements	promises made between countries and/or organisations to mitigate the destruction of natural habitats
  Leaching	heavy rainfall quickly dissolves and carries away nutrients in rainforest soils, leaving behind infertile red, iron-rich soil called latosol
  Mineral extraction	the removal of solid mineral resources from the earth
  Oil palm	raw material extracted from tropical rainforests
  Protection	actions taken before a hazard strikes to reduce its impact, such as educating people or improving building design
  Selective logging	sustainable forestry management where only carefully selected trees are cut down
  Slash and burn	a method of land clearing that involves the use of fire, which creates valuable nutrients to help plants grow, but can grow out of control and destroy large areas of forest
  Soil erosion	removal of topsoil faster than it can be replaced, due to natural (water and wind action), animal, and human activity
  Subsistence farming	a type of agriculture producing only enough food and materials for the benefit of a farmer and their family
  Sustainability	actions that meet the needs of the present without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs
  Transmigration	people removed from one place and moved to another
  Tropical rainforest	global-scale ecosystem mainly found close to the Equator, characterised by high temperatures, high rainfall and huge biodiversity
  Accessibility	the ease of access to a place
  Adventure tourism	a type of tourism that involves the travel to a remote or exotic location to pursue physically challenging activities such as hiking or kayaking
  Arctic Ocean	ocean located in the northern hemisphere within the Arctic Circle
  Conservation group	an organisation that helps protect threatened and endangered environments or wildlife e.g. the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
  Extreme temperatures	temperatures that present challenges for people, animals and plants living in in certain environments
  Fragile	vulnerable, or easily damaged
  Geothermal energy	energy generated by heat stored deep in the Earth
  International agreements	promises made between countries and/or organisations to mitigate the destruction of natural habitats
  Oil spill	the accidental leakage of oil from rigs or refineries into the surrounding area, resulting in severe environmental damage and pollution
  Permafrost	permanently frozen ground, found in polar and tundra regions
  Polar	the most extreme cold environment with permanent ice, i.e. Greenland and Antarctica
  Pollution	chemicals, noise, dirt or other substances which have harmful or poisonous effects on an environment
  Tundra	a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America where the subsoil is permanently frozen
  Wilderness areas	a natural environment that has not been significantly modified by human activity

• Urban Issues and Challenges

  Air pollution	harmful emissions, or other substances, that enter Earth’s atmosphere
  Economic opportunities	chances for people to improve their standard of living through employment
  Favela	a squatter settlement in a Brazilian city
  Formal economy	the type of employment where people receive a regular wage, pay tax, and have certain rights such as paid holidays and sick leave
  Global city	urban area with an important role in the global economy
  Inequalities	differences between people, in terms of factors such as; poverty, wealth, wellbeing, employment opportunities, housing, education etc.
  Informal economy	employment outside the official knowledge of the government
  Land use	the way in which land is used, or has been modified or managed by people
  Megacities	an urban area with a total population of more than ten million people
  Migration	when people move from one area to another
  Natural increase	birth rate minus the death rate of a population
  Pollution	the presence of chemicals, noise, dirt or other substances which have harmful or poisonous effects on an environment
  Pull factors	the attractions and opportunities of a place that encourage people to move there
  Push factors	the negative aspects of a place that encourage people to move away
  Quality of life	how good a person’s life is, measured by such things of housing and environment, access to education, healthcare, how secure people feel and how happy they are with their lifestyle
  Rural–urban migration	when people move from rural to urban areas
  Sanitation	measures designed to protect public health, such as providing clean water and disposing of sewage and waste
  Service industries	the economic activities that provide various services ? commercial, professional, social, entertainment and personal
  Site and service scheme	where a local authority provides land and services for residents to build homes
  Squatter settlement	an area of (often illegal) poor-quality housing, lacking in services like water supply, sewerage and electricity
  Traffic congestion	when there is too great a volume of traffic for roads to cope with, and traffic slows to a crawl
  Urban growth	the increase in the area covered by cities
  Urbanization	when an increasing percentage of a country's population live in towns and cities

• The Physical Processes of the UK

  Abrasion	(1) rocks carried along a river wear down the river bed and banks
  Arch	a wave-eroded passage through a small headland. This begins as a cave which is gradually widened and deepened until it cuts through
  Attrition	rocks being carried by the river smash together and break into smaller, smoother and rounder particles
  Bay	a wide coastal inlet, often with a beach, where areas of less resistant rock have been eroded by the sea
  Beach	a zone of deposited material that extends from the low water line to the limit of storm waves
  Beach nourishment	adding new material to a beach artificially, through the dumping of large amounts of sand or shingle
  Berm	a low ridge on a sandy beach created by swash, usually marks the high tide line
  Biological weathering	a type of weathering caused by flora and fauna, such as plant roots growing in cracks in the rock or animals burrowing into weak rocks
  Carbonation	weathering of limestone and chalk by acidic rainwater
  Cave	a large hole in a cliff caused by waves forcing their way into cracks in the cliff face
  Cavitation	the explosive force of air trapped in the cracks of rock
  Chemical weathering	the decomposition (or rotting) of rock caused by a chemical change within that rock
  Cliff	a steep high rock face formed by weathering and erosion
  Coastal management	strategies used to defend coastal environments, divided into three different approaches: hard engineering, soft engineering and managed retreat
  Coastal realignment	the establishment of a new coastline as part of managed retreat, often allowing flooding to occur over low-lying land to protect farmland, roads and settlements
  Concordant coastline	a straight coastline with a single rock running parallel to the coast
  Constructive waves	a powerful wave with a strong swash that surges up a beach
  Corrosion	chemical erosion caused by the dissolving of rocks and minerals by sea water
  Deposition	occurs when material being transported by the sea is dropped due to the sea losing energy
  Destructive waves	a wave formed by a local storm that crashes down onto a beach and has a powerful backwash
  Discordant coastline	an indented coastline made up of headlands and bays formed when different rocks reach the coast
  Dune	deposit of sand which has been blown inland by onshore winds
  Dune fencing	fences constructed on sandy beaches to encourage the formation of new sand dunes to protect existing dunes
  Dune regeneration	building up dunes and increasing vegetation to prevent excessive coastal retreat
  Erosion	wearing away and removal of material by a moving force, such as a breaking wave
  Fault	a crack or line of weakness in rock
  Fetch	the distance of open water over which the wind can blow
  Freeze-thaw weathering	a common process of weathering in a glacial environment involving repeated cycles of freezing and thawing that can make cracks in rock bigger
  Gabions	steel wire mesh filled with boulders used in coastal defences
  Geological structure	the way that layers of rock are folded or tilted
  Grid reference	a map reference that indicates a location using numbered vertical and horizontal lines that run up and down, and increase in value from bottom to top of the map
  Groyne	a wooden barrier built out into the sea to stop the longshore drift of sand and shingle, and allow the beach to grow
  Headland	a rocky coastal promontory (highpoint of land) made of rock that is resistant to erosion: headlands lie between bays of less resistant rock where the land has been eroded by the sea
  Hydraulic power	process where breaking waves compress pockets of air in cracks in a cliff; the pressure may cause the crack to widen, breaking off rock
  Jurassic Coast	a 154km stretch of coast in East Devon and Dorset which was made a World Heritage Site in 2001 because of its geological importance
  Landform	a physical feature of the Earth’s surface
  Landslide	the movement of rock, earth or debris down the slope of a hill. Also known as a landslip
  Longshore drift	transport of sediment along a stretch of coastline caused by waves approaching the beach at an angle
  Marram grass	type of grass that is adapted to windy, exposed conditions and is used in coastal management to stabilise sand dunes
  Mass movement	downhill movement of weathered material under the force of gravity
  Mechanical weathering	physical disintegration or break up of exposed rock without any change in its chemical composition, i.e. freeze–thaw
  Mudflats	areas of fine sediment deposits which over time can develop in saltmarshes
  Mudflow	when saturated soil and weak rock flow down a slope
  OS map	highly accurate maps drawn by Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency for Great Britain
  Recurved end	strong winds or tidal current cause the end of a spit to become curved
  Reprofiling	increasing the height and width of beaches by dumping and shaping of dredged sand or shingle
  Rock armour	large boulders deliberately dumped on a beach as part of coastal defences
  Rockfall	a fragment of rock breaks away from the cliff face, often due to freeze-thaw weathering
  Rotational slip	slump of saturated soil and weak rock along a curved surface
  Salt weathering	a weathering process where salt crystals grow and expand in the cracks and holes of rock, creating pressure which eventually causes fragments of rock to break away
  Saltation	hopping movement of pebbles along a river or sea bed
  Saltmarshes	important natural habitats often found in sheltered river estuaries behind spits where there is very little flow of water
  Scree	accumulation of fragments of weathered rock
  Sea wall	concrete wall aiming to prevent erosion of the coast by reflecting wave energy
  Sliding	loose surface material becomes saturated and the extra weight causes the material to become unstable and move rapidly downhill
  Solution	the dissolving of rocks such as limestone and chalk by sea water
  Spit	depositional landform formed when a finger of sediment extends from the shore out to sea, often at a river mouth
  Stack	isolated pillar of rock left when the top of an arch has collapsed
  Suspension	small particles carried in river flow or sea water, i.e. sands, silts and clays
  Swash	the forward movement of a wave up a beach
  Traction	heavy particles rolled along the sea bed
  Transportation	the movement of eroded material
  Tsunami	huge waves caused by earthquakes
  Wave refraction	wave energy is reduced in bays as the water gets shallower
  Waves	ripples in the sea caused by the transfer of energy from the wind blowing over the surface of the sea
  Wave-cut platform	rocky, level shelf at or around sea level representing the base of old, retreated cliffs

• Water and resource management and Fieldwork

  Agribusiness	intensive farming aimed at maximizing the amount of food produced
  Carbon footprint	measurement of the greenhouse gases individuals produce, through burning fossil fuels
  Development	the progress of a country in terms of economic growth, the use of technology and human welfare
  Energy conservation	reducing energy consumption by using less energy and existing sources more efficiently
  Energy mix	the range of energy sources of a region or country, both renewable and non-renewable
  Energy security	uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price
  Food miles	the distance covered supplying food to consumers
  Fossil fuels	a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms
  Fracking	the process of extracting gas from gas shale where fluids at high pressure are injected to fracture the shale rock, allowing the gas to escape
  Grey water	recycled domestic waste water
  Import	goods and services bought by residents of a country from another country
  Organic produce	food produced without the use of chemicals such as fertilisers and pesticides
  Renewable energy	a resource that cannot be exhausted, e.g. wind, solar and tidal energy
  Resources	a stock or supply of something that has value or a purpose
  Resource management	control and monitoring of resources so that they do not become exhausted
  Undernourishment	a food intake below that needed to sustain a healthy life
  Undernutrition	when people do not eat enough nutrients to cover their needs for energy and growth, or to maintain a healthy immune system
  Water deficit	when demand for water is greater than supply
  Water quality	measured in terms of the chemical, physical and biological content of the water
  Water stress	when the demand for water exceeds supply in a certain period, or when poor quality restricts its use
  Water surplus	when the supply of water is greater than demand for water
  Water transfer	matching supply with demand by moving water from an area with water surplus to another area with water deficit
  Aquifer	underground water source
  Bund	a small dam which diverts water away from a stream to irrigate fields, usually made of stones and lined with leaves to make it waterproof
  Dam and reservoir	a barrier built across a valley to interrupt river flow and create a man-made lake to store water and control river discharge
  Desalinisation	the process of removing salt from seawater to produce fresh water
  Drought	a long, continuous period of dry weather
  Evaporation	the process of water changing from liquid to vapour
  Grey water	recycled domestic waste water
  Groundwater	freshwater source that is found beneath the Earth’s surface
  Groundwater management	regulation and control of water levels, pollution, ownership and use of groundwater
  Infrastructure	the basic equipment and structures (such as roads, utilities, water supply and sewage) that are needed for a country or region to function properly
  Irrigation	artificial application of water to the land or soil
  Johed	small earth dam for catching rainwater as a drinking water source, found in the Thar Desert, Pakistan
  Over abstraction	when groundwater is used more quickly than it is being replaced
  Pat system	irrigation channels that transfer water to the fields
  Permeable rocks	rocks that allow water to pass through them
  Pollution	chemicals, noise, dirt or other substances which have harmful or poisonous effects on an environment
  Sustainability	actions that meet the needs of the present without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs
  Taanka	underground storage systems about 3m in diameter and 3-4m deep which collect surface water from roofs
  Water conflict	disputes between different regions or countries over the distribution and use of water
  Water conservation	the preservation, control and development of water resources, both surface and groundwater, and prevention of pollution
  Water deficit	when the demand for water is greater than the supply of water
  Water insecurity	when water availability is insufficient to ensure the good health and livelihood of a population, due to short supply or poor quality
  Water pollution	the contamination of water by substances that are harmful or poisonous to the environment, and make water supplies unsuitable for drinking
  Water quality	measured in terms of the chemical, physical and biological content of the water
  Water recycling	process of extracting and reusing useful substances found in waste
  Water security	availability of a reliable source of acceptable quantity and quality of water
  Water stress	when the demand for water exceeds supply in a certain period, or when poor quality restricts its use
  Water surplus	when the supply of water is greater than demand for water
  Water transfer	matching supply with demand by moving water from an area with water surplus to another with water deficit
  Waterborne diseases	diseases like cholera and typhoid caused by microorganisms in contaminated water