climate definition geography and Glossary of geographical terms
Ablation: Loss of ice in the body of a glacier through melting etc.
Abrasion :Erosion of rocks by water,wind or ice(glacier).
Absolute humidity: Amount of water vapour present in aunit volume of air, usually expressed as grammes per cubic metre.
Advection :Transfer of heat through horizontal movement of air.
Aeolian: Relating to or caused by wind, for example, Aeolian land forms.
Alluvium: the fine debris transported and deposited by a river.Landforms formed by deposition of such material are called alluvial plains.Soils formed through river deposition are called alluvial soils.
Altimeter: A Type of aneroid barometer for measuring height, used mainly in aeroplanes.
Anemometer: An instrument used for measuring wind velocity.
Anticline: The arch or crest of a fold in the rocks.Its opposite is asyncline, the bottom of a fold.
Antipodes: Two points diametrically opposite each other on the surface of the earth.
Aphelion: The Position of the earth in its orbit when it is at its greatest distance from the sun.At its nearest distance from the sun the earth is said to be in perihelion.
Apogee:The position of the moon or any ther heavenly body, when it is at its greatest distance from the earth. At its shortest dis tance from the earth the moon is said to be in perigee.
Asteroids of planetoids: Minnor planets revolving around the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Atmosphere: The envelope of air surrounding the earth. The most abundant among its constituents are nitrogen and oxygen.
Atoll : A ring or horseshoe shaped coral reef.
Aurora Australis and Aurora Borealies: The light phenomena seen in the sky at night in the higher latitudes of the southern and northern hemisphere respectively. Aurora comprises an electrical discharge and is usually accompanied by amagnetic storm.
Avalanche: A large mass of snow and ice at high altitude,sliding downslope on a mountain. Usaually a large amount of rock material is also involved in an avalanche.
Azonal Soil : Soil which has not been subjected sufficiently to soil forming processes and thus has changed little from the parents material.Such soils do not have a mature profile.
Barometer: Instrument used for measuring pressure. A self recording barometer giving a conditinuous record of pressure conditions in the from of a line graph is called a barograph and the graph thus provided is called a barogram.
Barysphere, bathysphere or Centrosphere: Inner portion of the earth below the lithosphere or outer crust.
Base level : The lowest level to which a river can deepen its valley. It is the level of the surface of the water body, a lake of sea, in which the stream finally falls.
Beach: A gently sloping strip of land along the coast. This lies between the high and low tide levels and is formed by depositional action of waves.
Bearing: the horizontal angle between the direction of an object and the meridian through the observer, measured in degrees(Zero to 360) clockwise from the north.
Beufort scale: A Scale indentifying wind strength. The lowest point on the scale is zero which refers to calm conditions and the highest is 12 referring to a hurricane.
Biogeography: Study of geographical distribution of plants and animal.
Biosphere: that portion of the earth and its environment occupied by various froms of life.
Blizzard: A storm of powdery snow in the polar regions.
Bog: An area of soft,wet, spongy ground consisting mainly of decayed or decaying moss and other vegetable matter.
Bora: A cold and often dry wind experienced along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea.
Bora: A high tidal wave causing backflow of water in the mouth of a river.
Cattinga: Thorn forest of Brazil.
Canyon: A narrow,deep,steep –sided river valley cut in the soft rocks.
Cape: A headland , a more or less pointed piece of land jutting out into the sea.
Cardinal Points: The four main directions or points of the compass north, south,east and west.
Cartography : The art of drawing maps and charts.
Celestial equator: The imaginary circle formed by the intersection of a plane through the centre of the earth perpendicular to its axis and the celestial sphere.
Celestial sphere: A sphere of infinite radius having its centre at some point in the solar system, for example, at the centre of the earth, on to which all members of the solar system may be projected.
Chaparral: The low,dense scrub, characteristic of Mediterranean type of climatic regions.
Chronometer: An accurate time keeping instrument.
Climate: The average weather conditions of a place or region throughout the seasons.
Climatology: The science studying climates and their influence on other components of the environment.
Clinometer: An instrument used for determining the difference in elevation between two points.
Cloud: A mass of tiny water droplets or ice crystals formed by condensation of water vapour in the atmosphere.
Condensation : The process by which a substance changes from vapour to liquid.
Condensation nuclei: Microscopic particles having an affinity for water These serve as the nuclei for the formation of raindrops. The presence of these particles in the atmosphere is necessary for condensation to occur.
Coniferous: Cone – bearing plants with needle – shaped leaves.
Connate water: Water entrapped in the interstices of rocks during their formation; also called fossil water.
Convection : The uplift of air as a result of surface heating or instability due to ther reasons. Generally this term refers to vertical movement of gases in contrast to advection.
Convection Curremts : Due to instability in air some vertical mostions in the atmosphere are set up which are more or less in the form of currents.
Coral : A kind of rock formed of polyps forming reefs in the oceans.
Colour of the Sky: Seeme blue because of the selective scattering of light in the atmosphere by gases and dust particles.
Deciduous forest: Consists of trees that shed their leaves in the dry season.
Downs: Grasslands of Australia.
Denudation : Wearing away of rocks by various agencies like wind, water and ice(glaciers).
Eclipse: Partial of full obscuring of the moon when the earth comes between the sun and the moon is called lunar eclipse. It occurs usually on the full moon.
A partial or complete obscuring of the sun because of the presence of the moon between the sun and the earth is called the solar eclipse and it occurs on the day of the new moon, that is ,on the day the moon is not visible.
Ecliptic: The apparent track of the sun throughout the year as a result of the motion of the earth around it.The plane of the eclip tic is the plane passing through this path and is coincident with the plane of the earth’s orbit.
Ecology: The science that studies organisms in relation to their environment.
Edaphic : Relating to soil.
Eluviation : Removal of material in solution or suspension from the upper horizons of the soils to the lower.
Epicentre: Points on the surface of the earth vertically above the seismic focus or deep focus, that is, the point where an earthquake originates.
Equinox: The time of the year when the sun appears vertically overhead at noon at the equator and days and nights are equal on all points on the earth surface.
Flood – Plain: A plain bordering a river and formed by river deposition.
Flora: The plant life of aregion or geological period.
Fluvial: Belonging or relating to a river.
Fog: A dense mass of small water drops or smoke or dust particles in the lower layers of the atmosphere.
Front: The line of separation at the earth’s surface between cold and warm air masses. Like the air
Oasis: Area in the desert where water is avalible.
Ocean Current: Movement of the surface water of the ocean.
Opisometer: Instrument used for measuring distances on a map.
Orbit: Path of a heavenly body through space in relation to some selected point.
Orographic rains: Rain caused by mountains standing in the path of moisture –laden winds.
Outwash Plain: Alluvial plain formed by streams originating from the melting ice of a glacier.
Pampas: The mid- latitude grassland of South America.
Pelagic: Belonging to the open sea.
Peninsula: A stretch of land almost surrounded by water.
Perigee: The point in the orbit of moon or a planet or in the apparent orbit of the sun, nearest to the earth.
Radiation : Process by which a body emits radiant energy, viz in the form of heat.
Rain shadow: area having relatively lower average rainfall because it is shelter from the prevailing rain bearing winds by a range of mountains or hills.
Reg: A stony desert A sandy desert is called an erg.
Reff: Ridge of rocks lying near the surface of the sea, which may be visible at low tide, but usually covered by water.
Satellite: A relatively small body revolving around a planet.
Savanna: An area of tropical grassland with scattered tress.
Selvas: Dense equatorial forests of the Amazon basin in south America.
Sleet: Precipitation consisting of a mixture of snow and rain.
Smog: Fog heavily laden with smoke.
Solar day : The average period taken by the earth in making one rotation on its axis in relation to the sun 24 hours.
Steppe: Mid latitude grasslands of Eurasia.
Strait: Narrow stretch of sea connecting two extensive areas of sea.
Sublimation: Change of state of water from soiled to vapour directrly or vice versa.
Taiga: Coniferous foresland of Siberia.
Tidal range: Average difference in water level between high and low tide at one place.
Topographic map: Map on sufficiently large scale to show the detailed surface features of an area.
Viticulture : the culture of grape vine.
Volcano: Vent in the earth’s crust caused by magma forcing its way to the surface through which molten or solid rock flow from the interior of the earth.
Watershed: Elevated boundary line separating headstreams which are tributaries to different river systems or basins.
Weather: Condition of the atmosphere at certain time or over a certain period of time as describe by meteorological pnenomena including temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity.
Weathering : Decay and disintegration of rocks of the earth’s crust by exposure of the atmosphere it is one of the main processes of denudation.
Willy –Willy : Tropical cyclone in the Pacific near the east coast of Australia.
Wine vane: Instrument used to indicate the direction of the wind.
Xerography :Plant which is adapted, to living in a region where little moisture is available.
Yazoo river : Tributary which is prevented from joining the main river because the latter has built up high natural leaves; it thus runs parallel to the main stream for a considerable distance before joining it downstream.
Zenith: points in the celestial sphere vertically above one’s head.
Zodiac: Zone of the heavens in which lie the paths of the sun, the moon and the chief planets.
Zonal soil: A Soil which owes its well developed characteristics largely to the influence of climate and vegetation.They are characterized by well –developed soil profiles.
Zoogegraphy: Study of the distribution of animals on the earth’s surface.
Zoophyte: An animal which resembles a plant, viz. – a coral polyp, a sponge.
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