Geography - Dynamic Planet

Front 1

Continental Crust

Back 1

The thicker part of the crust dominated by less dense granite rocks

Front 2

Oceanic Crust

Back 2

The thinner part of the crust dominated by denser balsaltic rocks

Front 3

Asthenosphere

Back 3

The upper part of the Earth's mantle, where the rocks are more fluid

Front 4

Convection Currents

Back 4

Circulating movements of magma in the mantle caused by heat from the core

Front 5

Core

Back 5

The central part of the Earth, consisting of a solid inner core and a more fluid outer core, and mostly composed of iron and nickle

Outer core = Liquid (Earth's magnetic fields)
Inner Core = Solid

Front 6

Destructive Plate Boundary

Back 6

Tectonic plate margins where oceanic plate is subducted below a continental plate

Front 7

Constructive Plate Boundary

Back 7

Tectonic plate margin where rising magma adds new material to the diverging plates

Front 8

Conservative Plate Boundary

Back 8

Where two tectonic plates slide past each other

Front 9

Collision Boundary

Back 9

A tectonic margin at which two continental plates come together

Front 10

Plate Margins

Back 10

The boundary between two tectonic plates

Front 11

Tectonic Hazards

Back 11

Threats posed by earthquakes, volacnoes and other events triggered by crustal processes

Front 12

Prediction

Back 12

Forecasting future changes

Front 13

Magnitude

Back 13

The size of something

Front 14

Response

Back 14

The way in which people react to a situation

Front 15

Short Term Emergency Relief

Back 15

Help and aid provided to an area to prevent immediate loss of life because of shortages of basics, such as water, food and shelter

Front 16

Long Term Planning

Back 16

Planning that looks beyond immediate costs and benefits by exploring impacts in the future

Front 17

Preparation

Back 17

The process of getting ready for an event

Front 18

Evacuation

Back 18

The removal of people from an area, generally in attempt to avoid a threatened disaster (or to escape from an actual one)

Front 19

Ice Age

Back 19

A period in the Earth's past when the polar ice caps were much larger than today

Front 20

Quaternary Period

Back 20

The most recent major geological period of Earth's history, consisting of the Pleistocene and Holocene

Front 21

Natural Causes

Back 21

Those processes and forces that are not controlled by humans

Front 22

Orbital Changes

Back 22

Changes un the pathway of the Earth around the Sun and its axial geometry

Front 23

Solar Output

Back 23

The energy emitted by the sun

Front 24

Volcanic Activity

Back 24

the escape of molten rock, ash and gases from an opening in the Earth's surface

Front 25

Climate Change

Back 25

long-term changes in temperature and precipitation

Front 26

Little Ice Age

Back 26

A period od slight global cooling that lasted from aroudn the mid-fifteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century

Front 27

Global Warming

Back 27

A trend whereby global temperatures rise over time, linked in modern times with the human production of greenhouse gases

Front 28

Geological Climate Events

Back 28

Climate changes that result from major geological events such as volcanic eruptions

Front 29

Extinction

Back 29

The permanent loss of something, usually with reference to species of plants or animals, where there are no living examples left

Front 30

Megafauna

Back 30

Very large animals, such as those that lived in the Ice Age

Front 31

Greenhouse Gases

Back 31

Those gases in the atmosphere that absorb outgoing radiation, hence increasing the temperature of the atmosphere

Front 32

Enhanced Greenhouse Effect

Back 32

The increased greenhouse effect resulting from human action leading to global warming

Front 33

Deforestation

Back 33

The chopping down and removal of trees to clear an area of forest

Front 34

Ecosystems

Back 34

A community of plants and animals that interact with each other and their physical environment

Front 35

Biome

Back 35

A plant and animal community covering a large area of the Earth's surface

Front 36

Biosphere

Back 36

The living part - plants and animals - of the Earth

Front 37

Tundra

Back 37

The flat, treeless Arctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America, where the ground is permanently frozen

Front 38

Hydrological Cycle

Back 38

The global stores of water and linking processes that connect them

Front 39

Goods

Back 39

produced items and materials

Front 40

Services

Back 40

Those things that are provided, bought and sold that are not tangible

Front 41

Biofuels

Back 41

fuel sources derived from agricultural crops

Front 42

Gene Pool

Back 42

The genetic material contained by a specific population

Front 43

Biodiversity

Back 43

The number and variety of living species found in a specific area

Front 44

Conservation

Back 44

managing the environment in order to preserve, protect or restore it

Front 45

Degradation

Back 45

The social, economic and environmental decline of an area , often through deindustrialisation

Front 46

Superpower Countries

Back 46

The world's most powerful and influential nations - the USA and, increasingly, China and India

Front 47

Water Table

Back 47

The level in the soil or bedrock below which water is usually present

Front 48

Ramsar

Back 48

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty for the conservation and wise use of wetlands

Front 49

Sustainability

Back 49

The ability to keep something going at the same rate or level. From this stems the idea that the current generation of people should not damage the environment in ways that will threaten future generations' environment (or quality of life)

Front 50

CITES

Back 50

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora - an international agreement

Front 51

Wilderness

Back 51

Uncultivated, uninhabital and inhospitable regions

Front 52

Unsustainable

Back 52

unable to be kept going at the same rate or level

Front 53

Water Flow

Back 53

Movement processes of the Earth's water, including evaporation, precipitation and overland flow

Front 54

Water Store

Back 54

A build-up of water that has collected on or below the ground, on in the atmosphere

Front 55

Precipitation

Back 55

When moisture falls from the atmosphere - as rain, hail, sleet or snow

Front 56

Throughflow

Back 56

Water that flows slowly through the soil until it reaches a river

Front 57

Regulated Flow

Back 57

The steady movement of water thorugh a drainage basin that will not bring flash flooding

Front 58

Aquifer

Back 58

An underground store of water, formed when waterbearing (permeable) rocks lie on top of impermeable rocks

Front 59

Permeable

Back 59

Allowing water to pass through it

Front 60

Impermeable

Back 60

Not allowing water to pass through

Front 61

Infiltration

Back 61

The process whereby water soaks into the soil

Front 62

Pores

Back 62

Small air spaces found in a rock or other material that can also be filled with water

Front 63

Joints

Back 63

Lines of weakness in a rock that water can pass along

Front 64

River Pollution

Back 64

The emission of harmful or poisonous substances into river water

Front 65

Groundwater

Back 65

Water contained beneath the surface, as a reserve

Front 66

Over-abstraction

Back 66

When water is being used more quickly than it is being replaced

Front 67

Water Harvesting

Back 67

Storing rainwater or used water for use in periods of drought

Front 68

Geological Structure

Back 68

The way in rocks are arranged, both vertically and horizontally

Front 69

Erosion

Back 69

The wearing away and removal of material by a moving force

Front 70

Weathering

Back 70

The breakdown and decay of rock by natural processes, without the involvement of any moving forces

Front 71

Stack

Back 71

a detatched column of rock located just off-shore

Front 72

Stump

Back 72

A stack that has collapsed, leaving a small area of rock above sea-level

Front 73

Headland

Back 73

A part of the coastline that protrudes into the sea

Front 74

Bays

Back 74

A feature produced when erosion creates an indent in the coastline, often located between two headlands

Front 75

Discordant Coast

Back 75

A coastline created when alternating hard and soft rocks occur at right angles to the coast, and are eroded at different rates

Front 76

Concordant Coast

Back 76

A coastline created when alternating hard and soft rocks occur parallel to the coast, and are eroded at different rates

Front 77

Swash

Back 77

The forward movement of water up a beach after the wave has broken

Front 78

Backwash

Back 78

Water from a breaking wave which flows under gravity down a beach and returns to the sea

Front 79

Destructive waves

Back 79

Large, powerful waves with a high frequency that tend to take sediment away from the beach, because their backwash is greater than their swash

Front 80

Constructive waves

Back 80

Small, weak waves with a low frequency that tend to add sand and other sediment to the coastline because they do not break with much force

Front 81

Deposition

Back 81

The dropping of sediment that was being carried by a moving force

Front 82

Longshore Drift

Back 82

The movement of material along a coast by breaking waves

Front 83

Spit

Back 83

material deposited by the sea which grows across a bay or the mouth of a river

Front 84

Coastal Flooding

Back 84

The inundation of low-lying areas in coastal areas and regions

Front 85

Mass Movement

Back 85

The downslope movement, by gravity, of soil and/or rock by the processes of slumping, falling, sliding and flowing

Front 86

Sub-Aerial Processes

Back 86

Weathering and mass movement

Front 87

Fetch

Back 87

The distance of sea over which wind blows and waves move towards the coastline

Front 88

Coastal Managment

Back 88

The processes and plans applied to coastal areas by local authorities and agencies

Front 89

'Do Nothing'

Back 89

An approach that allows natural processes to take their course without any intervention

Front 90

Hard Engineering

Back 90

Using solid structures to resist forces of erosion

Front 91

Strategic Realignment

Back 91

The reorganisation of coastal defences that is often part of managed retreat

Front 92

Hollistic Approach

Back 92

An approach to environmental management that treats the whole area as an interrelated system

Front 93

Intergrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

Back 93

The system of dividing the UK coastline into zones that can be managed hollistically

Front 94

Soft Rock Coast

Back 94

A coastal area made up of easily eroded materials

Front 95

Hard Rock Coast

Back 95

A coastal area composed of resistant materials

Front 96

Polar

Back 96

Relating to the North and South pole. In polar regions land is covered with ice (glacial) or frozen (tundra)

Front 97

Glacial Region

Back 97

An area that is covered by ice (either a valley glacier or much larger ice sheets

Front 98

Hot Arid Regions

Back 98

Parts of the world that have high average temperatures and very low precipitation

Front 99

Flora

Back 99

Plants

Front 100

Fauna

Back 100

Animals

Front 101

Temperate Climate

Back 101

A climate that is not extreme

Front 102

Carrying Capacity

Back 102

The maximun number of people that can be supported by the resources and technology of a given area

Front 103

Adaptation

Back 103

changes that take place to react to a situation or condition

Front 104

Latitude

Back 104

The position of a place north or south of the equator, expressed in degrees

Front 105

Solifluction

Back 105

The movement downhill of soggy soil when the ground layer beneath is frozen. It often occurs in Tundra regions

Front 106

Permafrost

Back 106

Permanently frozen ground found in polar regions

Front 107

Pollution

Back 107

The presence of chemicals, noise, dirt or other substances which have harmful or poisonous effects on an environment

Front 108

Land Degredation

Back 108

The declining quality and quantity of land, generally because of human action

Front 109

Cultural Dilution

Back 109

Where a particular culture is changed and weakened, usually by exposure to other competing communities

Front 110

Intermediate Technology

Back 110

A technology that the local community is able to use relatively easily and without much cost