Geography Terms
Mesa
A Mesa is a flat-topped mountain or hill. It is a wide, flat, elevated landform with steep sides. Mesa is a Spanish word that means table. Spanish explorers of the American southern where many mesas where found, used the word because the tops of mesas look like the tops of tables.
Lake
A body of water surrounded by land.
Bay
A broad inlet of the sea where the land curves forward.
Waterfalls
A cascade of water falling from a height, formed when a river or stream flows over a precipice or steep incline.
Archipelago
A group of islands, a sea, or stretch of water containing many islands.
Iceberg
A long floating mass of ice detached from a glacier or ice sheet and carried out to sea.
Valley
A long, narrow region of low land between ranges of mountains, hills, of other high areas, often having a river or stream running along the bottom. Valleys are most commonly formed through the erosion of land by rivers or glaciers.
Fjord
A long, narrow, deep inlet from the sea between steep slopes of the mountainous coast. Fjords usually occur where ocean water flows into valleys formed near the coast by glaciers.
Rainforest
A luxuriant, dense forest rich in biodiversity, found typically in tropical areas with consistently heavy rainfall.
Canyon
A narrow chasm with steep cliff walls, cut into the earth by running water: a gorge.
Cave
A narrow or natural passage under or into especially one with an opening to the surface.
Strait
A narrow passage of water connecting two seas or two large areas of water.
Isthmus
A narrow strip of land bordered on both sides by water, connecting two larger bodies of land.
Mountains
A natural elevation of the earth surface rising more or less abruptly to summit in attaining an altitude greater than that of the hill, usually greater than 2000 feet or 610 meters. 2. a large mass of something resembling this as in shape or size.
Hill
A natural elevation of the earths surface, smaller than a mountain.
Geyser
A natural spring that sends hot water and steam suddenly into the air from a hole in the ground.
River
A natural stream of water of fairly large size flowing in a definite course of channel or series of diverging and converging channels.
Peninsula
A piece of land almost surrounded by water or projecting out into a body of water.
Island
A piece of land surrounded by water.
Cape
A point or extension of land jutting out into water as a peninsula or as a projecting point.
Atoll
A ring-reef shaped island, or chain of islands formed of coral.
Volcano
A rupture in the earths crust where molten lava, hot ash, and gases from below the warts crust escape into the air.
Sound
A sea or ocean larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, and wider than a fjord or narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land.
Lagoon
A stretch of saltwater separated from the sea by a sandbank or coral reef.
Cliff
A vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the process of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, Escarpments and along rivers.
Jungle
An area of land overgrown with dense forest and tangled vegetation typically in the tropics.
Swamp
An area of low-lying ground where water collects; a bog or marsh.
Marsh
An area of low-lying land that is flooded in wet seasons or at high tide, typically remains waterlogged at all times.
Praire
An extensive flat or rolling area dominated by grasses, especially the grasslands that one covered much of Central America.
Oasis
An isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source. Oases also provide habitat for animals and even humans if the area is big enough.
Plain
Broad, nearly level stretches of land that have no great changes in elevation. Plains are generally lower than the land around them; they may be found along a coast or in land. Coastal plains generally rise from sea level until they meet higher land forms such as mountains or plateaus.
Dune
Dune is a hill of sand built either by wind or water flow. Dunes occur in different shapes and sizes, formed by interaction with the flow of air or water.
Glacier
Is a huge mass of ice that moves slowly overland. The term "glacier" comes from the French word glacé (glah-say) which means ice. Glaciers are often called rivers of ice. Glaciers fall into two groups : Alpine glaciers and ice sheets.
Butte
Is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a flat top: buttes are smaller than mesas, plateaus, and table landforms.
Delta
River deltas form when a river carrying sedemint reaches either. (1) a body of standing water, such as a lake, ocean, or reserve. (2) another river that cannot remove the sediment quickly enough to stop delta formation, or (3) an island region where the water spreads out and deposits sediments.
Coast
The part of the land near the sea, the edge of the land.
Sea
The salt waters that cover the greater part of the earths surface.
