WACE Geography ATAR flashcards
WACE Geography ATAR · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Geographic scale
- The level of analysis, from local to global, at which a pattern or process is examined; changing scale reveals different causes and different management responses.
- Choropleth map
- A thematic map in which areas are shaded according to the value of a variable, usually expressed as a rate so that areas of different size can be compared fairly.
- Map scale ratio
- The relationship between map distance and ground distance; at 1:25 000, one centimetre on the map represents 250 metres on the ground.
- Spatial interpolation
- A GIS technique that estimates values at unmeasured locations from known nearby points, commonly used to produce continuous surfaces such as rainfall or temperature maps.
- Divergent plate boundary
- A boundary where tectonic plates move apart, allowing magma to rise; it produces sea-floor spreading, mid-ocean ridges and rift valleys with shallow earthquakes and volcanic activity.
- Subduction zone
- A convergent boundary where an oceanic plate descends beneath another plate, generating deep earthquakes, volcanic arcs, trenches and fold mountain belts.
- Longshore drift
- The movement of sediment along a coast by waves approaching at an angle, transporting material in a zigzag pattern and building features such as spits.
- Karst landscape
- Terrain formed on soluble rock such as limestone, where carbonated water dissolves rock to create caves, sinkholes, disappearing streams and underground drainage systems.
- Ecosystem services
- The benefits people obtain from ecosystems, grouped as provisioning (food, water), regulating (climate, flood control), supporting (nutrient cycling) and cultural (recreation, identity).
- Glacial abrasion
- Erosion caused by rock debris embedded in moving ice scraping and smoothing bedrock, producing striations, polished surfaces and fine rock flour.
- Demographic transition model
- A model describing changes in birth and death rates as societies develop, moving from high stationary through expanding stages to low stationary and possible population decline.
- Population pyramid
- A graph showing the age and sex structure of a population; its shape indicates fertility history, mortality conditions and the potential for future growth.
- Rule of 70
- A method for estimating population doubling time by dividing 70 by the annual percentage growth rate, giving an approximate number of years.
- Push and pull factors
- Conditions that drive people away from a place, such as conflict or unemployment, and conditions that attract them elsewhere, such as safety or employment opportunities.
- Urbanisation
- The increasing proportion of a population living in urban areas, driven by rural-urban migration and natural increase and associated with changing land use and service demand.
- Megacity
- An urban agglomeration with more than ten million residents, most now located in less developed regions and facing challenges of housing, sanitation and transport.
- Quaternary sector
- Economic activity involving knowledge creation and information processing, including research, education, finance and information technology, typically concentrated in highly skilled urban economies.
- Human Development Index
- A composite measure of development combining life expectancy, mean and expected years of schooling, and gross national income per capita, expressed between zero and one.
- Gini coefficient
- A measure of income inequality ranging from zero, indicating perfect equality, to one, indicating perfect inequality, often displayed as a Lorenz curve.
- Transnational corporation
- A company that operates production, marketing or services in more than one country, shaping global value chains, employment patterns and investment flows.
- Globalisation
- The increasing interconnection of economies and societies through trade, investment, technology, migration and information flows, producing uneven benefits across places.
- Economic leakage
- Money generated by an activity, such as tourism, that leaves the host region through imported goods, foreign ownership or repatriated profits, reducing local benefit.
- Albedo
- The proportion of incoming solar radiation reflected by a surface; ice and snow have high albedo, so their loss creates a positive feedback that amplifies warming.
- Mitigation and adaptation
- Mitigation reduces the causes of climate change by limiting greenhouse gas emissions; adaptation reduces vulnerability to impacts through changes in infrastructure, land use and practice.
- Ecological footprint
- The area of productive land and water required to supply a population's resources and absorb its wastes, compared with available biocapacity.
- Integrated catchment management
- Coordinated management of land use, water quality and water allocation across an entire drainage basin, involving multiple agencies and stakeholders.
- Dryland salinity
- Salt accumulation in soils and waterways following replacement of deep-rooted native vegetation with shallow-rooted crops, which raises water tables and mobilises salt.
- Systematic sampling
- A sampling method that selects sites at regular intervals along a transect or grid, providing even coverage but risking bias if the interval matches a natural pattern.
- Standard deviation
- A measure of the spread of data around the mean; a large value indicates high variability, which affects the reliability of comparisons between sites.
- Geographic information system
- A computer system for storing, analysing and displaying spatially referenced data as layers, supporting operations such as overlay, buffering and proximity analysis.
- Formal region
- An area defined by a shared measurable characteristic, such as climate type, language group or land use, giving relatively uniform conditions within its boundaries.
- Sense of place
- The meanings, emotions and attachments people associate with a location, shaped by lived experience, culture, memory and shared identity.