Assam ASSEB HSLC Elective Geography key terms

The broad alluvial valley of the Brahmaputra River in Assam, formed by deep deposits of silt and sand and subject to annual flooding and channel shifting.

A UNESCO World Heritage national park on the southern floodplain of the Brahmaputra in Assam, known for grasslands, wetlands, and the greater one-horned rhinoceros.

A flat-topped terrace of glacial lake deposits found in the Kashmir Valley, often used for saffron cultivation and orchards.

A narrow belt of coarse gravel and boulders at the foot of the Himalayas where streams disappear underground, lying just north of the Terai.

A marshy, forested belt south of the Bhabar where groundwater re-emerges as springs; the name also refers to similar tracts in the Himalayan foothills.

Loose clay, silt, sand, and gravel deposited by rivers; the fertile alluvial plains of northern India and Assam are largely formed of it.

A low-lying tract of sediment built where a river enters a standing body of water and splits into distributaries, as in the Sundarbans.

The flat land alongside a river that is covered when the river overflows its banks, built up by successive layers of sediment.

A broad bend in a river's course produced by lateral erosion on the outer bank and deposition on the inner bank.

A crescent-shaped lake formed when a meander loop is cut off from the main river channel by deposition across its neck.

An elevated area of relatively flat land bounded by steep slopes, such as the Deccan Plateau of peninsular India.

A piece of land almost surrounded by water and joined to the mainland by a narrow neck; peninsular India lies south of the Indo-Gangetic Plain.

The thick sequence of basaltic lava flows covering much of peninsular India, producing black cotton soil on weathering.

Black cotton soil formed from weathered basalt, rich in clay and iron, that swells when wet and cracks when dry.

A leached, iron-rich soil of hot, wet tropical regions that hardens on exposure to air and is poor in nitrogen and lime.

A seasonal reversal of prevailing winds, especially the south-west summer monsoon and north-east winter monsoon that dominate India's climate.

Incoming solar radiation received at the Earth's surface, varying with latitude, season, and cloud cover and driving atmospheric circulation.

The proportion of incident solar radiation reflected by a surface, high for fresh snow and low for dark forest or open water.

The Intertropical Convergence Zone, a belt of low pressure near the equator where trade winds of both hemispheres meet and heavy rain occurs.

Steady winds blowing from the subtropical highs toward the equator, north-easterly in the northern hemisphere and south-easterly in the southern.

The rule that moving air or water is deflected to its right in the northern hemisphere and to its left in the southern hemisphere.

An apparent force due to the Earth's rotation that deflects moving objects sideways, strongest at the poles and zero at the equator.

A dry area on the leeward side of a mountain range, where descending air has already lost its moisture, as in parts of the Deccan.

Rain caused when moist air is forced to rise over high ground, cooling and condensing to give heavy rain on windward slopes.

A village in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya that records among the world's highest average annual rainfall, caused by orographic lifting of monsoon winds.

A reversal of the normal lapse rate in which temperature rises with height, often in clear calm winter nights and trapping smoke in valleys.

The warming of the lower atmosphere as certain gases absorb outgoing long-wave radiation and re-radiate it back toward the surface.

The periodic rise and fall of sea level caused mainly by gravitational attraction of the Moon and Sun, with two high and two low tides daily.

An unusually high tide occurring near new and full moon, when the Sun and Moon pull in line and their effects reinforce each other.

A tide of reduced range occurring when the Sun and Moon pull at right angles, during the first and third quarters of the Moon.

A large-scale, fairly continuous movement of surface or deep seawater driven by winds, differences in density, and the Earth's rotation.

The average number of people per unit area, usually persons per square kilometre, used to compare how crowded regions are.

The number of females per thousand males in a population, a common indicator of gender balance in Indian census data.

The percentage of people aged seven and above who can read and write with understanding, as defined in Indian census practice.

The movement of people from one place to another, either within a country or across borders, for work, family, or safety.

The rising share of a population living in towns and cities, accompanied by growth of urban land use and infrastructure.

A permanent or temporary place where people live, ranging from isolated hamlets to compact towns and large cities.

A farming system in which land is cleared, cropped for a few years, then abandoned to recover, known in north-east India as jhum.

A commercial estate growing tea bushes on cleared hill slopes, a major plantation industry of Assam and the eastern Himalayas.

A line on a map joining points of equal height above sea level, used to show relief, slope steepness, and landform shape.

The ratio between distance on a map and the corresponding distance on the ground, shown as a representative fraction, statement, or bar.

A fixed point of known elevation, usually marked on a permanent structure, used as a reference for levelling and survey work.