Kerala Plus Two Geography (DHSE) flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Possibilism

The view that the natural environment offers a range of possibilities and human technology and choice decide which are used, rather than environment determining society.

Neo-determinism

Also called stop-and-go determinism; humans can modify nature but cannot cross limits set by natural laws, so development must respect environmental thresholds.

Doubling time

The number of years a population takes to double at a constant growth rate, estimated as 70 divided by the annual percentage growth rate.

Dependency ratio

The number of persons under 15 and over 64 per 100 persons aged 15 to 64, showing the burden on the working-age population.

Demographic transition

A model of population change through stages, moving from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a society develops.

Conurbation

A continuous urban area formed when several towns expand and merge physically while remaining separate administrative units, such as the Ruhr region.

Shifting cultivation

A subsistence system in which forest is cleared and burnt, cropped for a few years, then abandoned for a long fallow period to restore fertility.

Footloose industry

An industry whose location is not tied to raw material or power sources because its inputs are light and transportable, such as electronics assembly.

Weight-losing industry

An industry where processing greatly reduces the weight or bulk of raw material, so plants locate near the raw material source to cut transport costs.

Quaternary activities

Economic activities involving knowledge production and handling, such as research, education, information technology, and financial analysis, distinct from simple services.

Break-of-bulk point

A place where goods are transferred from one mode of transport to another, often a port or railhead, generating warehousing and processing activity.

Balance of trade

The difference between the value of a country's exports and imports of goods; positive when exports exceed imports, negative when imports exceed exports.

Hinterland

The area inland from a port or transport node that it serves, supplying exports and receiving imports through that node.

Comparative advantage

The principle that a country gains by specialising in goods it can produce at lower opportunity cost than its trading partners.

Antecedent drainage

A river system that existed before the uplift of mountains and maintained its course by cutting down through the rising land, as Himalayan rivers did.

Bhabar and Tarai

Bhabar is the porous pebbly belt at the foot of the Shiwaliks where streams disappear; Tarai is the marshy belt where they reappear.

Khadar and Bhangar

Khadar is newer floodplain alluvium, renewed each year and fertile; Bhangar is older alluvium on higher terraces with calcareous nodules.

Duns

Flat-floored longitudinal valleys lying between the Shiwaliks and the Lesser Himalaya, such as Dehra Dun and Kotli Dun.

Coriolis force

An apparent force caused by Earth's rotation that deflects moving air to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern.

Hydrograph lag time

The interval between the peak of rainfall and the peak of river discharge, shortened by impermeable surfaces and steep slopes.

Cirque

An armchair-shaped hollow carved by glacial erosion at the head of a valley, often containing a tarn after the ice melts.

Köppen classification

A climate classification using letters: A tropical, B dry, C warm temperate, D cold, E polar, with subdivisions for rainfall and temperature.

Illuviation

The deposition of material leached from upper horizons into a lower soil horizon, typically forming the enriched B horizon.

Biodiversity hotspot

A region with exceptionally high species endemism that has already lost a large share of its original vegetation, making it a conservation priority.

Carrying capacity

The maximum population or level of use an environment can support indefinitely without degrading its resource base.

Disaster risk equation

Risk is expressed as hazard multiplied by vulnerability divided by capacity, so raising coping capacity lowers expected disaster risk.

Monsoon mechanism

Seasonal reversal of winds driven by differential heating of land and sea, the northward shift of the ITCZ, and jet stream positions.

Regur soil

Black cotton soil formed from Deccan Trap lava, clay-rich and moisture-retentive, self-ploughing on drying, and highly suited to cotton.

Laterite soil

A leached, iron and aluminium rich soil formed under heavy rainfall with alternate wet and dry seasons; poor in nitrogen and lime.

Demographic dividend

Economic growth potential arising when the working-age share of population is large relative to dependants, provided jobs and skills exist.

Human Development Index

A composite index of life expectancy, education years, and per capita income used to rank countries by human development rather than income alone.

Kuttanad farming

Below-sea-level paddy cultivation in Kerala's Kuttanad region using bunded fields, dewatering pumps, and lime application to counter soil acidity.

Representative fraction

A scale written as a ratio such as 1:50,000, meaning one unit on the map equals 50,000 of the same units on the ground.