MATSEC SEC Geography key terms

The wearing away and removal of rock or soil by moving water, ice, wind or waves, which carries the loosened material elsewhere and slowly lowers or reshapes the land surface.

The breakdown of rock where it lies, caused by rain, temperature change, plant roots or chemical reactions, without the broken material being carried away.

The laying down of material that was being carried by water, ice, wind or waves when the transporting force loses energy and can no longer move it.

The movement of eroded rock particles from one place to another by a river, glacier, sea current, wind or gravity, before they are finally dropped as sediment.

The zigzag movement of sand and shingle along a coast, where waves carry material up the beach at an angle and back down at right angles to the shoreline.

A narrow ridge of sand or shingle that projects from the land into the sea, built up where longshore drift continues past a change in the coastline's direction.

The distance of open water over which wind blows before reaching a coast; a longer fetch allows larger waves to build up and reach the shore with more energy.

A broad bend in a river's course, formed in gentler lower stretches where faster water erodes the outer bank and slower water deposits sediment on the inner bank.

A curved, isolated stretch of water left behind when a very pronounced meander is cut off from the main river channel as the river takes a straighter route.

The flat land beside a river that is covered with water during a flood, often built up of fine sediment deposited by the river when it overflows its banks.

A raised bank of sediment along a river's edge, formed when floodwater slows as it spreads over the plain and drops its coarser load close to the channel.

A bare limestone surface broken into blocks by widened cracks, produced when slightly acidic rainwater dissolves the rock along joints and bedding planes.

A landscape shaped mainly by the dissolving of soluble rock such as limestone, producing caves, sinkholes, dry valleys and little surface drainage.

The zone where two of the Earth's large rigid plates meet; plates may separate, slide past each other or collide, and most earthquakes and volcanoes occur near such zones.

The process in which one dense plate sinks beneath another at a convergent boundary, producing deep trenches, earthquakes and chains of volcanoes above the descending slab.

One of several large, slowly moving slabs that make up the Earth's outer shell and carry continents and ocean floor, shifting only a few centimetres each year.

A fracture in the Earth's crust along which rocks on either side have moved, releasing stored energy as an earthquake when the movement happens suddenly.

The point underground where an earthquake begins and energy is released; its depth affects how strongly the shaking is felt at the surface.

The point on the Earth's surface directly above an earthquake's focus, usually where the strongest shaking and greatest damage are recorded.

An instrument that detects and records ground shaking caused by earthquakes, producing a trace from which the timing and strength of the event can be worked out.

An opening in the Earth's surface through which molten rock, ash and gases escape, often building a cone-shaped hill from the material thrown out.

Molten rock that has reached the Earth's surface through a volcano or crack; it cools and hardens into solid rock, sometimes forming new land.

The average number of people living in each square kilometre of an area, found by dividing the total population by the area's size in square kilometres.

The way people are spread across a country or region, ranging from crowded cities to almost empty uplands, and shown on maps by dots or shading.

A negative condition at a person's present home, such as unemployment, war or poor farmland, that encourages them to leave and settle somewhere else.

An attraction at a destination, such as better-paid work, schools or safety, that draws migrants towards it and helps explain why people move there.

The movement of people from one place to another to live, either within a country or across a border, for reasons such as work, family or escape from danger.

The rising share of a country's population living in towns and cities, usually driven by rural-to-urban migration and natural growth in urban areas.

The number of live births per thousand people in a population in one year, used with death rate to describe how quickly a population is growing.

The number of deaths per thousand people in a population in one year; falling death rates are often the first sign of improved health care and living conditions.

A pair of horizontal bar graphs showing the numbers of males and females in each age group, revealing whether a population is young, ageing or shrinking.

Meeting people's present needs for food, housing and energy without damaging the environment so badly that later generations cannot meet their own needs.

A natural supply that is replaced by natural processes within a human lifetime, such as sunlight, wind, flowing water or timber from managed woodland.

The total amount of greenhouse gases released by a person, household, business or product, usually expressed as tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

A community of plants and animals together with the non-living surroundings, such as soil, water and climate, with which they constantly exchange energy and materials.

A sequence showing how energy passes from one living thing to another, beginning with a plant and ending with a predator, with energy lost at each step.

The variety of living things in a place, counted at the level of genes, species and habitats; high biodiversity usually makes an ecosystem more resilient to change.