Praxis Geography key terms

A way of looking at the world that asks where things are, why they are there, and how places connect. It emphasizes location, distance, distribution, and patterns across Earth's surface.

The relationship between the size of an area on a map or in analysis and the actual area on Earth. Geographers work at local, regional, national, and global scales, and patterns differ by scale.

An area defined by shared characteristics that distinguish it from surrounding areas. Regions may be formal (uniform traits), functional (organized around a node), or perceptual (based on people's beliefs).

An area in which a measurable characteristic is broadly uniform, such as a climate zone, a language area, or a political unit. Boundaries are drawn where the defining trait fades.

An area organized around a central node and connected by flows or interactions, such as a metropolitan area tied to a city core or a watershed drained by one river system. Boundaries are zones of diminishing interaction.

A region defined by people's informal beliefs and mental images rather than precise data, such as "the Midwest" or "the Middle East." Boundaries vary among individuals and change over time.

The spread of a phenomenon, idea, or technology across space over time. It may be relocation, expansion, contagious, hierarchical, or stimulus diffusion, each producing different geographic patterns.

Spread of a trait outward through direct contact among nearby people or places, like a disease epidemic or a viral trend. It typically produces a wavelike pattern declining with distance from the origin.

Spread of a trait from larger or more powerful nodes to smaller ones, such as a fashion moving from major cities to towns. It often skips over intervening places rather than spreading contiguously.

The tendency for interaction, influence, or adoption to weaken as distance from a source increases. It reflects the friction of moving people, goods, and information across space.

The idea that distance imposes costs, time, and effort on movement and interaction, so nearer places interact more than distant ones. Transportation and communication technology reduce but rarely eliminate this friction.

A person's internal, subjective picture of a place or route, shaped by experience, culture, and information. Mental maps distort distance and detail and help explain how people navigate and perceive regions.

A mathematical method for representing Earth's curved surface on a flat map. Every projection distorts shape, area, distance, or direction, so the choice depends on the map's purpose.

The ratio between distance on a map and distance on the ground, shown as a representative fraction, graphic bar, or verbal statement. Large-scale maps show small areas in more detail than small-scale maps.

Computer software for storing, analyzing, and displaying spatially referenced data in layers. GIS supports overlay analysis, site selection, and mapping of patterns such as population or land cover.

Collecting information about Earth's surface from a distance, typically by satellites, aircraft, or drones. Imagery supports monitoring of land cover, vegetation health, urban growth, and disasters over time.

A satellite-based system that determines precise location on Earth using signals from multiple satellites. It supports navigation, surveying, and field data collection that can feed into mapping software.

The theory that Earth's lithosphere is divided into rigid plates that move over the asthenosphere. Their interactions at convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries explain earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building.

A plate boundary where two plates move toward each other. Depending on the crust involved, it produces subduction, deep ocean trenches, volcanic arcs, folded mountains, or island arcs, along with earthquakes.

A plate boundary where two plates move apart and new crust forms. On ocean floors this creates mid-ocean ridges; on continents it produces rift valleys and can eventually split a continent.

A zone where one tectonic plate sinks beneath another, usually ocean crust under continental or oceanic crust. It generates deep trenches, volcanic chains, and powerful earthquakes.

Weathering breaks rock down in place through physical, chemical, or biological processes; erosion then removes and transports the loose material. Together they shape landforms and produce sediment that is later deposited.

Work done by running water, including erosion, transport, and deposition of sediment. Streams carve valleys, build floodplains and deltas, and sort sediment by size, shaping much of the world's land surface.

The formation, movement, and retreat of glaciers and ice sheets, which erode bedrock and deposit debris. Past glaciation carved U-shaped valleys, scoured lake basins, and left moraines across many mid-latitude landscapes.

Weather is the short-term state of the atmosphere at a place; climate is the long-term average and variability of weather there. Climate patterns are described over decades, while weather changes hourly or daily.

The apparent deflection of moving air and water caused by Earth's rotation. It deflects motion to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere, shaping winds and ocean currents.

The change in precipitation caused by air rising over mountains. Windward slopes receive heavy rain or snow, while leeward slopes lie in a drier rain shadow.

Large-scale, persistent movements of ocean water driven by winds, temperature, salinity, and Earth's rotation. Warm and cold currents redistribute heat and strongly influence coastal climates.

The entire land area that drains water into a common river, lake, or ocean outlet. Watersheds are natural units for studying water flow, pollution movement, and land-use impacts.

A model describing how birth and death rates change as a society develops economically. It traces a shift from high birth and death rates through rapid growth to low rates and stable or declining populations.

A graph showing the age and sex structure of a population as horizontal bars. Its shape reveals growth potential, dependency burdens, and the effects of events such as war or migration.

Conditions that drive people away from a place (push) or attract them to another (pull), such as conflict, jobs, or family ties. Together they help explain migration streams and destination choices.

The growing share of a population living in cities and towns, along with the physical expansion of urban areas. It results from rural-to-urban migration and natural increase and reshapes land use and services.

A place where a cultural practice, technology, or crop originated and from which it spread to other areas. Examples include early agricultural centers in river valleys that seeded wider cultural diffusion.

A group of related languages descended from a common ancestral language, such as the Indo-European family. Family distributions reflect historical migration, conquest, and diffusion of speakers.

The maximum population of a species that an environment can support indefinitely given available resources and technology. Exceeding it can lead to resource depletion, degradation, or population decline.

Meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It balances economic growth, social well-being, and environmental protection in resource and land-use decisions.

Long-term shifts in temperature, precipitation, and other climate measures, currently driven largely by human greenhouse gas emissions. Effects include sea-level rise, shifting ranges, and more extreme weather.

A formula predicting interaction between two places as proportional to their populations or sizes and inversely proportional to the distance between them. It estimates flows of people, trade, or information.