70 of the Geography glossary’s terms, each with the part of the syllabus where you first meet it.
A natural resource that comes from non-living parts of the environment, such as minerals, oil, gas, sand or water, rather than from living organisms.
The loss of mass from a glacier by melting, sublimation, evaporation and calving; the zone of ablation is the lower part of a glacier, where annual losses exceed gains.
An erosion process in which material carried by a river, waves, ice or wind is scraped and bounced against a surface, wearing it away; also called corrasion.
A barrier that halts diffusion completely, so that the phenomenon cannot pass beyond it.
The share of a population using facilities that hygienically separate excreta from human contact, measured on the WHO/UNICEF ladder from open defecation to safely managed services.
The process by which a culture changes by adopting features of another, usually more dominant, culture through prolonged contact, for example with visitors or global media.
The addition of mass to a glacier by snowfall, avalanches, wind-blown snow and refreezing meltwater; the zone of accumulation is the upper part of a glacier, where annual gains exceed losses.
Precipitation, fog or dry particles made more acidic than normal by sulphuric and nitric acids formed from sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, which damage lakes, soils, forests and buildings downwind.
The surface layer of soil above permafrost that thaws each summer and refreezes each winter, from a few centimetres to several metres thick.
A sudden, sharp event that threatens a city, such as a flood, earthquake, heatwave, terrorist attack, cyber attack or disease outbreak.
Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate change and its effects, which reduces harm or makes use of new opportunities.
The ability of a society, organisation or individual to adjust to potential damage from climate change, take advantage of opportunities or respond to its consequences.
An approach in which management decisions are treated as experiments, monitored, and revised as new information about their effects becomes available.
The stage in diffusion at which a person, household or place takes up an innovation or, for a disease, becomes infected (acquisition).
An S-shaped graph of the cumulative percentage of adopters of an innovation over time, rising slowly, then rapidly, then levelling off at saturation.
Tourism that involves physical challenge and a degree of perceived risk, usually in a natural setting, such as trekking, mountaineering, white-water rafting or bungee jumping.
A suspension of tiny solid or liquid particles in the air, such as sulphate droplets, volcanic ash, soot, dust and sea salt, that can reflect or absorb sunlight and affect cloud formation.
Policies that give members of disadvantaged groups preferential access to education, jobs, contracts or political office, such as quotas or reserved seats, to reduce inequality caused by past and present discrimination.
The planting of trees on land that was not recently forested; replanting land that was recently cleared is reforestation.
A period from about 14,500 to about 5,000 years ago, often called the Green Sahara, when stronger monsoon rains turned much of the Sahara into grassland and savanna with lakes and rivers.
A population in which the proportion of people aged 65 and over is increasing and the median age is rising, mainly as a result of low fertility and rising life expectancy.
The clustering of people and economic activity in one place; agglomeration economies are the cost savings and productivity gains firms obtain from locating near each other.
Large-scale commercial farming and the businesses linked to it, including firms that supply seeds, agrochemicals and machinery and those that trade, process, manufacture and sell food.
A shortage of soil moisture during the growing season that reduces crop yields and pasture, caused by low rainfall, high evaporation or poorly timed rain.
An increase in agricultural output per unit of land, achieved by using more labour, capital, technology or inputs such as fertiliser, irrigation and improved seeds on the same area.
A situation in which a country, region or community relies on aid to meet basic needs over a long period, so that its own production, markets and institutions are weakened or fail to develop.
The presence in the atmosphere of gases or particles, from human or natural sources, at concentrations that harm human health, ecosystems or materials.
A scale that converts measured concentrations of several air pollutants into one number and category, used to tell the public how polluted the air is and what precautions to take.
The proportion of incoming solar radiation reflected by a surface, from 0 to 1 or as a percentage; fresh snow reflects about 0.8–0.9 and open ocean about 0.06.
A stage in a scale of warnings, often numbered or coloured, that tells authorities and the public how active a volcano or other hazard is and what actions, such as evacuation, to take.
A rapid increase in algae or cyanobacteria in a body of water, usually caused by excess nutrients, which discolours the water and can release toxins.
A resort where one price, usually paid in advance, covers accommodation, meals, drinks and most activities, so that guests have little need to spend money outside it.
Describes a tourist who seeks new, unfamiliar and adventurous destinations and travels independently, often before a place becomes popular (Plog's 'venturer').
A fan-shaped deposit of sediment formed where a stream or flash flood leaves a narrow valley or mountain front and spreads out onto a plain; merged fans form a bajada.
A movement that supports international co-operation and global links but seeks an alternative form of globalisation based on social justice, workers’ rights and environmental protection rather than free markets alone.
A network of producers, traders and consumers that trades outside or alongside mainstream markets on agreed social and environmental terms, such as Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance or direct trade.
An illness caused by the low oxygen pressure at high altitude, with headache, nausea, fatigue and breathlessness, usually affecting people who climb quickly above about 2,500 m.
The spread of the culture, products, brands, media and values of the United States to other countries, often seen as a form of cultural imperialism.
A value or place that does not fit the general pattern or trend of a data set, which may be caused by an error in measurement or by a real local factor.
The international agreement, signed in 1959, that reserves Antarctica for peace and science, sets aside territorial claims and, through its 1991 Environmental Protocol, bans mineral extraction.
The amount of water already held in the soil and stores of a drainage basin before a rainfall event, which strongly affects how much of the rain becomes overland flow.
Heat released into the atmosphere by human activities, such as vehicles, heating and air conditioning, industry and people’s own metabolism.
A broad, loosely organised social movement that opposes economic globalisation, especially free trade, the power of transnational corporations and the policies of international economic institutions such as the WTO, IMF and World Bank.
A political or social movement that seeks to reduce or stop immigration, or to restrict the rights of migrants, through campaigning, voting, protest and sometimes violence.
A government policy that aims to reduce the birth rate and family size, for example through family planning services, education, incentives for small families or legal limits on births.
The ability of bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites to survive drugs that once killed them, so that infections become harder or impossible to treat.
The farming of fish, shellfish, seaweed and other aquatic organisms in ponds, tanks, cages or other enclosures.
A body of permeable rock or sediment that can store water and allow it to move through it; it is unconfined when open to the surface and confined when sealed by impermeable layers.
Land cultivated to grow temporary crops such as cereals, vegetables and fodder, including land left fallow for a short period.
The faster warming of the Arctic than the world as a whole, nearly four times faster since 1979, caused mainly by snow and sea-ice loss (ice–albedo feedback) and the lapse-rate feedback.
The size of the area affected by a hazard event, from a single slope or valley to a whole region or, for ash clouds and tsunamis, an ocean basin.
A narrow, steep-sided rock ridge formed where two cirques or glacial troughs erode back towards each other.
An environment in which potential evaporation greatly exceeds precipitation, giving a water deficit for most or all of the year; its aridity index lies between 0.05 and 0.2.
A soil of arid regions that is dry for most of the year, with little organic matter and often layers of calcium carbonate, gypsum or salts near the surface.
A permanent shortage of moisture in a climate, caused by low precipitation relative to potential evaporation; a long-term characteristic of a place, unlike drought, which is temporary.
A measure of dryness equal to mean annual precipitation divided by mean annual potential evapotranspiration; below 0.05 is hyper-arid, 0.05–0.2 arid, 0.2–0.5 semi-arid and 0.5–0.65 dry sub-humid.
An island created by people by piling sand, rock or other material onto a reef or seabed, or by building a platform; under UNCLOS it generates no territorial sea or EEZ.
A raised embankment of earth, concrete or stone built along a river bank to increase the capacity of the channel and keep floodwater off the land behind it; called a dyke in the Netherlands.
Small-scale mining by individuals, families or small groups using simple tools, often informal or illegal, with little protection for workers or the environment.
The design of buildings and infrastructure so that they bend, absorb or isolate earthquake shaking without collapsing, for example through flexible frames, cross-bracing, shear walls, dampers and base isolation.
A multilateral development bank proposed by China in 2013 and operating since 2015, headquartered in Beijing, which finances infrastructure in Asia and beyond and has over 100 members.
One of the four skill areas against which geography answers are judged: AO1 knowledge and understanding, AO2 application and analysis, AO3 synthesis and evaluation, and AO4 selection and use of skills.
A process in which a minority or migrant group adopts the language, customs and values of the majority society and loses much of its distinct culture.
The weak, partly molten layer of the upper mantle beneath the lithosphere, on which the rigid plates move.
A person who has left their country and applied for international protection as a refugee in another country, and is waiting for a decision on the claim.
The Atlantic part of the global ocean conveyor belt, in which warm surface water flows north, cools and sinks in the North Atlantic, and returns south as cold deep water.
The layer of gases surrounding the Earth, held by gravity, made up mainly of nitrogen and oxygen with small amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, water vapour and other gases.
The study of how far human-caused climate change has altered the likelihood or intensity of a particular extreme weather event, by comparing today’s climate with a modelled climate without human influence.
An erosion process in which particles of load collide with each other and break into smaller, more rounded pieces.
An organised effort using media, social media, events and publicity to inform the public about an issue and change attitudes or behaviour, often the first stage of pressure on decision-makers.