A is for Avalanche
Abiotic environment: the non-living things in the environment – water, light, warmth, humidity, carbon dioxide, rocks and minerals, soil etc.
Ablation: outputs from the glacier budget such as melting
Abrasion (G): rocks trapped in the bottom of the glacier scrape away at the floor
Abrasion (R): the scraping and rubbing action o materials carried along in the load
Accumulation: inputs to the glacier budget, such as snowfall and avalanches
Adaptations: the ways that plants evolve to cope with certain environmental conditions such as excessive rainfall
Advanced factories: where buildings for production are built speculatively in the hope that their presence will encourage businesses to buy or rent an existing factory,
removing the need to find a site or suitable premises
Age structure: the proportions of each age group in a population. This links closely to the stage a country has reached in the demographic transition model
Aggregate: crushed stone made from tough rocks such as limestone, used in the construction industry an in road building
Agri-business: running an agricultural operation like an industry. Inputs and outputs are both high
Agriculture: the production of food, animal feed, fibre, fuel and other goods by the systematic growing of plants and the breeding and raising of animals
Aid: money, food, training and technology given by richer countries to help poorer ones, either to help with an emergency or to encourage long-term development
Air mass: a large body of air with relatively similar temperature and humidity characteristics
Albedo: the reflectivity of the Earth’s surface
Altitude: height above sea-level usually given in metres
Anticyclone: a high-pressure system
Aquifer: a porous layer of rock that carries water that falls in one area, below the ground surface, so that it becomes available elsewhere, ether by flowing to the surface under its own pressure or by being pumped out
Arable farming: growing crops
Arch: a headland that has been partly broken through by the sea to form a thin-roofed arch
Areas of water deficit: areas where the rain that falls does not provide enough water and there maybe shortages
Areas of water surplus: areas that have more water than is needed – often such areas receive a high rainfall total, but have a relatively small population
Arete: a knife-edge ridge
Arid: the climate of an area that receives less than 250mm of precipitation per year
Asian ‘tiger’: one of the four East Asian countries of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, where manufacturing industry grew rapidly from the 1960s to the 1990s
Assisted zones/enterprise zones: areas that qualify for government help. Enterprise zones are on a smaller scale than assisted zones
Asylum seeker: someone who has fled his or her home country to find a safe place elsewhere. Under the 1951 Convention on Refugees, an asylum applicant must be able to
demonstrate a well-founded fear or persecution in his or her country of origin for reason of political opinion, religion, ethnicity, race/nationality, or membership of a particular social group
Atmosphere: the mixture of gases, predominately nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide and water vapour, that surrounds the Earth
Attack rate: the number of cases of a disease diagnosed in an area, divided by the total population, over the period of an epidemic
Attrition: the reduction in the size of fragments and particles within a river
Avalanche: a rapid movement of a mass of snow, ice and rocks, usually in a mountainous environment
Autotroph: plant that is capable of producing its own food through photosynthesis
Ablation: outputs from the glacier budget such as melting
Abrasion (G): rocks trapped in the bottom of the glacier scrape away at the floor
Abrasion (R): the scraping and rubbing action o materials carried along in the load
Accumulation: inputs to the glacier budget, such as snowfall and avalanches
Adaptations: the ways that plants evolve to cope with certain environmental conditions such as excessive rainfall
Advanced factories: where buildings for production are built speculatively in the hope that their presence will encourage businesses to buy or rent an existing factory,
removing the need to find a site or suitable premises
Age structure: the proportions of each age group in a population. This links closely to the stage a country has reached in the demographic transition model
Aggregate: crushed stone made from tough rocks such as limestone, used in the construction industry an in road building
Agri-business: running an agricultural operation like an industry. Inputs and outputs are both high
Agriculture: the production of food, animal feed, fibre, fuel and other goods by the systematic growing of plants and the breeding and raising of animals
Aid: money, food, training and technology given by richer countries to help poorer ones, either to help with an emergency or to encourage long-term development
Air mass: a large body of air with relatively similar temperature and humidity characteristics
Albedo: the reflectivity of the Earth’s surface
Altitude: height above sea-level usually given in metres
Anticyclone: a high-pressure system
Aquifer: a porous layer of rock that carries water that falls in one area, below the ground surface, so that it becomes available elsewhere, ether by flowing to the surface under its own pressure or by being pumped out
Arable farming: growing crops
Arch: a headland that has been partly broken through by the sea to form a thin-roofed arch
Areas of water deficit: areas where the rain that falls does not provide enough water and there maybe shortages
Areas of water surplus: areas that have more water than is needed – often such areas receive a high rainfall total, but have a relatively small population
Arete: a knife-edge ridge
Arid: the climate of an area that receives less than 250mm of precipitation per year
Asian ‘tiger’: one of the four East Asian countries of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, where manufacturing industry grew rapidly from the 1960s to the 1990s
Assisted zones/enterprise zones: areas that qualify for government help. Enterprise zones are on a smaller scale than assisted zones
Asylum seeker: someone who has fled his or her home country to find a safe place elsewhere. Under the 1951 Convention on Refugees, an asylum applicant must be able to
demonstrate a well-founded fear or persecution in his or her country of origin for reason of political opinion, religion, ethnicity, race/nationality, or membership of a particular social group
Atmosphere: the mixture of gases, predominately nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide and water vapour, that surrounds the Earth
Attack rate: the number of cases of a disease diagnosed in an area, divided by the total population, over the period of an epidemic
Attrition: the reduction in the size of fragments and particles within a river
Avalanche: a rapid movement of a mass of snow, ice and rocks, usually in a mountainous environment
Autotroph: plant that is capable of producing its own food through photosynthesis
Interesting Geographical fact
The second Longest
geographical name that is accepted in the world is “Taumatawhakatangihangak
oauauotamateaturipukaka pikimaungahoronukupokaiwhe nua kitanatahu” (85 letters)
which is a hill in New Zealand