Download Glossary - Grant Wood AEA

Landforms Glossary
Unknown vocabulary is often encountered by students as they learn new
concepts in a science unit. For teacher and student understanding, we have
compiled a glossary. It includes a list of important science vocabulary words from
this unit and their definitions. The intent is not that students learn and memorize
these words and their definitions, rather that learners grow in their understanding
of these words and can use them in the context of their new learning.
Scientific Word
Aerial photograph
Alluvial fan
Bar scale
Base
Basin
Bench mark
Boundary
Canyon
Channel
Contour line
Contour interval
Delta
Cartographer
Deposition
Drainage basin
Elevation
Erosion
Definition
A photograph of the earth’s surface
taken from an airplane or spacecraft
flying above the earth.
A fan-shaped landform deposited at the
end of a steep canyon where the slop
becomes flatter. Fans are usually
found in arid regions, like Death Valley.
A ruler line on a topographic map that
shows the scale.
The bottom of a mountain.
A low area in which sediments are
often deposited.
A surveyor’s marker usually placed
permanently in the ground at a known
position and elevation.
The limit or border of an area of region.
A V-shaped valley eroded by a river or
stream.
The course or path the water takes in a
stream or river.
A line on a topographic map that
connects points of equal elevation.
The difference in elevation between
contour lines.
A fan-shaped (triangular) deposit of
earth materials at a mouth of a stream.
A person who makes maps.
The process by which eroded earth
materials settle out in another place.
A system of rivers and streams that
drains an area like the Colorado
Plateau.
The vertical distance, or height, above
sea level.
The wearing away of earth materials by
Flash flood
Flood
Glacier
Grid
Interpret
Intermittent stream
Key
Landform
Map
Meander
Model
Peak
Perennial stream
Plateau
Profile
Representative fraction
Ridge
Scale
Sea level
water, wind or ice.
A flood that rises and falls rapidly with
little or no advance warning, usually as
the result of very heavy rainfall over a
relatively small area. Flash floods can
be caused by sudden heavy rainfall,
dam failure, or the thaw of an ice jam.
A very heavy flow of water, which is
greater than the normal flow of water
and goes over the stream’s normal
channel.
A large mass or body of moving ice.
A network of vertical and horizontal
lines that form squares.
To figure out the symbols, textures,
colors, and patterns to put together an
image of the land covered by the map
A stream that has water flowing in it
only during certain times of the year.
An explanation of symbols used on a
map.
A shape or feature of the earth’s
surface, like a delta or canyon.
A drawing of an area, usually as
though you were looking straight down
on it.
A curve or loop in a channel.
A representation of an object or a
process.
The highest point of a mountain.
A stream that always has water flowing
in it.
A large, nearly level area that has been
lifted above the surrounding area.
A side view or cross-section of a
landform such as a mountain.
This tells the scale of a map as a ratio
between distance on a map to distance
in the real world.
A narrow area of high land between
two valleys.
The ratio between a measured
distance on a map to the actual
distance in the real world.
The average height of the ocean’s
surface, zero elevation.
Sediments
Slope
Structure
Surveyor
Symbol
Topographic map
Valley
Eroded earth materials that have been
deposited.
The angle of slant of a stream channel
or land surface.
Something that is built by people, like a
building.
A person that measures and marks the
distance, elevation, position, and
boundaries of land areas.
A color, shape or texture used to
represent something else on a map,
such as a building, road or landform.
A map that uses contour lines to show
the shape and elevation of the land’s
surface.
A low area between higher areas
through which a river or stream often
flows.