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Key terms for Theme 1
Terms used in red font are used in the specification. It would be reasonable to expect question
setters to use these terms. Other terms and their definitions have been provided by WJEC to support
those learners who are extending their range of specialist geographical terms. The lists are provided
as word documents so that you can edit them to suit the learning activities in your school.
Distinctive landscapes
Carrying capacity
The ability of a landscape to absorb the activity of people without any lasting
damage.
Honey pot sites
Places that attract many tourists and which are often congested at peak times.
Place
A geographical concept used to describe what makes somewhere special,
unique or distinct.
Scale
A geographical concept used to describe the size or area covered by a feature.
Scale varies from small (or local) through to regional, national and global.
Spatial
Patterns or geographical features that vary over two dimensions so that they
can be shown on a map.
Upland
A landscape that is hilly or mountainous. Upland landscapes contain large
areas of open space with few field boundaries.
River process and landform
Abrasion
Erosion caused by friction which occurs when a river carries sand, gravel or
pebbles and uses them to wear away the landscape.
Attrition
A type of erosion where rocks smash against each other making them smaller
and more rounded.
Deposition
The laying down of material in the landscape. Deposition occurs when the
force that was carrying the sediment is reduced.
Drainage basin
The area a river collects its water from. This is also called the river's
catchment area.
Floodplain
The flat area beside a river channel that is covered in water during a flood
event.
Gorges
Steep sided, narrow valleys often found below a waterfall.
Gulley
A narrow, V-shaped channel cut by running water on steep slopes.
Hydraulic action
Erosion caused when water and air are forced into gaps in rock or soil.
Impermeable
Soil or rock which does not allow water to pass through it, such as clay.
Interlocking spurs
A feature of V-shaped valleys where the river meanders from side to side so
that the hillsides interlock rather like the teeth of a zip.
Lateral erosion
The process by which a river can cut sideways into its own river bank.
Load
The sediment carried by a river.
Meander
A sweeping curve or bend in the river’s course.
Oxbow lake
The loop of an old meander that is no longer connected to the river channel by
flowing water.
Plunge pool
The pool of water found at the base of a waterfall. Plunge pools are erosional
features created by abrasion and hydraulic action of the plunging water.
Point bar
A river beach formed of sand and gravel that is deposited on the inside bend
of a meander.
Retreat
The gradual backward movement of a landform due to the process of erosion.
A waterfall retreats towards the source of a river as it is eroded.
Slip-off slope
The gentle slope on a river beach (or point bar) that is formed by deposition
of sediment on the inside bend of a meander.
Source
The starting point of a river.
Transport
The movement of material as it is carried by a river through the landscape.
Tributary
A smaller river which flows into a larger river channel.
Vertical erosion
When the force of water, that is wearing away the landscape, is concentrated
downwards.
Coastal process and landform
Abrasion
Erosion caused by friction when waves carry sand or pebbles and use them to
wear away the landscape.
Arches
Natural arch-shaped features in cliffs on the coastline that are formed by the
erosion of a cave in a headland.
Attrition
A type of erosion where rocks smash against each other making them smaller
and more rounded.
Backwash
The flow of water back into the sea after a wave has broken on a beach.
Deposition
The laying down of material in the landscape. Deposition occurs when the
force that was carrying the sediment is reduced.
Faults
Major cracks in rocks caused by earth movements
Fetch
The distance over which wind has blown to create waves on the sea. The
greater the fetch, the larger the waves.
Hydraulic action
Erosion caused when water and air are forced into gaps in rock or soil.
Landslide
The sudden collapse of a hillside under its own weight. Landslides are
sometimes triggered on a cliff by erosion at the foot of the slope.
Longshore drift
A process by which beach material Is moved along the coast.
Offshore bar
A feature on the sea bed formed by the deposition of sand.
Retreat
The gradual backward movement of a landform due to the process of erosion.
The coastline retreats due to the erosion of a cliff.
Rock falls
The sudden collapse of rocks from a cliff or steep slope.
Slumping
The gradual collapse of a hillside under its own weight. It occurs where an
unconsolidated rock glides over an impermeable rock type such as clay.
Spits
Coastal landforms formed by the deposition of sediment in a low mound
where the coastline changes direction, for example, at the mouth of a river.
Stacks
Natural features of an eroded cliff landscape. Stacks are formed by the
collapse of a sea arch.
Swash
The flow of water up the beach as a wave breaks on the shore.
Unconsolidated
Deposits that are only loosely compacted and which are not properly glued
together.
Wave-cut notch
A slot with overhanging rocks that has been cut into the bottom of a cliff by
wave action.
Wave-cut platform
A coastal landform made of rocky shelf in front of a cliff. The wave cut
platform is caused by erosion and left by the retreat of the cliff.
Flooding
Annual regime
The way in which a river's discharge varies throughout the year.
Cumecs
An abbreviation of cubic metres per second - which is a measure of the
discharge of a river.
Discharge
The amount of water flowing through a river channel or out of an aquifer.
Discharge is measured in cubic metres per second (cumecs).
Flash floods
Flooding caused by a sudden downpour of rain. The rain falls so quickly it
cannot soak into the ground.
Frequency
A number that describes the mean time gap between similar events such
as floods or landslides.
Groundwater (store)
Water in the ground below the water table.
Groundwater flow
The flow of water through rocks.
Hazard map
A type of plan or that shows the extent of a hazard such as flood risk.
Hydrograph
A type of line graph that shows variation in discharge of a river. Time,
which is on the horizontal axis, could be in hours, days or weeks.
Impermeable
Soil or rock which does not allow water to pass through it, such as clay.
Infiltration
The movement of rain water or snow melt into the soil.
Overland flow
The flow of water across the ground surface.
Permeability
The ability of a rock to allow water to pass through it.
Permeable
A rock which allows water to pass through it, such as limestone.
Porosity
The ability of a rock to store water in tiny air spaces (pores).
Porous
A rock which has many tiny gaps within it (pores) that allow it to store
water, such as chalk and sandstone.
Surface stores
Places where water is found on the surface such as lakes and rivers.
Throughflow
The downhill flow of water through soil.
Water cycle
The continuous flow of water between the earth's surface and the
atmosphere - also called the hydrological cycle.
Key Terms for Theme 2
Urban-rural change in the UK
Ageing population
A country which has a high proportion of people aged over 65 is said to have
an ageing population.
Brownfield site
A development site where older buildings are demolished or renovated
before a new development takes place.
Central Business
District (CBD)
The area of a town or city in which most shops and offices are clustered
together.
Counterurbanisation
The movement of people and businesses from large cities to smaller towns
and rural areas.
Commuting
The process of travelling some distance between home and work on a
regular basis.
Deprivation
A condition in which people lack some basic needs such as money, a job or
a decent home
Egan's wheel
Eight features of a community which can be used to decide how sustainable
the community might be.
Garden cities
New, planned urban areas (towns) that have village-like communities and
plenty of space for private gardens and public open space.
Green belt
A government policy used to prevent the spread of cities into the countryside.
It is very difficult to get planning permission for new homes in a green belt.
Greenfield site
A plot of land that has not been used before for building.
NIMBY
Not In My Back Yard. People who object to a development because they live
close by are said to be NIMBYs.
Second homes
Houses which are used only for holidays or at weekends. Also called holiday
cottages
Sphere of influence
The area affected by a place or event. Effects can be good or bad.
Sustainable
community
A community, in an urban or rural area, that provides a good quality of life for
residents with local jobs and local services and which is designed to have
minimum impact on the environment.
Urban-rural
continuum
A sliding scale with urban areas (cities) at one end and remote rural areas
(empty countryside) at the other.
Global Cities
Global cities
Cities that are well connected by the process of globalisation to other parts
of the world.
Globalisation
Flows of people, ideas, money and goods are making an increasingly complex
global web that links people and places from distant continents together.
Informal sector
The part of the economy is not regulated by taxes or safety rules. It includes
street jobs such as ragpicking as well as household chores and child care.
Informal
settlements
Homes where the householders have no legal rights to the land. Informal
settlements are commonly known as shanty towns or squatter homes.
Infrastructure
The basic structures and services needed by any society such as water
supplies, sewage systems, roads or bridges.
Mega-cities
Urban areas (cities) that have a population greater than 10 million people.
Multi-National
Companies (MNCs)
Large businesses, such as Sony, who have branches in several countries.
The headquarters of MNCs are usually located in global cities.
Newly
Industrialised
Country (NIC)
Countries, such as India, which have a growing middle class, a strong
manufacturing sector and rapid urban growth.
Pavement dwellers
People who live in make-shift homes on the footpaths of some developing
cities, especially in Indian cities. These are a type of informal settlement.
Pull factors
Reasons that attract migrants to move to a new home.
Push factors
Reasons that force people to move away from their existing home.
Ragpicker
Someone who collects, sorts and sells rubbish for recycling.
Rural to urban
migration
The movement of people from the countryside to towns and cities.
Slums
Sub-standard housing. This term is commonly used to describe informal
settlements in India.
Urbanisation
The physical and human growth of towns and cities.
Wholesale
clearance
The demolition of large numbers of sub-standard housing and the
redevelopment of new, better homes.
Key Terms for Theme 3
Aseismic
A description of buildings that are designed to withstand the shaking during
an earthquake.
Ash cloud
Powdered rock fragments thrown from a volcano during an explosive
eruption.
Caldera
A huge hollow in the earth’s surface caused by the collapse of a volcano
after a massive eruption.
Capacity
The ability of a group of people to withstand a natural disaster such as an
earthquake or lahar. Capacity is the opposite of vulnerability.
Cinder cone
A volcanic hill that is conical in shape. A cinder cone is formed by the
eruption of red hot lava that is thrown from the vent.
Constructive (plate
margin)
A boundary between two plates of the Earth's crust which are moving away
from one another. Divergence zone has the same meaning.
Crust
The outer layer of the Earth which is made of solid rock.
Destructive (plate
margin)
A boundary between two plates of the Earth's crust which are moving
towards one another. See constructive for the opposite type of boundary.
Divergence zones
A boundary between two plates of the Earth's crust which are moving away
from one another. Constructive plate boundary has the same meaning.
Fold mountains
Large mountain ranges that have been formed by folding as two tectonic
plates collide into one another.
Hazard map
A map or plan that shows areas at risk of volcanic or earthquake hazards.
Island arc
A group of islands formed by the eruption of volcanoes. When viewed from
space the islands make a crescent (or arc) shape in the sea.
Lahar
An Indonesian word that describes a flood of water and volcanic ash or a
mudslide down the slope of a volcano.
Lava flows
Features formed as molten rock (lava) runs away from a volcanic vent. Lava
flows often form large flat features known as lava fields.
Lava tube
A natural tunnel through solidified volcanic rocks that is formed when hot lava
flows just below the surface of the ground.
Magma
Molten, or semi-molten, rock that is stored beneath the surface of the Earth
in, for example, a magma chamber beneath a volcano.
Moment magnitude
scale (Mw)
A measure of the strength of an earthquake.
Ocean ridge
Long chains of mountains that run down the centre of several oceans.
Oceanic ridges are formed by the process of plate divergence.
Ocean trench
Long, deep gorges in the ocean floor. Oceanic trenches are formed by the
flexing of the oceanic plate during the process of subduction.
Plate margin
The boundaries of the Earth’s plates where they meet each other.
Plates
Large rigid sections of crust. The force generated by their slow movement
creates earthquakes and volcanic hazards.
Pyroclastic flows
A mixture of hot gas, ash and fragments of volcanic rock that flow quickly
down the slopes of a volcano during some explosive eruptions.
Rift valley
A steep sided valley formed by the pulling apart (or rifting) of the Earth’s
crust during plate movement.
Seismometers
Scientific instruments used to measure the strength and frequency of
earthquakes.
Shield volcano
A large volcano that has gentle slopes. Some of the volcanoes in Iceland
and Hawaii have this shape.
Slab pull
A process by which the sinking of crust at a destructive plate margin pulls
the oceanic plate away from the constructive plate margin.
Stratovolcano
A large, steep sided volcano formed from layers of solidified lava and ash
that have been built up by many different eruptions.
Subduction
The process by which one plate is destroyed as it is slowly pulled under
another plate.
Tsunami
A series of large and powerful waves caused when water is displaced by the
movement of the ocean floor/lake bed during an earthquake.
Volcanic Explosivity
Index (VEI)
A measure of the size of a volcanic eruption which is based on the amount
of ash ejected and the height of the ash cloud.
Volcanic hotspots
Areas of the Earth's crust in which volcanic activity is concentrated.
Vulnerability
The risk experienced during a natural disaster such as an earthquake. Some
groups of people in society are more vulnerable to risk than others.
Key Terms for Theme 4
Beach
replenishment
A coastal management strategy that involves taking sand from the sea bed
and adding it to a beach to make it deeper and wider.
Capacity
The ability of a group of people to withstand a problem such as coastal
flooding. Capacity is the opposite of vulnerability.
Environmental
refugees
People who have to flee their homes because of a natural disaster such as
coastal floods, drought or climate change.
Groynes
Wooden or rock structures that are added to a beach to trap sediment which
would otherwise be removed by longshore drift.
Hard engineering
Artificial structures such as sea walls or concrete river embankments.
Hazard map
A type of plan or map that shows the extent of a hazard such as flood risk.
Intertidal zone
The part of the shoreline that is between high tide and low tide.
Low Elevation
Coastal Zone (LECZ)
Flat, low-lying land close to the sea that could be at risk of coastal flooding or
sea level rise.
Managed retreat
(realignment)
A coastal management strategy in which creates a natural line of defence
against flooding which is further inland than before.
Shoreline
Management Plan
The plan that details how a local authority will manage each stretch of
coastline in the UK in the future.
Small Island
Developing States
58 small and remote islands and coastal communities that are vulnerable to
sea level rise and the effects of climate change.
Soft engineering
Alternative method of reducing floods by planting trees or allowing areas to
flood naturally.
Storm surge
The rise in sea level that can cause coastal flooding during a storm or
hurricane.
Vulnerability
The risk experienced during a natural disaster such as a coastal flood. Some
groups of people in society are more vulnerable to risk than others.