Absolute location: Absolute location describes the location of a place based on a fixed point on earth; the most common way is to identify the location using coordinates such as latitude and longitude
Acid sulfate soil: Common in many parts of the world, acid sulfate soils are saturated with water, almost oxygen-free and contain microscopic crystals of iron sulfide minerals; acid sulfate soils are safe and harmless when not disturbed
Active volcano: Currently erupting or likely to erupt in the future
Algal bloom: A rapid growth of microscopic algae or cyanobacteria in water, often resulting in a coloured scum on the surface
Amphibian: A cold-blooded vertebrate animal of a class that comprises the frogs, toads, newts, salamanders, and caecilians; distinguished by having an aquatic gill-breathing larval stage followed (typically) by a terrestrial lung-breathing adult stage
Anomaly: An anomaly (called ‘outlier’ in mathematics) is a data value that appears to stand out from the other members of the data set by being unusually high or low
Aspect: The compass direction that a slope faces; for example, a slope on the eastern edge of the Rockies toward the Great Plains is described as having an easterly aspect
Atmospheric hazard: Originates in the atmosphere of the Earth and includes droughts, rainfall, snowfall, winds (such as cyclones and tornadoes), hailstorm and thunderstorms
Attrition: Wearing down of the load as the rocks and pebbles hit the river bed and each other, breaking into smaller and more rounded pieces
Betterment: A resource which may be enhanced through a significant improvement or step change in the nature of this resource, e.g. building better infrastructure
Biodiversity: The variability among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems
Biodiversity hot spot: Places which are home to much of the world's biodiversity
Biogeographical region: Area of animal and plant distribution having similar or shared characteristics throughout
Biome: A large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, e.g. tropical rainforest or tundra
Bushfire: A fire in scrub or a forest, especially one that spreads rapidly
Caldera volcano: Erupt so explosively that little material builds up near the vent; eruptions partly or entirely empty the underlying magma chamber; leaves region around the vent unsupported, causing it to sink or collapse under its own weight; lava is very viscous; 650°C to 800°C; called rhyolitic magma; rare but most dangerous
Catchment: A catchment area or basin is land which is bounded by natural features such as hills or mountains from which all runoff water flows to a low point
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs): Nontoxic, nonflammable chemicals containing atoms of carbon, chlorine, and fluorine; used in the manufacture of aerosol sprays, blowing agents for foams and packing materials, as solvents, and as refrigerants
Circular eye: This is the centre of a tropical cyclone; an area characterised by light winds and often by clear skies
Climate change: A change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels
Climate system: This term describes the interconnected processes which happen in the atmosphere, on the land surface (soil and vegetation), in the hydrosphere (ocean, rivers and lakes), in the cryosphere (ice and snow) and in the biosphere
Climatological hazard: Originates in the atmosphere; long-lived climate variability which can occur on different scales and vary in length (from a seasonal occurrence to decades)
Community: A system of interacting and interdependent social groups within an area; these groups are characterised by patterns of demography, ethnicity, income, family structure, religion etc.
Composite volcano (also called strato): Characterised by explosive eruption style; formation of volcanic ash; steep sided cones; can also create lava flows, pyroclastic flows and lahars; between 800°C and 1000°C; called andesitic magma.
Condensation: The process by which water vapour in the air is changed into liquid water
Congestion (traffic congestion): A condition on transport networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing.
Conservative (plate boundary): At conservative margins, plates slide past each other, so that the relative movement is horizontal. Conservative margins are also known as transform faults. Transform faults are mainly found on the ocean floor, where they offset mid ocean ridges and enable the ocean to spread at different rates.
Convergent (plate boundary): At convergent plate margins, plates are moving towards one another
Conveyor belt (ocean currents): Global motion of the ocean caused by a combination of thermohaline currents (thermo = temperature; haline = salinity) in the deep ocean and wind-driven currents on the surface
Corrasion: Wearing away of the river bed and banks by the load hitting against them
Correlation: A mutual relationship or connection between two or more things
Corrosion (chemical action): Water dissolves minerals from the rocks and washes them away
Critically endangered: A species facing an extreme high risk of extinction because of an extremely small population of adults or a rapid decrease in population size or habitat
Dendritic drainage pattern: Occurs when the tributary systems subdivides headway like the limbs of a tree
Delta: An area of land in which a river divides into smaller rivers and empties into a larger body of water
Demand management: A planning methodology used to forecast, plan for and manage the demand for products and services
Demographic: Relating to the structure of population; e.g. statistical data about the characteristics of a population, such as the age, gender and income of the people within the population
Deposition: The dumping of rocks, sand and silt wherever the river slows down
Desertification: The transformation of fertile land into a dry, desert-like area
Desublimation: The process of a gas turning into a solid without passing through the liquid state
Digital divide: Level of connection through ICT's is not experienced equally by everyone; in some places there are more computers and mobile phones than there are people, while in other places these devices are still uncommon
Direct driver: Drivers that explicitly influence ecosystem processes, including land use change, climate change, invasive species, overexploitation, and pollution
Disaster resilience: The capacity to prevent, mitigate (lessen the gravity), prepare for, respond to and recover from the impacts of disaster
Divergent (plate boundary): At divergent plate margins, plates are moving apart and new lithosphere is being created
Dormant volcano: Currently inactive but may erupt in the future
Downstream: The direction fo or nearer to the mouth of a river
Drainage pattern: Pattern formed by the streams, rivers, and lakes in a particular drainage basin
Earthquake: A sudden violent shaking of the ground, typically causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth's crust or volcanic action
Ecological footprint: It is a calculation/ an estimate of the amount of productive land and ocean required to sustain the activities of people and communities within a settlement over the course of a year
Economic (considerations/ effects/ factors/ impacts): Economic considerations are those that involve money. Examples of economic considerations include: Income (sales, employment), profits, development/production costs, tax, prices paid by consumers, supply and demand factors etc.
Ecosystem diversity: The variation in the ecosystems found in a region or the variation in ecosystems over the whole planet; it includes the variation in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
El Niño: A sustained period (many months) of warming in the central and eastern tropical Pacific
Endangered: A species facing a very high risk of extinction because of a very small population or a rapid decrease in population size or habitat
Environmental (considerations/ effects/ factors/ impacts): Environmental factors are those that deal with the natural environment. The four major areas for consideration are: Atmosphere (the layer of gases around Earth), hydrosphere (water in all its forms), lithosphere (soil, rock, landscapes) and biosphere (living things including animals, plants and other forms of life). Examples of environmental considerations include: pollution (air, water, other), weathering and erosion (water, wind), rate of use of natural resources, weather and climate, natural hazards and threatening processes for ecosystems/ habitats/ wildlife etc.
Epicenter: Point on the earth's surface vertically above the focus, point in the crust where a seismic rupture begins
Erosion: The wearing away of materials
Estuary: Open mouth of the river, where it meets the sea
Evaporation: The process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas or vapour
Evapotranspiration: The sum of evaporation from the land surface plus transpiration from plants
E-waste: Electronic waste
Extended metabolism model: A model for assessing liveability and the environmental impact of the communities living within settlements
Extensive grazing/ farming:Extensive grazing/ farming uses land across a broad area and relies more on natural processes than human alteration of the land
Extinct: No doubt that the last individual of a species has died
Extinct in the wild: The only individuals of a particular species live in captivity
Extinct volcano: Unlikely to erupt again
Floodplain: Relatively flat land stretching from either side of a river, which may flood during heavy rain or snowmelt
Focus: Point within the earth where an earthquake rupture starts; epicenter is the point directly above it at the surface of the earth
Food security: Food security refers to the ability to sustain life through continual access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food
Freshwater storage: Freshwater existing on the land surface
Fuel cell technology: A fuel cell is like a battery in that it generates electricity from an electrochemical reaction. Both batteries and fuel cells convert chemical potential energy into electrical energy and also, as a by-product of this process, into heat energy.
GDE: Groundwater dependent ecosystem
Genetic diversity: The total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species
Geophysical hazard: A hazard originating from solid earth. This term is used interchangeably with the term geological hazard.
Global scale: Studying events which affect the entire planet, e.g. rising sea temperatures throughout the world
Global warming: The observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system and its related effects
Gorge: A deep valley caused by the wearing back of a waterfall
Groundwater discharge: The movement of water out of the ground
Groundwater flow: The movement of water in the ground
Groundwater storage: Water existing for long periods below the Earth's surface
Hot-spot volcano: Volcanoes well away from plate boundaries
Hydraulic action: Breaking away of the river bed and banks by the sheer force of the water getting into small cracks
Hydrospheric hazard: Related to water, such as wave currents, tsunamis and floods
ICT: Information and communication technologies are the broad range of technologies used for accessing, manipulating, presenting and communicating information
Indirect driver: A driver that operates by altering the level or rate of change of one or more direct drivers, for example due to changes in human population
Infiltration: The downward movement of water from the land surface into soil or porous rock
Infrastructure: The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, telephone lines, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise
Intensive grazing/ farming: Intensive grazing/ farming requires the land to be used immediately after e.g. a crop is harvested; often occurs because there is little room or time to allow areas to regenerate or repair naturally and it uses pesticides, chemical fertiliser and requires a large number of people for labour
Intergenerational: Affecting several generations
Igneous rock: Rocks formed by the cooling and solidifying of molten materials; can form beneath the Earth's surface, or at its surface, as lava
Input (in Managing Catchments unit): When water leaves a river, a drainage system etc.
Input (general meaning): What is put in, taken in, or operated on by any process or system
Interlocking spurs: Where the river winds between ridges
International scale: Studying events which affect two or more countries around the world such as e.g. Australia and Indonesia
Lahar: An Indonesian term that describes a hot or cold mixture of water and rock fragments that flows down the slopes of a volcano
La Niña: A sustained period (many months) of cooling in the central and eastern tropical Pacific
Lava: Hot molten or semi-fluid rock erupted from a volcano or fissure, or solid rock resulting from cooling of this
Least concern: Widespread and abundant (available in large quantities)
Levee: Deposit build up into high ridges
Lithospheric hazard: Occur near to the surface of the earth and include landslides, weathering, erosion, shifting, avalanches and sink holes
Liveability: Conditions in a place that make it easy or difficult to live there
Local scale: Smallest scale studied in Geography which refers to a very small area, such as e.g. studying local parks, suburbs, town or rural areas
Luxury goods: Products which are not necessary but which tend to make life more pleasant for the consumer; in contrast with necessity goods, luxury goods are typically more costly and are often bought by individuals that have a higher income or greater accumulated wealth than the average
Magma: Hot fluid or semi-fluid material below or within the earth's crust from which lava and other igneous rock is formed on cooling
Main river: Primary channel and course of a river
Mammal: All mammals have hair of some sort, as well as mammary glands; they are also warm-blooded, which means they regulate their own body temperature via a region in the brain called the neocortex; in female mammals, the mammary glands produce milk that they use to feed their young
Meander: A loop in a river channel
Mercalli scale: measures the effect of an earthquake on the earth's surface; consists of a series of certain key responses such as people awakening, movement of furniture, damage to chimneys, and finally - total destruction.
Meteorological hazard: Weather-related events, such as floods, droughts, landslides, tides, sea level rise, wind, snow, frost, extreme temperature, hail, lightning and fire
Moment Magnitude scale: Measures the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released
Multinational corporation (MNC): A company which has facilities and other assets in at least one country other than its home country; such companies have offices and/or factories in different countries and usually have a centralized head office where they coordinate global management
National scale: Studying events occurring across one single country, e.g. extreme weather events in Australia
Natural disaster: A natural event that causes great damage or loss of life
Natural hazard: A potential threat/risk/danger from natural (therefore not man-made) causes
Near threatened: Close to qualifying for one of the other status categories
Non-renewable resources: Resources that cannot be replenished in a human lifetime
Open system: A system that transfers both matter and energy across its boundary to the surrounding environment
Output (in Managing Catchments unit): When water is added to a river, drainage basin etc.
Output (general meaning): The amount of something produced by a person, machine, or industry
Oxbow lake: During floods the river cuts through the neck of a large meander and the outside bend is left as a shallow lake, called an oxbow lake
Pathogen: A bacterium, virus, or other microorganism that can cause disease
pH: One of the most common water quality tests performed; pH indicates the sample's acidity but is actually a measurement of the potential activity of hydrogen ions (H+) in the sample. pH measurements run on a scale from 0 to 14, with 7.0 considered neutral. Solutions with a pH below 7.0 are considered acids.
Political (considerations/ effects/ factors/ impacts): Political considerations are concerned with activities which have to do with government policy and its administration that has the potential to change or influence people living in a country. For example, new legislation is one potential political consideration because it can impact people's lives by either requiring or prohibiting them to act in a particular way. Another example is colonial influences that will influence trading links, and relationships with other countries.
Precipitation: Water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail
Primary effects: Occur as a result of the process itself; e.g. water damage during a flood or collapse of buildings during an earthquake, landslide or tropical cyclone etc.
Pristine: Pristine means ‘untouched’ or ‘still in their original condition’
Public transport: A form of transportation that can be used by any member of the public, whether free of charge or for a fee
Pyroclastic flow: A fast-moving current of hot gas and rock (collectively known as tephra), which reaches speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 700 km/h
Radial drainage pattern: Occurs when the tributaries flow radially outward and downward from a central topographic high
Rectangular drainage pattern: Identified by its main streams and their tributaries displaying many right-angle bends and exhibiting sections of approx. the same length
Recycled water: Treated wastewater sourced from a wastewater treatment plant
Regional scale: Scale depends on what is being studied but is between a local and a national scale, e.g. studying coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef or studying Hunter Valley in New South Wales
Relative location: A point or place in relation to another point or place
Renewable resources: Resources that can be replenished in a relatively short amount of time through reproduction or other biophysical processes
Resilience: The capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness
Respiration: The process plants and animals use to turn sugars (such as glucose) into the energy they need for growth, movement and other biological processes
Richter scale: A mathematical device to compare the size of earthquakes, determined from the logarithm of the amplitude of waves recorded by seismographs
River discharge: Water flowing out of the river
River mouth: The place where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake, or an ocean
River source: The beginning of a river (also called the headwaters)
River system: The larger networks of streams, lakes and rivers that are part of a larger river's network of tributaries and distributaries
Rural: Relating to or characteristic of the country, country life, or country people
Salinity: The saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water; usually referring to a high level of salt in the soil, which kills plants
Saltation: Small stones which the water cannot lift, bounce off each other and are carried forward for short distances by the water above the river bed
Scatter graph: Shows the relationship (correlation) between two variables or 'factors'.
Secondary effects: Occur only because a primary effect has caused them; e.g. fires ignited as a result of earthquakes, disruption of electrical power and water service as a result of a tropical cyclone or flood, or flooding caused by a landslide into a lake or river etc.
Sediment: Matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid
Sedimentary rock: Rock formed by the accumulation of sediments
Sedimentation: The process of settling or being deposited as a sediment; e.g. sediments in waterways are particles of soils that have been washed from farms, construction and development sites, road stockpiles, sewage effluent and other sources
Seepage: The slow escape of a liquid or gas through porous material or small holes
Seismograph: An instrument that measures and records details of earthquakes, such as force and duration
Sequestration: Thetrappingofachemicalintheatmosphereorenvironmentanditsisolationinanaturalorartificialstoragearea; for example carbonsequestrationcanreduceglobalwarming
Settlement: A settled community; instead of being nomadic
Shield volcano: Eruptions are gentle with considerable amounts of magma reaching the surface to form lava flows; broad, flattened dome-like shape; lava flows easily and therefore can move down gradual slopes over great distances; between 800°C and 1200°C; called basaltic magma
Site (in Geography): The actual location of a settlement on the earth which is composed of the physical characteristics of the landscape specific to the area; site factors include things like landforms, climate, vegetation types, availability of water, soil quality, minerals, and even wildlife
Snowmelt runoff: Melting snow and ice runoff over the landscape and into rivers
Social (considerations/ effects/ factors/ impacts): Social considerations are those that impact directly on people. Examples of social considerations are: Groups of people (individuals, families, communities, nations, world), education, health, employment, law and order, housing, type of government and personal freedom etc.
Soil erosion: Removal of topsoil faster than the soil-forming processes can replace it
Solution: When the river dissolves minerals from the rocks they are carried in the water itself
Space junk: Also called space debris, space waste, space trash, or space litter is the collection of defunct human-made objects in earth orbit, such as old satellites, spent rocket stages, and fragments from disintegration, erosion, and collisions – including those caused by the space junk itself
Species diversity: The number of different species that are represented in a given community
Spring: A place where a concentrated discharge of groundwater flows at the ground surface
Streamflow: The flow of water in a stream or river
Sub-catchment: Part of large catchment areas; can be bordered by low hills and ridges and drained by only a small creek or gully
Subduction zone: Place where two tectonic plates come together, one riding over the other, usually a continental and an oceanic plate
Sublimation: The conversion between the solid and the gaseous phases of matter, with no intermediate liquid stage
Supply chain: A supply chain is the journey of a product or raw material from its source to the consumer
Surface runoff: Precipitation runoff over the landscape
Suspension: If particles are small enough the river can lift them and carry them long distances
Sustainability: The wise use of resources so they are available indefinitely into the future; society, economy and environment must all be carefully considered
Tertiary effects: Long-term effects that are set off as a result of a primary event; include things like loss of habitat caused by a flood, permanent changes in the position of river channel caused by flood, crop failure caused by a volcanic eruption etc.
Theory of plate tectonics: Theory that the outer rigid layer of the earth (the lithosphere) is divided into a couple of dozen "plates" that move around across the earth's surface relative to each other, like slabs of ice on a lake
Toxic algal bloom: A result of accelerated eutrophication; accelerated eutrophication occurs where excess nutrients make their way into inland and coastal waters, allowing increased growth of algae
Traction: Quite large stones can be rolled or dragged along the river bed by the force of the water
Traffic congestion: A condition on transport networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times and increased vehicular queuing
Transpiration: The process by which moisture is carried through plants from roots to small pores on the underside of leaves, where it changes to vapor and is released to the atmosphere
Transportation network: Refers to the organisation of transportation infrastructure like roads or railways through an area
Trellis drainage pattern: Occurs where subparallel streams erode a valley along the strike of less resistant formations
Tributary: A smaller stream or river that joins a larger or main river
Tropical cyclone: Low pressure systems that form over warm tropical waters and have gale force winds (sustained winds of 63 km/h or greater and gusts in excess of 90 km/h) near the centre
Turbidity: Considered as a good measure of the quality of water; Turbidity is a measure of the degree to which the water loses its transparency due to the presence of suspended particulates. The more total suspended solids in the water, the murkier it seems and the higher the turbidity.
Upstream: The direction of or nearer to the source of a river
Urban: Relating to or designating a city or town
Urban consolidation: Building up existing urban areas rather than moving people to the edges of the city
Urban sprawl: Growth of housing at the edge of the city
Urbanisation: The increase in the proportion of people living in towns and cities
Volcano: A mountain or hill, typically conical (having the shape of a cone), having a crater or vent through which lava, rock fragments, hot vapour, and gas are or have been erupted from the earth's crust
V-shaped valley: Produced in the upper course because the river cuts down faster than the surrounding slopes are eroded
Vulnerable: A species facing a high risk of extinction because of a small population or a rapid decrease in population size or habitat
Wastewater: Defined as the water-borne wastes of a community
Watershed: A tract of land drained by a river and its tributaries
Watershed boundary: Marks the outer-most limit of a watershed (also called a drainage divide)
Wetlands: Low-lying areas saturated with water for long enough periods to support vegetation adapted to wet conditions
Yield: Yields are the amount of useful product gained from a unit of land or an animal