Geography & Climatology Glossary: Key Terms Explained

Posted on Mar 30, 2025 in Geology

Geography & Climatology Glossary

  • Alcornoke: Evergreen hardwood with thick bark, used for cork, growing in siliceous soils with high rainfall.
  • Flurry: Mobile deposit left by a water course formed by boulders.
  • Thermal Amplitude: Difference between maximum and minimum temperatures.
  • Anticyclone: Mass of high atmospheric pressure; pressure decreases from the center outwards, exceeding 1013 millibars.
  • Aridity: Condition resulting from a lack of rainwater.
  • Avenida / Flood: River flood flow.
  • Badland: Formation of deep cuts into slopes.
  • Windward: The side from which the wind comes.
  • Gully: Groove runoff made in soft materials.
  • Flow Rate: Amount of water passing a point on a stream in a second.
  • Hill Witness: Isolated terrain elevation, regardless of its structure.
  • Cirque: Hollow mountain due to glaciation below the crests.
  • Climate: Set of meteorological phenomena characterizing a state of the atmosphere and its evolution.
  • Jet Stream: Winds located in a section of the atmosphere, blowing west to east.
  • Catchment Area: Geographic space feeding a stream, drained by it.
  • Delta: Landform created by marine sedimentary alluvium transported by a river.
  • Depression / Gale: Mass of air with low atmospheric pressure, below 1013 millibars.
  • Dune: Relief of sand built by the wind; an aeolian sedimentary form.
  • Fohn Effect: Warm and dry wind zone appearing in low pressure located on a mountain slope.
  • Orographic Effect: Occurs in the mountains and affects temperature due to decreasing temperature with altitude.
  • Climate Elements: Essential components for weather, including temperature, rain, wind, and pressure.
  • Climate Factor: Causes of climate, including astronomical, geographical, and thermodynamic factors.
  • Holm Oak: Evergreen tree representing the Mediterranean forest, accommodating various soils.
  • Endorheic: Characteristic of regions where the hydrographic network sheds or loses water internally.
  • Erosion: Action of wearing away the land surface by erosive agents.
  • Sclerophyllous: Vegetation with hard, leathery leaves, adapted to dry conditions.
  • Drought: Significantly decreased flow of a river.
  • Evapotranspiration: Combined loss of soil moisture through biological and physical processes.
  • Exorheic: Opposite of endorheic; rivers flow into the sea or ocean.
  • Fault: Fracture or break in the Earth’s crust.
  • Graben: Depression due to faults and fractures.
  • Garrigue: Mediterranean vegetation formation on calcareous soils interspersed with scrub oaks.
  • Vertical Gradient: Temperature drop with altitude, approximately 0.6°C per 100 meters.
  • Incised Meander: Deeply cut river bend, usually due to hard rock erosion.
  • Insolation: Quantity of solar irradiation received by a surface.
  • Isobars: Lines joining points with the same pressure.
  • Isotherms: Lines joining points with the same temperature.
  • Isohyets: Lines joining points with the same rainfall.
  • Karst: Predominantly limestone terrain folded during the Tertiary period.
  • Massif: High relief set of peaks.
  • Maki: Dry Mediterranean plant formation in Spain.
  • Marsh: Partially flooded lowland waters near the sea.
  • Air Mass: Limited part of the troposphere with defined characteristics.
  • Meander: Curve described by the course of a river or valley due to river erosion.
  • Plateau: Large extension of little rugged terrain above +500 meters.
  • Oceanicity: Influence of oceanic water masses on climate.
  • Continentality: Influence of land masses in making weather more extreme.