Key Terms in Geomorphology and Earth Sciences
Albufera
Albufera: A shallow, brackish lagoon formed by a sandbar along a low-lying coast.
Anticline
Anticline: A dome-shaped fold in which the oldest materials are at the core.
Asthenosphere
Asthenosphere: The inner layer of the Earth, below the lithosphere, where convection currents are produced.
Badlands
Badlands: A badly eroded, hilly relief in arid clay areas, dominated by gullies caused by water streams and sparse vegetation.
Caldera
Caldera: A large, circular or elliptical depression in volcanic terrain, originating from the collapse of volcanic edifices.
Canyon
Canyon: A narrow valley with vertical flanks, carved deep by a river, predominantly in limestone areas.
Cerro Witness
Cerro Witness: A residual relief that has been isolated by fluvial erosion and provides testimony of a former tabular platform.
Cirque
Cirque: A semicircular basin caused by glacial erosion.
Volcanic Cone
Volcanic Cone: A volcanic mountain formed around the emission point of a crater.
Range
Range: A very long mountain range.
Range of Folding
Range of Folding: A large alignment of mountains that rose during the Alpine orogeny when folded Tertiary sedimentary materials, deposited at the edges of the baseboards, were folded.
Crest
Crest: A sharp, linear summit of rocks with steep slopes.
Dolina or Torca
Dolina or Torca: A closed, circular karst depression.
Graben
Graben: A sunken area in the Earth’s crust between two or more parallel faults, with a length greater than its width.
Geomorphology
Geomorphology: The science that deals with the geographical study of relief, including its forms, development, modeling, and origin.
Horst
Horst: A block raised between two deep faults during tectonic activity.
Ibon
Ibon: A glacial lake that may appear in the cirque or in some parts of the tongue.
Lapiaz or Lenar
Lapiaz or Lenar: A network of grooves formed by the dissolution of water streams in limestone crags.
Lithology
Lithology: The science that studies the characteristics of rocks.
Lithosphere
Lithosphere: The rigid, outermost layer of the Earth, which includes the crust and upper mantle.
Hesperian Massif
Hesperian Massif: A massif formed in the Paleozoic Era, which occupied much of the central and western part of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the structure around which the peninsular relief is organized.
Malpais
Malpais: Uneven volcanic surfaces formed by solidified viscous lava, resulting in barren landscapes.
Karst Modeling
Karst Modeling: A landscape and relief set formed by the dissolution of limestone in contact with slightly acidic water.
Orogeny
Orogeny: A set of forces and pressures on the crust that fold and fault strata.
Peneplain
Peneplain: An extensive, almost flat, and gently undulating area produced by a prolonged process of erosion, formed by old and worn materials, where occasional residual relief can be found.
Foothills
Foothills: A gently sloping surface formed at the foot of a mountain by the accumulation of alluvium, acting as a transition zone between the mountain and the plain.
Fold
Fold: An undulation of rock caused by compressive forces on plastic materials of the crust.
Polje
Polje: A large karst depression with a flat bottom, bounded by more or less abrupt edges, usually traversed by rivers.
Relief
Relief: The set of forms presented on the Earth’s surface.
Ria
Ria: A submerged river valley, either partially or entirely, due to changes in sea level or the sinking of the landmass.
Sima
Sima: A narrow, funnel-shaped karst opening that widens on the limestone surface and communicates with caves and underground galleries.
Syncline
Syncline: A concave fold whose core is made up of the most modern materials of the folded series.
Basement
Basement: A plain or plateau that was formed in the Pyrenean mountain ranges and emerged to erode during the Hercynian orogeny.