Geography technical vocabulary
Here are a list of technical vocabulary your child might encounter during their geography journey at Sherwood.
Vocabulary is taught throughout the units of work and children are encouraged to explore new vocabulary.
- active volcano: a volcano that has had an eruption in the last 10,000 years, and it is possible it may erupt in the future
- altitude: the height of something above sea level
- Amazon Basin: the area drained by the River Amazon and all of its tributaries
- Amazon River: the longest river in South America. It flows through Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil
- ancient: something that belongs to the past, and is often no longer in existence
- Antarctic: a polar region in the South Pole
- Antarctic circle: imaginary line/circle about 66.5° south of the Equator
- Arctic: a polar region in the North Pole
- Arctic circle: imaginary line/circle about 66.5° north of the Equator
- bay: an indentation of a shoreline. Usually of softer rock
- beach: a landform by the sea. usually sand and/or rock
- biome: geographical area defined by its climate, plant and animal life and the activities of the people who live there
- Channel: a landform, it is the outline of the path that a river takes
- city: a large town or human settlement.
- cliff: a vertical or near vertical rock feature, usually on the coast
- climate: weather patterns in a place over a long period, such as seasonal rainfall, sunshine and temperatures
- clock: an instrument for measuring and recording time
- coast: the region where land meets sea
- colour words: red, brown, yellow, green etc.
- common: land that everyone can use
- compass points: points on a magnetic compass marking the four main directions: North, South, East, West
- condensation: the change of a state of matter – from gas to liquid
- confluence: the meeting of two or more streams of water
- continent: land mass defined by physical, human, or cultural features: Europe, Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Oceania, North America or South America
- coral: marine invertebrates that typically live in compact colonies in the sea
- country: political area defined by physical, human or cultural features
- crater: a cup-shaped depression in the surface of the earth, caused by volcanic activity’
- day: time from sunrise to sunset each day, in relation to the Earth’s rotation on its axis
- descriptive temperature words: warm, cold, cool, dry, hot etc.
- desert: A dry area of land which receives very little rain or precipitation
- dock: a structure for handling boats and ships and their cargo
- dormant volcano: a volcano that has not erupted in the last 10,000 years, but it is possible that it will erupt in the future
- drought: period with very little or no rain
- dunes: sandy mounds by the sea or in a desert
- earthquake: movements, fractures and vibrations in the earth’s crust as tectonic plates move
- endangered: a species which is at risk of becoming extinct
- environment: conditions to which a plant, animal or person is adapted
- equator: imaginary line/circle of latitude around the Earth, midway between North and South Poles, dividing the Earth into Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Equator lies at 0° latitude: the midday Sun is always high in the sky. Because the sun is never far from being overhead, the Sun’s rays are very concentrated and so temperatures are high
- erosion: a process where the surface of the earth is worn away by, e.g. water, wind, waves etc.
- eruption: the ejection of rock and gas from a volcano
- estuary: where the mouth of a river broadens as it meets the sea
- evaporation: the change of a state of matter – from liquid to gas
- extinct volcano: a volcano that has not had an eruption in the last 10,000 years, and will not erupt in the future
- far: distant
- farm: where animals and crops are raised and grown
- fauna: animals native to an area, such as birds, reptiles and insects
- flora: plants native to an area, such as trees, climbers, flowers and grasses
- forest: large area covered with trees
- glacier: a mass of ice that moves very slowly down from mountains
- Global Positioning Systems (GPS): internationally used way of pinpointing an exact location on the Earth’s surface using space-based satellite technology
- grassland: large area covered with grasses
- harbour: a sheltered port where boats can dock
- headland: promontory of land jutting into the sea. Usually of harder rock
- high street: an area of a town where many of the shops and businesses are found
- human feature: Somethignt that has been built by humans and would not have existed in nature without humans.
- infiltration: the process where water seeps into the ground (soil or rock)
- International Date Line (iDl): a line of latitude. It is an imaginary north-to-south line/circle running through the Pacific Ocean, approximately along the 180° meridian from avoiding land
- key: symbols on a map, and what they mean
- latitude: imaginary horizontal line used to show NSS position on the Earth’s surface
- lava: molten, fluid rock that is ejected from a volcano and solidifies as it cools
- lines of latitude: imaginary parallel lines/circles, horizontal to the Equator, that never meet, and get smaller towards the Poles
- lines of longitude: imaginary north-to-south lines/ circles, meeting at the North and South Poles to make segments. They are all the same length and go from pole to pole
- longitude: imaginary vertical line used to show E-W position on the Earth’s surface
- man-made: something built by humans
- map: plan of a place, from above
- migration: the movement of people or animals from one place to another
- modern: something that belongs to the present
- mountain: large landform, often with a peak, rising and earth rising high above the surrounding area; higher and steeper than a hill
- mountain range: a chain of mountains
- natural: the opposite of man-made, something created naturally through a process of the earth, such as wind, water, volcanoes, earthquakes or plants growing.
- near: close
- night: time from sunset to sunrise each day, in relation to the Earth’s rotation on its axis
- North Pole: the most northerly place of the Earth
- north, south, east, west: compass points, locational vocabulary
- Northern Hemisphere: half of the Earth north of the Equator
- ocean: a body of salt water
- often: many times
- Ordnance Survey (OS) grid references: the UK is covered by a grid of maps that are given letters.
- park: land or large garden where people walk or play
- passport: a document that entitles you to travel to different countries.
- peak: the top of a mountain
- percolation: the movement of rainwater through soil and rock
- Physical feature: naturally occurring, e.g. rivers, mountains, lakes
- pier: a structure built on posts that extends out to sea
- plan: outlines of a room or rooms, from above
- plant: a living organism that gets its food through photosynthesis
- plate boundary: where two tectonic plates meet
- port: a place where ships load or unload
- precipitation: forms of water that fall through the sky, e.g. rain, snow, sleet etc.
- Prime Meridian (Greenwich Meridian, PM): imaginary line/circle passing through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, London, marking 0° longitude
- processed: food that has been treated by chemicals or changed in some way
- promenade: a public walk by the seaside
- quay: a solid structure built parallel to the shoreline where boats can dock
- rainfall: measured level of water that has fallen as rain, snow, sleet or hail in a given period
- rarely: not often
- remote: a location far away from cities or towns – away from people and populations
- Richter scale: a scale to measure the magnitude of an earthquake
- river: natural watercourse, flowing downhill towards the sea, ocean or a lake
- rock pool: an area by the shoreline that is filled with seawater at high tide, and exists as a separate pool at low tide
- Rockies: another name for the Rocky Mountains These are a mountain range in North America that stretches N-S across Canada and the USA
- run-off: water that flows over the earth and does not evaporate away or filter into the ground
- salt marsh: a coastal wetland that flooded by salt water at high tide and drained at low tide’
- sand: Fine particles of rocks and stones
- school: building where children learn
- scree: a pile of rock material that has eroded off a cliff and fallen to the base
- seaside: a tourist resort by the coast
- seasons: a time of year marked by certain conditions: spring, summer, autumn, winter
- slum: a densely-populated and run-down area of a city, associated with poverty
- source: the original point where a river begins
- South Pole: the most southerly place of the Earth.
- Southern Hemisphere: half of the Earth south of the Equator
- symbol: picture on a map to show a feature on land
- tectonic plate: a massive slab of rock that ‘floats’ on top of the mantle (and inner layer) of the Earth
- temperature: measured level of heat or cold in the air
- tide: the periodic rise and fall of the sea caused by the movement of the moon and the sun
- time zone: area between lines of longitude following a standard time
- tourism: a worldwide industry based on travel for leisure, pleasure, business, and other reasons that provides information, amenities, attractions, accommodation etc.
- tributary: a river or stream that flows into a larger river
- tropic of Cancer: imaginary line/circle about 23.5° north of the Equator; the furthest north where the Sun appears overhead once a year
- tropic of Capricorn: imaginary line/circle about 23.5° south of the Equator; the furthest south that the Sun appears overhead once a year.
- tropical: to do with the region on either side of the Equator, between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn
- tsunami: a series of waves of water caused by the movement of tectonic plates below the surface
- tundra: land where the soil beneath the surface is frozen all year and trees cannot survive the low temperatures and short growing season
- vegetation: area where similar types of plant life grow, adapted to the conditions there
- village: place where people live, smaller than a town.
- volcano: a vent in the earth’s crust where lava, steam and ash is ejected during an eruption.
- weather: conditions in the atmosphere on a particular day, such as temperature, windiness, rainfall, hours of sunshine or cloud cover.
- weather words: sun, rain, clouds, rainbow etc.
- wetland: swamp or marsh near a river or coast
- wild: land not farmed, used for parks or gardens, or built on
- wood: land covered with trees, smaller than a forest