Here, is the best place for you to download Glossary of Geographical Terms PDF
Free Download. Jibikadisari give you All competitive exam Special free
Glossary of Geographical Terms Pdf like Police exams, Railway exams, Psc
exam, Civil exams, Indian Post exams, SSC exams, UPSC exams, RBI exams,
Group-D exams, Indian Army exams, or any other entrance exam. Glossary of
Geographical Terms Pdf is very important for Preparation all
examinations. You can also download GK, GI, Math, Question Paper, Current
Affairs, etc Pdf format free of cost on our website. Visit this
www.jibikadisari.com to Download Glossary of Geographical Terms The
direct link Of this Glossary of Geographical Terms has been given below.
Glossary of Geographical Terms
Ablation: Loss of ice in the body of a glacier through melting etc.
Abrasion: Erosion of rocks by water, wind or ice (glacier).
Absolute humidity: Amount of water vapour present in a unit volume of
air; usually expressed as grams per cubic metre.
Advection: Transfer of heat through horizontal movement of air.
Aeolian: Relating to or caused by wind. Example, aeolian landforms.
Alluvium: The fine debris transported and deposited by a river.
Landforms formed by deposition of such material are called alluvial
landforms, for example, alluvial plains. Soils formed through river
deposition are called alluvial soils.
Altimeter: A type of aneroid barometer for measuring height, used
mainly in aeroplanes.
Anemometer: An instrument used for measuring wind velocity.
Anticline: The arch or crest of a fold in the rocks. Its opposite is
a syncline, the bottom of a fold.
Antipodes: Two points diametrically opposite on the surface of earth.
Aphelion: The position of the earth in its orbit when it is at its
greatest distance from the sun. At its nearest distance from the sun the
earth is said to be in perihelion.
Apogee: The position of the moon or any other heavenly body, when it
is at its greatest distance from the earth. At its shortest distance from
the earth the moon is said to be in perigee.
Asteroids or planetoids: Minor planets revolving around the sun
between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Also Read- Books and Authors MCQ Questions Answers
Atmosphere: The envelope of air surrounding the earth. The most
abundant among its constituents are nitrogen and oxygen.
Atoll: A ring or horseshoe-shaped coral reef.
Attrition: Mutual wearing down of rock particles during
transportation by wind, water or ice.
Aurora Australis and Aurora Borealies: The light phenomena seen in
the sky at night in the higher latitudes of the southern and northern
hemisphere respectively. Aurora comprises an electrical discharge and is
usually accompanied by a magnetic storm.
Avalanche: Alarge mass of snow and ice at high altitude, sliding
downslope on a mountain. Usually a large amount of rock material is also
involved in an avalanche.
Azonalsoil: Soil which has not been subjected sufficiently to soil
forming processes and thus has changed little from the parent material. Such
soils do not have a mature profile.
Barometer: Instrument used for measuring pressure. A self - recording
barometer giving a continuous record of pressure conditions in the form of a
line graph is called a barograph and the graph thus provided is called a
barogram.
Barysphere, Bathysphere or Centrosphere: Inner portion of the earth
below the lithosphere or outer crust.
Base level: The lowest level to which a river can deepen its valley.
It is the level of the surface of the water body, a lake or sea, in which
the stream finally falls.
Beach: A gently sloping strip of land along the coast. This lies
between the high and low tide levels and is formed by depositional action of
waves.
Bearing: The horizontal angle between the direction of an object and
the meridian through the observer, measured in degrees (zero to 360)
clockwise from the north.
Beufort scale: A scale identifying wind strength. The lowest point on
the scale is zero which refers to calm conditions and the highest is 12
referring to a hurricane.
Biogeography: Study of geographical distribution of plants and
animals.
Biosphere: That portion of the earth and its environment occupied by
various forms of life.
Blizzard: Astorm of powdery snow in the polar regions.
Bog: An area of soft, wet, spongy ground consisting mainly of decayed
or decaying moss and other vegetable matter.
Bora: A cold and often dry wind experienced along the eastern coast
of the Adriatic Sea.
Bore: A high tidal wave causing backflow of water in river.
Caatinga: Thorn - forest of Brazil.
Canyon: A narrow, deep, steep - sided river valley cut in the soft
rocks.
Cape: A headland, a more or less pointed piece of land jutting out
into the sea.
Cardinal points: The four main directions of the compass.
Cartography: The art of drawing maps and charts.
Celestial equator: The imaginary circle formed by the intersection of
a plane through the centre of the earth perpendicular to its axis and the
celestial sphere.
Celestial sphere: A sphere of infinite radius having its centre at
some point in the solar system, for example, at the centre of the earth, on
to which all members of the solar system may be projected.
Chaparral: The low, dense scrub, characteristic of Mediterranean type
of climatic regions.
Chronometer: An accurate time - keeping instrument.
Climate: The average weather conditions of region throughout the
seasons.
Climatology: The science studying climates and their influence on
other components of the environment.
Geograp Clinometer: An instrument used for determining the difference
in elevation between two points.
Cloud: A mass of tiny water droplets or ice crystals formed by
condensation of water vapour in the atmosphere.
Condensation: The process by which a substance changes from vapour to
liquid.
Condensation nuclei: Microscopic particles having an affinity for
water. These serve as the nuclei for the formation of raindrops. The
presence of these particles in the atmosphere is necessary for condensation
to occur.
Coniferous: Cone - bearing plants with needle - shaped leaves.
Corinate water: Water entrapped in the interstices of rocks during
their formation ; also called fossil water.
Convection: The uplift of air as a result of surface heating or
instability due to other reasons. Generally this term refers to vertical
movement of gases in contrast to advection.
Convection currents: Due to instability in air some vertical motions
in the atmosphere are set up which are more or less in the form of currents.
Coral: A kind of rock formed of polyps forming reefs in the oceans.
Colour of the sky: Seems blue because of the selective scattering of
light in the atmosphere by gases and dust particles.
Deciduous forest: Consists of trees that shed their leaves in the dry
season.
Downs: Grasslands of Australia.
Denudation: Wearing away of rocks by various agencies like wind,
water and ice (glaciers).
Eclipse: Partial or full obscuring of the moon when the earth comes
between the sun and the moon is called lunar edipse. It occurs usually on
the day of the full moon.
A partial or complete obscuring of the sun because of the presence of the
moon between the sun and the earth is called the solar eclipse and it occurs
on the day of the new moon, that is, on the day the moon is not visible.
Ecliptic: The apparent track of the sun throughout the year as a
result of the motion of the earth around it. The plane of the ecliptic is
the plane passing through this path and is coincident with the plane of the
earth's orbit.
Ecology: Studies of organisms in relation to their environment.
Edaphic: Relating to soil.
Eluviation: Removal of material in solution or suspension from the
upper horizons of the soils to the lower.
Epicentre: Point on the surface of the earth vertically above the
seismic focus or deep focus, that is, the point where an earthquake
originates. Estuary Mouth of a river where tidal effects are evident and
where fresh water and sea water mix. The term also refers to river valleys
which have been flooded by sea due to coastal subsidence.
Eustatic movement: A large scale rise or fall of sea level.
Evapotranspiration: The term signifies total loss of water (moisture)
from soil in the form of water vapour, including that lost by evaporation
from open water bodies, the surface of rocks and also that lost by
transpiration from growing plants.
Fathometer: Instrument used for measuring the depth of the ocean.
Fauna: The animal life of a region or a geological period.
Fiord: Aglacial valley or part there of now under the sea.
Flood-Plain: A plain bordering a river and formed by river
deposition.
Flora: The plant life of a region or geological period. Fluvial
Belonging or relating to a river.
Fog: A dense mass or small water drops or smoke or dust particles in
the lower layers of the atmosphere. Geosyncline A large depression or trough
in the earth's crust, that is a syncline on a large scale.
Geyser: A thermal spring which throws up a jet of hot water and steam
intermittently.
Glacier: A moving mass of ice.
Gorge: A narrow and deep valley of a river.
Great circle: A circle on the earth's surface whose plane passes
through its centre and thus bisects it into two hemispheres.
Great circle route: A route between any two points on the earth's
surface which follows the great circle between them. Gulf A large, deep bay.
Habitat: Natural environment of a plant or animal.
Halophyte: A plant which grows naturally in saline environment.
Hemisphere: One half of the earth's surface, formed when a plane
passing through its centre bisects it.
Hinterland: Area from which a port gets most of its exports.
Horse latitudes: Subtropical belt of high pressure over the oceans.
Humidity: State of the atmosphere with respect to the water vapour it
contains.
Humus: Decomposed and partly decomposed organic matter in the soil.
Hydrology: The study of the water content on the earth.
Hyetograph: A self - recording rain - gauge.
Hygrometer: Instrument used for measuring humidity in the atmosphere.
Hygrophyte: Plant growing in wetlands.
Iceberg: A mass of land ice which has been broken off or carved from
the end of a glacier and is afloat in the sea.
Illuviation: Deposition, in the lower soil horizon, of material
removed by eluviation from the upper horizons of the soil.
Insolation: Energy radiated from the sun received by the earth.
International date line: The line approximating to 180° East or West
longitude, where the date changes by one day as it is crossed. The date is
one day earlier east of this line.
Intertropical convergence zone or inter-tropical front: Zone of low
atmospheric pressure near the equator where the northeast and southeast
trade winds converge.
Intrazonal soil: Soil which has been influenced in its development,
less by climate and vegetation than by factors like parent material and
drainage.
Karst region or Karstland: Limestone region in which most of the
drainage is underground, the surface being dry and barren. Katabatic wind
Local wind caused by the flow of air down mountain slopes and valleys.
Lagoon: Part of sea partially cut off from it by deposits of sand or
coral reefs, viz. Chilika Lake in Odisha.
Lapse rate: The rate of change of temperature in atmosphere with
height ; it is said to be positive when temperature decreases with height,
as it normally does, and negative when temperature increases with height, as
in temperature inversion.
Latitude: The angular distance of a point on the earth's surface
north or south of the equator, as measured from the centre of the earth.
Latitudinal lines are also called parallels of latitude.
Leaching: The process by which soluble substances are washed out of
the upper layers of the soils into lower layers by percolating rainwater.
Leeward: The side or direction sheltered from the wind.
Light year: Distance travelled by light in one year, the speed being
1,86,000 miles per second. The unit is used for measuring the distance of
stars from the earth.
Lithosphere: The solid crust of the earth.
Loess: A deposit of fine silt or dust generally held to have been
transported to its present situation by wind.
Longitude: The angular distance measured along the equator, between
the meridian through a given point and a standard or prime meridian.
Lunar month: The interval of time in which the moon makes one
complete revolution around the earth - about 29.5 days.
Magnetic storms: Large, irregular variations or disturbances in the
earth's magnetic field. Meridian A line of longitude, or half of one of the
great circles that pass through the poles and cut the equator at right
angles.
Mesophyte: A plant that requires a moderate amount of moisture. Most
common trees and shrubs are mesophytes.
Mestizo: Offspring of a European and an American Indian - the term is
used mostly in South America.
Meteors: Small pieces in the atmosphere appearing as shooting stars.
Midnight sun: A phenomenon observed in high latitudes around
midsummer when the sun does not sink below the horizon throughout the 24
hours of a day and night cycle and may thus be visible even at midnight.
Monsoon: A type of wind system in which there complete reversal or
almost so, of prevailing wind direction from season to season.
Moraine: The debris or fragments of rock material brought down with
the movement of glacier.
Mulatto: The offspring of a white and a black person commonly used in
America.
Nivation: Erosion due to action of snow. Nomadism The practice, among
certain primitive people, of frequently changing their habitation. These
people keep moving residence in search of food and fresh pasture for
animals. People following this mode of life ar called nomads.
Oasis: Area in the desert where water is available.
Ocean Current: Movement of the surface water of the ocean.
Opisometer: Instrument used for measuring distances on a map.
Also Read- English MCQ For Competitive Exams PDF
Orbit: Path of a heavenly body through space in relation to some
selected point.
Orographic rain: Rain caused by mountains standing in the path of
moisture - laden winds.
Outwash Plain: Alluvial plain formed by streams originating from the
melting ice of a glacier.
Pampas: The mid - latitude grasslands of South America.
Pastoralism: Practice of breeding and rearing cattle Some pastoral
communities may be nomadic in their habits.
Pedology: The science of the study of soils.
Pelagic: Belonging to the open sea.
Peninsula: A stretch of land almost surrounded by water.
Perigee: The point in the orbit of moon or a planet or in the
apparent orbit of the sun, nearest to the earth.
Perihelion: The position of the earth in its orbit or any other
heavily body, nearest to the sun.
Permafrost: Ground that is permanently frozen.
Petrology: The study of the composition, structure and history of
rocks forming the crust of the earth. Phenology Science dealing with the
effects of seasonal changes upon animal and plant life.
Phytogeography: The study of the distribution of plants, on the
earth, in relation to environment. Piedmont Belonging to or related to the
foot of a mountain.
Planetary winds: The general distribution of winds throughout the
lower atmosphere which is determined by differences in insolation and would
be set up similarly on any rotating planet possessing an atmosphere.
Planimeter: Instrument for measuring irregular plane areas on maps.
Plateau: Extensive level or near level area of elevated land.
Prairies: Mid - latitude grasslands of North America.
Precipitation: Falling water (in liquid or solid form, the case may
be from the atmosphere to the earth.
Pressure gradient: Rate at which pressure decline horizontally on the
earth's surface.
Psychrometer: Instrument used for measuring humidity of the
atmosphere.
Radiation: Process by which a body emits radiant energy, viz.- in the
form of heat.
Rain shadow: Area having relatively lower average rainfall because it
is sheltered from the prevailing rain bearing winds by a range of mountains
or hills.
Reef: Ridge of rocks lying near the surface of the sea, which may be
visible at low tide, but usually covered by water.
Reg: A stony desert. A sandy desert is called an erg.
Rhumb line of loxodrome: Line on the earth's surface which cuts all
meridians at the same angle.
Saprophyte: A plant which lives on decaying organic matter. Most such
plants are fungi.
Satellite: A relatively small body revolving around a planet.
Savanna: An area of tropical grassland with scattered
Seismic focus or deep focus: Point below the earth's surface where an
earthquake originates.
Seismograph: Instrument used for measuring and recording earthquake
shocks.
Seismology: Science of the study of earthquakes.
Selvas: Dense equatorial forests of the Amazon basin in South
America.
Sericulture: The culture of silkworms for production of raw silk.
Sidereal day: The period of time during which a star describes a
complete circle in its apparent journey around the pole star, representing
the period of one rotation of the earth on its axis and equal to 23 hours 56
minutes 4 seconds. It is thus about 4 minutes shorter than the mean solar
day.
Sleet: and rain. day. Precipitation consisting of a mixture of snow
Smog: Fog heavily laden with smoke.
Snow - line: Lower limit of perpetual snow. The snow above this line
does not melt completely even in summer.
Soil erosion: The wearing away and loss of soil mainly by the action
of wind and water.
Solar constant: Intensity of the sun's radiation in space at the mean
distance of the earth from the sun.
Solar day: The average period taken by the earth in making one
rotation on its axis in relation to the sun - 24 hours.
Solstice: The time during summer or winter when the sun is vertically
above the point which represents its farthest distance north or south of the
equator - the two tropics.
Steppe: Mid - latitude grasslands of Eurasia.
Strait: Narrow stretch of sea connecting two extensive areas of sea.
Syncline: Trough or inverted arch of a fold in rock strata.
Sublimation: Change of state of water from solid to vapour directly
or vice - versa.
Taiga: Coniferous forestland of Siberia.
Temperature inversion: Condition when the temperature is found to be
increasing instead of decreasing with height.
Theodolite: Instrument used for measuring angular distances in the
vertical plane (elevation) and the horizontal plane (azimuth).
Thermograph: Self - recording thermometer - an instrument for
measuring temperature.
Tidal range: Average difference in water level between high and
low tide at one place.
Topographic map: Map on sufficiently large scale to show the detailed
surface features of an area.
Trans - humance: Practice among pastoral communities to move with
their animals seasonally between two regions of different climate.
Tributary: Smaller river which joins a larger river.
Tropics: The Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn located at
degrees N and S, respectively, are the northward and southward limits up to
which the sun's vertical rays can reach.
Tropical Zone: The area bounded by the two tropics is called the
tropical zone.
Tropophyte: A plant which acts as hygrophyte in one season and
xerophyte in the other.
Tsunami: A large sea wave caused by an earthquake originating on the
sea bed.
Van Allen's Radiation Belts: Named after the physicist who discovered
them, these are two bands of the outermost layer of the atmosphere
(magnetosphere), at heights of 3,000 and 16,000 km above the earth's
surface. Here the ionized particles trapped by the earth's magnetic field
from the solar radiation , concentrate.
Viticulture: The culture of grape - vine.
Volcano: Vent in the earth's crust caused by magma forcing its way to
the surface through which molten or solid rock flow from the interior of the
earth. Watershed Elevated boundary line separating headstreams which are
tributaries to different river systems or basins.
Weather: Condition of the atmosphere at certain time or over a
certain period of time as described by meteorological phenomena including
temperature , atmospheric pressure and humidity.
Weathering: Decay and disintegration of rocks of the earth's crust by
exposure to the atmosphere ; it is one of the main processes of denudation.
Willy - willy: Tropical cyclone in the Pacific near the east coast of
Australia.
Wind vane: Instrument used to indicate the direction of the wind.
Xerophyte: Plant which is adapted, to living in a region. where
little moisture (or dry climatic condition) is available.
Yazoo river: Tributary which is prevented from joining the main river
because the latter has built up high natural levees ; it thus runs parallel
to the main stream for a considerable distance before joining it downstream.
Zenith: Point in the celestial sphere vertically above one's head.
Zodiac: Zone of the heavens in which lie the paths of the sun, the
moon and the chief planets.
Zonal soil: A soil which owes its well developed characteristics
largely to the influence of climate and vegetation. They are characterised
by well - developed soil profiles.
Zoo - geography: Study of the distribution of animals and
successional development on the earth's surface.
Zoophyte: An animal which resembles a plant , viz. - a coral polyp ,
a sponge.
Land Locked Countries of the World
Asia: Afghanistan, Nepal, Mongolia, Laos, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz stan, Tajikistan.
Europe: Austria, Check Republic, Czechoslovakia, Lanxembourg,
Switzerland, Hungary, Macedonia, Serbia, Vatican City, Armenia, Belarus,
Andorra, Lichtenstein, Moldova
Africa: Botswana, Burundi, Chad, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Niger,
Zimbabwe (S. Rhodesia), Rwanda, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Burkina Faso
South America: Bolivia, Paraguay
Lines crossing different countries
Tropic of Cancer: Taiwan, China, Myanmar, Bangla desh, India, Oman,
UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Niger, Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, South
Sahara, Bahamas, Mexico
Tropic of Capricorn: Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Namibia,
Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Australia, French Polynesia,
Fiji, Tonga
Equator: Ecuador, Columbia, Brazil, Gabon, The Republic of Congo,
Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Maldives, Indonesia, Kiribati
