AQA GCSE Geography key terms

Economic activities that manufacture goods or construct buildings, such as steel production and car manufacturing.

Information collected or produced by someone else, rather than gathered first-hand by the person using it.

Protection of a person’s right to occupy their home or land, reducing the risk of eviction.

Felling selected trees rather than clearing all trees from an area, while minimising damage to the surrounding forest.

Choosing which results or statistical features to show in a way that may give an incomplete or misleading impression.

The linked stages of an investigation, from identifying a question and planning evidence collection to interpreting findings and reviewing the investigation.

Improving housing, infrastructure and services within an existing settlement rather than clearing and replacing the whole neighbourhood.

Natural gas held within shale, a type of sedimentary rock.

A coordinate locating a point more precisely within a map-grid square using three easting digits followed by three northing digits.

The gravitational force produced when a dense oceanic plate sinks into the mantle and pulls the rest of the plate behind it.

A gently sloping sediment deposit on the inside of a meander.

A densely populated area of poor-quality housing with inadequate basic services, such as clean water and sanitation.

Public disturbances, such as protests, riots or looting, arising from dissatisfaction or hardship.

People’s quality of life, including their health, security and ability to meet their basic needs.

Flood management that works with natural processes or reduces people's exposure and vulnerability to flooding.

The removal and transport of soil by agents such as wind and flowing water.

The amount of energy emitted by the Sun.

As erosion, the dissolving of soluble rock into river water; as transportation, the carrying of dissolved material by the water.

The starting point of a river.

Information linked to a particular location, allowing its geographical distribution to be mapped and investigated.

Words and phrases with precise meanings within a subject, such as geographical terms.

A narrow ridge of deposited sand or shingle extending from the coast into the sea, attached to land at one end.

Rock and other waste material removed during mining and piled up on the land.

The height above sea level of a particular point, written beside its position on a map.

Points on a map marked with a dot and a number that gives the height of the land at that point, in metres above sea level.

An area of housing built on land that residents occupy without legal permission or ownership.

An isolated column of rock offshore, left when an arch roof collapses.