AQA GCSE Geography key terms

Coal, oil and natural gas: carbon-rich fuels formed from ancient organic material over millions of years.

A coordinate identifying a map-grid square using two easting digits followed by two northing digits.

An environment that is easily damaged and may recover slowly from disturbance.

The breaking apart of rock through repeated freezing, expansion and thawing of water in cracks.

The number of times an event occurs or a value or category appears in a dataset.

Wood collected and burnt to provide energy, for example for cooking or heating.

A wire cage filled with stones and placed along the coast to absorb wave energy.

The value of goods and services produced within a country over a year, divided by its population. It indicates average economic output per person, not each person's actual income.

An investigation that uses evidence to answer a question about places, geographical processes or issues.

An issue involving places, people or the physical environment, often with competing interests over how it should be managed.

The geographical extent at which something is studied, such as a neighbourhood, an island, a region or the world.

The arrangement of rocks, including their layers, cracks and joints.

Energy obtained from heat within the Earth, which can be used for heating or generating electricity.

A Geographical Information System: software for storing, mapping and analysing information linked to locations.

A landscape shaped by moving ice, including landforms left after the ice has melted.

A colder interval when ice sheets and glaciers expand.

A wide, steep-sided, broadly flat-bottomed valley formed by glacial erosion; also called a U-shaped valley.

An area of high land whose landscape has been shaped by glaciers, often with steep mountains, broad valleys and lakes.

A large mass of ice formed from compressed snow that moves slowly under gravity.

The worldwide system of air movements that redistributes heat from equatorial regions towards the poles.

The increasing connections and interdependence between countries through flows of goods, services, money, people and information.

An increase in the Earth's average surface temperature.

The total annual income earned by a country's people and businesses, including income earned abroad, divided by its population.

A narrow valley with steep sides, which can be left behind as a waterfall retreats upstream.

The rate at which a value changes with distance. On a contour map, gradient describes how steeply the land rises or falls.

The network of latitude and longitude lines on a map or globe, used to locate places.

A system in which water flows from a higher source to lower users under gravity, reducing the need for powered pumping.