Edexcel GCSE Geography A key terms

The shape of a beach, including its slopes and changes in height across its width.

Adding sand or shingle to a beach to replace lost material and maintain its ability to reduce wave energy and flood risk.

A measured cross-section showing the shape and slopes of a beach.

Sediment moved along a river bed, including particles rolled or dragged along it and particles bounced downstream.

The underlying rock beneath soil or other surface materials.

The capacity of biologically productive land and sea to regenerate resources and absorb wastes counted in ecological-footprint accounting.

The variety of living organisms in an area.

Fuel made from recently living biological material, such as bioethanol produced from sugar cane.

The breakdown of rock by living organisms, such as plant roots growing into cracks.

The living organic material in an ecosystem; in a nutrient-cycle model, the biomass store contains nutrients held in living organisms.

A large-scale ecosystem characterised by its climate and typical vegetation.

The parts of the Earth where life exists, including living organisms and their environments on land, in water and in the air.

The living components of an ecosystem, including plants, animals, decomposers and humans.

A resource obtained from living organisms, such as plants, animals or fungi.

Development in which local communities lead decisions about projects intended to meet their needs.

An approach in which local residents and community organisations help identify priorities and make decisions about improvements.

A geographical model describing expected changes in river characteristics with distance downstream, including increasing channel width, depth and discharge.

A point where the steepness or direction of a slope changes.

Concentrated salt water left over from desalination.

Land that has previously been built on and may be available for redevelopment.

A unit that expresses different greenhouse gases in terms of the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide with the same warming effect.

The total greenhouse-gas emissions associated with a person, population, organisation or activity, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent.

A store that absorbs more carbon than it releases over a given period.

A traditional system of inherited social groups that can influence people's status and opportunities.

The area of land drained by a river and its tributaries.

Keeping cattle on extensive areas of grazing land, often to produce beef.

A hollow eroded into a cliff or headland as waves enlarge a weakness in the rock.