Edexcel GCSE Geography B key terms

Chemical weathering in which slightly acidic rainwater dissolves calcium carbonate in rocks such as chalk and limestone.

A greenhouse gas released by burning fossil fuels and wood, and by industrial processes such as cement production. Plants remove it from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

A unit that expresses the warming effect of different greenhouse gases as the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide.

The total greenhouse-gas emissions associated with a person, population, organisation, activity or product, expressed as a mass of carbon dioxide equivalent, usually kilograms or tonnes of CO₂e.

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

A traditional system of inherited social groups that can influence status and opportunities in Indian society.

A hollow eroded into a coastal cliff or headland, often along a joint or fault.

The central business district: the main concentration of shops and offices in a city centre.

An official survey of a population that collects information about people and households.

The main commercial centre of a city, with a concentration of offices, shops and services.

A view across a river channel showing its shape and changes in depth from one bank to the other.

A large-scale pattern of circulating air, involving movement at the surface, rising or sinking air, and a return flow higher in the atmosphere.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora: an international agreement intended to ensure that trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten species’ survival.

A steep rock face at the coast.

The long-term pattern of weather conditions in a place, including temperature, precipitation and sunshine hours.

Assessing how much an observed climate change is explained by different causes, including human activity and natural influences.

A long-term change in average weather conditions and their patterns, including temperature, rainfall and extremes.

A graph showing how average temperature and precipitation vary through the months of a year.

A calculated possible future climate outcome based on stated assumptions, such as a particular pathway of greenhouse gas emissions.

Indirect evidence of past climate: a preserved feature whose properties change in response to climatic conditions.

An estimate of past climatic conditions produced by interpreting and combining evidence.

The size of the climate’s warming response to an increase in greenhouse gases.

The wearing away and removal of material from the coast by processes such as wave action.

The covering of normally dry coastal land by seawater.

The landward movement of the coastline or cliff edge as material is lost through erosion and mass movement.

The movement of sediment from one place to another by waves or currents.

Direct political control of a territory by another country, often accompanied by economic exploitation.