Geography key terms

The influence of geography, resources and power on relationships between countries.

Aligned with real-world locations using a coordinate system, so that maps or images can be compared spatially.

Information linked to a geographical location, such as a grid reference, latitude and longitude, or a named country.

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

A diagram showing nutrient stores, transfers between them, and inputs to and losses from an ecosystem.

A measure of how unequally income is distributed. On the 0–1 scale, 0 represents complete equality and 1 represents complete inequality.

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

A set of geographical information about one theme, such as buildings, flood extent or drainage, which can be displayed alongside other information in GIS.

The laying down of material previously transported by ice.

The wearing away and removal of rock by moving ice and the debris it carries.

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

A colder interval when ice sheets and glaciers expand.

The movement of a glacier's end back towards its source when ice loss exceeds the replacement of ice through snowfall.

A mixture of sediment of different sizes deposited directly by glacial ice.

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

A landscape shaped by moving ice in the past, through erosion and the deposition of material.

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

An area of high land whose landforms were shaped by glaciers in the past.

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.

An area or resource regarded as requiring shared international management for the benefit of everyone, rather than management solely in one country's interests.

A unit of biologically productive area with the average productivity of the world’s productive land and sea in a given year.

A measure combining undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting and under-five mortality. Higher scores indicate more severe hunger.

Differences in income, living standards and opportunities between people and places across the world.

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.

A country’s total income, including net income received from abroad, divided by its population. It is an average, not everyone’s actual income.