Geographic Terms Slide Show

Archipelago- a group of islands

Canal - an artificial waterway for navigation, irrigation, etc.

Delta – flat, low-lying land built up from soil carried downstream by a river and deposited at its mouth

Desert - any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water, permanent frost, or absence of soil.

Glacier – a large, thick body of slow moving ice

Gulf – part of a large body of water that extends into a shoreline; larger than a bay

Harbor – a sheltered place along a shoreline where ships can anchor

Hill – elevated land with sloping sides and rounded summit, generally smaller than a mountain

Island- land area, smaller than a continent, completely surrounded by water

Isthmus – a narrow stretch of land that connects 2 larger land areas

Lake – a sizeable inland body of water

Landforms – individual feature of the land, such as a mountain or a valley

Mesa - A broad, flat-topped elevation with one or more clifflike sides

Mountain – land with steep sides that rises sharply from surrounding land

Mountain range – a series of connected mountains

Mouth of the river – a place where a stream or river flows into a larger body of water

Oasis - a small fertile or green area in a desert region, usually having a spring or well, fed by underground water.

Peninsula – a body of land jutting into a lake or ocean, surrounded on three sides by water

Plain – an area of level land, usually at a low elevation and often covered with grasses

Plateau – an area of elevated flat land, about 300-3,000 feet high

River – a large natural stream of water that runs through the land

Source of the river – Place where a river or stream begins, often in the highlands

Strait – a narrow stretch of water joining two larger bodies of water

Tributary – a smaller river or stream that flows into a larger river

Volcano – Mountain created as liquid rock and ash erupt inside the earth.