1

2 Archipelago: a string or chain of islands

3 Bay: a small body of water partially surrounded by land

4 Butte: a visible hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top (Similar to but smaller than a plateau, mesa and table)

5 Canal: a man-made waterway for boats or for draining or irrigating land

6 Canyon: a deep valley or crevice in the earth’s surface, with very steep sides and usually with a river running through it Also known as gorges; ravines are similar, but not as deep

7 Cape: a point of land that extends into the sea or into a lake

8 Delta: a triangular, fertile area of land around the mouth of a large river The Nile Delta– northern Egypt

9 Fjord: a narrow, winding ocean inlet with steep cliff-like sides (carved out by a glacier)

10 Glacier: a huge sheet of snow or ice moving slowly down a slope (mountain) or valley

11 What’s the difference between a GLACIER and an ICEBERG?  A glacier is a river of ice, mostly on land. It is fed by snowfields in the mountains and flows down a valley, like a very slow moving river, until it meets with the sea or a lake.  An iceberg is a large piece of ice floating in water. It may have broken off a glacier.

12 Geyser: a spring from which boiling water and steam gushes into the air in intervals

13 Gulf: a large portion of the ocean, partially surrounded by land

14 Island: a body of land completely surrounded by water

15 Isthmus: a narrow strip of land connecting two larger pieces of land The Isthmus of Panama

16 Jungle: land densely covered with trees, vines, etc. (typically found in the tropics)

17 Lagoon: a body of shallow sea or salt water that is separated from a larger sea by some barrier (sand, rock, reef, etc.)

18 Lake: a large inland body of standing water (usually freshwater) Lake Michigan Lake Winnipesaukee

19 Mesa: a tall, flat-topped mountain with steep, vertical sides (usually found in dry places) Buttes are small mesas

20 Ocean: a large body of salt water Pacific Atlantic

21 Peninsula: a long piece of land surrounded by water on three sides

22 Plain: a large, flat, and mostly treeless area of land The Great Plains

23 River: a natural stream of water larger than a brook or creek (typically flowing into an ocean or lake) Mississippi River Merrimack River

24 Sound: a wide channel linking two larger bodies of water or separating an island from the mainland

25 Swamp: wet, spongy land often partly covered with water

26 Tundra: a vast, treeless arctic plain

27 Volcano: an opening in the Earth’s surface that forms when lava, gases, and rocks erupt, or burst out, from deep inside the Earth Mt. Saint Helens

28

29 Map: two-dimensional model of the Earth or the portion of it’s surface, cartography is mapmaking Simplification: when a cartographer gets rid of unnecessary details and focuses on the information needing to be displayed on the map Distortion: error resulting from the “flattening” process – all maps you’ve memorized are wrong!

30 Four Main Map Properties: 1.Shape Geometric shapes of the objects on the map 2.Size (area) Relative amount of space taken up on the map by the landforms or objects on the map 3.Distance Represented distance between objects on the map 4.Direction Degree of accuracy representing the cardinal directions

31 Cardinal Directions: north / south / east / west Intermediate Directions: northwest / northeast / southwest / southeast Relative Directions: right / left / up / down / etc

32 Map Projections: attempts to portray the surface of the Earth or a portion of the Earth on a flat surface. Some distortions of conformality, distance, direction, scale, and area always result from this process

33 Equal-area (or equivalent) projections: maps that maintain area but distort other properties Conformal (or orthomorphic) projections: maps that maintain shape but distort other properties (it is impossible to have a projection that is both conformal and equal area) Azimuthal projections: maps that maintain direction but distort other properties Equidistant projections: maps that maintain distance but distort other properties

34 Mercator: Shows the shapes of the continents and landforms accurately Dramatically distorts the size (area) of the continents Created in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator

35 Mercator:

36 Web Mercator: variation of the Mercator projection, standard online map for web mapping applications and sites, created in 2005 by Google

37 Robinson: Shows the world according to slight distortion of all four properties (shape, size, distance, direction) Created 1963 by Arthur H Robinson

38 Robinson:

39 Peter: Shows relative sizes of the Earth’s continents accurately (equal area) Distorts the shape of continents Created in 1855 by James Gall and Arno Peters

40 Peter: