Physical Features

Basin Tidal Basin in D.C. A partially enclosed, sheltered area along a shore, often partly man-made or dredged to a greater depth, where boats may be moored: a yacht basin.

Bay: Trunk Bay, Virgin Islands A body of water forming an indentation of the shoreline, larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf.

Butte: Utah (mesas in background) An isolated hill or mountain rising abruptly above the surrounding land.

Canal : Corinth Canal, Greece An artificial waterway for navigation, irrigation, etc.

Canyon: Grand Canyon, A deep valley with steep sides, often with a stream flowing through it.

Cape: Cape Canaveral (from Space) A piece of land jutting into the sea or some other large body of water.

Delta A nearly flat plain of alluvial deposit between diverging branches of the mouth of a river, often, though not necessarily, triangular: the Nile delta.

Desert: Sahara A region so arid because of little rainfall that it supports only sparse and widely spaced vegetation or no vegetation at all

Gulf: Gulf of Mexico A portion of an ocean or sea partly enclosed by land.

Island: Maldive Islands (Indian Ocean) A tract of land completely surrounded by water, and not large enough to be called a continent.

Isthmus: Isthmus of Panama A narrow strip of land, bordered on both sides by water, connecting two larger bodies of land.

Key/cay: Florida keys A reef or low island; cay.

Lake: Lacamas Lake A body of fresh or salt water of considerable size, surrounded by land.

Mesa: Northern Utah A land formation, less extensive than a plateau, having steep walls and a relatively flat top and common in arid and semiarid parts of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico.

Mountain peak: Mt. Hood The pointed top (summit) of a mountain or ridge.

Mountain Range: Cascade Mountains A row of connected mountains.

Ocean: Pacific A vast body of salt water that covers almost3/4 of Earth’s surface.

Peninsula: Baja A portion of land nearly surrounded by water and connected with a larger body of land.

Plain: Po Plains, Italy A large area of level land (tundra, prairie, savannahs, etc.).

Plateau: Colorado An elevated, level or nearly level portion of Earth’s surface, larger in summit area than a mountain and has at least one steep slope.

River: Columbia River A natural stream of water of a fairly large size.

River Mouth: A part of the river where its waters empty into a larger body of water.

River Source: The place the river begins; usually in highlands.

Sound: A recessed portion of the sea/narrow passage of water b/w larger bodies (i.e. mainland and island).

Strait: Bering Strait A narrow channel that connects two larger bodies of water

Tributary: A stream that flows to a larger stream or other body of water.

Valley: An area of generally flat land extending many miles inland and drained or watered by a large river and its tributaries. OR an elongated depression between uplands, hills, or mountains, esp. one following the course of a stream.

Volcano: Costa Rica A mountain or hill, usually having a cup-like crater at the summit, formed around a vent from ash and lava expelled through it.