2. West Virginia Studies Chapter 1 Vocabulary

3. the science of studying Earth as the home of humans geography

4. describes where a place is compared to other places relative location

5. identifies a precise position on Earth’s surface; stated in terms of latitude and longitude absolute location

6. the imaginary line that goes around the globe halfway between the North Pole and South Pole equator

7. a measure of the distance north and south of the equator latitude

8. an imaginary line running from the North Pole through Greenwich, England, and part of Africa to the South Pole prime meridian

9. a measure of the distance east or west of the prime meridian, which is located at Greenwich, England longitude

10. a long narrow strip of a larger territory panhandle

11. the average weather of a region over a long period of time climate

12. the day to day conditions and changes in the atmosphere weather

13. the height of the land above sea level elevation

14. rain, snow, hail precipitation

15. a long period of little or no rain drought

16. warmer-than-usual Pacific Ocean surface temperatures El Niño

17. colder-than-usual Pacific Ocean surface temperatures La Niña

18. physical features of the land such mountains or plateaus topography

19. the gradual wearing down of land by wind or water erosion

20. a stream or river that flows into a larger river tributary

21. no longer existing, such as an animal extinct

22. strip mining; a method of mining for minerals close to Earth’s surface where the top layers of the earth are scraped away to get at the mineral surface mining