Sunday 7 July 2013

B - list of geographical terms and definitions

B
Back Wall: Back wall is the steep cliff at the rear of a corrie.
Background Extinction: Background extinction refers to the extinction of species on the Earth due to changes in the environmental conditions.
Backshore: The area, behind the shore that is untouched by water is known as backshore. It an extension of the beach, between the beach berm and backshore slope.
Backwash: Backwash is a backward movement of water from the shore, once it has washed the run up of the beach.
Backwash: the return of water to the sea after waves break on a beach.
Backwater: Backwater is defined as a water body formed due to an obstruction in drainage.
Badlands: Very irregular topography resulting from wind and water erosion of sedimentary rock.
Bahada: In geography terms, a bahada is a gently sloping plain, at the foot of the mountains. This slope is created by descending streams. A bahada is generally seen when several alluvial fans fuse together.
Balance of Trade: the value of exports minus the value of imports; there may be a trade deficit or tradesurplus.
Bankfull Discharge: It is the maximum discharge made by a river without flooding.
Bar Chart: Bar chart is a graphical representation of various amounts or frequencies. These items are shown with variations in lengths.
Bar: A bank of sand near the mouth of river.
Bar: where a spit grows across a bay. A bar can eventually enclose the bay to create a lagoon.
Barchan: Barchan is an exact crescent shaped sand dune made by the winds. The crescent tips point downwind, which move fast due to wind movements. The wind brushes the sand on the windward side which collapses on the leeward making the barchan sand dunes to move forward.
Barrage: A barrage is defined as a barrier in a watercourse to divert it or to increase the depth of the water.
Barrier Beach: A bar shaped sand or a low-lying coral island, which is parallel to the coastline but slightly away from it is called a barrier beach.
Basal Sapping: In geographical terms, basal sapping means erosion at the foot of a slope caused by chemical erosion usually in tropical areas.
Basalt: Basalt is an igneous rock. This fine grained rock is formed when erupted lava cools down rapidly under water.
Base Flow: Groundwater seepage, which flows into streams is known as base flow.
Base Level: The lowest level at which the erosion can take place is known as the base level.
Base level: The lowest level to which a stream can erode its bed. The ultimate base level of all streams is, of course, the sea.
Base Level: the mouth of the river and the point where the gradient becomes zero. No further erosion is possible during normal river flow at this point.
Basic Volcano: Basic volcano is when hot lava, having low viscosity erupts from the vent and cools down to form a shallow conical mountain surface.
Bathysphere: Inner portion of the earth.
Battery Farming: The latest geography term, battery farming is a cost-effective method of farming used to reduce the per unit cost. The cattle are reared in cages and are watered and fed automatically.
Bay: As per geography definitions, a bay is a water body that surrounds a crescent-shaped coast line or a piece of land. For example, the Bay of Bengal on the eastern coast of India. It is larger than a cove but smaller than gulf.
Bays: found between headlands where there are alternating outcrops of resistant (harder) rock and less resistant (softer) rock. Waves erode the areas of softer rock more rapidly to form bays. The more resistant, harder rock forms the headlands that protrude out to sea.
Beach Depletion: Loss of sand and shingles from the beach due to low replenishment and rising sea levels and longshore drift is called beach depletion.
Beach Depletion: the loss of beach material e.g. by offshore dredging of shingle banks.
Beach Replenishment: the addition of new material to a beach naturally, through the action of longshore drift or artificially, through the dumping of large amounts of material.
Beach: In geography terminology a beach is accumulation of sand and shingles along a water body due to sedimentation.
Beach: the temporary deposition of sand and shingle along the coastline. Without its beach a coast is vulnerable to erosion, e.g. the cliffs at Barton on Sea were easily eroded following the construction of a groyne updrift at Bournemouth.
Beaufort Scale: Beaufort scale is a measure used to describe the speed of wind on the basis of observations of the sea conditions. This is an empirical instrument created in 1805 by Sir Francis Beaufort.
Bed Load: In geography terms list, bed load describes the flowing particles that are transported along the river bed with the currents. A bed load movements are rolling, sliding, traction and saltation.
Bedding Plane: Bedding planes are boundaries that define the layers or strata of a sedimentary rock.
Bedding Plane: a line in rocks separating two different layers: one usually more resistant to erosion, one usually weaker. The layers, deposited horizontally millions of years ago as sediment on the sea bed, have often been tilted through earth movements (tectonics), creating an angle of dip.
Bedload: the material carried by a river by being bounced or rolled along its bed.
Bedrock: In geographical terms, a bedrock is a consolidated rock form beneath the surface of the earth.
Bedrock: The solid rock that underlies all soil or other loose material; the rock material that breaks down eventually to form soil.
Benthos: Benthos are the marine organisms that live near, in or on the seabed. In geography terms, these regions are called the benthic zone.
Bergeron-Findeisen Process: Bergeron-Findeisen process is the process of rain formation. It is the formation of cold rain or ice crystal in the cold clouds of the mid and higher latitudes of the atmosphere.
Bergschrund: a deep crevasse found at the back wall of a cirque, formed as the ice moves away downhill. This may have an important role in the processes leading to the deep erosion of the cirque basin.
Biodiversity: The diversity of species found in a particular area. It includes the variety of flora and fauna in the given ecosystem.
Biofuel: Substances such as gas, alcohol and long dead biological material constitute biofuel. Use of organic materials makes biofuel different from fossil fuels.
Biogas: Biogas in geography glossary of terms and definitions is defined as a type of biofuel produced from decomposition of organic matter without oxygen.
Biogeography: Biogeography is included in the geography terms, because it studies the distribution of animals and plants on the planet.
Biological Control: Biological control is a natural way of controlling weeds and pests in agriculture.
Biological diversity: A concept recognizing the variety of life forms in an area of the Earth and the ecological interdependence of these life forms.
Biological Weathering: the breakdown of rock through the action of plants and animals.
Biomass is a conventional and renewable source of energy. This energy is generated from dead organic or living organic materials such as wood and plants. Read more on biomass energy.
Biomass is defined as the living matter and biological organisms in a particular area's ecosystem at a given time.
Biomass: Biomass can be defined in two ways:
Biome: Biome are areas with similar climatic conditions, similar ecology of plants, animals and soil organisms. There are commonly known as ecosystems.
Biomonitoring: Biomonitoring is a detailed observation of an ecosystem to monitor, understand and record changes.
Biosphere: Biosphere is a total of plant life, animal life and all other factors that make up the earth.
Biosphere: Biosphere is the sum total of the ecosystems present in the world. In other words, biosphere is a global integration of all living beings, their interactions, interdependence and relationships.
Biosphere: The realm of all living things.
Biota: Biota is the collection of a wide range of plant and animal life of a geographic region.
Biotechnology: Biotechnology is a technology, which uses biology, agriculture, food science and medicine for research and development in the field of pharmacy.
Biotic Factors: Biotic factors are all living organisms of an ecosystem. It is the effect of one living organism on another, which include animals, plants, humans and aquatic flora and fauna.
Biotope: Biotope is an area with uniform climatic conditions, conducive to specific plants and animals. The meaning of biotope is similar to habitat.
Birth Rate: The number of live births per 1000 people per year.
Birth Rate: The number of people being born for each 1,000 of the population.
Blizzard: A blizzard is a torrential winter storm having very low temperatures, strong winds and heavy snow.
Blowout Depression: Blowout depressions are formed in sandy areas due to erosion of sediments by winds.
Bore: A high tide running up a river.
Boulder Clay: an unsorted mixture of sand, clay and boulders carried by a glacier and deposited as ground moraine over a large area. Now regarded as an obsolete term.
Brackish: Brackish water has more salinity than freshwater. But the salinity is less than the sea water.
Break of Bulk Point: the place where goods have to be unloaded e.g. a port.
Break of Bulk Location: a location such as a coastal port which takes its advantage from a position where there is a forced transfer of raw materials or goods from one form of transport to another. Coastal locations are favoured for iron and steel plants in the UK since the coal and iron ore raw materials are now imported.
Breaker: Breakers are reefs against which sea waves break.
Breakwaters: offshore coastal defence structures built of stone parallel to the coastline; they help absorb the energy of breaking waves. Deposition occurs in the calmer water created behind the breakwater.
Bridging Point: a settlement site where a river is narrow or shallow enough to be bridged. The bridge becomes a route centre and trading centre, the natural location for a market. It is also a good defensive site. The lowest bridging point on a river is the bridge nearest to the sea; this site is ideal for a river port settlement.
Bridging Point: An easy crossing point where the river narrows or is shallower.
Brook: Brook is a small stream that flows with gravity. It is smaller than a creek.
Brown Earth: It is a type of soil that is found in European deciduous woodland areas.
Brownfield land: urban land that has previously been developed, such as a the site of a demolished building or factory.
Brownfield Site: an inner-city derelict site which can be cleared and reused for new industry.
Bulge of Young Male Migrants: on a population pyramid; young males move to urban areas due to push-pull factors.
Burgess Model: an urban land use model showing five concentric zones, based upon age of houses and wealth of their inhabitants. (See concentric ring model).
Business Park: New offices built in pleasant surroundings on the edge of cities.
Business Parks: these are mainly found on edge-of-city greenfield sites, although some are part of inner city redevelopment schemes. Usually over 70% of the land is converted into ornamental gardens and lakes. They are ideal locations for high-tech industries such as electronics and research institutions.
Buying in Bulk: negotiating low prices from the supplier by offering to buy very large quantities of a particular product.
By-pass: A road built around a busy urban area to avoid traffic jams.
By-products: what is left over after something is made e.g. chemicals following the refining of oil. Some by-products can be treated to make other products.