H
Habitat: It is the environment where a species or a community of animals
or plants live.
Hail: Precipitation which comes down in the form of irregular shapes of
ice is known as hail.
Hamada: A flat and exposed bedrock in a dry area is known as hamada.
Hanging Valley: It is a tributary valley which joins the main deep
valley formed due to a glacial erosion.
Hanging Valley: a tributary valley to the main glacier, too cold and
high up for ice to be able to easily move. It therefore was not eroded as much
as the lower main valley, and today is often the site for a waterfall crashing
several hundred metres to the main valley floor.
Hardpan: A layer of hard ground or subsoil is called hardpan in
geographical terms. It is formed by the illuviation and precipitation of
material like clay, hummus and iron.
Harmonic tremor: Continuous rhythmic earthquakes in the Earth's upper
lithosphere that can be detected by seismographs. Harmonic tremors often
precede or accompany volcanic eruptions.
Hazardous Waste: Unwanted by-products remaining in the environment and
posing an immediate potential hazard to human life.
Headlands: areas of land protruding out to sea formed of resistant
(harder) rock. They help protect the bay which forms between them from wave
attack.
Headward Erosion: Erosion which is caused at the head of valley by the
flow of the water is known as headward erosion in geography terms.
Headwaters: These are the streams, usually tributaries of a river
arising in a particular area.
Hearth: The source area of any innovation. The source area from which an
idea, crop, artifact, or good is diffused to other areas.
Heat Equator: A line that goes around the Earth and joins all the
highest mean annual temperature for their longitudes. It is also known as
thermal equator.
Heat Island: An area which is comparatively hotter due to heat retention
by concrete buildings is known as heat island.
Heathland: Uncultivated land which has sandy soil and stunted vegetation
is known as a heathland.
Heavy industry: Manufacturing activities engaged in the conversion of
large volumes of raw materials and partially processed materials into products
of higher value; hallmarks of this form of industry are considerable capital
investment in large machinery, heavy energy consumption, and final products of
relatively low value per unit weight (see Light Industry).
Heavy Industry: one with heavy/bulky raw materials and heavy/bulky
finished products e.g. Iron and Steel. These industries tend to be very
polluting.
Hectare: this is an area equivalent to 2.471 acres.
Hemisphere: Half of a sphere or half of the Earth divided by the equator
into the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere or the eastern and western
hemisphere divided by a meridian.
Hemisphere: Half of the Earth, usually conceived as resulting from the
division of the globe into two equal parts of either north and south or east
and west.
Herbicide: poisonous chemicals applied to crops to kill weeds.
Hierarchy: a ranking of settlements or shopping centres according to
their population size or the number of services they provide.
High Birth Rate: A lot of babies born for each 1000 of the population.
High Seas: The open seas away from all countries and not under the
control of any nation.
High Tide: High tide is when the water reaches its highest level.
High Water: The highest point to which the tide comes on the seashore.
High-order goods/services: a good or service, usually expensive, that
people buy only occasionally e.g. furniture, computers and jewellery.
High-order services are usually located in larger towns and cities with a large
market area - accessible to large numbers of people.
High-Tech Agglomerations: by locating near each other, high-tech firms
are able to exchange ideas and information, share training services and
amenities such as calibration laboratories and research facilities. They have
access to a pool of highly-skilled labour. See Business Parks.
High-tech Industries: Industries using advanced machines and skilled
people, e.g. computers and electronics.
High-Tech Industries: these involve the use of research and development
to create high value, technology-based products and processes.
Hinterland: A region or an area away from the urban areas is known as a
hinterland.
Hinterland: the area served by a port (its sphere of influence).
Hinterland: The area tributary to a place and linked to that place
through lines of exchange, or interaction.
Historic Sites: Important old settlements and buildings which are
interesting to people.
Horizon: A distinct layer of soil encountered in vertical section.
Horizon: The point of apparent intersection of the sky and land or water
is known as horizon.
Horticulture: The science of cultivating fruits, vegetables and flowers
is known as horticulture in geographical terms.
Hot spot: An area in the middle of a lithospheric plate where magma
rises from the mantle and erupts at the Earth's surface. Volcanoes sometimes
occur above a hot spot.
Household: a person living alone or a group of people, not necessarily
related, living at the same address with shared housekeeping. Shared
housekeeping involves sharing at least one meal a day or sharing a living room
or sitting room.
Hoyt Model: an urban land use model showing wedges (sectors), based upon
main transport routes and social groupings.
Human and Economic Location Factors: include labour supply, capital
(money), markets, transport, government policy, economies of scale, improved
technology, recreation/environment.
Human Development Index: a social welfare index, adopted by the United
Nations as a measure of development, based upon life expectancy (health), adult
literacy (education), and real GNP per capita (economic).
Human Factors: see Coastal Erosion Factors and Coastal Deposition
Factors.
Human Features/Activities: The actions and results of humans especially
where and how people live.
Humidity Water vapor content of the air.
Humidity: Dampness in the air is known as humidity, which is the result
of the water vapor content in the atmosphere.
Humus: Partially decomposed organic soil material.
Humus: The topmost layer of the soil which is black and brown in color
is called humus. It is mainly made up of decayed vegetables and organic matter
and has the ability to retain water.
Hurricane: A tropical cyclone, which has a constant speed of 74 miles
per hour is known as hurricane in geographical terms.
Hybrid: a new higher-yielding plant variety obtained from deliberate
cross-pollination of two other selected varieties.
Hydraulic Action: the process by which breaking waves compress pockets
of air in cracks in a cliff. The pressure may cause the crack to widen,
breaking off rock.
Hydraulic Action: The sheer force of the water by itself can erode
material from the bed and banks of the river channel.
Hydro-electric Power: Energy obtained from using the power of water.
Hydrography: The study of the surface waters of the Earth.
Hydroponics: The growing of plants, especially vegetables, in water
containing essential mineral nutrients rather than in soil.
Hydrosphere: The water that covers 71 percent of the Earth's surface as
oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams. The hydrosphere also includes ground water,
water that circulates below the Earth's surface in the upper part of the
lithosphere.
Hypermarket: a giant shopping centre containing a very large
supermarkets and other smaller shops found in an out-of-city location, close to
a motorway junction. It benefits from cheap land and the new trend to shopping
by car, with large carparks to cater for this. Prices are kept low by the
supermarket buying in bulk which enables it to negotiate the lowest possible
prices from its suppliers.
HYVs: High Yielding Varieties: new types of seed which have been
scientifically developed to produce more food per plant.
