M
Machinery: used in industrial processes to produce the finished product
for sale. (Manufacturing).
Magma Plume: One of the very crucial geography terms, magma plume is the
rising magma within the mantle.
Magma: Magma refers to the molten rock below the surface of the earth.
It is normally found in the mantle or the crust of the earth. Find out what is
magma made of.
Magma: Molten rock containing liquids, crystals, and dissolved gases
that forms within the upper part of the Earth's mantle and crust. When erupted
onto the Earth's surface, it is called lava.
Magnetic North: Point near North Pole where the magnetic needle dips
vertically.
Malnutrition: ill-health caused by a diet deficiency, either in amount
(quantity) or balance (quality).
Managed Retreat: allowing cliff erosion to occur as nature taking its
course: erosion in some areas, deposition in others. Benefits include less
money spent and the creation of natural environments.
Mangrove Swamp: It refers to a kind of wetland forest which has salt
adapted trees. It is mainly found in inter tidal zone of tropical coast areas.
They, in addition to preventing soil erosion, on the coasts, also provide a
rich habitat for a good amount of biodiversity.
Mantle: A zone in the Earth's interior between the crust and the core
that is 2,900 kilometers (1,800 mi) thick. (The lithosphere is composed of the
topmost 65-70 kilometers (39–42 miles) of the mantle and the crust.)
Mantle: Between the crust and the core of the earth, there is another
layer. That is called the mantle. This word is another 'must have' in a
geography terms list.
Map: A picture of a place that is usually drawn to scale on a flat
surface.
Maquis: Maquis, a French word, basically refers to a shrubland biome,
especially in the Mediterranean region. It consists of dense evergreen shrubs,
like juniper and myrtle. The word is derived from the plural form of Italian
word 'macchia', which means thicket in English. It is found in areas where
forests have been cleared by humans.
Marginal Land: land of poor quality because of lack of nutrients, soil
erosion, distance from market or otherhuman and physical factors.
Mariculture: It is a branch of aqua culture, which specializes in the
breeding and cultivation of marine organisms in salt water.
Marina: It is an artificial mooring area or dock, especially made for
mooring of a pleasure craft and is protected form the sea.
Maritime climate A climate with a low temperature range influenced by
proximity to the sea. Winters will be warmer and summers cooler compared to a
continental location for the same latitude.
Maritime climate: A climate strongly influenced by an oceanic
environment, found on islands and the windward shores of continents. It is
characterized by small daily and yearly temperature ranges and high relative
humidity.
Maritime Climate: Maritime climate is the climate found in areas near
coastal regions, where the climate is affected by the land's proximity to the
sea.
Maritime: Maritime simply means anything related to the sea. This is one
of the very important geography terms.
Market Area: the area served by a particular settlement, shop or
service. (See sphere of influence).
Market Forces: the system where prices for products are the result of
supply and demand; if demand is high and supply cannot be increased to meet it,
prices go up; if demand is low and there is too much supply, prices fall. (See
Intervention).
Market Gardening: The growing of fruit, vegetables and flowers.
Market Gardens: farms which produce vegetables, fruit and flowers;
usually found near a large market.
Market Location (for industry): where transport costs for the finished
product exceed the transport costs of the raw materials. Transport costs are
lowest if the raw materials are transported to the factory located at the
market and processed there. Today, since power (electricity) can be transported
over long distances, a market location is more important than a raw material
(coal) location.
Market Town: a town whose main function is that of a shopping and
service centre for the surrounding region.
Market: A place where raw materials and goods are sold.
Market: where industrial products are bought and sold.
Marram Grass: This a type of grass, which thrives in dry and sandy
environment.
Mass Movement: the downhill movement of weathered material under the
force of gravity. The speed can vary considerably, from soil creep, where the
movement is barely noticeable, to slumps, slides and mudflows, where the
movement becomes increasingly more rapid.
Mean Annual Flood: This is an annual mean average of the optimum flood
discharges by a specific river.
Meander: A bend in a river.
Meander: It is a very pronounced and prominently looping bend in a
river. Meanders separate themselves from the river later and then become
non-existent. Meander is one of the most favorite geography definitions of any
geography course book.
Meander: a bend in a river. The outside of the meander has the fastest
flow and deepest water.
Mechanised: Work done by machines.
Medial Moraine: a narrow band of weathered rock debris which runs down
the centre of the glacier. It forms from the merging of the lateral moraines of
two glaciers.
Mediterranean climate: A climate characterized by moist, mild winters
and hot, dry summers.
Mediterranean Climate: It is the climatic characteristics observed
around the Mediterranean region. This is one of the most common geographical
terms.
Mediterranean Climate: Places which have hot, dry summers and mild, wet
winters.
Megalopolis: a continuous stretch of urban settlement which results from
towns cities and conurbations merging together.
Megalopolis: An expansive length of metropolitan area, brought about by
joint urban centers is called a megalopolis.
Meltwater: Meltwater is simply the water which has been derived from the
melting of snow or ice.
Meridian: A line passing through south pole and north pole, forming a
circle.
Mesa: A hill having a flat surface at the top, but which rises
prominently around the surrounding landscape is called a Mesa.
Mesa: An isolated, relatively flat-topped natural elevation, usually
more extensive than a butte and less extensive than a plateau.
Mesozoic: It is the name of a geologic era, which was around 245 to 65
million years ago.
Mesquite: A spiny deep-rooted leguminous tree or shrub that forms
extensive thickets in the southwestern United States.
Metamorphic Rock: Rock that has been physically altered by heat and/or
pressure.
Meteorology: The branch of geography involving the study of atmosphere
is called meteorology.
Metes and bounds: A system of land survey that defines land parcels
according to visible natural landscape features and distance. The resultant
field pattern is usually very irregular in shape.
Metropolitan coalescence: The merging of the urbanized areas of separate
metropolitan regions; Megalopolis is an example of this process.
Microclimate: Climatic conditions on a local, micro level, which shows
the differentiation between that and the general and macro climatic conditions.
Middle Course: the section of the river between the mountains and the
lowland, where transport of eroded material is important and the river begins
to cut sideways due to the reducing gradient.
Midnight Sun: Appearance of the sun at midnight in the Arctic Circle.
Orbit: The path of the heavenly bodies.
Mid-Oceanic Ridge: Formed by lava, a mid oceanic rid is a long range of
mountains under sea.
Migrant Workers: People who are born in one country and travel to work
in another.
Migrant: someone who moves from one place to another to live.
Migration: movement of people.
Migration: The movement of people from one place to another to live or
to work.
Milk Lakes: milk surpluses in the EU caused by over-production.
Millionaire City: a city with over one million inhabitants.
Minerals: found in rock. They may be mined or quarried and then either
melted down like iron ore (iron) or bauxite (aluminium), or used as a source of
power (coal, oil).
Mining: Mining is simply extracting minerals from the crust of the earth
for solely industrial objectives.
Mining: The extraction or digging out of minerals from deep under the
ground, e.g. coal, iron ore.
Misfit Stream: After the ice has melted and the river returns to the
valley, it often looks tiny and out-of-place in its huge U-shaped trough.
Mist: It is nothing but a light fog.
Mistral: Katabatic wind, wind which blows down the slope of a mountain,
is called Mistral in French.
Mixed Farm: one which produces crops and animals.
Model: a theoretical representation of the real world in which detail
and scale are simplified in order to help explain reality.
Monadnock: An isolated hill or mountain of resistant rock rising above
an eroded lowland.
Monoculture: a farming system in which a single crop is grown
continuously in the same field. This can exhaust the soil nutrients, lead to a
breakdown in soil structure and the loss of soil through wind or rainwater
erosion.
Monoculture: It is a type of an agricultural system, where the norm is
to cultivate a single crop.
Monsoon: the rainy season in south-east Asia.
Monsoon: This refers to a prevailing seasonal wind, which is of two
types - summer monsoon and winter monsoon. Well, this is perhaps one of the
most cliched and run of the mill geography terms and geography definitions.
More on what causes monsoons.
Moor: A hilly tract of land, having typically wet, spongy soil and
comprising moss, heather and coarse grass is called moor.
Mor: A partially decomposed humus layer having high level of acids and
devoid of nutrients is called mor.
Moraine: The movement of a glacier results in transportation of unwanted
material from a place to another. So the debris that is deposited by the
glacier is called moraine.
Moraine: The rocks and soil carried and deposited by a glacier. An
"end moraine," either a ridge or low hill running perpendicular to
the direction of ice movement, forms at the end of a glacier when the ice is
melting.
Moraines: frost-shattered rock debris and material eroded from the
valley floor and sides, transported and deposited by glaciers.
Morphology: It is the study of various landforms and the different
processes which result in those particular geographical landforms.
Mouth: The end of a river where it flows into the sea.
Mouth: The spot where a river joins another water body is called the
mouth of the river.
Mouth: where a river ends, at a lake or the sea.
Mud Flows or Slides: occur after periods of heavy rain when loose
surface material becomes saturated and the extra weight causes the material to
become unstable and move rapidly downhill in an almost fluid state.
Mudflow: A flowing mixture of water and debris (intermediate between a
volcanic avalanche and a water flood) that forms on the slopes of a volcano.
Sometimes called a debris flow or lahar, a term from Indonesia where volcanic
mudflows are a major hazard.
Multilingual: The ability to use more than one language when speaking or
writing (see Bilingual). This term often refers to the presence of more than
two populations of significant size within a single political unit, each group
speaking a different language as their primary language.
Multiplier Effect: the 'snowballing' of economic activity. e.g. If new
jobs are created, people who take them have money to spend in the shops, which
means that more shop workers are needed. The shop workers pay their taxes and
spend their new-found money, creating yet more jobs in industries as diverse as
transport and education.
Municipal waste: Unwanted by-products of modern life generated by people
living in an urban area.
