| A | B |
|---|
| fossils | remains of living things |
| axis | imaginary line running through the earth's center |
| China | world's largest country by population |
| Russia | world's largest country by area |
| GPS | software that uses satellites to obtain an absolute location |
| GIS | computer software for geographers using a database |
| artifacts | tools and pottery from the past |
| Indonesia | world's largest archipelago |
| Antarctica | site of the workd's coldest temperature ever recorded |
| Lake Superior | world's largest lake |
| geography | the study of the earth in all it's variety |
| Libya | the location of the world's hottest temperature |
| Shanghai | world's largest city |
| Tokyo | world's largest metropolitan area |
| canyon | steep-sided lowland formed by a river cutting through a plateau |
| Marianas Trench | lowest spot on the earth's surface |
| Mt. Everest | highest spot on the earth's surface |
| rotation | the act of Earth spinning on it's axis; takes 24 hours |
| isthmus | a narrow piece of land that connects two larger pieces of land |
| plateau | flat area at a high elevation |
| weathering | natural process that breaks surface rocks into boulders, gravel, sand, and soil |
| plate tectonics | theory that the earth's crust is not an unbroken shell but consists of plates, or huge slabs of rock that move |
| solar system | earth, eight other planets, and thousands of smaller bodies that revolve around the sun |
| environment | natural surroundings |
| landform | individual features of the land |
| leap year | year that has an extra day; occurs every fourth year |
| summer solstice | day with the most hours of sunlight and the fewest hours of darkness |
| winter solstice | day with the fewest hours of sunlight |
| crust | uppermost layer of the earth |
| mantle | rock layer between the earth's crust and core |
| core | center of the earth |
| magma | hot, melted rock that sometimes flows to the earth's surface in a volcanic eruption |
| continent | massive land area; ex: North America |
| earthquake | violent and sudden movement of the earth's crust |
| tsunami | huge sea wave caused by an earthquake on the ocean floor |
| fault | crack in the earth's crust |
| erosion | process of wearing away or moving weathered material on the earth's surface |
| glacier | giant slow-moving sheets of ice |
| elevation | height above sea level |
| equinox | day when day and night are of equal length in both hemispheres |
