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TOPOGRAPHY | The shape of the land determined by elevation, relief, and landforms. |
ELEVATION | Height above sea level. |
RELIEF | The difference in elevation between the highest and lowest parts of an area. |
LANDFORM | A feature of topography formed by the processes that shaped Earth’s surface. |
LANDFORM REGION | A large area of land where the topography is similar. |
PLAIN | A landform made up of flat or gently rolling land with low relief. |
MOUNTAIN | A landform with high elevation and high relief. |
MOUNTAIN RANGE | A series of mountains that have the same general shape and structure. |
PLATEAU | A landform that has a more or less level surface and is elevated high above sea level. |
LITHOSPHERE | A rigid layer made up of the uppermost part of the mantle and the crust. One of four spheres into which scientists divide Earth. |
CORE | Earth’s sense center, made up of the solid inner core and the molten outer core. |
MANTLE | The layer of hot, solid material between Earth’s crust and core. |
CRUST | The layer of rock that forms Earth’s outer surface. |
ROCK | The material that forms Earth’s hard surface. |
GEOLOGY | The study of the solid Earth. |
MAP | A model of all or part of Earth’s surface as seen from above. |
GLOBE | A sphere that represents Earth’s surface. |
SCALE | Used to compare distance on a map or globe to distance on Earth’s surface. |
SYMBOLS | On a map, pictures used by mapmakers to stand for features on Earth’s surface. |
KEY | A list of the symbols used on a map. |
EQUATOR | An imaginary line halfway between the North and South poles that circles Earth. |
HEMISPHERE | One half of the sphere that makes up Earth’s surface. |
PRIME MERIDIAN | The line that makes a half circle from the North Pole to the South Pole, passing through Greenwich, England. |
DEGREE | A unit used to measure distance around a circle. One degree equals 1/360 of a full circle. |
LATITUDE | The distance north or south from the equator, measured in degrees. |
LONGITUDE | The distance in degree east or west of the prime meridian. |
MAP PROJECTION | A framework of lines that helps to show landmasses on a flat surface. |
SATELLITE IMAGE | Pictures of the land surface based on computer data collected from satellites. |
PIXEL | The tiny dots in a satellite image. |
DIGITIZING | Converting information to numbers for use by a computer. |
TOPOGRAPHIC MAP | A map that shows the surface features of an area. |
CONTOUR LINE | A line on a topographic map that connects points of equal elevation. |
CONTOUR INTERVAL | The difference in elevation from one contour line to the next. |
GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM | A method of finding latitude and longitude using satellites. |