A Visual Guide to Geographic Terms

Your notebook should look like this

Basin

The Land Drained by a river; land surrounded by higher land. In some cases a basin has a lake that has no outlet to the ocean.Examples: Mississippi river valley, Nile river valley

Bay

An inlet of the sea or other body of water, usually smaller than a gulf but of the same general character; part of a body of water that extends into landExamples: Bay of Bengal, Massachusetts Bay.

Canal

An artificial waterway constructed for navigation or for the movement of water.Examples: Suez Canal, Panama Canal

Cape

A point or extension of land jutting into the water that is usually smaller or thinner than a peninsula.Examples: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope

Delta

Soil deposited at the mouth of a river. Alluvial plain formed at the mouth of a river where the stream loses velocity and deposits part of its load of sediment.Examples: Mississippi Delta (Bayou), Ganges River Delta

GulfA large area of sea or ocean that is partially enclosed; larger than a bayExamples: Gulf of Mexico, Persian Gulf

Island

A body of land smaller than a continent, surrounded by waterExamples: Hawaii, New Zealand

Mountain Range

A row of connected mountains.Examples: Rockies, Andes, Himalayas

Peninsula

A portion of land nearly surrounded by water and connected with a larger body of land.Examples: Florida, Scandinavia, Italy

Plain

Large area of level or nearly level land. Plains have different names in climates and cultures, such as tundra, steppes, prairies, pampas, savannas, llanos, flood plains of rivers, coastal plains, arid plains, and tablelandsExamples: Great Plains, Salisbury Plain

Plateau

Elevated, level or nearly level portion of Earth’s surface, larger in summit area than a mountain and bounded on at least one side by steep slopes.Examples: Andean Altiplano, Chang Tang of Tibet

River source/ River Mouth

The source is the place where the river begins, usually in the highlands. The mouth is the part of a river where its waters empty into a larger body of water. Examples; Nile delta and Lake Victoria

Sea

A body of salt water that is smaller than an oceanExamples: Arabian Sea, Aral Sea, Red Sea

Strait

A narrow channel that connects two larger bodies of waterExamples: Bering Strait, Strait of Gibraltar, Straight of Hormuz

Valley

An area of generally flat land extending many miles inland and drained or watered by a large river and its tributaries.Example: Willamette Valley, Napa Valley

Map Enlargement Project: Step #2

Using a ruler, draw lines connecting the two hash marks.

Map Enlargement Project: Step #3

Put hash marks every ½” along both the sides of the page

Map Enlargement Project: Step #4

Using a ruler, connect the two hash marks, forming a grid.

Map Enlargement Project: Step #5

Label the upper boxes with numbers, label the lower with letters.