Talking about Landscape and Geography: English Vocabulary List

a valley that is deep and has very steep sides, through which a river is flowing usually

"The Grand Canyon is a truly spectacular sight."

"A submarine canyon is a steep-sided valley cut into the seabed of the continental slope"

a mound or ridge of sand that is typically formed by the wind, often found in deserts, coastal areas, or other regions with significant wind activity

"The wind sculpted the sand into a crescent-shaped dune."

"We climbed to the top of the massive sand dune and watched the sunset over the desert."

a piece of land covered in grass and sometimes wild flowers, often used for hay

"Cows grazed in the green meadow."

"The wildflowers in the sunny meadow created a beautiful carpet of purple yellow and white colors."

an area of land that is covered with water or is always very wet

"A swamp has very wet land."

"The mangrove swamp is home to a wide variety of fish, birds, and other wildlife."

an area containing still water that is comparatively smaller than a lake, particularly one that is made artificially

"A pond is very small water."

"A small retention pond was built behind the shopping centre to manage rainwater runoff."

an area of land that is flat and higher than the land surrounding it

"The plateau is flat."

"The hikers reached a vast plateau offering panoramic views of the surrounding valleys."

a large body of land that is partially surrounded by water but is attached to a larger area of land

"A peninsula has water."

"The ancient civilization thrived on the fertile land of the peninsula, surrounded by the sea."

a ridge of rock or a line of sand near the surface of a body of water

"A reef is underwater."

"Snorkelers marveled at the vibrant coral reef teeming with diverse marine life."

the outer areas or parts of a city or town

"The outskirts are far away."

"On the outskirts of the city, several new housing developments have been constructed recently."

a small curved area of land that partly encloses a specific part of the sea

"A small boat was anchored in the sheltered cove."

"We discovered a hidden cove with crystal-clear water while hiking along the rocky coastline."

the distance of a point east or west of the meridian at Greenwich that is measured in degrees

"Longitude shows east west."

"The ship's navigator used lines of longitude to determine its precise position on the globe."

an imaginary horizontal circle around the Earth parallel to the equator, used to measure north-south position

"Latitude shows north south."

"The latitude of the city indicated its position in the northern hemisphere, close to the equator."

a hazardous or difficult situation that is very hard to get out of

"Quicksand can be very dangerous."

"The hiker stepped into a patch of quicksand and began to sink slowly into the wet sand."

either of the two imaginary lines around the Earth located about 23° north and south of the equator

"The tropic is a line."

"The region between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn experiences hot, humid weather."

a hypothetical line around the Earth that divides it into Northern and Southern hemispheres

"Countries on the equator experience a hot climate."

"The celestial equator is a great circle projected onto the celestial sphere directly above Earth's own geographic equator"

a large collection of islands or the sea surrounding them

"An archipelago has many islands."

"The Malay Archipelago is a massive collection of over twenty-five thousand islands stretching between Southeast Asia and Australia"

an imaginary circle around 66.5 degrees south of the equator, marking the southernmost point where the sun stays above or below the horizon for 24 hours during the respective solstices

"The Antarctic Circle marks the boundary of the polar day."

"The Antarctic Circle is the most southerly of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth; the region south of this circle is known as the Antarctic"

a landform at a river's mouth, shaped by sediment deposition and characterized by distributaries

"The river delta formed land."

"The Nile delta is one of the most fertile regions in the world, supporting millions of farmers and their families."