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Physical Geography

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Page Titles
Topic Description
Key Words
Causes of Earthquakes
Detecting Earthquakes
Eyewitness accounts
European Macroseismic Scale
Gujarat Earthquake
Impact of Earthquakes - the factors involved
Kobe Earthquake
Medvedev-Sponheuer-Karnik scale
Mercalli Scale
Predicting Earthquakes
Richter Scale

Online lesson: Causes of Earthquakes
Online lesson: Detecting & Predicting Earthquakes
Online lesson: Kobe Case Study
EARTHQUAKES

Contents
Earthquakes are a natural hazard. These pages look at the causes of earthquakes and tsunami, how they are detected and measured, and the ways in which they might be predicted.

The 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan is examined as a case study, and there are several eyewitness accounts of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake in California, USA.

Intended Audience
The material is aimed mostly at students up to the United Kingdom GCSE Level ( Age 16 ) but much of the language is within the comprehension of younger students.

Animals
Dilatancy
Elastic Limit
Elastic Rebound
Epicentre
Fires
Focus
Hyogo-ken Nanbu
Japan
Kobe
Loma Prieta
Mercalli
P, S, L waves
Richter
Seismograph
Shocks
Tsunami

Alfred Wegener
Fold Mountains
Plate Tectonics and Continental Drift
Ring Of Fire
Structure of the earth
Types of Plate Boundary

Online lesson: Structure of the Earth
Online lesson: Tectonics and Continental Drift
PLATE TECTONICS AND
CONTINENTAL DRIFT

Contents
Throughout geological time the surface of the Earth has changed, and continents have actually moved across the surface of the planet. This movement of continents is called Continental Drift, and the theory explaining why this happens is known as Plate Tectonics.

Intended Audience
The material is aimed mostly at students up to the United Kingdom GCSE Level ( Age 16 ) but much of the language is within the comprehension of younger students.

Alfred Wegener
Convection
Core
Crust
Francis Bacon
Mantle
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
Pangaea
Plates
Sial and Sima

Composite Volcano
Mount St. Helens
Popocatapetl
Pyroclastic Flows and Lahars
Underwater and submarine volcanoes
Where are all the volcanoes?
Why live near a volcano?

Online lesson: Composite Volcanoes
Online lesson: Mt St.Helens Case Study

VOLCANOES AND VOLCANICS

Contents
Volcanoes occur where liquid rock, called magma, rises through the crust and breaks out onto the surface where it is then called lava. Perhaps the most famous type of volcano is the type typically shaped like a triangle, known as a Composite volcano. These pages look at the formation and terminology of composite volcanoes, and examine the Mount St. Helens eruption of 1980 as a case study.

Intended Audience
The material is aimed mostly at students up to the United Kingdom GCSE Level ( Age 16 ) but much of the language is within the comprehension of younger students.

Ash Clouds
Crater
Eruption
Fumerole
Lava Flow
Magma Chamber
Main Vent
Secondary Cone
Spirit Lake
Strata


Ablation and Ablation Zone
Accumulation and Accumulation Area
Aretes
Barren Zone
Cirque Lake
Climate history from glaciers
Corries / Cirques
Corrie Glaciers
Deposition Features
Distribution of glaciers worldwide
Hanging Valleys
Erosion Features
Erosion Processes
Global warming and glaciers
How Glaciers Form and Flow
Human uses
Ice Ages
Icecaps
Ice Sheets
Natural Hazards - Glaciers
Origins
Photographs of glacial features
Piedmont Glaciers
Pyramidal Peaks
Revision Crossword
Ribbon Lakes
Siberian Permafrost
Striations,Roche Moutonnee,Crag and Tail
Suncups
Tidewater glaciers
Tourism in Antarctica
U Shaped Valleys
Valley Glaciers
Weird facts about glaciers and icebergs
GLACIERS AND GLACIATION

Contents
Glaciers are both geographical features in their own right, and also the agent which produces a host of landscape features such as u shape valleys, ribbon lakes, kames and kettleholes. These pages look at how and where glaciers form, how ice manages to flow and the features it can produce through both erosion and deposition. The formation of corries ( also called cirques or cwms ) is explained, and different types of glaciers are investigated. Some of the pages look in more detail at the processes occurring within a glacier, for example the transformation of loose snow into hard glacial ice.

Intended Audience
The material is aimed mostly at students up to the United Kingdom GCSE Level ( Age 16 ) but much of the language is within the comprehension of younger students.

Photographs and diagrams are suited to most levels of study, and include photographs of case studies in the UK and continental Europe.

Ablation
Abrasion
Accumulation
Arete
Braided Streams
Arete (origins)
Cold Glacier
Corrie
Deformation
Drumlin
Esker
Freeze thaw
Glacial Lake
Head
Highland
Icecap
Kame
Moraine
Niche
Plastic flow
Plucking
Roche Moutonnee
Rock Debris
Shear Plains
Snowline
Snow structure
Striations
Till
Truncated spur
U shaped valley
U shaped valley (origins)
Warm Glacier



Cliffs
Coastal Management: Interested Parties
Coastal Management: Physical Control
Dunes
Fetch
Longshore Drift
Mud Flats
Salt Marsh
Stacks
Wavecut platforms
Waves
Coastal Revision Crossword



COASTS AND COASTAL FEATURES

Contents
Coastal areas are subject to change on a daily basis. They are also home to very distinct features and processes. These pages look at the main coastal features, such as beaches, headlands, caves and spits, explaining the processes by which they are formed, and how they influence the development of the shoreline.

They also look at the ways in which human activity has altered the coast and continues to influence the development of coastal landforms.

Intended Audience
The material is aimed mostly at students up to the United Kingdom GCSE Level ( Age 16 ) but much of the language is within the comprehension of younger students.

Some material is relevant to more advanced students and those GCSE candidates seeking a greater understanding of coastal processes.

Photographs and diagrams are suited to most levels of study.





Backwash
Groynes
Hard engineering
Interested parties
Soft engineering
Stump
Swash


Rivers Revision Crossword
RIVERS AND FLUVIAL FEATURES

Contents
This section covers a broad range of features and their environments, ranging from how waterfalls form to where the rain goes after a shower. Physical features such as lakes, streams, watertables and bogs are discussed, backed up with detailed coverage of the processes at work creating the features we can see and those usually hidden from view.

Intended Audience
The material is aimed mostly at students up to the United Kingdom GCSE Level ( Age 16 ) but much of the language is within the comprehension of younger students.

Photographs and diagrams are suited to most levels of study


Sorry, this content is being updated
KARST LANDSCAPES
(Limestone and Chalk)

Contents
This section covers chalk and limestone landscapes, background geology , and the features typical of such locations both above and below the ground.

Intended Audience
The material is aimed mostly at students up to the United Kingdom GCSE Level ( Age 16 ) but much of the language is within the comprehension of younger students.

Photographs and diagrams are suited to most levels of study


Sorry, this content is being updated
MOORLAND AND HEATHLAND

Contents
This section covers

Intended Audience
The material is aimed mostly at students up to the United Kingdom GCSE Level ( Age 16 ) but much of the language is within the comprehension of younger students.

Photographs and diagrams are suited to most levels of study


Country Climate Info
Beaufort Scale
Permafrost melting and global warming
What are clouds, and why does it rain?
Weather in Europe right now
Why are sunsets red?

METEOROLOGY
(Weather and Climate)

Contents
This section covers

Intended Audience
The material is aimed mostly at students up to the United Kingdom GCSE Level ( Age 16 ) but much of the language is within the comprehension of younger students.

Photographs and diagrams are suited to most levels of study

 

Coastal Notes
Coastal Crossword


Glacial Notes
Glacial Crossword


Fluvial / Rivers Notes
Rivers Revision Crossword

PHYSICAL REVISION VOCABULARY

Contents
These pages contain a glossary of words vital to the understanding of each topic. They, and their definitions, have been picked to represent the basic technical vocabulary needed by a student undertaking the United Kingdom GCSE examination at 16.

Intended Audience
The material is aimed mostly at students up to the United Kingdom GCSE Level ( Age 16 ) but will be of use to anyone seeking the meaning of a range of geographical terms.

Select the page that is of interest to you. All key words are listed alphabetically with their definitions.

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