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Mid Term Study Guide


large, flat areas which often have thick, fertile soils and grassy meadows.

Coastal plains

stretch along coastal areas and are often called lowlands.

Interior plains

are in the central part of a continent


flat, raised areas of land made up of nearly horizontal rocks; their edges rise steeply from the area around them.


tower above the surrounding land

Folded mountains

form when rock layers are squeezed from opposite sides, causing the rock layers to fold like a rug pushed up against the wall

Upwarped mountains

forces inside Earth push the crust up to form?

Fault-block mountains

form when tilted blocks of rock are separated by faults from the surrounding rock.

Volcanic mountains

layers of molten material pile up forming cone-shaped?

Grid system

imaginary grid created when lines of latitude and longitude intersect


lines running parallel to the equator

Prime meridian


180* meridian

opposite the Prime Meridian; east and west longitude meet here


Earth is divided into 24 of these zones, each about fifteen degrees of longitude wide and exactly one hour different from the zones on either side of it.

International Date Line

located at the 180* meridian and where the calendar dates begin and end at midnight.

Map projections

made when points and lines on the globe's surface are trnsferred onto paper; all projections distort the shapes of landmasses.

Mercator projection

used mainly on ships and project lines of longitude parallel to each other, resulting in area distortions but correct continent shapes

Robinson projection

keeps lines of latitude parallel and lines of longitude curved, resulting in less distortion near the poles.

Conic projection

made by projecting points and lines from a globe onto a cone and are useful for relatively small middle-latitude regions.

topographical map

models the changes in Earth's surface elevation

contour line

line on a map that connects points of equal elevation


contours are marked with their elevation

map scale

is the relationship between the distances on the map and the distances on Earth's surface.

Map legend

explains symbols used on a map

Map series

includes maps that have the same dimensions of latitude and longitude.

Geologic maps

show the arrangement of rocks at the Earth's surface; computers can generate three-dimensional views of Earth's surface features.

remote sensing

allows scientists to collect information about the Earth often using satellites.

landsat satellites

takes pictures of Earth's surface using different wavelengths of light.

global positioning system

also known as a GPS, it uses twenty-four satellites sending position and time signals to allow a person to calculate his or her exact position.

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