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 PENGUIN REFERENCE BOOKS

THE PENGUIN DICTIONARY OF

GEOGRAPHY

x\udrey N. Clark is an author, editor and publisher. She was personal

assistant to Sir Dudley Stamp from 1940 until his death in 1966;
Secretary of the First Land Utilization Survey of Britain, and served
in the Planning Branch, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Audrey Clark is Director of Geographical Publications Ltd; editor
of the World Land Use Survey Series, International Geographical
Union; publisher to the Department of Land Economy, Cambridge,
and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Her books, which are all published by Longman, include the
Longman Dictionary of Geography: Human and Physical; A Glossary
of Geographical Terms (3rd edn); Chisholm’s Handbook of Commercial
Geography (19th and 20th edns); The World (19th edn); A Commercial
Geography (9th edn); and she edited the New Geography for Today
senes.
V 'v
THE PENGUIN DICTIONARY OF

GEOGRAPHY

Audrey N. Clark

SECOND EDITION

PENGUIN BOOKS
 V V

PENGUIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group

'Of
Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London w8 5TZ, England
Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England

The Longman Dictionary of Geography: Human and Physical

published by Longman 1985
An abridged and revised edition published by arrangement with
Longman Group UK Ltd as The New Penguin Dictionary of Geography
in Penguin Books 1990
Reprinted as The Penguin Dictionary of Geography 1993
Second edition 1998
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Copyright © Geographical Publications Ltd, 1985

Copyright © Audrey N. Clark, 1990, 1998
All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Typeset in 8.5/iopt Monotype Bembo

Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives pic

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject

to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s
prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
 PREFACE

In the Preface to the first edition of this dictionary (1990) it was pointed out that
geography as a discipline spans the humanities, the natural and the social sciences;
has many specialist branches; is concerned not only with the physical phenomena
of the planet (as in physical geography) but with the way in which people interact
with them, and with each other (as in human geography). This breadth of view
has led geographers to draw on some of the terminology of disciplines that impinge
on their work (including anthropology, archaeology, economics, law, literature,
medicine, philosophy, psychology, sociology etc., in the human sphere; and
astronomy, biology, botany, geology, geomorphology, hydrology, soil science
etc., in the physical), as well as on that of technical subjects such as cartography,
remote sensing, surveying, mathematics and statistics.
Since 1990 swift progress in geography and these related disciplines has greatly
extended the vocabulary in use in geographical literature and texts. To accommo¬
date the advance this second edition of the dictionary has been updated and
expanded, incorporating over 750 terms additional to those appearing in the first
edition.
Geographers are, of course, supremely well placed to study environmental
problems as well as present and potential effects of globalization. These aspects are
well covered in this edition, which is designed to meet the needs of students from
GCSE to first year college and university. The level of language used in the
definitions is commensurate with the level of difficulty of the term involved.
It is obviously impossible to cover in detail in a concise dictionary such as this
all the terms used by geographers (this has been done in the Longman Dictionary of
Geography: Human and Physical, 724 pages, over 10 500 entries). But the most
frequently used terms, with succinct definitions, appear here.
Constructive criticism and suggestions for additions will be warmly welcomed.

Audrey N. Clark
1998
 V ^

LIST OF FIGURES

1 (a) Anticline and anticlinorium 18

(b) Syncline and synclinorium 18
2 Anticyclone 18
3 The London basin: a typical artesian basin and well 23
4 Layers of the atmosphere 26
5 Pressure belts and the circulation of the atmosphere 27
6 Barchan 34
7 Batholith and metamorphic aureole 38
8 Bid price curve, bid rent curve, and land use 45
9 (a) Central place theory market areas 66
(b) Central place theory: transport networks 67
10 Cirque 72
11 The formation of cliffs 75
12 Burgess’s concentric zone theory 85
13 Delta forms 106
14 A depression as shown on a weather chart 109
15 Section through a depression 109
16 Dip 113
17 Drainage patterns 118-19
18 The earth’s orbit, and seasons in the northern hemisphere 12
Co

19 Electromagnetic spectrum 130

20 Eskers, moraines and outwash fans 136
21 Extrusive and intrusive rocks 141
22 Direction of movement at some types of fault 146
23 Terminology of a fault 146
24 Types of fold, and terminology 155
25 The hydrological cycle 194
26 Land and sea breezes 220
27 Latitude and longitude 225
28 Longshore drift 234
29 Meanders 247
30 The national grid of the British Ordnance Survey 266
31 Examples of networks 272
32 The nitrogen cycle 275
33 An occlusion: section and plan 281
34 The ocean currents of the world in January 282

VI
35 A pediment 299
36 Plate tectonics: direction of movement of plates 310
37 Plate tectonics: converging plates 311
38 Population pyramids 317
39 Section through a raised beach 335
40 Linear model: linear regression 341
41 Runoff 351
42 Scarp and vale terrain and characteristic streams 358
43 Standard time zones and the international date line 388
44 Stream order 393
45 Territorial waters: maritime zones 409
46 Diagrammatic section through a volcano 439
47 Wallace’s line 442

Random number table 456

Cross references, amplifying the definitions, are indicated by small capital letters
A
aa (Hawaiian) a rough scoriaceous lava European colonizers 2. occasionally
flow (scoria), pahoehoe. pillow applied to a plant or animal believed on
LAVA, ROPY LAVA. available evidence to have been one of
the first or earliest in an area. The adj. is
abandoned doorstep the original land-
aboriginal.
sea zone that had supported the port
facilities of an urban area, left derelict as abrasion the act or process of wearing
a result of the decline of the port and down or wearing away by friction, e.g. by
DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION. a river dragging stones along its bed, by
the sea carrying sand and shingle along the
abiocoen in ecology, all the non-living
coast, by glaciers with rocks frozen into
parts of the environment, biocoen,
their mass, by hard ice particles blown
HOLOCOEN.
by wind over an ice surface. The process
abiotic without life, inorganic-i. involved in the gradual reduction in the
size of pebbles as one rubs against another
ablation the action or process of carrying is better termed attrition. Abrasion
away or removal, applied to I. the loss results from the corrasion of rock.
which a glacier undergoes through TRANSPORTATION-2.
melting (the result of solar radiation
conducted by solid debris on the surface abrasion platform, abrasion plane a

or flanking walls, or of rain falling on the wave-cut platform, a flat, nearly smooth,
surface, or of relatively warm water from rock platform extending from the foot of
melting streams), or through sublima¬ a sea-cliff and formed by the erosive action
tion under favourable temperature, of breakers in carrying shingle along the
humidity and wind conditions, or through coast. The surface is usually bare, but may
abrasion (by sharp ice particles blown be covered with a thin layer of fine rock
along the surface), or through the breaking particles.
away of icebergs on the edge of tidal
abscissa in mathematics, the horizontal
water 2. the work of wind in removing
or x coordinate in a plane coordinate
fine rock debris in sandy areas (but for this
system, ordinate.
process the term deflation is usually
preferred). absolute drought in UK, a period of at
least fifteen consecutive days on none of
aborigine, aboriginal I. a person who
which more than 0.25 mm (0.01 in) of
is believed, on contemporary evidence, to
rain falls.
have been one of the original inhabitants
of an area, or a descendant of such an absolute humidity the amount of
individual, or one of the inhabitants occu¬ water vapour in a unit mass of air,
pying an area at the time of the arrival of usually measured by the grams of water

I
 V x.

absolute instability

vapour present in one cubic metre of the heae\ward erosion; but others apply it
air (or in grains per cubic foot: i grain = to the simplest type of river piracy, in
0.0648 gram). The amount of water which one stream, by its more vigorous
vapour held by a body of air is gov¬ action, widens its valley and captures
erned by temperature and pressure: it another, model-2.
becomes saturated at dew-point.
abyssal adj. applied to 1. the deepest
HUMIDITY, RELATIVE HUMIDITY, SPE¬
regions (and associated phenomena) of the
CIFIC HUMIDITY.
ocean, or, very loosely indeed, the ocean
absolute instability the state of an air floor in general, deep 2. less frequently,
mass, holding any amount of water the deepest region of a lake, abyssal
VAPOUR (CONDITIONAL INSTABILITY), ZONE, BENTHOS.
in which the environmental lapse
abyssal deposits deposits on the very
rate is higher than the dry adiabatic
deep parts of the ocean floor, abyssal
lapse rate of the atmosphere surround¬
plain, OOZE.
ing it, with the result that it is unstable.
abyssal plain a deep-sea plain, a very
absolute range the difference between
large, relatively level area of the deep ocean
the extremes of temperature, rainfall etc.,
floor, covered with a thin layer of sedi¬
the highest and lowest values ever experi¬
ment. ooze. Fig 45.
enced at a place. RANGE-4.
abyssal zone 1. the deepest regions of
absolute stability the state of an air mass
the ocean, depth not precisely defined 2.
in which the environmental lapse
the zone in a lake not effectively pene¬
rate is lower than the saturated adia¬
trated by light, benthic division.
batic lapse rate of the atmosphere sur¬
rounding it. accelerated erosion soil erosion
occurring at a rate exceeding the rate at
absolute zero the lowest temperature
which a soil horizon can be formed
possible, the point at which all thermal
from the parent material. This is com¬
molecular movement ceases, the zero
monly due to human activity.
point being 273.15 Celsius degrees below
the ice point. This puts the ice point acceptable dose limit the greatest
(the melting point of pure ice at standard amount of an alien substance that can be
pressure) at 273.15 K. kelvin scale. released into an environment without
causing serious harm, e.g. discharge of
absorption the physical process in which
chemicals from a factory into a river, pol¬
a material or system (the absorbent) takes
lution.
into itself and holds another (the
absorbate). adsorption. access means of approach, sometimes
restricted to the physical means of
abstraction 1. the act of taking away, of
approach, accessibility.
reducing to a minimum, of extracting the
essence ofan idea, model-2 2. the product accessibility the state or quality of ease
of such acts 3. the formation of an idea, of approach, used in a physical sense (the
separate from material things etc. 4. a term ease ot getting to a place, a facility or a
regarded by some authors as synonymous service, measurable in terms ofthe distance
with river capture, which involves to be travelled, the cost involved, the time

2
 acidic

taken) or a social sense (the extent to which formation of crystals, or in the growth of
different social groups are able to obtain ice particles by the addition of very small
goods, facilities, services, regardless of geo¬ water particles.
graphical location), intervening loca¬
acculturation i. a process of culture
tion EFFECT, SHADOW EFFECT.
change in which more or less continuous
accessory mineral any of the many contact between two or more culturally
varied minerals occurring widespread and distinct groups or societies produces the
in very small quantity in a rock, which results outlined under culture con¬
may reveal the origin of the rock but which tact 2. the state which results from such
do not affect its essential character. They a process.
are disregarded in the classification of the
accumulated temperature the sum of
rock. ESSENTIAL MINERALS.
the temperatures above or below a selected
accidented relief rugged and irregular temperature measured over a period of
relief. time (day degree). For example, 6°C
(43°F) is the critical temperature at
acclimatization the process by which
which the growth of vegetation is com¬
plants and animals (including human
monly stimulated in midlatitude con¬
beings) become, or are made to become,
ditions. A temperature of 6°C (43 °F) is
accustomed to climatic conditions
therefore the basal crucial norm. If the
unnatural to them (i.e. which are different
mean daily temperature rises above this
from those of their native environment)
basal temperature each degree of the excess
so that they are able to live and reproduce.
is known as the day degree. The number
accommodation a style of, or the stage of day degrees can be added together for
reached in, integration in society, in periods of a week, a month or a growing
which conflict is reduced or avoided, the season and the figures so obtained are
dominant group tolerating the differences referred to as the accumulated tem¬
of sub-groups such as ethnic minor¬ perature.
ities. ASSIMILATION.
accumulation in capitalism, the build¬
accordance of summit levels the gen¬ ing-up and reproduction of capital by con¬
eral conformity of mountain peaks or hill tinuing investment of profits, capital-2.
tops to approximately the same level.
acid a compound containing hydrogen
accordant drainage surface drainage which, dissolved in water, provides hydro¬
directly related to the dip of the under¬ gen ions (protons); or a molecule or
lying STRATA. ion which can give up protons to a base-2.
accordant junction a river junction in acid adj. 1. relating to, or having the
which a tributary joins the main stream
characteristics of, an acid 2. acid produ¬
at exactly the appropriate level, i.e. the
cing 3. having an astringent, sharp, sour
tributary grades its course to the level of
taste.
its outfall. DISCORDANT JUNCTION.
acid brown forest soil brown forest
accretion the accumulation of particles,
SOIL.
as in sedimentation-i , or in the process
of growth by external addition, e.g. in the acidic adj. 1. acid-forming 2. acid, adj.

3
 V V

acidify

acidify to increase the concentration of which could be ploughed in a day by a

hydrogen ions in a solution. team of oxen, later defined by statute as
4840 sq yds (0.4 hectare). 640 acres equal
acidity the state or quality of being acid.
one sq mi.
acid, pH.
acre feet (American) in irrigation,
acid lava a viscous, molten igneous
measure of water needed to flood one acre
material, with a high content of silica
of land to a depth of one foot.
and a high melting point, which emerges
slowly from a volcanic vent, cools and acronym a name made up of the initial
solidifies quickly, tending to form a plug letters of an official title, e.g. United
or solid cone with steep sides (acid rock, Nations Educational, Scientific and Cul¬
lava). Many acid lavas solidify into a tural Organization, acronym Unesco.
glassy rather than a crystalline form.
action space the area-i known to an
acid peat bog peat, peat. individual, within which an individual
acts, deciding where to live, to play, to
acid rain precipitation, with a pH value shop, the location of each activity being
of 5.6 or lower, charged with an excessive perceived in relation to that of the others.
amount of acid droplets, formed particu¬ ACTIVITY SPACE, SEARCH SPACE.
larly when oxides of sulphur and of
nitrogen released by combustior, active adj. working, busy, energetic or
especially by the burning of hydro¬ effective, as opposed to passive, quiet,
carbons, are converted to acids in ths dormant or dead.
atmosphere. Such precipitation may make active glacier a glacier subject to a
over-acidic soils that are already acid (acid high rate of alimentation due to heavy
soil), wash aluminium and other metals snowfall in winter and a warm summer,
out of the ground, thereby polluting rivers resulting in rapid ablation and the trans¬
and lakes, and greatly damage by chemical port of large amounts of debris, passive
process the exterior of buildings, pol¬ GLACIER.
lution, SULPHUR DIOXIDE.
active layer in soil, the annually thawed
acid rock, acidic rock an igneous layer in permafrost regions. Below it
rock now defined as containing more lies the permanently frozen layer.
than 10 per cent free quartz. The typical
acid Plutonic rock is granite, the active permafrost the layer of perma¬

HYPABYSSAL is QUARTZ PORPHYRY, the frost which, having been thawed by arti¬
VOLCANIC is RHYOLITE. ACID LAVA, ficial or natural causes, is able to return to
BASIC ROCK, INTERMEDIATE ROCK, permafrost under existing climatic con¬
MAGMA, ULTRABASIC ROCK. ditions.

active volcano a volcano which is

acid soil a soil in which the pH or hydro¬
liable to erupt, as opposed to a dormant
gen ion concentration is below 7.0
volcano.
(neutrality), acid rain, alkaline soil,
ALKALI SOIL, pH. activity space awareness space.

acre a unit of area in British measures, actual adj. existing in act or as a fact, as
formerly the area of land (customary acre) opposed to potential or theoretical.

4
 adret

actual isotherm an isotherm (iso-) based administrative principle one of the

on actual temperatures, not on tempera¬ principles used to account for the varying
tures adjusted to sea-level by taking into levels and distribution of central places
account the altitude of the recording in a central place system. Assuming
station. the size of the complementary region

of a central place to be governed by con¬

adaptation I. in biology, the act or pro¬ sideration of the most effective political
cess by which an organism becomes fitted
or administrative control, there will be a
to its environment, thereby improving its
clearcut separation of the higher order
chances of survival and ofleaving descend¬
central place from the neighbouring lower
ants in the environment it is inhabiting 2.
order central places, i.e. each lower order
a characteristic (an inherited or acquired
central place will come within the comple¬
structure or function) which makes an
mentary region of the single high order
organism so fitted 3. the condition
central place, and will thus be served
resulting from the modifying act, process
entirely by this one, dominant higher
or characteristic.
order centre, which is the seat of adminis¬
adaptive behaviour behaviour-i that tration. This results in a K-j hierarchy.
K-VALUE, MARKETING PRINCIPLE,
involves deliberate, rational choice to
bring about satisfactory or optimum con¬ TRAFFIC PRINCIPLE. Fig 9(a).
ditions, e.g. the behaviour of a firm in
adobe (Spanish) 1. a LOESS-like, in some
deliberately and rationally choosing an
cases calcareous, clay, brought by the
economically satisfactory or optimum
wind from the rock waste of deserts and
location for an operation, adoptive
glaciated areas, deposited on the plains and
BEHAVIOUR.
in the basins of western USA and in arid

adiabatic adj. of the physical change dur¬ parts of Mexico, and used for making

ing which no heat leaves or enters the unburnt, sun-dried bricks 2. the sun-dried

system-i. This commonly occurs in an bricks made from such deposits 3. a struc¬

ascending or a descending parcel of air in ture, e.g. a dwelling, made from such

the atmosphere-1. An ascending body bricks or deposits 4. soils derived from

of air expands and cools, the constituent such deposits.

molecules being dispersed; a descend¬

adoptive behaviour behaviour-i that
ing body of air contracts and becomes
displays a lack of conscious choice, e.g.
warmer, the molecules being compressed;
the behaviour of a firm in not making an
but there is no net gain or loss of heat.
economically sound choice for the
DIABATIC.
location of an activity (adaptive

adiabatic gradient the rate at which the behaviour) but in allowing its location

temperature of an air mass, ascending or to happen by chance or subjective choice,

descending, changes in response to expan¬ e.g. because the founder happened to live

sion or compression of that air mass. in the area.

adit a horizontal or ne.arly horizontal pass¬ adret (French; Italian adretto; German
age or working dug into a hillside from Sonnenseite) the sunny, warm slope of a
the surface for the purpose of extracting hill or valleyside, as opposed to the ubac

minerals; hence adit mine, adit mining. or shady side, aspect, exposure.

5
adsorption

adsorption a physical or chemical process aeration any process by which a substance

by which molecules of a gas, liquid or becomes impregnated with air or another
dissolved substance adhere to the surface gas.
of another, absorption.
aeration zone the zone with permeable
advanced dune a small sand dune rocks, including the soil, which overlies
formed round an obstacle and lying in the permanent water table or zone of
front, i.e. to windward, of a larger dune saturation (saturated-2) and in which
from which it is separated by an eddying pore spaces are partly filled with ground
wind. air.

advanced industrial country aic. aerial photograph a photograph taken

from the air at an oblique or vertical angle,
advection the horizontal movement of
particularly useful in map making.
air, water or other fluid, applied especially
PHOTOGRAMMETRY, REMOTE SENSING,
to masses of air and water, in contrast to
STEREOSCOPE.
convection, vertical movement.
aerobe an organism able to live only in
advection fog fog formed when a warm,
the presence of free oxygen, aerobic,
moisture-laden air stream moves horizon¬
ANAEROBE, ANAEROBIC.
tally over a cooler surface, so that its lower
layers are chilled below dew-point. aerobic adj. active, living or respiring only
in the presence ofFREE oxygen, aerobe,
adventitious adj. appearing casually or
ANAEROBE, ANAEROBIC.
in unusual places, something added from
without, applied since 1949 in the study of aerobic respiration the process in which
rural population, i.e. primary population organisms use gaseous or dissolved oxy¬
(farmers and farm workers), secondary gen (free oxygen) to release energy
(people serving the primary group) and by the chemical breakdown of food sub¬
adventitious (the population living in rural stances. ANAEROBIC RESPIRATION, RES¬
areas solely from choice, e.g. retired PIRATION.
people).
aeroplankton minute organisms (spores,
adventive crater lateral crater or parasitic bacteria and other micro-organisms) float¬
crater, a crater which opens on the flanks ing freely in the atmosphere, plankton.
of a great cone-i.
aerosols 1. ultra-microscopic solid or
adventure tourism tourism that liquid colloidal particles suspended in a gas
involves elements of pioneering and phys¬ or in the atmosphere-i, appearing as
ical effort (mountaineering, rock climb¬ mist, fog etc. In the atmosphere aerosols
ing, trekking, canoeing, rafting etc.) in reduce the amount of solar radiation
order to experience unfamiliar environ¬ reaching the earth’s surface, and may thus
ments. Accommodation is usually in tents have a cooling effect, pollution 2. a
or other basic shelter, ecotourism. substance held under pressure in a con¬
tainer and released by a spraying device;
aeolian, eolian adj. associated with
or such a container itself.
Aeolus, the Greek god of the winds, hence
related to wind action, i.e. borne, afforestation 1. historically, the result of
deposited, produced or eroded by wind. the declaration of English medieval kings

6
 aggradation

that a tract of land should be subject to together into a mass 2. in soil science, a
forest laws (forest-2), or their action in loose gathering together of soil particles
making this declaration 2. the clearing of which, when more closely united, form
land of sheep and cattle in Scotland in an aggregate-3 3. in urban studies, an
the mid-nineteenth century so that deer urban area, usually unplanned and form¬
forests (forest-3) could be established 3. less, composed of formerly separate
the planting of land, not formerly so suburbs, villages or small towns which
covered, with trees to make a forest for have expanded and coalesced 4. a concen¬
commercial or other purposes, forest, tration of productive enterprises at a
REFORESTATION. certain location, e.g. in a large town or
industrial region, where each enterprise
aftershock one of a series ol small shocks
may enjoy the benefits of the readily avail¬
following a main earthquake and ori¬
able labour, good transport and service
ginating at or close to its seismic focus.
facilities, the large market, the proximity

agar-agar a gelatinous substance obtained of allied and other enterprises, the concen¬

from seaweeds native to the waters tration itself producing economies of

around Sn Lanka, Malaysia,Java andjapan SCALE. AGGLOMERATION ECONOMIES,

(especially from the seaweed Gracilaria COMPLEMENTARITY, DEGLOMERATION,

lichenoides). Having been mixed with hot DISECONOMIES OF SCALE, EXTERNAL

water and cooled, it sets to a firm jelly, ECONOMIES.

suitable for use in cooking, the manufac¬ agglomeration economies the savings
ture of fine silk and paper, in pharma¬ to the individual productive enterprise
ceutical products and, in bacteriology, as that come from operating in the same
a culture medium. location as others (thereby sharing spe¬
cialist servicing industries, specialist
age 1. the length of time for which an
financial services and public utilities) or
organism has lived or an object existed,
from serving a growing, large market
exceptions being a life of markedly short
occupying a small, compact geographical
duration (e.g. a butterfly living for a day
area, agglomeration-4, centripetal
or two is said to have a lifespan, not an
AND CENTRIFUGAL FORCES, DEGLOM¬
age) and the life of subatomic particles
ERATION.
and radioactive species, to which the term
half-life is applied 2. a very long time in aggradation 1. a process in which a land
the earth’s history, a subdivision of an surface is built up by a deposition and
epoch (geological time) 3. a period of accumulation of detritus, rock waste, sand,
time based on cultural criteria, e.g. neo¬ alluvium etc. derived from denudation,
lithic AGE. thus the opposite of degradation, e.g.
an alluvial river plain is an aggraded surface
agglomerate a rock consisting of angular
(progradation) 2. a process in which
fragments mainly exceeding 2 cm (0.75 in)
permafrost grows, the upper surface of
in diameter thrown out of an erupting
the permafrost rising and accumulating ice
volcano and more or less solidified in a
on the under surface of the activelayer;
matrix of ash or tuft. breccia, con¬
termed aggradational ice, it appears as
glomerate, PYROCLAST.
white horizontal bands interspersed with
agglomeration I. in general, a gathering horizontal dirt bands.

7
 \ <v
aggregate

aggregate i. a total derived by addition, other pasture 2. in fao statistics, arable

e.g. in statistics, population-4 2. in geo¬ land and land under tree crops, plus perma¬
logy, a cluster of mineral particles, i.e. a nent meadows and pastures. Unimproved
rock 3. in soil science, a single mass or grassland presents a difficulty: where it
cluster of soil particles which acts as a unit. corresponds to ‘range land’ (range-3), or
crumb structure 4. a construction the open natural grassland of the tropical
material made from crushed stone or regions, it is normally excluded.
gravel and sand, used in making concrete,
agricultural revolution a period in agri¬
in road surfacing etc.
cultural development characterized by
aggregate demand in Keynesian change and innovation in techniques,
economic analysis, the value of the total plant breeding, animal husbandry, etc.
planned expenditure in an economy. GREEN REVOLUTION, HIGH FARMING.
KEYNESIANISM.
agriculture the science and art of cultivat¬
aggressive water water capable of dis¬ ing the soil and the rearing of livestock,
solving rock, e.g. as in carbonation. equivalent to farming. Some authors
include forestry, others exclude
agrarian adj. 1. of or relating to land, ranching; others restrict the term to the
especially to its cultivation, management
cultivation of the land, agribusiness,
and distribution in a system of land
AGRICULTURAL AREA, CROP FARMING,
tenure 2. of, relating to, or connected
EXTENSIVE AGRICULTURE, EXTRACTIVE
with, landed property.
AGRICULTURE, INTENSIVE AGRICUL¬

agrarian reform land reform com¬ TURE, LIVESTOCK FARMING, MIXED

bined with changes designed to improve FARMING.

rural life, e.g. by the provision of facilities agro-forestal, agroforestal adj. per¬
for better education and social life as well taining to the use ofland for a combination
as for more productive cultivation. of AGRICULTURE and FORESTRY.

agribusiness 1. all the operations and A horizon the surface layer in the soil
processes involved in running a farm as containing humus, an eluvial layer
a commercial enterprise 2. specifically, from which minerals etc. are leached. The
a highly commercial, efficiently organ¬ A horizon is subdivided by some soil scien¬
ized, business-like capital-intensive tists into Aq0, a layer of litter; A0, a layer
farming enterprise using up-to-date tech¬ with new organic matter; Au an organic¬
nology in equipment and production ally rich layer; A2, a leached layer; and A3,
methods to achieve the highest possible the layer grading into the BHORizoN.The
output of produce of a consistently high entry on soil horizon shows further
standard which, in some cases, is sold under refinements in the classification of the A
contract to large-scale customers. horizon, l layer, mineral horizon, o
HORIZONS, SOIL PROFILE.
agricultural adj. related to, characteristic

of, AGRICULTURE. AIC advanced industrial country.

agricultural area 1. an area of land used air 1. the mixture of gases enveloping the
for farming, including arable land, earth and forming the atmosphere 2.
improved or unimproved grassland and that air considered as a medium for the

8
 algal bloom

transmission of radio waves or for the netic radiation (solar radiation) falling
operation of aircraft. on a surface to the amount reflected from
it, expressed as a percentage or a decimal.
air drainage the downward movement
The average albedo of the earth is about
of cold air-i from higher to lower areas.
0.4 (40 per cent), i.e. four-tenths of solar
FROST POCKET, KATABATIC WIND.
radiation is reflected from the earth into
air frost air with a temperature at or below space.
o°C (32°F) as recorded at the level of
Aleutian low a sub-polar atmospheric
a METEOROLOGICAL SCREEN. GROUND
low pressure area (low, atmospheric)
FROST.
lying over the North Pacific, particularly
air-gap wind-gap. in winter, characterized by a series of
swiftly moving separate lows interspersed
air mass, air-mass, airmass a mobile
by occasional high pressure systems. Ice¬
homogeneous mass of air in the atmo¬
landic low.
sphere, bounded by fronts. It may be
very large, spreading over hundreds of sq alfisols in soil classification, USA,
km, or quite small and local; but it has an order of soils which are relatively young
distinct characteristics of lapse rate and and acid with a clay b horizon. Alfisols
humidity (dry or moist) and temperature commonly occur under deciduous

(hot or cold) derived from the region from forest and are associated with humid, sub-
which it originates, but which may be humid TEMPERATE and SUBTROPICAL

modified by long travel. There are many climates.

detailed classifications: a very broad gen¬
algae pi. (sing, alga) simple photo¬
eral division identifies polar or tropical
synthetic, non-vascular plants with
(based on temperature), maritime (on
unicellular organs of reproduction. The
humidity, having taken up moisture from
members vary widely in size and form,
the ocean), continental (dry, of land, i.e.
from the unicellular microscopic to the
continental, origin). Such air masses, large
multicellular filamentous or ribbon-like
and small, meet one another along fronts,
with a more complex internal structure,
the frontal surfaces which form the bound¬
most containing pigments in addition
aries but which are often smoothed out
to the chlorophyll, which is often
into transition zones. Local weather is
masked. The aquatic, e.g. diatoms, sea¬
explained in terms of the movement of air
weeds, live in fresh or salt water, the
masses.
planktonic algae (plankton) forming the
air pollution pollution. bases of the aquatic food chains, and the
seaweed providing a source of fertilizer
air-stream a wind, a current of air flow¬
and of human and livestock food as well
ing from an identifiable source.
as a source of substances used industrially
alas, alas valley inTHERMOKARST, alarge (agar-agar). The land algae live in damp
flat-floored depression, with fairly steep places, e.g. on walls or tree trunks, and in
sides, in some cases occupied by a shallow soil, lichen.

lake. As alases enlarge they may merge, to

algal bloom, phytoplankton bloom
form alas valleys.
the sudden increase of microscopic

albedo the ratio of total solar electromag¬ algae in bodies of water due to an

9
 v v
alidade

increased supply of nutrients, eutro¬ with properties similar to those of a true

phication. alkali'.

alidade I. a surveying instrument used alkali flat a level area in an arid region with
(with a plane-table) to determine direc¬ an incrustation of alkali salts formed as
tion by viewing distant objects and noting a result of the evaporation of a former lake.
angular measurements. It consists of a rule PLAYA.
with sights at each end or with a telescope
mounted parallel to it 2. the index of alkaline adj. having the properties of an
any graduated surveying or measuring ALKALI-I.

instrument.
alkaline earth metals a group of metals
alien a foreigner who is not a citizen of consisting of barium, beryllium, calcium,
the country in which he/she is living. magnesium, radium and strontium, the
hydroxides of which are weaker bases-2
alien adj. i. foreign, belonging to another
than those of the alkali metals (alkali-i).
country 2. alien from, differing in nature
or character 3. alien to, so different as alkaline rock, alkali rock an igneous
to be contrary or opposed in nature or rock low in calcium but rich in alkali
character. metals (alkali-i), indicated by the pres¬
ence of sodium and potassium.
alienation an estrangement or separation
between parts or the whole of the person¬
alkaline soil any soil which is alkaline
ality and those aspects ofexpenence which
in reaction, precisely above pH 7.0, in
are significant, e.g. a sense of estrangement
practice above pH 7.3, neutrality being
or separation from society or the material 7.0. ACID SOIL, HYDROGEN ION, pH.
environment, or of a lack ofpower to bring
about social change; or a depersonalization alkali soil soil containing alkali-i salts,
of the individual in a large bureaucratic with a pH value of 8.5 and higher, likely
society. to show surface incrustations of alkali-i,
Ph.
alimentation the building-up of snow
on an area of firn by snowfall and the allochthon something (especially a rock)
effects of avalanches and the refreezing of transported, not in its original place, the
melt-water, which may feed an outward opposite of an autochthon.
moving glacier. A glacier advances if
alimentation near its source exceeds ab¬ allochthonous adj. transported, not in
lation at the other end; it remains sta¬ place of origin, the opposite of autoch¬
tionary if the two processes are in balance; thonous, applied to I. transported fossil
and it retreats if alimentation is less than plants or to organic deposits (e.g. some
ablation, active glacier. coals) formed from them 2. rocks which
have travelled far from their place of origin,
alkali 1. in chemistry, a usually soluble,
especially if moved by a tectonic process,
strongly basic (base-2) hydroxide or car¬
e.g. overthrusting, recumbent folding, or
bonate of the alkali metals (i.e. of caesium,
sliding by gravity.
francium, lithium, potassium, rubidium,
sodium) or of the alkaline earth allogenic adj. applied 1. in biology, hav¬
metals 2. loosely applied to a substance ing different genes 2. in ecology, produced

10
 Alonso model

by external factors, the opposite of auto¬ ing upstream, laid down by a stream where
genic. it issues from a constricted course, e.g.
from a gorge, or to a more open valley or
allogenic succession a plant suc¬
to a plain, alluvial cone.
cession produced by changes in the
environment, by external factors, not by alluvial flat a level, nearly horizontal, tract
changes produced by the plants them¬ of land, bordering a river, which receives
selves, as in AUTOGENIC SUCCESSION. the alluvium deposited by the river in
flood.
allometric growth the systematic
differential growth of parts within a com¬ alluvial soil an azonal soil on newly
plex growth structure, so that as the deposited alluvium.
system-1,2,3 grows as a whole, the ratios
alluvial terrace part of an alluvial
between each part and the whole stay
flat, in some cases paired by another on
constant. Thus the growth rate of a part
the opposite side of the river, left standing
is proportional to the growth rate of the
as the river cuts down its bed following
system as a whole, e.g. in urban studies,
REJUVENATION.
population growth increases up to a certain
distance from a central place; in alluvium 1. the unconsolidated, loose
stream order, as the number of stream material (not only silt but also the gravel
segments grows the proportion falling into and sand) brought down by a river and
each stream order stays constant, general deposited in its bed, floodplain, delta or
SYSTEMS THEORY. estuary, or in a lake, or laid down as a
cone or fan 2. more specifically restricted
allothigenic, allothigenous adj. origin¬
to the fine-grained deposits, in texture the
ating at a distance, not authigenic,
silt or silty-clay (graded sediments),
authigenous, applied to I. constituents
so laid down. These are rich in mineral
in a sedimentary rock which were
content and so form some of the most
formed outside and before the rock of
fertile soils, of the highest agricultural
which they are now a part, e.g. the pebbles
value, in the world, alluvial.
in a conglomerate 2. rounded crystals
in an igneous rock which have come aim wind a strong and sometimes blustery
from some previously consolidated rock FOHN-type wind, blowing from the south
3. streams deriving much of their water in the Tatra mountains down into the
from afar. foreland of southern Poland, causing ava¬
lanches towards the end of winter and in
alluvial adj. of, pertaining to, or consisting
spring.
of, ALLUVIUM.
Alonso model a model-2 suggested by
alluvial cone an alluvial fan with a
William Alonso in the 1960s to explain
steep slope, particularly likely to be built
the variations in land values, land use and
up if most of the water of the stream sinks
land use density in different districts within
into a porous deposit, so that nearly all the
an urban area. Accepting von thunen’s
load is dropped and the structure gains
model in explanation of the pattern of
height, e.g. in arid or semi-arid conditions.
agricultural land use, he applied the prin¬
alluvial fan a fan-shaped deposit of coarse ciples of that model to the urban land
alluvium (sand and gravel), the apex point¬ use pattern. He assumed industry to be
alp

concentrated at the city centre, and phys¬ alpine glacier a valley glacier,
ical accessibility (and thus transport forn\ed in an amphitheatre among moun¬
costs) to be the prime consideration of tain summits, descending a mountain val¬
those setting up industry as well as those ley and ending by melting or spreading
working and living in the urban area. From out into a piedmont glacier.
this he suggested that a simultaneous res¬
Alpine orogeny, Alpine earth move¬
olution of bid price curves, each related
ments, Alpine revolution the great
to a different category ofland user, explains
mountain-building movements which
the variations in land values and land use,
took place mainly in the Tertiary period,
etc., and thus the urban land use pattern.
culminating in the Miocene (geolo¬
alp i. high mountain pasture, snow- gical timescale) and resulted in the
covered in winter, usually above the tree creation of the Alpides or Alpine systems of
line, on a gently sloping bench or the Alps, Carpathians, Balkan Mountains,
shoulder-2, commonly on the side of Pyrenees, Atlas and other great chains.
a u-shaped valley where there is an OROGENESIS.
abrupt change of slope. In summer it pro¬
Altaides, Altaids, Altaid orogeny the
vides rich pasture, and in some cases a site
great mountain chains stretching through
for a seasonal dwelling for herdsmen. It
central Europe and Asia, the result of the
may also afford a site for pemianent hous¬
Altaid orogeny which took place in
ing or a wintersports centre 2. pi. alps,
late Carboniferous into Permian times
high, especially snow-capped, mountains
(geological timescale). The name is
broadly similar to the Alps of Switzerland
derived from the Altai mountains of cen¬
and adjacent European countries.
tral Asia, which are typical of the system.
alpha index a measure of connectivity in ALPIDES, ARMORICAN OROGENY, HER-
a network-2: CYNIAN, VARISCAN.

E - V + S alternative hypothesis any admissible

hypothesis alternative to the one being
2V - 5
tested, null hypothesis, statistical
where E represents the number of edges, TEST.
V the number of nodes (vertices), S the
number of graphs or subgraphs. o% = no alternative technology the techno¬
circuits, ioo% = a completely connected logy-3 concerned with the technical
network, beta index. processes that make use of renewable
rather than non-renewable natural
Alpides, Alpids a general term applied resources and which are therefore re¬
to the Alpine fold mountains. They have garded as ecologically sustainable, appro¬
the same general trend as the alt aides. priate TECHNOLOGY.

alpine adj. i. of, pertaining to, or charac¬ altimeter an instrument for measuring
teristic of, the Alps or any similar high altitude, used in aircraft and by surveyors
mountains 2. the parts ofa mountain above on land, which employs the fall in
the tree line and below permanent atmospheric pressure with height above
snow, or the plants and animals living in sea-level (averaging 3 4 mb: 1 in of mercury
that zone, alpine orogeny. for each 300 m: 1000 ft) as an index. Elec-

12
 ammonium nitrate

tronic techniques are used in a radio oncoming warm front and indicating
altimeter. rain, cirrostratus.

altimetric frequency curve, altimetric alumina aluminium oxide, sial.

frequency graph a curve constructed to
aluminium a very light, white, ductile,
show generalized altitudes in an area. It
malleable, metallic element, durable and
may be made by dividing a map into small
resistant to corrosion, occurring widely in
squares and taking the highest point, or the
nature but difficult to separate trom its
average of the highest and lowest points, in
ores. It is now extracted mainly from the
each; or by using specific heights above
ore bauxite. The ore is subjected to very
sea-level. If the measurements are shown
high temperatures in an electric furnace
on a graph, heights above sea-level appear
to produce alumina (aluminium trioxide,
on the horizontal scale, the percentage
A1203), smelted to produce aluminium
frequency on the vertical.
(some 4 tonnes of bauxite producing 2
altiplano a high intermontane plateau tonnes of alumina and 1 tonne of alu¬
in the Andes, specifically in western minium). Aluminium is extensively used
Bolivia. pure or in alloys in manufacturing motor
vehicles, lightweight containers, aircraft,
altitude I. the angular height of a star or
electrical apparatus, cooking utensils, thin
other heavenly body measured in degrees
foil for wrapping purposes, etc.
from the plane of the observer’s horizon 2.
the height of a point above mean sea-level, ambient adj. surrounding, lying around,
measured vertically 3. the height of a encompassing, or on all sides of, a
mountain or hill above its base or sur¬ phenomenon, organism, or object.
rounding plain, measured vertically from
ambient temperature the temper¬
base to summit.
ature of the atmosphere immediately
altitudinal zone vertical zone. surrounding something specific, e.g. a
cloud or a thermal.
altocumulus, altocumulus castellatus
a cloud formation of middle altitudes (2400 amelioration an improvement, e.g. cli¬
to 6000 m: 8000 to 20 000 ft), consisting matic amelioration, an improvement or a
of small, fleecy, globular, relatively thin modification of climatic conditions over
patches of cloud, the edges sometimes a period of time.
merging, and sometimes appearing as a
amenity something in, or some quality
mackerel sky, usually indicating fine
of, the environment which is perceived as
weather. Sometimes the tops of the small
pleasant and attractive, which makes life
clouds become turrets, a formation termed
agreeable, satisfying, for people.
altocumulus castellatus, indicating instab¬
ility in the upper air, and thunderstorms. ammonia a gaseous compound of
NITROGEN and HYDROGEN, Soluble 111
altostratus a cloud formation of middle
water, producing an alkaline solution,
altitudes (2400 to 6000 m: 8000 to
widely used in industry, and as a fertilizer
20 000 ft), a wide expanse of continuous,
directly or as the basis of fertilizer com¬
uniformly grey, thick or thin, flat cloud,
pounds. ammonium nitrate.
through which the sun or moon may usu¬
ally dimly be seen, associated with an ammonium nitrate a crystalline salt used

13
 V v

amorphous

in herbicides, insecticides, explosives; and of food substances, e.g. the breakdown of

as a fertilizer (ammonia). Excessive use sugar to ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide
as a fertilizer may lead to so much nitrate by yeast (fermentation). Many organ¬
in the runoff from the land that pol¬ isms are able to switch to anaerobic res¬
lution and eutrophication occur. piration when lack of oxygen inhibits
aerobic respiration; but others never
amorphous adj. formless i. in geology,
take in free oxygen, respiration.
unstratified 2. of a mineral, noncrystalline.
anafront a cold front in which warm
amphidromic point a node-i at the
air is in the main rising over a wedge of
centre of an amphidromic system. It is
cold air.
theoretically possible for an amphidromic
point to be located on land, where it is analogue a thing that is similar to, cor¬
termed a degenerate amphidromic point. responds in some respect to, some other
BINODAL TIDAL UNIT. thing, the implication being that the
likeness is systematic or structured; e.g.
amphidromic system a unit area in the
in long-range weather forecasting
ocean in the oscillatory wave
predictions of future repeating patterns
THEORY OF TIDES. AMPHIDROMIC
of weather can be made by analysing
POINT.
and comparing synoptic patterns and
anabatic adj. applied to air moving sequences ofweather already experienced.
upward, due to convection, as opposed
analogue model (American, analog
to katabatic, moving downward (kata¬
model) a model-2 in which selected
batic wind), e.g. applied to a local breeze
phenomena are represented by similar but
which by day blows up a warm valley
different phenomena, e.g. clusters of
slope in mountain regions, the air on the
people are represented by clusters of
slope being heated more rapidly and to a
points. ICONIC MODEL, SYMBOLIC
greater extent than air lying above the
MODEL.
valley floor, thus creating a convection
current as the cooler valley air moves anastomosis I. in biology, the intercom¬
up to replace the rising warmer, lighter munication between vessels or channels in
air. plants and animals by means of connecting
branches 2. in geomorphology, applied
anaerobe an organism able to live in an
to rivers which divide and reunite con¬
absence of air or free oxygen, aerobe,
tinuously, producing a net-like mass of
ANAEROBIC.
branches (braided river course), usu¬
anaerobic adj. living or active only in ally caused by excessive deposition of allu¬
the absence of free oxygen, aerobe, vial material in the stream.
AEROBIC, ANAEROBE.
anchor tenant in retailing, a tenant
anaerobic decomposition organic dis¬ which, on account of its popular appeal
integration in the absence of air. and success elsewhere, is encouraged to
open premises in a new shopping centre
anaerobic respiration the process by
in the hope that it will, by its number of
which organisms, without taking in gas¬
customers, di iw other retailers to the area.
eous or dissolved oxygen (free oxygen),
release energy by the chemical breakdown andesite a pale grey, fine-grained

14
 animal

IGNEOUS ROCK of INTERMEDIATE com¬ orate, self-recording anemometer, known

position, 52 to 65 per cent silica, as an anemograph, continuously traces and
composed essentially of a plagioclase records. The most common type of this
feldspar. It is usually extrusive, but uses the Dines tube, the opening of which
also occurs in small intrusions; and it is made as a vane, always faced to the wind.
forms new continental crust at subduc- The ensuing pressure passes down the tube
TION ZONES. ANDESITE LINE, PLATE to a float that carries a pen which traces
TECTONICS. wind velocity on paper surrounding a
rotating drum.
andesite line a boundary passing through
the Pacific Ocean from Alaska, Japan, aneroid barometer barometer.
Marianas, Bismarck Archipelago to Fiji,
angiosperm a plant producing seeds
Tonga and New Zealand, separating two
enclosed in an ovary (unlike a gymno-
petrographic provinces, the one to
sperm). The angiosperms succeeded the
the west of the line being predominantly
gymnosperms as dominant land plants,
andesitic (andesite) and intermediate,
having gained ascendancy by the end ofthe
with rocks 52 to 65 per cent silica; the
cretaceous period. Most seed-bearing
one to the east being basaltic (basalt)
plants today are angiosperms.
and basic, with rocks less than 52 per cent
silica. ATLANTIC SUITE, PACIFIC SUITE. angle of repose, angle of rest the steep¬
est slope at which a mass of downward-
anecumene, anekumene, anoecu-
moving unconsolidated rock debris
mene, anoekumene, anokumene the
remains stationary, repose slope.
part of the earth’s surface which is unin¬
habited, or only temporarily inhabited, by angulate drainage a modified trellis
people. ECUMENE, NEGATIVE AREA. drainage pattern, the tnbutaries meeting
the main streams at acute or obtuse angles
anemometer an instrument for measur¬
as a result of jointing, sometimes of
ing and recording the strength and direc¬
faulting, of the rocks, fault, joint.
tion of wind. There are two types in
general use. The simpler is known as a animal 1. any member of the kingdom
pressure plate anemometer, in which a Animalia (classification of organ¬
thin, small sheet of metal is suspended from isms), the typical animal being a living
a metal ami in such a way that if it is organism with cell walls not composed
placed face (at right angles) to the wind of cellulose, with means of independent
the bottom edge is blown upward. The locomotion, with a nervous system which
angle of its position is noted, and the speed may or may not be centralized, that is
(velocity) of the wind, in kph or mph, incapable of photosynthesis and usu¬
read off from tables. In the cup anemo¬ ally needs complex organic food sub¬
meter three or four cups are set at the ends stances; but some animals (e.g. sponges) do
of horizontal arms that cross and pivot at not conform to those criteria, and exhibit
the top of a vertical rotating shaft. The plant-like characteristics, carnivore,
wind rotates the amis, and their movement FOOD CHAIN, HERBIVORE, OMNIVORE,
turns the shaft, to which a meter is attached PARASITE, PLANKTON, PLANT 2. any
to record the wind velocity in metres member of Animalia other than a human
per second, or mph, or kph. A more elab¬ being.

15
 \ V
anion

anion ion. ‘moorings’, is prone to disorientation or

psychic disorder 2. a state or condition of
annual adj. as applied to plants, existing for
a society in which commonly accepted
only one year, i.e. a plant that completes its
social norms are either absent or unclear,
life-cycle, from seed germination to seed
conflicting or not integrated, leading to a
production, within one season, biennial,
lack of order and control in social life. This
EPHEMERAL, PERENNIAL.
condition is sometimes assumed to occur
annual growth rings the annual increase in societies which are rapidly becoming
ofsecondary wood seen as concentric rings urbanized and industrialized, industri¬

in a cross-section of the stem or trunk alization, URBANIZATION.

of a woody plant. The small-celled rings

Antarctic, antarctic strictly an adj.
formed towards the end of one growing
applied to the south polar regions, but
season, e.g. late summer, contrast with the
used as a noun (the Antarctic) to denote
succeeding wide-celled nngs formed early
the region lying within the antarctic
in the next, e.g. spring. By counting these
CIRCLE (66°32'S). ANTARCTICA.
growth rings the age of the plant can be
estimated; and by studying their width Antarctic adj. of, pertaining to, or charac¬
it is possible to infer the environmental teristic of, the landscape, climatic con¬
(particularly the climatic) conditions pre¬ ditions, animal and plant life etc. occurring
vailing at the time when the rings were roughly within the antarctic.
being formed, dendrochronology.
Antarctica the continental land area of
annular adj. shaped like a ring. approximately 11.5 mn sq km (4.4 mn
sq mi) surrounding the south pole. The
annular drainage a drainage pattern in
overlying ice cap is so thick in some
which the consequent streams radi¬
places that it is believed its base may be
ate, as the spokes of a wheel, and the
below sea-level; and it is possible that the
subsequent streams, eroding their val¬
land itself may be in two parts (East and
leys in the weaker strata, seem to make a
West Antarctica). But in the prevailing
series of disrupted, concentric circles as
conditions the ice may be considered as a
they flow into the consequent streams.
rock, part of the land area.
Annular drainage is especially likely to
occur around dissected domes. Fig 17. Antarctic air mass an exceedingly cold
air mass, symbol A A, originating over the
anomalous watershed a watershed in
antarctic ocean. It should not be con¬
a mountain region which does not run
fused with the polar air mass.
along the crest of the highest range of a
mountain chain, normal watershed. Antarctic circle latitude 66°32'S, in use
commonly 66°3o'S, where, due to the
anomaly a departure from the normal,
^inclination of the axis of the earth, the sun
predicted, or uniform state or value.
does not set about 22 December (summer
anomie, anomy (Greek, without law) 1. solstice in the southern hemisphere) and
a state or condition (considered by some does not rise above the horizon about 21
authors in the 1950s and 1960s to bear June (winter solstice in the southern
some similarity to alienation) in which hemisphere). The number of days such
an individual, having lost traditional as this, without sun in winter, increases

16
 anticyclone

southwards until at the south pole six anthropogenic adj. I. of or relating to

months of darkness follow six months of anthropogeny, the study of the origin of
daylight. At any given date the conditions human beings 2. having an origin in
are the reverse of those in the arctic. human activity.
ARCTIC CIRCLE.
anthropogeomorphology the study of
Antarctic convergence a well marked landforms and processes resulting from
natural boundary in the oceans round human activities.
Antarctica (the position shifting a little
anthropomorphic soil an intrazonal
with the seasons, being roughly parallel to
soil created by human activities.
the isotherm of io°C (50°F) in the warmest
month) where cold heavy waters from the anticlinal adj. of, or pertaining to, an
south sink below warmer waters, with a ANTICLINE.
consequent change of sea and air temper¬
anticlinal ridge a ridge or uplifted tract
atures, and of animal and plant life.
of country which corresponds with an
anticline in the underlying strata.
antecedent adj. existing, happening, or
going before in time or other sequence. anticlinal valley a valley which follows
an anticlinal axis, anticline, breached
antecedent drainage, antecedent river
ANTICLINE.
a drainage system that was in existence
before the present form of the land surface anticline an arch-shaped upfold caused by
was established, and which maintains its compression in the rocks of the earth’s
original direction despite slow, localized crust, the beds dipping down and away
uplift in its path which might turn it. It from the central line (termed the anticlinal
succeeds in the contest because it is able axis) but not always symmetrically. The
to cut its way through the barrier as rapidly term overfold is applied to an anticline
as the barrier is formed, insequent pushed over on its side, anticlinorium,
DRAINAGE. AXIS OF FOLD, BREACHED ANTICLINE,
PITCH-3, SYNCLINE. Fig I.
anthracite a hard, lustrous variety of
COAL with a high proportion (about 85 anticlinorium a great arch of strata
to 93 per cent) of carbon and a low composed of numerous subordinate
proportion of volatile matter. It does not wrinkles or anticlines and synclines,
easily ignite, but when alight it burns with the opposite of synclinorium. Fig 1.
an almost clear, smokeless flame, giving
anticyclone a high pressure system (high
out great heat.
in relation to the pressure of the surround¬
ing air), commonly termed a high, a slow-
anthropocentric adj. centred on human
moving atmospheric condition in which
beings, regarding human beings as the
the barometric pressure is high towards
reason for the existence of the world and/
the centre of the system and progressively
or as a measure of all value. egocentrism,
declines outwards. It generally appears on
ethnocentrism.
a weather chart as a series of concentric,
*

anthropocentrism the state or quality of closed isobars (iso-), fairly widely spaced.
being focused on human beings, eco- Winds are light and variable, blowing
CENTRISM. round such a system in a clockwise direc-

17
 V V

anti-dip stream

Axis

Fig 2 Anticyclone: the air moves clockwise

in the northern hemisphere, anticlockwise in
the southern

anti-dip stream a stream flowing in a

direction approximately opposite to that
of the dip of the surface rocks of an
area. It is frequently, but not necessarily,
an obsequent stream (obsequent
drainage).

antidune a sand wave, a transient form

of ripple in the sand of the bed of a highly-
loaded, swiftly-flowing stream (analogous
to a sand dune) which moves progress¬
Fig i
ively upstream because the steeper slope,
(a) Anticline and anticlinorium
(b) Syncline and synclinorium facing upstream, is constantly being built
up by the addition of sediments carried
tion in the northern hemisphere, counter¬ by the flow of water which washes away
clockwise (anticlockwise) in the southern sediments from the gentler, downstream
(buys ballot’s law). There may be a slope.
calm area at the centre, where pressure is
antipodes places on the earth’s surface
highest. The temporary anticyclones of
„ diametrically opposite each other, or that
temperate latitudes (not to be confused
part of the earth’s surface which is dia¬
with the permanent, subtropical belts of
metrically opposite the observer.
high atmospheric pressure of horse lat¬
itudes) bring generally settled weather anti-trade wind, anti-trade 1. a term
with light winds, warm and sunny in sum¬ now applied only to the westerly winds
mer, in winter cold and frosty or foggy of the upper atmosphere (at a height
(radiation fog), depression-3. Fig 2. exceeding 2000 m: 6500 ft), blowing above

18
 apparent time

and in a direction (i.e. westerly) opposite aphelion (Green apo, from; helios, the
to that of the surface winds of middle sun) that point farthest from the sun in the
latitudes known as the trade winds 2. orbit of a comet or planet. The earth
formerly, but no longer, applied to the arrives at aphelion on 4 July, when it is
surface westerly winds (now termed some 152 mn km (94.5 mm mi) distant
westerlies) of middle latitudes, also from the sun. apsis, perihelion.
termed counter-trades (also an obsolete
apogean tide the tidal condition when
term),
the moon is at its apogee, so that its
anti-urbanism a very strong dislike of, gravitational pull is reduced, resulting in
an aversion to, large towns and cities. lower high tides and higher low tides,
URBANISM. with a tidal range smaller than is usual.
PERIGEAN TIDE, TIDE.
anvil cloud, incus cloud a wedge-
shaped cloud formed at the head of a large apogee 1. the point farthest from the earth
cumulonimbus cloud, levelled by winds in the orbit of a planet (especially of the

at a height of some 6000 m (20 000 ft), the moon) or satellite 2. the greatest distance

lowest level of the stratosphere, ice of the sun from the earth when the earth

anvil. is in APHELION. APSIS, PERIGEE.

Appalachian orogeny, revolution a

AONB Area of Outstanding Natural
period of intense earth movements
Beauty, in British planning, an area desig¬
which occurred between the Permian
nated under the National Parks and Access
and Triassic periods (geological
to the Countryside Act 1949 in order to
timescale) in North Amenca, equival¬
‘preserve and enhance its natural beauty’.
ent to but slightly later than the armor-
An AONB is usually smaller than a
ican and hercynian movements in
national park, and is not managed in
Europe.
the same way; but the designation gives
local planning authorities the power to apparent dip the dip-2 as seen by the
operate some development control. observer (which is not necessarily the
true dip, the angle of maximum slope).
apartheid racial segregation, the policy
Thus apparent dip may be defined as the
of the White government of the former
amount and direction of dip-2. Fig 16.
Republic of South Africa, under which
White, African, Asian and Coloured apparent time local solar time, or local
(people of mixed ethnic groups) com¬ time, as shown by the apparent diurnal
munities were segregated. Apartheid was movement of the real sun, e.g. as by a
a factor leading to the withdrawal of the sundial. Apparent noon is the instant when
Republic from the Commonwealth when the sun’s centre reaches the highest point
other members expressed their disapproval in its apparent daily course over any place
of the policy. It also led to the Republic’s on the earth’s surface (i.e. when the sun
setting up of nominally independent crosses the meridian of that place) and
Bantustans, i.e. African homelands within the shadows of vertical objects are at their
the Republic, which were not in fact shortest. Because the sun’s orbit is elliptical
economically viable, and were not offici¬ and inclined towards the equator, the
ally recognized internationally. period between two successive diurnal

19
Appleton layer

crossings is not constant; thus mean solar aquaculture the management of aquatic
time is a more useful measure. environments for the production of
organic materials, mainly concentrated at
Appleton layer F2 layer, the upper present on pisciculture, fish farming,
stratum of the ionosphere (i.e. above the controlled breeding and rearing offish
the Heaviside layer, the E layer) about (freshwater or marine) for commercial
300 km (190 mi) above the surface of the purposes, fish farm.
earth, the layer in which ionization by
solar radiation results in the refraction and aquatic adj. living in, growing in, or fre¬
reflection of short radiowaves back to quenting, water, estuarine, marine,
earth. It was identified by Sir Edward RIPARIAN, TERRESTRIAL.
Victor Appleton, 1892—1965, an English
aqueduct an artificial channel built to
physicist and 1947 Nobel prizewinner.
carry water from one place to another,

applied geography the application of especially such a channel supported on a

geographical knowledge and techniques series of arches and spanning a valley or

to the solution of economic and social nver. viaduct.

problems on a local to a world scale, in

aquiclude a porous rock which, although
such fields as town and country plan¬
usually permeable, becomes imper¬
ning, land use, location policy, under¬
meable because of the saturation of its
development, and population studies etc.
pores by water, e.g. a saturated clay
or SHALE. AQUIFER, POROSITY.
apposed glacier a glacier resulting
from the merging of two separate glaciers. aquifer, aquafer a water-bearing stratum
of rock, sufficiently porous to carry the
appropriate technology 1. the tech¬
water and sufficiently coarse to release the
nology-3 concerned with technical pro¬
water and permit its use. Hence an aqui¬
cesses which are suited to the degree of
ferous rock, one conveying or yielding
industrialization in an area or coun¬
water, aquiclude, artesian basin,
try 2. sometimes used as synonym for
ARTIFICIAL RECHARGE.
alternative technology.
aquifuge an impermeable rock stratum
apron outwash apron, fan, or plain,
which not only obstructs the passage of
a spread of alluvium deposited by
water but cannot absorb it, e.g. granite.
streams, especially by those from a melting
glacier. arable farming arable land, crop
FARMING, FARMING.
apsis pi. apsides, a critical point on an
orbit in relation to the centre of attrac¬ arable land land capable of being
tion, the higher apsis being the farthest ploughed or, more usually, agricultural
point from that centre, the lower apsis the land which is tilled for crops, though not
nearest to it, a straight line joining the two necessarily each year, e.g. ploughland,
points being termed the line of apsides. market gardens, vineyards, temporary
Thus for a planet in the solar system fallow land, and rotation grass;
the apsides are the aphelion and peri¬ orchards are sometimes included, gardens
helion; and for the moon (in relation to attached to houses are usually excluded.
the earth) the apogee and perigee. In British agricultural statistics land is

20
 area

distinguished as arable, permanent grass, mass, symbol A, originating over the

rough grazing and woodland, agricul¬ Arctic Ocean. It should not be confused
ture, CROP FARMING, FAO, FARMING. with the polar air mass, arctic
FRONT.
arboretum a place set aside for the
cultivation, display or study of trees, in Arctic circle latitude 66°32'N, in use
some cases including rare species. commonly 66°3o'N, where, due to the
inclination of the axis of the earth, the sun
arboriculture the cultivation of trees
in the northern hemisphere does not set
and shrubs.
about 21 June (summer solstice) and
arc furnace any furnace in which heat is does not rise above the horizon about
supplied by an electric arc, as distinct 22 December (winter solstice). The
from one heated externally or by a fuel, number of days such as this, without sun
as in a blast furnace. in winter, increases northwards until at
the north pole six months of darkness
arch a curved opening formed in a rock follow six months of daylight. At any given
mass by any of several processes, e.g. by
date the conditions are the reverse of those
the collapse of the roof in a limestone
in the antarctic.
cavern, by marine erosion of projecting
rocks (cave-i, stack), or by weathering Arctic front a not very active, almost
of a relatively soft layer in a rock mass. permanent frontal zone (front), lying to
the north of the polar front, in which
archaeo-thanatology the study of deaths cold air from the arctic in the northern
occurring in the distant past. hemisphere meets less cold air in latitudes
50°N to 6o°N. Its inactivity is due to
Archimedes’ screw a simple device used
the fact that the temperature difference
in perennial irrigation. A spiral screw
between the arctic air mass and the
revolves inside a close-fitting sleeve, the
polar air mass is small.
lower end of which is put in water at a
low angle, the screw being turned at the Arctic prairies tundra.
higher end so that the water travels up the
screw to flow out at that, higher, end.
Arctic smoke fog occurring in high lat¬
itudes when icy-cold air from the land
archipelago applied initially to the passes over warmer air lying over water
Aegean Sea which is studded with islands, and causes the water in the air to condense.
then to any sea studded with islands, now FROST SMOKE.
applied solely to a group of islands.
arcuate delta a fan-shaped delta with
Arctic, arctic strictly an adj. applied to the rounded outer margin, the arc of the
the north polar regions but used as a noun fan, spreading into the sea, e.g. the Nile
(the Arctic) to denote the region lying delta. Fig 13.
within the arctic circle, or to the land¬
area 1. a part, space, tract or region of the
scape, climatic conditions, animal and
earth’s surface, of any size, a term used
plant life found roughly within that area;
loosely or sometimes precisely (e.g. in
and often used loosely just to mean very
British planning law, an Area of Outstand¬
cold.
ing Natural Beauty: aonb) 2. a sunken,
Arctic air mass an exceedingly cold air small piece of enclosed land, a yard or

21
 V V

areal differentiation

court adjoining and giving access to the sidqd mountain ridge, especially one
basement of a dwelling 3. in measures, the formed when two cirques have been
extent in two dimensional space, i.e. the developed back to back. An alternative
extent of a surface contained within given term is comb-ridge.
limits, calculated by the use of any of vari¬
argillaceous adj. clayey, containing clay,
ous formulae, e.g. for a square, circle,
or clay-like in composition or texture,
ellipse, etc.4. a sphere of operation, e.g.
applied especially to a sedimentary
sterling area 5. a mental image of extent,
rock in which clay minerals (mainly of
possibilities, or range.
aluminium and iron silicates, clay-i) pre¬
areal differentiation the varied nature dominate. ARENACEOUS.
of the earth’s surface, apparent in the
argillic horizon a soil horizon (com¬
character, pattern, and interrelationship of
monly the B horizon) in which clay-i
relief, climate, soil, vegetation, land use,
minerals have accumulated by illu¬
population distribution, and so on, which
viation.
together produce a mosaic of dissimilar
units. That concept formed the basis of arid adj. dry, parched, lacking moisture,
regional geography (region-i), but in applied especially to climate or land (arid
the 1980s the study of regional (areal) land), the main factors being insufficient
differentiation came to the fore in rainfall and a rate of evaporation
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. GLOBALIZATION, exceeding that of the precipitation.
HUMAN AGENCY, HUMAN ECOLOGY-I,
HUMANISTIC GEOGRAPHY, INTERNA¬ aridisols, aridosols in soil classifica¬
TIONAL DIVISION OF LABOUR, UNEVEN tion, USA, an order of soils with gener¬

DEVELOPMENT. ally mineral profiles, with or without

argillic horizons, in which an ac¬
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty cumulation of soluble salts or carbonates
AONB. is common. Such soils are characteristic of

areic, aretic adj. without flow, applied desert and arid regions.

to desert regions where the rainfall (if any)

aridity the state or quality of being arid.
is so slight that it sinks into the ground,
In attempts to give arid and aridity a precise
or evaporates, so that there are no flowing
definition in relation to climate or land,
streams, endoreic, exoreic.
several authors have suggested an index
arena a shallow roughly circular basin, of aridity, based mainly on values of
the resistant rocks of the rim enclosing the TEMPERATURE-2 and PRECIPITATION,
central area where less resistant rocks have including its regime.
been eroded.
arid land, arid zone land where, due to
arenaceous adj. applied to 1. a rock of insufficient precipitation and a rate of
sandy texture, consisting mainly of grains evaporation exceeding that of the pre¬
ofs and which may be loose or cemented; cipitation, there is little or no natural ve¬
or a rock basin with a sandy floor, argil¬ getation, and agriculture is possible only
laceous 2. a plant growing in sand or on with the aid of irrigation.
sandy soil.
arithmetic mean commonly termed the
arete (French) a sharp, narrow, steep- mean, an average, calculated by adding

22
 artesian well

together several quantities and dividing by the Harz Mountains of Germany, is used
the number of those quantities, e.g. the by some authors as synonymous with
total of the values of a variable for all Armorican; but others consider that the
the observations in a data set divided by Armorican mountains constitute the
the total number of observations, cen¬ western sector of the Hercynian system,
tral TENDENCY, MEDIAN, MODE. the Variscan the eastern.

arithmetic progression a senes of array in statistics, an explicit display of a

numbers each ofwhich is greater or smaller set of observations, all the values in a set
than the one before it by the same amount, of data displayed together, matrix-5 .
e.g. 2, 4, 6, 8 or 8, 6, 4, 2. geometric
PROGRESSION, LINEAR GROWTH. arroyo (Spanish) a periodically dry water¬
course. NALA, WADI.
arkose a coarse-grained sandstone or
grit derived from the swift breaking artesian basin a synclinal (syncline)
down of granite or gneiss and charac- basin in the earth’s crust, in some places
tenzed by a considerable proportion of very large (e.g. in Australia), in which one
fragments of feldspar, which have been or more permeable, porous water¬
altered little, if at all, by weathering. bearing strata or aquifers he between
impermeable strata, the whole being
Armorican adj. applied to the great earth¬ folded to form the synclinal basin, arte¬
building movements and mountain¬
sian WELL, RECHARGE. Fig 3.
building period (corresponding to the
variscan of central Europe), starting in artesian well i. a perpendicular boring
Carboniferous times and continuing into sunk through the upper impermeable
Permian, which created mountain chains layer in an artesian basin to reach the
(sometimes considered as part of the aquifer. If the outlet of the well lies at a
alt aides) in Brittany, southwest England level lower than the water table of the
and Ireland and throughout northern aquifer at the margins of the basin, water
Europe. Through large areas the folds were will rise in the well under hydrostatic
east to west, which is accordingly termed pressure (piezometric level). The
the Armorican trend; where later folding name is derived from Artois, France,
took place along the same lines, the term where such wells were sunk in the twelfth
Armoricanoid is used, hercynian, from century 2. a term loosely applied to any

Chilterns Artesian R.Thames North Downs

Fig 3 The London basin: a typical artesian basin and well. The London Clay and the Gault
Clay are impermeable, the Chalk is an aquifer

23
 V V

artifact

deep well in which water rises under pres¬ settlement and plant growth, adret,
sure, but not necessarily to the surface. UBAC.
Such wells are sometimes distinguished
asphalt pitch, a viscous, brownish-black
as sub-artesian, the water having to be
bituminous substance, a mixture of
pumped to the surface, as distinct from
hydrocarbons, occurring naturally
the true artesian, naturally flowing, wells.
(e.g. in Trinidad Pitch Lake, or the Atha-
artifact, artefact a simple object made baska tar sands, Canada) or as an industrial
by human workmanship, especially one residue in the refining of some varieties of
related to prehistoric time, e.g. a stone petroleum. It is used mainly as a surfacing
tool. material for roads, a waterproofing mater¬
ial for flat roofs, and in some fungicides
artificial adj. made by a person, by human
and paints, bitumen.
activity, as opposed to natural.
assimilation in society, the process by
artificial recharge the introduction of
which various groups in society merge,
surface water into an aquifer by means
lose their distinguishing characteristics,
of recharge wells, recharge.
their separate identities, are absorbed one
Asean, Asean+ the Association of South- with another in a ‘melting pot’, and
East Asian Nations was established in 1967 become culturally homogeneous-i.
by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, ACCOMMODATION, ACCULTURATION,
Singapore and Thailand to improve CULTURE CONTACT, INTEGRATION,
regional security, joined by Brunei in PLURAL SOCIETY.
1984. It developed into a trading bloc.
Later the six Asean countries were joined Association of South-East Asian
by Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Nations asean.
Taiwan to make an even larger trading
asteroid a planetoid, one of several thou¬
bloc.
sand small planets in stable orbit round
ash 1. the powdery residue left after a the sun in the solar system, occurring
substance has been burnt 2. the material mainly in the asteroid belt between Mars
known as volcanic ash ejected from and Jupiter. They are rocky, metallic or
the crater ofa volcano in eruption. This carbon-rich bodies, comprising the matter
is not true ash: it is not produced by burn¬ remaining after the formation of the
ing, but consists of fine particles (the planets, and occasionally collide one
majority of which measure less than 4 mm with another and fragment, meteorite.
in their long dimension) ofpulverizedlava.
asthenosphere (erroneously spelled aes-
ash cone the volcanic cone formed by thenosphere) a weak sphere, the zone of
ash-2 ejected during eruption, cinder hot rock, believed to be in a plastic con¬
CONE. dition, underlying the solid lithosphere
(the earth’s crust), the top of the zone
ash flow NUEE ARDENTE, PELEAN
lying some 70 to 150 km (45 to 95 mi),
ERUPTION.
the bottom some 200 to 360 km (125 to
aspect the direction in which a thing faces, 225 mi), below the earth’s surface. It is
particularly applied to slopes in relation sometimes termed the soft layer of mantle,
to the sun on account of its affect on or the low velocity zone (LVZ), the latter

24
 atmosphere

because earthquake shock waves travel in and rocks rich in alkalis, andesite
'it at reduced speed. Horizontal currents LINE, PACIFIC SUITE, SPILITIC SUITE.
in this zone may be associated with plate
movements, plate tectonics, Guten¬
Atlantic type of coastline a type of
coastline developed where the main folds
berg DISCONTINUITY.
and trend lines, often faulted, run at right
astronaut one who travels outside the angles or obliquely to the coastline, in
earth’s atmosphere, a space traveller. The contrast to the Pacific type (concord¬
alternative term, cosmonaut, is preferred ant COAST, LONGITUDINAL COAST)
in Russia. where they run parallel to the coastline.

asymmetric, asymmetrical adj. show¬ atlas a uniform collection of maps bound

ing lack of symmetry, asymmetry. in a volume or (rare use) a bound volume
of pictures, engravings, etc., apparently
asymmetrical fold a fold with one limb
so named because some early collections
dipping away from the axis (axis of fold)
(notably one by Mercator in the sixteenth
more steeply than the other, overfold.
century) showed on the title-page a rep¬
Fig 24.
resentation of a member of the older family
asymmetrical valley a valley with one of Greek gods, named Atlas in Latin, sup¬
side sloping more steeply than the other. porting the heavens on his shoulders. The
term atlas first appeared on the general
asymmetry without symmetry, the title-page of Mercator’s Atlas 1595.
state of lacking the capability of being
divided into two or more exactly similar atmosphere 1. the air or mixture of gases,
and equal parts. roughly (by volume) 20 per cent oxy¬
gen, 79 per cent nitrogen, with 0.03
Atlantic polar front the polar front per cent carbon dioxide and traces of
between the polar maritime and tropical argon, krypton, xenon, neon, helium, as
maritime (tropical air mass) air masses well as water vapour, ammonia, ozone,
over the North Atlantic ocean. organic matter, some salts and solid par¬
ticles in suspension, which envelops the
Atlantic stage, of climate the sudden
earth (asthenosphere, hydrosphere,
development of a mild moist phase follow¬
lithosphere). Various concentric layers
ing the dry cold Boreal phase during the
are identified, based on such criteria as
retreat of the Great ice age, lasting from
rate of temperature change, composition,
about 5500 to 3000 bc, sometimes termed
electrical nature. The lower atmosphere
the Megathermal Period. In Britain a gen¬
is the troposphere, then comes the
eral rise of about 3 m (10 ft) in sea level
tropopause, above which is the upper
resulting from the melting of the ice sheets,
atmosphere or stratosphere, passing
led to the formation of the Strait of Dover
into the stratopause, mesosphere,
c.5000 bc, to the growth of mixed oak
mesopause, ionosphere (thermo¬
forest, and to the formation of peat.
sphere), with the upper zone, the exo¬
FLANDRIAN, PRE-BOREAL, SUB-BOREAL.
sphere and the magnetosphere 2. a
Atlantic suite a petrographic prov¬ unit of pressure, a measure of air pressure,
ince distinguished by the Atlantic type one atmosphere being equated with the
of coastline, areas of block faulting pressure exerted by the weight of a column

25
 V 'v
atmospheric cell

Fig 4 Layers of the atmosphere

of 760 mm (29.92 in) of mercury at o°C radiation between lower and higher
(32°F) under standard gravity, at sea-level, latitudes, the differences in energy distri¬
or to a weight of air of 1033.3 gm Per scl bution in the atmosphere and the tendency
cm (14.66 lb per sq in), the average pressure for these differences to be smoothed out,
over the earth’s surface under those con¬ and the angular momentum of the earth
ditions. ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE. Fig 4. and its atmosphere. Fig 5.

atmospheric cell 1. a large, three dimen¬ atmospheric instability a state of the

sional air mass of high or low atmo¬ atmosphere-i occurring when a body
spheric pressure created by the disturbance of air with a lapse rate higher than
of the planetary pressure system which is that of the dry adiabatic lapse rate
due mainly to the unequal solar heating and warmer than overlying air, rises
of the irregularly distributed continents and expands. The adiabatic cooling of
and oceans 2. a vertical circulation cell in such moist air as it ascends disturbs the
the tropopause associated with meridi¬ atmosphere, frequently gives rise to deep
onal circulation (meridional flow) of clouds, and leads to precipitation.
the atmosphere, e.g. the hadley cell. ADIABATIC, SATURATED ADIABATIC
LAPSE RATE.
atmospheric circulation the general
circulation of the atmosphere-i, cover¬ atmospheric pressure the pressure
ing all the movement of the air enveloping exerted by the weight of the atmo-
the earth in the lower and upper atmo¬ sphere-i on the earth’s surface, decreasing
sphere resulting from the unequal heating with height above sea-level and varying
of the earth and its atmosphere brought with weather conditions. The unit of
about mainly by the imbalance of solar measurement used in the atmosphere-2,

26
 attribute

expressed in millibars (mb): i atmo¬ atomic energy nuclear energy.

sphere = 1013.25 mb (1000 mb = 1 bar
attached dune a sand dune formed
= 1 mn dynes per sq cm), indicated by
around an obstacle lying in the path of
a BAROMETER.
blown sand in arid lands, the obstacle
atmospheric weathering weathering. forming the nucleus that ‘fixes’ the dune.

atmospheric window window. attitude 1. a state of nund, a relatively

enduring tendency to perceive, feel or
atoll a circular or almost circular coral behave towards certain people or events
reef, the crest lying at a low height above in a particular manner. Attitudes play an
sea-level, sometimes interrupted, enclos¬ important part in perception, and they
ing a central lagoon. Atolls are most affect preferences and choice of goals 2.
common in the central and west Pacific in geology, the disposition ofa rock stra¬
ocean. tum, horizontal or tilted, e.g. the relation¬
ship ofa bedding plane to the horizontal
atom the smallest particle of an
plane in terms of its dip and strike.
element-6 which exhibits the properties
of that element, consisting of a nucleus attribute 1. a quality proper to, or charac¬
(the small, positively charged central core) teristic of, a person or thing 2. in statistics,
with its orbiting electrons (negatively a qualitative variable which can
charged particles), molecule, nuclear take only certain fixed values, some¬
ENERGY. times termed a discrete variable. If the

27
attrition V 'v

categories-^ cannot be ordered (e.g. in autogenic change a self-induced change

the case of religious affiliation), the vari¬ produced by natural processes.
ables are measured at nominal value; if
autogenic factor the direct effect of the
they can be ordered (e.g. in the case of
members of a plant community on each
age groups), the variables are measured at
other (e.g. by competition), or of the
ordinal level, and in this case they are
community on its own habitat (e.g. by
sometimes termed ordered attri¬
deposition of humus).
butes. Attributes which take only two
values (e.g. male or female) are sometimes autogenic succession a plant suc¬
termed dichotomous variables, measure¬ cession-2 produced by changes brought
ment-2, NOMINAL SCALE, ORDINAL about by the plants themselves, allo¬
SCALE. genic succession.

attrition the act or process of wearing autometamorphism the metamorph¬

away by rubbing or friction of one thing ism taking place in igneous material
against another, each being affected, e.g. and the surrounding country rock
occurring when pebbles carried along by during cooling in pneumatolysis and
running water, by sea waves, or by wind, in HYDROTHERMAL PROCESSES. META¬
rub against one another, abrasion, cor- SOMATISM.
RASION, TRANSPORTATION-2.
autonomous adj. self-governing, usually
applied to a state which is not a sovereign
aureole metamorphic aureole.
state or absolutely independent, but one
aurora australis, aurora borealis (the which is self-governing in home affairs
former in the southern, the latter in the while being under the control of a larger
northern hemisphere) the spectacular (and sovereign) state, autonomy.
coloured lights, probably electro¬
autonomy self-government, the right of
magnetic in origin in the ionosphere,
self-government, autonomous.
seen near the horizon in the night sky in
high latitudes. They are red, green and autotrophic adj. applied to an organism
white, and they ascend in streaks and capable of producing its own organic sub¬
sheets, roughly in the shape of a fan. The stances (i.e. without recourse to outside
phenomenon is known as Northern Lights organic substances) from inorganic com¬
in the northern hemisphere. pounds, using energy from the sun
(phototrophic) or from chemical reac¬
authigenic, authigenous adj. formed tion (CHEMOTROPHIC). Most CHLORO-
in place, applied especially to a mineral PHYLL-containing plants and some
formed in situ during or after the formation bacteria are autotrophic.
of the rock of which it forms a part, e.g. the
crystals in an igneous rock, in contrast to autumn (American, fall) the third season
allogenic, allothigenic. of the year in midlatitudes, variously
defined. Properly from the autumnal
autogenic, autogenous from autogen¬ equinox to the winter solstice, i.e.
esis, spontaneous generation) adj. pro¬ from 21 — 22 September to 21—22
duced by an organism itself, not by an December in the northern hemisphere,
external influence. from 21 — 22 March to 21—22 June in the

28
 azonal soil

southern. But in the northern hemisphere minimum level even without visiting
popularly regarded as September, October some of them (indirect contact
and November; in the southern hemi¬ space). Awareness space includes activity
sphere, February, March and April. space (the area within which most of a
person’s activities are carried out, within
available relief local relief, the vertical
which the individual comes most fre¬
distance from the original, fairly flat upland
quently into contact with others and with
surface (i.e. from the height of a surface
the features of the environment), and its
which is being dissected) to the local base
area enlarges as new locations are dis¬
level (the valley floors) of the dissecting
covered and/or new information is gath¬
streams, relief.
ered. SEARCH SPACE.
avalanche a French dialect term originally
axial plane the imaginary surface dividing
applied to a large mass of snow mixed
the limbs of a fold as symmetrically as
with earth, stones and ice loosened from
possible, and passing through the axis of
a mountainside and falling swiftly by
the fold. Different types of fold are identi¬
gravity to the valley below (snow
fied by the inclination-2 from the ver¬
avalanche). The term avalanche is now
tical of the axial plane. Fig 24.
usually restricted and applied to a fall of a
mass ofsnow, ice andFiRN, being qualified axis 1. a real or imaginary line around
if used to cover similar movements of which a thing rotates 2. one of the refer¬
other materials, e.g. rock avalanche (better ence lines in a coordinate system 3. an
termed a landslide), sand avalanche alliance between countries which aims to
(plinth). ensure a common policy.

avalanche cone a mass of matenal axis of a fold the central line ofa fold , the
deposited by an avalanche, including crest from which strata dip downwards
not only the snow, ice, or firn but also and away in an anticline, or the central
everything torn away and carried along by line of the lowest depth of the trough from
the avalanche. which strata rise in opposite directions in
a SYNCLINE. AXIAL PLANE. Fig 24.
avalanche wind the rush of air produced
by and preceding an avalanche in its
axis of the earth the diameter between
descent.
the north pole and the south pole,

aven I. a vertical or inclined shaft in lime¬ tilted at an angle of about 66°3 o' to the

stone leading down, generally from the plane of the earth’s orbit, around which

land surface, to a cave passage 2. in Eng¬ the earth rotates (anti-clockwise) once in

land, an enlarged vertical joint in the roof every 24 hours, orbit of the earth,

of a cave passage, narrowing upwards. PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES.

average I. arithmetic mean 2. an azimuthal map projection a map pro¬

undefined measure of central tend¬ jection in which all bearings are laid off
ency of the values in a data set or correctly from the central point of the
FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION. map, so that all points on the map are true
*

in distance and direction from the centre.

awareness space all the locations about
which a person has knowledge above a azonal soil a young soil that lacks marked

29
Azores high

horizons, commonly because insufficient Azores high a subtropical anticyc¬

time has elapsed for climate and vegetation lone stationed generally over the eastern
to create them, e.g. a recent alluvial soil. sector of the North Atlantic ocean, more
In contrast, mature soils (zonal soil) persistent in the summer than in the winter
group themselves according to the great of the northern hemisphere, and in sum¬
climatic zones of the earth’s surface. mer usually extending so far northeast as
IMMATURE SOIL, INTRAZONAL SOIL, to affect western Europe, including the
SOIL CLASSIFICATION, SOIL PROFILE. British Isles.
B
backing of wind a change of direction is used particularly in relation to the
of the wind in a cyclonic (anti-clockwise) floodplain of the Mississippi.
direction, i.e. from north through west to
back wall, back-wall the steep wall at
south in the northern hemisphere (the
the back of a cirque.
opposite of veering), where the wind is
said to ‘back’ at a place north of the centre backwash, back-wash 1. the seaward
of a depression-3 travelling eastward. In flow of a body of water down the slope
the southern hemisphere the direction of after a wave-3 has broken on the beach,
the wind in relation to pressure systems of in contrast to swash 2. the drag of a
closed isobars is reversed, so that a backing receding wave, longshore drift.
wind in the southern hemisphere is Fig 28.
equivalent to a veering wind in the north¬
ern hemisphere. backwash and spread effects circular
AND CUMULATIVE GROWTH.
backset bed a term applied mainly in the
bacterium pi. bacteria, a member of a
US A to a deposit of sand on the windward
very large group of microscopic unicellu¬
slope of a sand dune, commonly fixed
lar or multicellular organisms which live in
by vegetation.
very large numbers in favourable habitats.
backshore the land lying inland from the Their activities are of major importance
average high-water line to the coast¬ to human beings, positively in soil in the
line, bordered seawards by the fore¬ breakdown of organic matter (nitrogen
shore (the land between the lowest cycle, nitrogen fixation), in sewage
low-water mark and the average high- disposal, and as source of antibiotics; and
water mark), and to seaward of which negatively, e.g. as agents of plant disease
lies the offshore zone (below low-water and as the cause of serious diseases in an¬
mark to the depth at which substantial imals, including human beings, e.g. tuber¬
movement of beach material ceases). culosis, typhoid fever, photosynthesis.
offshore-3.
badlands originally and specifically

back slope, back-slope the gentler slope applied to a large, dry region in South

of a cuesta. Fig 42. Dakota, USA, where erosion of the nearly

horizontal, unconsolidated sedimentary
backswamp, backswamp deposits the beds resulted in a land of narrow ravines,
tract of low, swampy land lying on the sharp crests and pinnacles, devoid or
floodplain ofan alluvial river between almost devoid of vegetation. This highly
the natural levees or banks of the river dissected landscape was well described by
and the bluffs; and the layers of silt and early French travellers as ‘mauvaises terres
clay deposited there. In the USA the term a traverser’ (bad lands to cross). The term

31
 V s.

bajada

is now applied to similar lands elsewhere, strip from that of another, the major to
e.g. in Algeria and Morocco. separate groups of strips. The larger balks,
primarily grass-covered ‘occupation
bajada, bahada (Spanish) a continuous
roads’, were usually termed town balks or
apron of gently sloping sediments, e.g.
common balks to distinguish them from
gravel and coarse sand, formed by the
the minor balks between stops.
merging of alluvial fans laid down by
swollen streams from a series of mountain balkanization the division of an area into
streams where they debouch on a plain at small units, sometimes implying mutual
the base of a mountain range in an arid or hostility among such units, or between
semi-arid area. those units and others outside the area.

balance of nature the relationship Baltic shield the prec ambri an platform
between all the component parts of the of Finland and eastern Scandinavia.
biosphere which, by interaction one SHIELD.
with another, ensure that it is in a state of
bamboo a grass native to tropical and
equilibrium. The balance is delicate and
subtropical regions. The economically
can be upset by human activity.
important varieties have edible shoots and
balance of payments I. the relationship grain and/or hollow, hard, durable stems
between the credits of one nation or group used, especially in Asia, for tools, furniture,
of nations against all other trading partners mats and papermaking, etc., and in build¬
and the debits of that nation or group of ings and their construction.
nations to all other trading partners over
banana a giant herb native to tropical
a specified period of time 2. a systematic
areas, now widely cultivated there for its
record of all economic transactions
nutritious, sweet fruit (a staple food in
between one nation or group of nations
some tropical countries) which grows in
and all other nations with which it has
bunches or stems about 10 to 12 half¬
contacts. Theoretically total debits and
spirals, known as ‘hands’ and markedly
total credits should balance. Included are
separated from each other, each hand con¬
all goods (visible, such as manufactured
sisting of 12 to 16 ‘fingers’. The export
goods, raw materials, bullion, etc.) and
trade is important internationally and vital
services (invisible, covering transport,
to some banana-growing countries. It is
banking, insurance, interest payments,
large-scale and highly organized. The
tourism etc. as well as the flow of capital).
bunches are cut when the fruit is green,
BALANCE OF TRADE.
before npening, transported in chambers
balance of trade the relationship cooled at a constant temperature, as near as
between a nation’s total visible imports possible to io° to ii°C(5I°F) and carefully
and exports, i.e. of goods, balance of ripened on arrival at the importing
PAYMENTS. country.

balk, baulk a piece of unploughed land bank 1. sloping ground bordering a river,
used for grazing and giving access to the stream or lake 2. in the north of England,
ploughed parts of an open field under the a hill or hillside 3. an elevation in the floor
medieval system, the minor ones being of a river or a shallow sea, usually of sand,
used as boundaries to separate one man’s mud, gravel (not of solid rock or coral),

32
 barley

in some cases connected with the shore, barbed drainage a pattern of drainage in
but not sufficiently near the surface as to which tributaries meet the mam stream
be dangerous to shipping. at obtuse angles, i.e. at such angles that
their flow appears to be directed to the
bank caving the undercutting and ero¬ source of the main stream. It is caused
sion of the bank-i by water flowing on by river capture which has reversed
the outside curve of a river, resulting in the direction of flow of the main stream.
the washing downstream of the material Fig 17.
so dislodged, lateral erosion.
barchan a crescent-shaped dune of shift¬
bankfull stage in river flow, the stage ing sand formed when the direction of the
when the channel is completely filled with wind varies only very slightly or not at all.
water, from bank to bank, the stage before The windward side is convex, with
the river overflows, flood stage, over¬ a gentle slope, the steeper leeside is
bank STAGE, STREAM STAGE. concave, and the ‘horns’ point downwind.
It travels if an adequate supply of sand is
banner cloud a cloud touching and maintained; it occurs singly, or in groups;
flowing out like a banner on the lee side and the height ranges from quite low to
of a mountain peak in clear sky. It occurs over 30 m (100 ft), parabolic dune.
when water vapour in a forced up-draught Fig 6.
of warm air from the mountainside con¬
denses and the cooled air descends down¬ bare fallow fallow land left without a
wind, to be warmed, so that it rises again. crop for a whole season, fallow, green

Descent and ascent continue downwind FALLOW.

until the ultimate complete evaporation bar graph, bar chart a diagram drawn
of the water droplets. The best known to display data. It consists of a series ofbars
example is the cloud of the Matterhorn. or columns, representing categories, the
LEE WAVE. length of each bar or column being pro¬
portional to the quantity represented. The
bar I. loosely applied to a marine deposit
bars are sometimes set horizontally (e.g.
of mud, sand, shingle, covered by water
population pyramid, taking the form
at least at high tide (barrier), e.g. across
of a pyramid) or vertically (as columns),
an estuary, parallel to the shore (longshore
the relative importance of each category
or offshore bar), across a bay (bay bar),
becoming immediately clear. All the bars
between an island and the mainland (tom-
have the same width, and may be separated
bolo), across the access to a harbour
from each other by small spaces, to
(harbour bar) 2. in USA, the deposits of
emphasize that each category is distinct.
alluvium etc. in streams, river mouths
The bars may show total values, or they
and some lakes 3. in meteorology, the unit
may be divided to show the constituent
of atmospheric pressure equivalent to
parts of the total values. Fig 38.
1 mn dynes per sq cm: 29.5306 in or
750.076 mm of mercury at o°C in latitude barley a cultivated grass of the genus Hor-
45°N. The unit commonly used is the deum. It is one of the food grains, but it
4

millibar (mb), a thousandth part of a bar. does not make good bread. Flat barley
In si 1 bar = 10 newtons, atmosphere, cakes (the barley loaves of the Bible) are
BAROMETER. made and eaten in north Africa and some

33
 V v

barogram

Fig 6 Barchan

eastern countries, but a major use ofbarley barometer an instrument, of which there
is, as formerly, in the brewing of beer and are several forms, for measuring atmo¬
the making of whisky (a fact recognized spheric pressure, used in estimating
by the old English terms ‘bread corn’, height above sea-level and in weather
applied to wheat and rye; and ‘drink corn’, forecasting. In the mercury barometer the
applied to barley). Today barley is grown weight of a column of mercury is balanced
principally for animal feed. Barley against that of a column of the atmosphere,
flourishes generally under conditions sim¬ with adjustments made for latitude (stand¬
ilar to those which suit wheat, but it ardized to 46°N), temperature (to I2°C:
tolerates poorer and lighter soils. It can take 53 °F), altitude (average decrease of 3 3.9 mb:
advantage of the long hours of daylight in 1 in mercury for each 275 m: 900 ft
northern latitudes, so ‘arctic’ barley grows for the first 1000 m: 3300 ft, progress¬
farther north than any other grain. It will ively decreasing thereafter with height)
grow higher up mountain slopes than and for any peculiarity of the (usually sens¬
wheat, but it is even less tolerant than itive) individual instrument. A vertical
wheat of damp conditions. tube is sealed at the top end, with the bot¬
tom, open end, standing in a container
barogram a continuous record of changes holding mercury; atmospheric pressure
of atmospheric pressure as measured is measured by the vertical height of the
by an aneroid barometer, indicated by column of mercury which the atmosphere
a curve drawn on scaled paper. will support. In the aneroid (without
liquid) barometer, used in altimeters
barograph a self-recording barometer,
and barographs, a shallow metal box or
in which a pen linked to an aneroid baro¬
cylinder is nearly exhausted of air. In one
meter records changes in atmospheric
pressure on a revolving cylinder which type, this metal box has flexible sides which
expand and contract with changing air
makes one complete revolution each
pressure; in another the thin metal upper
week.

34
 barriers and diffusion waves

face (the top), which is corrugated, is held coastal features, a bank of mud, sand,
up by an external clip spring; as the air shingle, etc. is usually termed a bar-i if
pressure changes it upsets the balance it is submerged at least at high tide, a
between the spring and the pressure in the barrier if it lies above high tide level.
box/cylinder, so that the top moves. In BARRIER BEACH, BARRIER CHAIN, BAR¬
either type, the movements are magnified RIER ISLAND, BARRIERS AND DIFFUSION
and transmitted by a system of levers to a WAVES.
pointer moving over a calibrated scale.
barrier beach a long, narrow, sandy
The aneroid barometer generally available
ridge, lying above high tide level and paral¬
is not capable of absolute accuracy, and is
lel to the coast from which it is separated
not to be compared with the precision
by a lagoon. The term is used some¬
models used in aviation and meteorology.
times as synonymous with spit, barrier
barometric gradient pressure gradient, CHAIN, BARRIER ISLAND.
the amount of change in atmospheric
barrier chain a series of barrier
pressure between two points, indicated
islands and barrier beaches ex¬
by the distance apart on a level surface of
tending a considerable distance along a
the isobars (iso-) on a synoptic chart.
coast.
Closely spaced isobars indicate great
differences in pressure and therefore a barrier island a feature similar to a bar¬
steep gradient, associated with strong rier beach but consisting of several
winds, in some cases with tropical ridges, commonly with dunes, vegeta¬
revolving storms; isobars with wide tion and swampy areas on the lagoon
intervening spaces indicate only small side. The term barrier spit is sometimes
differences, and thus a gentle gradient. used in the USA if the barrier island is at
one end joined to the mainland, spit.
barometric tendency the character
(increasing or decreasing) and amount of barrier lake a lake formed by a natural
change in atmospheric pressure dur¬ obstruction across a valley, e.g. by an ava¬
ing a specified period, usually of three lanche, ROCK FALL, ALLUVIAL deposits,
hours. terminal moraine, orby a dam formed
by a build-up of vegetation, ice, lava,
barrage i. a large structure, usually of
etc.
masonry or concrete, occasionally of earth,
built to hold up a large quantity of water, barrier reefa coral reef skirting a shore
especially for irrigation. A dam similarly and some distance from it, so that it acts
impounds water, but in some cases the as a barrier between the open ocean and
term dam is used if the generation ofpower the sheltered lagoon lying between the
is involved, barrage if it is not. Sometimes reef and the coast. On a large scale the
the two are distinguished by the duration Great Barrier Reef, stretching for over
ofwater storage, i.e. a barrage serves annual 1600 km (1000 mi) off the coast of Queens¬
storage of floodwater only, a dam has per¬ land, Australia, functions in that way.
ennial use 2. part of a tidal power station
*
barriers and diffusion waves barriers
(tidal barrage).
that act as a drag on the process of
barrier something that hinders or pre¬ diffusion-1 are commonly classified
vents access or advance. Referring to according to the decreasing amount of

35
 \ s.

barrio

drag exhibited, i.e. the superabsorbing vents or fissures it tends to be very fluid
barrier (absorbing the message but and to flood evenly over large areas before
destroying the transmitter), the absorbing consolidating, hence many lava plains or
(absorbing the message but not affecting plateaus are of basalt. It may solidify into
the transmitter), the reflecting (not absorb¬ perfect hexagonal columns (e.g. Giant’s
ing the message, but allowing the transmit¬ Causeway), spheroidal weathering.
ter to transmit a new message in the same
time period) or the direct reflecting (not
basaltic adj. of, pertaining to, or con¬
absorbing the message but deflecting it to sisting of BASALT.

the available cell nearest to the trans¬

basaltic lava basic lava.
mitter) .

barrio shanty town. basal till till, in many cases with a high
clay content, carried underneath or
barrow, tumulus a prehistoric mound deposited by a moving glacier.
of earth, piled over a burial ground,
common in the British Isles and other parts base 1. in general, the bottom, the lowest
of western Europe, neolithic. part or that on which something stands or
rests 2. in chemistry, a substance which
barter I. trade by exchange, without the
reacts with an acid to form a salt and water
use of money 2. the thing so exchanged.
only; or a substance which, dissolved in
BAZAAR ECONOMY.
water, provides hydroxyl ions from its
barysphere loosely applied, sometimes to own molecules; or a molecule or ion
the dense mass (possibly of nickel-iron) which accepts protons. 3. in statistics, a
believed to occupy the core of the earth number or magnitude used as a standard
below the mantle, sometimes to the reference.
mantle only, sometimes (and this is prefer¬
able) to the core and mantle together, base flow a term applied particularly in
i.e. all of the earth’s interior beneath the North America to that part of a stream

LITHOSPHERE. flow which comes from ground water,

as distinct from the surface flow after rain
basal, basic adj. pertaining to, situated at, has fallen.
forming the base-i. basic.
base-level the lowest level to which a
basal complex basement complex.
running stream can erode its bed under
basal conglomerate the conglomer¬ stable conditions of the earth’s crust; or the
ate commonly formed at the beginning level below which a land surface cannot be
of a cycle of sedimentation, hence at the reduced by running water.
base of a series of strata which lie uncon-
formably on older rocks. base line an accurately measured line on
the earth’s surface which is used as a base
basalt a fme-grained black or dark grey in trigonometric observations (triangu¬
igneous rock belonging to the basic lation), and so in the mapping of land.
group (basic rock), with 45 to 52 per
cent of silica, mainly sodium or potas¬ base map a map of any kind on which
sium alumino-silicates with some iron additional information may be plotted for
(feldspar). When erupted from volcanic specific purposes.

36
 basin

basement, basement complex, basal gas, electricity and water; transport and
complex a term loosely applied to the communication; agriculture and fishing.
assemblage of ancient igneous and
basic lava, basaltic lava the most
metamorphic rocks which usually, but
common type of lava, molten igneous
not always, underly the precambrian
rock, high in iron, magnesium and
stratified rocks in any particular region.
other metallic element content, low in
basic adj. I. in chemistry, of the nature of silica, and with a low melting point,
a base-2, the opposite of acidic, reacting which pours easily and quietly from a
chemically with acids (acid) to form salts volcanic vent, spreading widely before
(pH) 2. BASAL. hardening (commonly as basalt) to
form a shield volcano or broad pla¬
basic activity, basic function, basic
teau. HAWAIIAN VOLCANIC ERUPTION,
industry in urban development, a manu¬
MAGMA, PILLOW LAVA.
facturing or service activity within a city
or urban area which provides goods and basic —non-basic ratio the proportion
services and thus earns revenue from of BASIC ACTIVITY to NON-BASIC
outside the city or urban area, i.e. in activity in the economy of a city or
this context a ‘primary’ or ‘export’ indus¬ region, measured either by numbers
try. BASIC INDUSTRY, ECONOMIC BASE employed or by the value of production.
THEORY, EXPORT BASE THEORY, LOWRY The larger the city, the higher the pro¬
MODEL, NON-BASIC ACTIVITY, URBAN portion of non-basic workers.
ECONOMIC BASE.
basic rock a term loosely applied to an
basic Bessemer process a method used igneous rock which lacks quartz and
to remove phosphorus from pig iron contains feldspar with a content of cal¬
in the process of making cast steel, intro¬ cium higher than that of sodium. As the
duced in 1890 in the USA. A Bessemer sodium content decreases the basic rocks
converter (bessemer process) was lined become intermediate rocks; as the
with a material incorporating lime to serve feldspar decreases the basic rocks become
as a ‘base’ with which the phosphorus, ultrabasic. (A basic rock is not syn¬
escaping from the iron, could combine onymous with an alkaline rock.)
(hence the name). If the proportion of
basic slag waste material from blast
phosphorus was too high to be removed
furnaces, rich in minerals, especially
in that way, more lime was added. The
phosphorus, used as a fertilizer.
product was known as basic steel.

basin a term applied loosely to some form

basic grassland grassland of chalk and
of natural or artificial depression, varying
limestone in which the grasses Festuca ovina
in extent, in the earth’s crust, e.g. 1. the
and Festuca rubra are dominant.
total area of land drained by a river and
basic industry 1. a heavy industry of its tributaries (drainage basin, river
national economic importance, or an basin), termed watershed in USA 2.
industry fundamental to.other industries in geology, a circumscribed area where
(e.g. iron and steel, or the manufacture of the strata dip inward towards the centre
sulphuric acid) 2. in the UK, sometimes (syncline), or a stratified deposit (e.g.
officially applied to mining and quarrying; coal) lying therein 3. a hollow in the

37
 \ v
basin and range

ground formed by surface settlement batholith, bathylith a very large dome¬

following the natural or artificial removal shaped mass of igneous rock, usually of
of underground deposits of salt or gypsum granite, formed by a large-scale, deep-
in solution 4. a large or small depression seated intrusion of magma, the sides of
occupied by a lake (lake basin) or pond 5. which plunge down steeply to unknown
a depression in the ocean floor (deep) 6. depths. The domed upper surface may
an extensive depression occupied by an be exposed by denudation over a long
oceanic basin 7. a hollow classified period, to form uplands, e.g. Dartmoor in
according to origin (tectonic basin, southwest England. A batholith may be
glaciat basin) 8. a large area surrounded surrounded by a metamorphic aure¬
by high land, with or without access to ole. Figs 7, 21.
the sea (Great Basin, USA) 9. a dock
or part of a canal or river widened for
navigation and lined with wharfs, etc. 10.
a dock subject to tidal movement, or a
depression (natural or artificial) filled with
water at high tide (tidat basin).

basin and range a tract of country with

a series of asymmetrical ridges separated
Fig 7 Batholith and metamorphic aureole
by basins, the ridge consisting of tilted
fault blocks. The Basin and Range
country of USA lies between the Sierra bathyal adj. applied loosely, of, or per¬
Nevada and Wasatch mountains. taining to, the deeper parts of the ocean,
i.e. very broadly the continental slope
basin cultivation the practice of dividing between the continental shelf and
land by low earth ridges to form small or the abyssal zone; and the deposits and
large basins where water can be retained organic life present there.
and rapid runoff prevented. This tech¬
nique is used especially near the equatorial bathyorographical adj. applied to maps
margins of the tropics in Africa (e.g. in showing both the relief of the land
Nigeria and Ghana) to stem soil erosion (orography) and the depths of the
by heavy rainfall. ocean.

basin irrigation a type of irrigation bathysphere I. deep sphere, applied,

in which floodwater from a river that incorrectly, by some writers to the interior
annually and for a short time overflows on mass of the earth as an alternative to bary-
to its floodplain is led off into prepared sphere 2. a diving apparatus, a large
basins, varying greatly in size, and separ¬ spherical chamber, able to withstand great
ated from one another by earth banks. pressure, used for deep sea observations.
perennial irrigation.
battery system in poultry farming, a
basket of eggs relief rounded sandy capital-intensive system of husbandry
mounds orDRUMLiNS arranged in such a common in industrialized countries, in
pattern that from a distance they resemble which birds are reared and kept under
eggs in a basket, occurring in glaciated cover in a carefully controlled environ¬
regions in valleys formerly occupied by ice. ment (environmental control). The

38
 beach cusp

birds are confined to cages, fed and (translation of Bucht), the spread of the
watered by automatic devices. They drop lowland into an upland area along a river
their eggs into channels running under the valley, e.g. Kolnische Bucht 5. a recess in
cages; the killing of the birds for meat is a range of hills or mountains.
automated, factory farm.
bay bar, bay barrier (American, bay-
bauxite (derived from deposits at Baux, mouth bar) a ridge of sand, mud or shingle
near Arles, France) a naturally occur¬ extending across a bay-i, linking the two
ring aluminium oxide, an amorphous, headlands, caused by the lengthening of
earthy, granular mineral containing one spit or the convergence of two, or
iron oxides and phosphate, the colour the moving of an offshore bar towards
ranging from grey-white through yellow, the coast.
brown, red. Now the principal commer¬
bay-head beach, pocket beach a cres¬
cial ore of aluminium, it occurs widely
cent-shaped accumulation of sand and
in feldspars and other silicates which
shingle piled up at the head of a small
readily break down in tropical conditions;
cove on a sea coast.
hence bauxite is found as a surface crust
in tropical lands. bay-head delta a delta occurring at the
bay i. a term applied loosely to a wide, head of a bay-i.

curved indentation of the sea or of a lake

bayou (southern USA term derived from
into the land, especially one with a wide
French) a sluggish stream ora stagnant body
opening, or greater in width than in depth,
of water such as an oxbow lake or
usually considered to be larger than a swampy backwater connected or associ¬
cove, smaller than a gulf 2. in law, pre¬
ated with the lower Mississippi and its delta.
cisely defined in the 1958 convention
on the delimitation of territorial bazaar economy a commercial system
waters. Under the 1958 convention the in which a large number of buyers and
existence of a bay is established by drawing sellers meet personally to transact their
a straight line to connect the seaward business without the aid of an intermediary
extremities of the natural promontories such as a retail outlet. The transactions,
on each side of the indentation. This line usually unrelated one to another, are com¬
acts as the diameter of a semicircle which monly centred on, but not necessarily
is drawn landwards: if the area of the water restricted to, a market-2.
in the indentation limited by the straight
beach the accumulation of loose material
line is as great as or greater than the area
(mud, sand, shingle, pebbles) on the shore
of the semicircle, it qualifies as a bay. If
of a lake or of the sea at or near the limits
the length of the diameter is 38.6 km
of wave action, mainly between the low
(24 mi) or less the waters ‘enclosed’ by the
water spring tide line and the highest
line can be treated as territorial. The waters
point reached by storm waves at high
in certain ‘historic’ bays (e.g. Hudson Bay,
tide. Beach material is classified by size,
Canada) which do not meet these criteria
i.e. SAND, GRAVEL, PEBBLE andBOULDER.
are nevertheless considered to be territorial
BEACH RIDGES, GROYNE, PROGRADA¬
3. an elliptical, shallow depression in the
TION, RAISED BEACH.
coastal plain ofthe eastern USA (the Caro¬
lina Bays), origin uncertain 4. in Germany beach cusp a cone-shaped deposit of sand

39
beach ridges

and gravel with the apex pointing sea¬ beaded valley a valley with alternating
wards, alternating with bay-like depres¬ narrow and wide sections.
sions, usually one of a series along a
bearing the horizontal angle measured
straight, open beach, resulting from the
clockwise between a specific reference line
swash and backwash ofwaves breaking
and a point viewed by the observer 1. for
at right angles to the coast. The distance
a true bearing the reference line is the
between the points, increasing generally
meridian, so a true bearing is measured
with wave height, varies from 9 to 60 m
clockwise from true north 2. a mag¬
(30 to 200 ft).
netic bearing is measured clockwise from
beach ridges low sandy ridges on a coast magnetic north 3. a compass bearing is
representing a successive series ofBERMS-i measured clockwise from the north indic¬
produced in the progradation of a ated by the compass 4. a grid beanng is
BEACH. measured from the north—south grid-i
lines on a map 5. a reverse (reciprocal)
beaded drainage small pools joined by
bearing is the reverse or reciprocal of a
streams caused by the melting of the
given beanng, i.e. a line drawn 180° from
ground surface in permafrost regions.
any beanng.
beaded esker an esker with a succession
Beaufort scale a scale widely used for
of mounds strung out along the ridge, like
measuring and recording the strength of
beads on a string, indicating pauses in the
the wind, based on estimated velocity as
retreat of the glacier that fed the stream
10 m (33 ft) above the ground, devised by
which formed the esker.
Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, rn, in 1805,
beaded lakes strings of long, narrow lakes used internationally since 1874, slightly
between sand dunes. modified 1926.

Scale Description Force

number km /h mi/h

0 calm 0 0
1 light air 1-5-5 i-3
light winds -
2 light breeze 6-12 4-7
. 3 gentle breeze 13-20 8-12

4 moderate breeze 21-29 13-18

5 fresh breeze 30-39 19-24
moderate winds -
6 strong breeze 40-50 25-31

. 7 moderate gale 51-61 32-38

8 fresh gale 62-75 39-46

9 strong gale 76-87 47-54
gales — 10 whole gale 88-102 55-63
11 storm 103-121 64-75
• 12 hurricane above 121 above 75

Notice that moderate gale, 7, is for statistical purposes classified under moderate winds.

40
 behaviourism

bed i. the floor, the land at the bottom (including a person or people), or to a
of a body of water (sea, lake, river, canal, particular object, or to a particular event
pond), usually permanently covered by 2. the way in which an organ, an organism,
the water but possibly intermittently dned or a machine works, in terms of its effici¬
out 2. in geology, a layer of stratum of ency. ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOUR, ADOPTIVE
rock, a feature ofa sedimentary rock-i BEHAVIOUR.
distinguished from adjacent layers by its
behavioural adj. concerned with, or a
composition, structure or texture, and sep¬
part of, BEHAVIOUR-1,2.
arated from the overlying and underlying
layers by well marked bedding planes. behavioural approach in psychology i.
INTERBEDDED. the study of humans and animals-2 in
terms of their behaviour, the concepts
bedding the arrangement of rock strata
of‘mental’ or ‘subjective’ processes being
in bands of various thickness and character.
considered of little importance, and usu¬
FALSE-BEDDING, STRATIFICATION.
ally excluded 2. a synonym for behavi¬
bedding plane the plane of stratification, ourism.
the surface separating the successive dis¬
behavioural environment the part of
tinctive layers of sedimentary rock, in
the environment perceived (percep¬
many cases forming a line of weakness.
tion) by the individual, to which
bedload traction load, the solid material, the individual responds or to which
e.g. sand and gravel, and sometimes large behaviour-i is directed. It is the
boulders in time of flood, pushed or rolled environment in which rational human
by a stream-2 (traction), or bouncing behaviour begins, in which decisions are
(saltation) along the bed-i of a taken which may or may not result in
stream-i , as distinct from the material conscious use or alteration of the
carried in suspension (suspended PHENOMENAL ENVIRONMENT, Or in a
LOAD) Or SOLUTION-1 (dissolved change in the individual’s relationship
load). with, or exposure to, that environment.

bedrock i. the unweathered rock under¬ behavioural geography an approach in

lying the weathered superficial deposits human geography which uses the
(i.e. underlying the soil, subsoil and other assumptions and methods of behaviour¬
loose unconsolidated rock, the regolith) ism to determine the cognitive processes
2. more specifically, the solid rock beneath (cognition) involved in an individual’s
placer deposits of gold or TIN. perception of, response and reaction to,
his/her environment. The cognitive pro¬
beech-hanger hanger.
cesses include the construction of mental
beet sugar sugar. maps (cognitive maps) and the assess¬
ments of locations in the individual’s
behaviour I. the way in which an organ¬
ACTION SPACE.
ism or a group of organisms (including a
person or a group of people) reacts or behaviourism, behavioural approach
responds to stimuli in the environment, a school of psychology based on the prin¬
e.g. to light, sound, touch, chemicals, the ciple that psychological studies should, in
presence and activities of other organisms order to be scientific, be confined to the

4i
beheading, of river

observable, and preferably the measurable, with height in metres/feet to one place of
reaction of human beings (and an- decimals.
imals-2) to external stimuli, the study
beneficiation the first step in the removal
of ‘mental’ or ‘subjective’ processes (e.g.
of a commercially valuable mineral from
consciousness, introspection, freewill
the country rock or gangue sur¬
etc.) being excluded because these can¬
rounding it after extraction from the
not be directly observed and measured.
ground. The process is usually a simple
BEHAVIOUR.
one (e.g. crushing, magnetic separation,
beheading, of river river capture. flotation) carried out at or near the site of
the mine or other working. The aim is to
bell pit an early type of mine in which a
concentrate the ore to keep down the cost
seam of chalk or coal or other deposit was
of its transport to the works where it is to
worked from the base of a shallow shaft,
be further processed.
the pit being abandoned when the roof
became unsafe. Subsidence around the Benelux countries Belgium, Nether¬
shafts later resulted in the formation of lands and Luxembourg, the countries
shallow depressions. which formed a customs union on 1 Janu¬
ary 1948. They joined the EEC in 1959,
belt 1. a district with particular, distinctive
and the full economic union of the three
characteristic(s) e.g. of climate (belt of
came into force on 1 November i960.
calms), of vegetation (tundra), of preval¬
ence of a mineral (coal), of a crop (cotton), Benioff zone the seismically (seismic)
ofland use (green belt), etc. It is generally active zone at the bottom of an ocean
in the form of a broad, long strip which trench where an oceanic plate dives into
may or may not encircle something; but the MANTLE. PLATE TECTONICS.
in some cases the term is used as a synonym
benthic adj. of, or relating to, the ben¬
for region-i, the shape being disregarded
thos. DEMERSAL.
2. a long narrow stretch of water (Great
Belt in the Baltic sea). benthic division, benthic zone one of
the two chief divisions of the aquatic
belt of calms itcz.
environment based on depth of water (the
bench a natural step or terrace, usually other being the pelagic division), con¬
narrow and backed by a steep slope, pro¬ sisting of all the floor of the ocean or lake
duced by structural change, natural (e.g. where benthos live, irrespective of the
by erosion, as is a wave-cut bench) depth of the floor. It is commonly divided
or artificial (e.g. by quarrying, mining). into two systems, the neritic and the
ALP-I, RIVER TERRACE. abyssal, the division in the ocean being
at the edge of the continental shelf.
bench mark BM, a surveyor’s mark cut
in some durable fixed material such as a benthos the plants or animals living at or
rock, or the wall or face of a building, for near the floor of the ocean or a lake,
which the height above the datum level irrespective of the depth of the floor. The
(in Britain the Ordnance Datum (od) at organisms are usually divided into lit¬
Newlyn, Cornwall) is accurately deter¬ toral benthos and deep water benthos.
mined. Bench marks are recorded on The abyssal benthos are plants and animals
British Ordnance Survey maps as BM, living on the very deep ocean or lake floor;

42
 bias

the phytobenthos are plants, the zoo¬ the later improved process (nor the open
benthos are animals, living on any other hearth process) removed any phos¬
ocean or lake floor, nekton, plankton, phorus present in the pig iron (phos¬
POTAMOBENTHOS. phorus makes steel brittle), so the Bessemer
process was satisfactory only if the iron
bergschrund (German) a wide crevasse
ore used (which came to be known as
or series of crevasses occurring between
Bessemer ore) lacked phosphorus or con¬
the rocky mountain wall of a cirque and
tained it only in minute quantity. In the
the mass of ice which occupies it. As the
basic Bessemer process, introduced in
ice, which will become a glacier, begins
1890, the phosphorus was extracted. The
to move down its valley it pulls away from
last Bessemer converter in the UK was
the wall and the ice apron attached to
closed in 1974. steel.
it, creating a crevasse with each wall of
ice, i.e. the bergschrund; but if there is beta index a measure of the connectivity
not an ice apron on the rock wall, the gap in a network-2. The number of edges
is termed a randkluft. are divided by the number of nodes. A
value of less than 1 indicates no circuits;
Bergwind, berg wind (Afrikaans and
1 indicates one circuit; greater than 1 more
German) in general a mountain wind, but
than one circuit, alpha index.
specifically in South Africa a hot, dry,
FOHN-like wind blowing mainly in winter betterment the fortuitous increase in the
down from the plateau towards the value of land which accrues to the owner
coast, and thus warming adiabatically. as a result of the operation of a planning
ADIABATIC. system or of public or private investment,
sometimes termed unearned increment.
berm i. a narrow ledge, shelf or terrace
BLIGHT.
formed by material thrown up on the
beach by storm waves to make a horizontal B horizon the soil layer underlying the
shelf above the foreshore 2. a remnant A horizon, an illuvial horizon into
flat surface, part of an earlier, broad valley which minerals etc. from the A horizon
floor, occurring above the present level of are washed. It is sometimes divided into
a river, originating from an interrupted an upper layer, B,, high organic content;
CYCLE OF EROSION. B2, the main depositional zone; and B3,
grading into the c horizon. The entry
Bessemer process a method of produ¬
on soil horizon shows refinements in
cing cast steel (Bessemer steel) devised by
the classification of the B horizon, soil,
Sir Henry Bessemer in 1860. In his original
SOIL PROFILE.
method molten pig iron was poured into
a vessel known as a converter, lined with bias 1. in statistics, the distorting effect
a highly refractory material (usually gan- produced by a sample which does not
ister), arranged so that cold air could be accurately reflect the characteristics of the
blown through the molten mass to burn population-4 from which it is drawn
away the carbon and silicon. The due owing to systematic error rather than
proportion of carbon was then added to random error 2. in sociological sur¬
«

and mixed with the fused metal by a repe¬ vey, the distorting effect produced either
tition of the blowing, resulting in a very by questions which are framed in such
brittle steel. But neither the original nor a way that respondents are led to give

43
 V. s.
bid price curve

particular answers, or by the researcher in normally wider and with a shallower

interpreting and coding the answers given. indentation than a bay.

bid price curve, bid rent curve a curve billabong (Australia: Aboriginal, dead
on a graph-i relating price (rent) to dis¬ river) an elongated waterhole in the bed
tance, showing the price a land user would of an intermittent stream, or a cut-off or
be willing to pay for a given area of land oxbow lake.
at various distances from a given point,
especially from the city centre. Activities binodal tidal unit an amphidromic
which depend on contacts and need to be (tidal) system in which there are two
located in the most accessible places (e.g. NODES-1. AMPHIDROMIC POINT.
head offices of banks) must have a central
location, and can afford the high prices binomial distribution in statistics, a
and rents of the centre: they will have a theoretical distribution-4 which pre¬
steep curve. Those activities not much dicts the p r o b a b i l i t y of a particular result
affected by their location, and which need occurring in a sample when the character¬
to avoid high rents, will have curves with istics of the parent population are known
a gentle slope. Under those simple terms and there are only two possible outcomes.
if the bid rent curve is superimposed on
binomial nomenclature the universally
the actual rent curve for a given city, the
accepted method of naming animals and
best location (optimum location) for
plants which avoids the confusion arising
a particular activity will be where the actual
from the use of local names. The generic
rent curvejust touches the lowest possible
name, designating the genus to which
part of the bid rent curve, i.e. where the
the animal or plant belongs, is written first,
actual rent curve equals the bid rent
with a capital (upper case) initial letter;
curve. The bid price and the value and
second is the specific (or trivial) name, that
use of land are interrelated, mutually
is the name peculiar to the species , printed
determining, alonso model, trade¬
with a small (lower case) initial letter.
off theory. Fig 8.
Those two names, the generic and the
biennial adj. as applied to plants, a plant specific, are usually printed in italics. The
which after seed germination vegetates for author who named and described the
one year, storing food for the second year, species follows, not in italic; if a species
when it flowers, fruits and dies, thus taking originally allocated to one genus is later
two years to complete its life-cycle. transferred to another, the name of the
ANNUAL, EPHEMERAL, PERENNIAL. original author is put in brackets. In
refinement, one of the species is com¬
bifurcation ratio the ratio between the
monly designated as the ‘type specimen’
number of streams of an order of magni¬
(holotype) and in later splitting of the
tude and the number of streams in the
species this type specimen is always
next higher order of magnitude (stream
included, followed by the name of the
order). The term has also been applied
new specimen which resembles it. clas¬
to central places, but has not been
sification OF ORGANISMS.
generally adopted.

bight a crescent-shaped indentation of the bio-catalyst a micro-organism or micro¬

coastline, usually of considerable extent, bial enzyme used in a technological process

44
 biogeography

Fig 8 Bid price curve, bid rent curve, and land use. Banking, with its intensive use of land,
can afford the high prices and rents of the city centre; golf courses, needing an expanse of land,
seek the low rents of the city outskirts

(e.g. food processing, pharmaceuticals). by the action of living organisms (mainly

BIOTECHNOLOGY, CATALYST. by aerobic bacteria).

biochore biosphere. biodiversity biological diversity, the

great variety of all living organisms on
bioclastic adj. applied to a rock composed
earth, manifest at three different, inter¬
of fragmental organic remains, clastic.
linked levels; the genes, the species-i,
bioclimatology the study of climate as the ecosystem, the basic unit being the
it affects the life and health of animals, species, earth summit.
plants and people.
bioengineering the use of biochemical
biocoen in ecology, all the living parts processes (the chemical reactions in living
of the environment. abiocoen, organisms) on a large, industrial scale,
holocoen. particularly in the recycling of waste
materials to produce foodstuffs for people
biocoenosis, biocenosis i. in biology,
or livestock.
the participation of diverse organisms in
all the resources of their environment; biofuels combustible material derived
a biotic community 2. mutualism be¬ from crops-i. fossil fuels, nuclear
tween plants and animals 3. in geology, a ENERGY.
group of fossils consisting of the remains
biogenic sediment a sedimentary de¬
of organisms that once lived together, in
posit, e.g. shelly limestone, formed by
contrast with thanatocoenosis.
once-living organisms.
biocycle biosphere.
biogeochemical cycle the circulation
biodegradable adj. applied to a substance of an element-6 within ecosystems.
or material that can be decomposed by CARBON CYCLE, NITROGEN CYCLE,
BIODEGRADATION. PHOSPHORUS CYCLE.

biodegradation, biodeterioration the biogeography the geography of organic

breaking down of a substance or material life, the study of the spatial distribution of

45
biogeomorphology

plants and animals (but usually con¬ area, or making up a particular trophic
sidered to exclude human beings) and the LEVEL-1 or POPULATION-3 2. the total
processes that produce the patterns of dis¬ weight of a species per unit area.
tribution, and of the interrelationship of
biome a major ecological community
plants and animals with their environment
(biotic community) ofliving plants and
over time. The branches are phytogeo¬
animals, occupying an extensive area, e.g.
graphy (concentrating on plants) and
DESERT, GRASSLAND-1, RAIN FOREST,
zoogeography (on animals).
tundra. The plants of land biomes com¬
biogeomorphology the study of the prise FORMATIONS. ECOSYSTEM.
influence of landforms on the distribution
biometeorology the science of the
and development of plants, animals and
relationship between living organisms and
micro-organisms, and of their influence
the weather.
on the processes of the earth’s surface and
the development of landforms. biosphere I. the parts of the earth’s crust
and atmosphere (lithosphere, hydro¬
biogeosphere the outer part of the
sphere, atmosphere) occupied or pene¬
lithosphere down to the depth at which
trated by living organisms 2. only the living
there is no organic life.
organisms 3. the living organisms together

bioherm an ancient rock mass built up with the parts of the earth’s crust and

by sedentary organisms such as coral, atmosphere that they occupy or penetrate

molluscs, algae and/or their remains, e.g. 4. the part of the earth’s crust and atmo¬

an ancient coral reef (biostrome), espe¬ sphere favourable to at least some form

cially one surrounded by rocks of different of life, divided into three biocycles (salt

origin. water, freshwater and land). Following this

last definition, in biogeography the term
biological control the control of the biochore has been applied to the geo¬
population of a pest (including a para¬ graphical environment with a distinctive
site) by the use of its natural living plant and animal life adapted particularly to
enemies, e.g. by the introduction of a climatic factors, each biochore thus being
predator, or a virus, or of sterilized males characterized by a major type of vegeta¬
of the pest or parasite. tion. The biochore is subdivided, the
smallest division being the niche-i.
biological indicator an organism, usu¬
biotope.
ally (but not always) a micro-organism,
used to show the level of chemical activity, biostrome a modern coral reef, in the
e.g. lichen, used to measure the level of course of formation, bioherm.
sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere.
biota a collective term for the animal and
biological (biochemical) oxygen plant life of a specific area and/or period
demand (BOD) in polluted water, the of time.
quantity of dissolved oxygen needed by
biotechnology the application of bio¬
aquatic organisms for the decomposition
logical knowledge to industrial and other
of organic matter.
processes (e.g. genetic engineering),
biomass I. the total weight of organisms e.g. in agriculture, medicine etc. bio¬
under consideration, e.g. in a specified catalyst, GMO.

46
 birth-rate

biotic adj. of, pertaining to, or relating bird’s foot delta, birdfoot delta a
to, living organisms. delta with distributaries flanked by relat¬
ively narrow borders of sediments, pro¬
biotic community a local association of
jecting seawards in the pattern of a bird’s
interdependent plants and animals living
foot, e.g. the Mississippi delta. Fig 13.
in an area.

biotic factor an influence arising from birth control the prevention of concep¬
the activities ofliving organisms, including tion by vanous methods (protective
people, which affects the environment, as devices, hormonal control, sterilization,
distinct from such factors as the climatic induced abortion, avoidance of insem¬
(climatic elements) and the edaphic. ination at times of ovulation), important
in attempts to limit family-size, especially
biotic pyramid a graph showing the in overpopulated countries (overpopu¬
number of individuals at each trophic lation). Official birth control pro¬
level-i in a stable food chain, from grammes are difficult to implement and
the primary producers, to the primary, are not always successful. They may con¬
secondary and tertiary consumers. It is travene religious beliefs; be unwelcome in
inevitably shaped like a pyramid because cultures where large families are regarded
the number at each trophic level decreases, as an economic resource in the family, a
as explained under food chain. support for the aged and infirm; and in
some societies may be viewed as an eco¬
biotite a common, rock-forming min¬
nomic plot devised by industrialized
eral, a silicate of iron, magnesium, potas¬
countries to reduce the economic poten¬
sium and aluminium, a form of mica
tial of a large work force in less developed
commonly occurring in igneous and
countries.
metamorphic rocks, especially as black
crystals in granite. It is glassy and trans¬
parent, the colour ranging from dark green
birth-rate, birth rate in human popu¬
lation, the ratio of births to population
through to brown-black, ferromagne-
within a given period, commonly
SIAN MINERAL.
measured by the average number of live
biotope I. a term used by some ecologists births per 1000 of the population. This is
to define a small community of plants and the crude birth-rate, or natural increase,
animals characteristic of a niche-i, the and currently ranges from 12 to 50, coun¬
smallest division of an ecosystem, bio¬ tries with a high standard ofliving record¬
sphere-4 2. a habitat in which there is ing between 15 and 20. The crude
uniformity in the main climatic, soil and death-rate is similarly measured in deaths
biotic conditions. per 1000 of population, and varies from
6 to 25 or more. At present death-rates
bipolar adj. pertaining to, occurring at,
continue to fall in most countries, owing
associated with, two poles or with the two
to improved medical skill and services;
polar regions.
but there is only a slight tendency for
bipolar distribution the distribution of birth-rates to fall, despite the spread
certain species found in areas to the north of birth control (the avoidance of
and south of a median zone, but not in unwanted pregnancies by prevention of
the intervening median zone itself. fertilization). As a result the world

47
bitumen

population is still increasing, natural black smoker a submarine jet of very hot
CHANGE. wafer, gases (sulphur and methane) and
particles bursting through an oceanic
bitumen i. a general name for various
ridge as seawater drains into a crack in
viscous or solid mixtures of native
the spreading crust and is heated by the
hydrocarbons which have lost much
magma.
of their gaseous material, e.g. asphalt 2.
tar, the residue from the distillation of blanket bog, blanket peat a bog occur¬
COAL. ring on a relatively horizontal land surface
in regions of high rainfall and low evap¬
bituminous coal (American soft coal) oration, and covering the countryside like
humic coal, a coal containing from 75 a blanket, except on steep slopes and rock
to 92 per cent carbon, 4.5 to 5.6 per cent outcrops. It is common in Ireland, raised
hydrogen and yielding from 15 to 45 BOG, VALLEY BOG.
per cent volatile matter when heated out
of contact with air. The adjective bitumin¬
blast furnace a furnace used to produce
molten iron. Poor quality iron ores are
ous, based on the long-standing incorrect
subjected to a preliminary roasting to
assumption that these coals contain bitu¬
remove volatile impurities. The furnace,
men, is erroneous.
a large, vertical steel shell lined with re¬
black box approach an approach in fractory bricks, is then charged with the
systems analysis which ignores the ore, with coke and limestone, through
internal structure and functioning present which hot air is blasted. Carbon monoxide
within the system under study (e.g. the from ignited coke reduces the oxides to
human mind) and deals only with the iron, and the limestone acts as flux, so
nature of the output resulting from identi¬ that molten iron flows to the furnace
fied inputs. A grey box approach considers bottom, to be run off and cast into blocks
some of the sub-systems present, but is not known as pigs, hence the term pig iron.
concerned with their internal structure The process is now superseded by electric
and functioning; a white box approach smelting, arc furnace, steel.
tries to identify in as much detail as possible
blight in planning, the lowering of the
the sub-systems, components, processes
value of land and buildings brought about
etc. present within the system in order to
by official planning proposals which in¬
build up as complete an understanding as
dicate a change of land use or a shortening
possible of the system’s internal structure
of the life of the existing buildings. The
and functioning.
condition ofproperty affected by planning
blackearth, black earth a general term blight may detenorate as owners cease to
covering chernozem and the dark plastic care about its upkeep; and it may become
clays of tropical regions. unsaleable from the time when plans are
first discussed or from the official desig¬
black frost a hard frost without rime. nation, to the time of redevelopment,
GLAZE. despite the fact that in Britain compen¬
sation becomes payable on official acquisi¬
black ice a layer of glaze formed on
tion. BETTERMENT.
roads, the ice being so clear that it is invis¬
ible and extremely dangerous to traffic. blind valley a valley in limestone

48
 bog

country, dry or with a stream, which ends blowhole a nearly vertical, smallish hole
in a steep wall, into the base of which the on land near the seashore, the land opening
surface flow of water disappears under¬ of a funnel-shaped cave-i. Sea waves
ground. force air and water up from the cave
through the small opening, so that a spout
blizzard any very cold, strong wind
of spray is carried high in the air. A blow¬
accompanied by falling or drifting snow,
hole is formed when erosion occurs along
sometimes involving a white-out.
a vertical or nearly vertical joint which
passes from the land surface to the cave
block diagram I. a perspective drawing
roof.
giving a three-dimensional impression,
used particularly to show landforms 2. a blowout, blow-out I. a hollow
diagram showing the relationship between (deflation hollow) made by eddying wind
the surface form of the ground and the in tracts of light or sandy soil, occurring
underlying geological structure by rep¬ especially in a coastal sand dune area or in
resenting an imaginary block cut out of an arid plain if vegetation cover is lacking
the earth’s crust. (deflation) 2. a sudden, violent escape
of gas or steam.
block disintegration the mechanical
breaking-up of bedded, jointed rocks, blue-collar worker a person who is
usually by frost action along lines of engaged in and paid a wage for manual
weakness. work. WHITE-COLLAR WORKER.

block faulting, block-faulting faulting blue ground kimberlite.

(fault) in which part of the earth’s crust
blue sky the apparent colour of the cloud¬
is divided into a number of small blocks
less sky in daylight, due to the scattering
by a series of faults, in many cases two sets
of sunlight (with frequencies correspond¬
roughly at right angles, some of the blocks
ing to the blue region of the visible solar
being moved up, others moved down,
SPECTRUM-2) by obstructing MOLECULES
others tilted, fault block, tilt block.
in the air.
block mountain a mountain which is
bluff a steeply rising slope marking the
structurally an uplifted fault block,
outer margins of the floodplain of a
prominent because it has been thrown
river, especially the almost perpendicular,
up by earth movements, or because the
steep slope cut by the stream as it erodes
surrounding land has sunk, horst, tilt
the concave side of a meander, river
block.
cliff. Fig 29.
block slumping mass movement down
BOD BIOLOGICAL (BIOCHEMICAL)
the steep face of an escarpment or sea
OXYGEN DEMAND.
cliff of well-jointed rocks, e.g. of chalk or
limestone slipping on an underlying clay bog I. broadly, any soft, wet, spongy soil
stratum which has become wet through or ground into which the foot sinks 2.
water seepage. The block usually breaks precisely, an area of wet acid peat and
away sharply from the steep face and the vegetation associated with its poorly
slumps downward with a rotational drained or undrained surface, i.e. the nat¬
movement. ural wet peat-fomiing and peat-inhabiting

49
bogaz

plants (peat), sphagnum being charac¬ boreal adj. belonging to the north, applied
teristic. Bogs occur in areas of poor drain¬ especially to I. the northern coniferous
age where lack of oxygen in the forests-i 2. the climatic zone with
waterlogged soil inhibits the decom¬ snowy winters and short summers 3. the
position of dead plants, leading to the climatic period from 7500 to 5500 bc.
build-up of humic and other acids which PREBOREAL.

modify plant structure and function.

boss a small batholith with an upper
BLANKET BOG, FEN, MARSH, QUAGMIRE,
surface, when exposed by denudation,
RAISED BOG, SWAMP.
roughly circular in cross-section.
bogaz (Slavic) a long, narrow chasm
boulder any large, detached, generally
in limestone (karst), formed by
rounded mass of rock, larger than a
CARBONATION-SOLUTION along a
cobble, especially one transported by ice,
JOINT.
river, or sea, from its original home,
bog moss SPHAGNUM. but also in some cases one weathered by
frost-shattering or exfoliation in situ,
bog peat, moss peat acid, brown peat.
specifically exceeding in diameter 200 mm
The plant structure is visible, the cellulose
(8 in) in UK, 265 mm (10.5 in) in USA.
content high, and it supports a vegetation
ofbogmoss (sphagnum) or sedges, fen boulder clay unstratified, unconsolidated
PEAT. ground moraine of mixed rock debris
transported by ice and deposited when a
boiling point steam point.
former ice sheet or glacier has melted.
bonitative map a map indicating land Whilst usually defined as consisting of stiff
suitable or unsuitable for some specific clay enclosing boulders of various sizes, in
economic development. some examples the matrix may be mainly
sand instead of clay, and boulders may be
bora, borino (Italian) a very cold, often
few or even absent. For this reason the
dry, violent north or northeasterly wind
term has now been dropped in favour
(but sometimes accompanied by rain or
of till, because till does not specify the
snow) blowing mainly in winter down
constituent materials.
from the mountains on to the eastern coast
of the Adriatic (comparable with the mis¬ boundary a line of demarcation, real or
tral). The borino is a weaker form blow¬ understood, visible or invisible, natural or
ing in summer. The term bora-type is artificial, oflegal or of no legal significance,
applied to winds similarly blowing down which may be perceived from either side
moderately high mountains from a cold, (or both sides) of it, e.g. between countries
continental high pressure area towards a (synonymous with frontier-1) or
low pressure area over warm sea shores or administrative areas, between regions of
lowlands. various types, between market areas,
between service areas.
bore i. a tidal wave of some considerable
height which regularly or occasionally bounded rationality the concept that
rushes up certain rivers or narrowing gulfs. a person cannot be completely rational,
eagre 2. a deep hole drilled in exploration however hard that individual tries, because
for oil or water. no-one can have perfect knowledge or a

50
 Brandt Report

perfect ability to calculate. Thus the con¬ follow a new course on the flat land of the
cept of economic man becomes unreal. valley.

bourgeois, bourgeoisie (French) i. brain drain the movement of the most

broadly, the middle classes 2. in Marxism, capable, highly-skilled, technical and
the capitalist, property-owning class. professional people from the country
MODE OF PRODUCTION, PROLETARIAT, where they trained and gained their first
SOCIAL CLASS. work experience to another offering bet¬
ter career opportunities and/or higher
bourne a temporary or intermittent
rewards.
stream which may flow in a dry valley
in chalklands, depending on the level of Brandt Report North-South: a Pro¬
the water table. In winter, when the gramme for Survival, the title of the report

water table rises above the height of the of the Independent Commission on Inter¬

valley floor, there may be a surface stream, national Development Issues, published

hence the term winterbourne. In summer, 1980. The Commission was set up in

when the water table sinks below the level December 1977 (at the invitation of

of the valley floor, the stream bed becomes Robert MacNamara, Chairman of the

dry. Bourne is often incorporated in place- World Bank) under the chairmanship of

names on the chalklands of southern Eng¬ Willy Brandt, German statesman and win¬

land, e.g. Bournemouth, Eastbourne. ner of the Nobel peace prize 1971. It
consisted of people with varied political
box-canyon a term applied in the western and professional experience outside the
USA to a canyon with more or less countries with a communist form of
vertical walls, to distinguish it from government. Eight members represented
canyon, a term commonly applied there the North, ten the South. Under the terms
to every young valley. of reference of the Commission ‘global
issues arising from economic and social
BP before the present day, used as a
disparities of the world community’ were
measure of time to avoid the necessity ol
to be studied, and ‘ways of promoting
using bc (before Christ, i.e. in the year
adequate solutions to the problems
before the reputed date of the birth of
involved in development and in attacking
Christ) or ad (Latin Anno Domini, in the
absolute poverty’ were to be suggested.
year of our Lord, i.e. in the year since the
The term North—South is accepted as a
reputed date of the birth of Christ).
misnomer, a very broad generalization to
braided river course (to braid, to twist stress the great social and economic im¬
in and out, to interweave) an anastomosing balance between the rich, developed
river course (anastomosis), a stream countries of the North, the northern
with a wide, shallow channel split into hemisphere (i.e. North America, exclud¬
many small, shallow, interlaced channels ing Mexico, the countries of Europe, the
separated by bars of alluvial material, vis¬ then USSR, China, Japan, to which are
ible when the water is low. It occurs par¬ added Australia and New Zealand from
ticularly when a heavily laden shallow the southern hemisphere) and the poor,
stream deposits so much sediment in its developing countries of the South (very
channel that the channel becomes too broadly, the rest of the world). There are
small, and part of the stream breaks out to of course anomalies in each, e.g. the South

5i
 N. S.

Brave West Winds

under that definition includes the devel¬ another, e.g. at a railway station, port or
oping but rich oil-exporting countries airport, piggyback transport.
of Arabia. Briefly to summarize the re¬
break of slope any more or less sudden
commendations of the Commission, the
change in a slope, e.g. of a hillside.
members advised the setting-up of a five-
year emergency programme to promote breccia a rock consisting of angular frag¬
food production for the world’s rapidly ments of other rocks cemented together
increasing population; to find new sources by some finer material. The term is not
of energy; to deal with the transnational apphed in English to a conglomerate
companies; to transfer financial resources in which the fragments are rounded.
from the rich to the poor countries; to start AGGLOMERATE.
to reorganize the international institutions
breck, breckland 1. a tract of heathland
with the aim of establishing a reformed
(heath) with thickets 2. a tract of land
economic system.
supporting such vegetation, cleared for
Brave West Winds the westerlies, the cultivation from time to time, then
planetary west or northwest winds blow¬ allowed to revert.
ing over the oceans of the southern hemi¬
brickearth 1. originally any earth, usually
sphere in midlatitudes (40°S to 65°S)
a loamy clay from which bricks could
where they blow with considerable force
be made 2. in current use, a fine-grained
and regularity, swinging to north or south
deposit overlying the gravels on river ter¬
under the influence of seasonal change
races, e.g. on certain of the Thames
of world ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE belts.
terraces. Originating from wind-blown
ROARING FORTIES.
material that has been re-worked, re¬
breached anticline an anticline in sorted and re-deposited by water, it has
which the drainage, developed along the been likened to loess. It forms a fertile,
ridge (the axis) of the anticline, has eroded friable soil.
the overlying rocks along this line ofweak-
brickfielder, brick fielder a hot, dry,
ness, revealing the underlying older rocks,
dusty, squally wind, blowing in south¬
and thus creating an anticlinal valley
eastern Australia in summer southwards
with escarpments facing inwards.
from the interior in front of a
breaker a mass of turbulent water and depression-3.
foam, breaking violently against a rocky
bridge-point, bridging point a point
shore or passing over a reef or shallows,
at which a river is or could be bridged.
formed when a heavy ocean wave rushes
from deep to shallow water, so that its bridlepath, bridleway 1. a path fit for
crest steepens, rolls over, and breaks. the passage of a horse or a pedestrian, but
This occurs particularly when the ratio not for a vehicle 2. a path which may
of wave height to wave length is greater in English law have a right of way for
than 1:7. pedestrians and riders on horseback, but
not for wheeled vehicles.
break-of-bulk point in a transport
system, the point where cargo (some¬ brigalow in Australia, scrub, mainly of
times broken into smaller units) is trans¬ Acacia species, bordering the mulga in
ferred from one mode of transport to dry areas of Australia.

52
 brown soils

brine a very salt solution, commonly con¬ used as a synonym for lignite, but brown
taining a higher proportion of a dissolved coal is nearer bituminous coal: the plant
salt than that occurring in seawater. fragments have been changed into an
amorphous mass. Brown coal is usually
brine pan a shallow pit or vessel used in
worked opencast. Heavy and soft, it is
the process of extracting salt from salt water
used mainly in thermal power stations near
by evaporation.
to the minehead. For domestic and indus¬
briquette, briquet a brick-shaped block trial use it is made into briquettes.
of compressed coal fragments, usually of
brown earth, brown forest soil the
brown coal or lignite, the calorific
rather unsatisfactory name for a range of
value being high because water has been
zonal soils with merging horizons, gen¬
expelled in the compression.
erally associated with the lands in midlat¬
British Summer Time bst. itudes formerly covered with deciduous
woodland, i.e. the region south of the
Broad, Broadlands, the Broads a local
boreal coniferous forest or taiga, in
term applied in East Anglia, England, to
northeast USA, northern China, central
shallow freshwater lakes formed by the
Japan, northwestern and central Europe.
broadening out of a sluggish river, the sites
There the humid climate and mull-2 lead
where peat for fuel was dug out in the
to the formation of a slightly leached,
middle ages.
slightly acid a horizon, with a grey-
broadleaved trees any tree of Dicoty- brown lower layer (less leached than that
ledonae, many with a leaf form generally of a podzol) and a b horizon that is
wide in relation to length. Most are granular, thick, dark brown, with bases-2
deciduous, but some are evergreen. and colloids from the A horizon, cal¬
careous brown forest soils are included.
bronze a metal, an alloy of copper and
tin, hard and resistant to moisture and brown field site a built-up area with
weathering. It expands when solidifying, obsolete buildings and derelict land suit¬
and thus makes good castings. It antedates able for URBAN RENEWAL. GREEN FIELD
iron smelting, bronze age. SITE.

Bronze Age an era in human develop¬ brown podzolic soils one of the sub¬
ment (succeeding the palaeolithic, divisions of PODZOLIC SOILS.
mesolithic and neolithic and pre¬
ceding the iron age) when bronze was brown sands brown soils.
used for tools and weapons. Writing
brown soils one of the seven groups in
and arithmetic developed in the Bronze
the 1973 soil classification of Eng¬
Age, the plough, wheeled vehicles, and
land and Wales. It includes argillic brown
animals for riding and pulling, came to be
earths (brown or reddish, with a loamy
used; towns were formed, work became
horizon overlying a clay layer), brown
specialized, there was trading and
alluvial soils (non-calcareous, developed
shipping.
■4 on new alluvium), brown calcareous soils
brown coal a brown, fibrous deposit, (deep, organic, fertile soils ofhigh agricul¬
intermediate between peat and bitu¬ tural quality, developed particularly on
minous coal. The term is sometimes limestone, the a horizon being reddish-

53
brumzem

brown overlying a lighter b horizon) in central Asia at all seasons but most fre-
v
(mollisols), brown earths, and quently and fiercely in winter (then
brown sands (a group of brown earths termed white buran or poorga) when it
developed on freely drained, non-alluvial lifts and carries the snow, and ice particles.
deposits of sand and gravel) .brownpod- In the tundra, especially in southern
ZOLIC SOILS. Russia and Siberia, it is termed purga.
KARABURAN.
brunizem prairie soil.
Burgess’s concentric ring model con¬
brush I. scrub-i or bush-3, or a thicket
centric ZONE GROWTH THEORY.
of small trees and shrubs 2. vegetation of
low, woody plants, especially sagebrush,
bush I. a shrub or small tree, especially
in USA.
one with branches arising near the ground
BST British Summer Time, usually one 2. uncleared or uncultivated country,
hour in advance of gmt (Greenwich Mean especially that covered with trees of this
Time). type 3. widely and variously used locally,
e.g. natural vegetation of low woody
built-up area the part of a town where plants, such as creosote bush (USA);
the land is so covered with buildings and wilder countryside as opposed to cultiv¬
roads, etc. that there is space for further ated land (Africa); and further extended to
similar development only if existing struc¬ the countryside as opposed to the town.
tures are demolished. Very small plots of BUSHVELD, VELD.
land not built over (e.g. small gardens,
school playgrounds, etc.) and derelict land bushel a measure of capacity which varies
awaiting redevelopment may be included. for different commodities and in differ¬
DEVELOPMENT-2. ent countries. In British dry and liquid
measures it is in general equal to 36.6
bulrush millet a tall, drought-resistant
litres or 2219.36 cu in or 8 gallons;
millet with stems bearing long cylin¬
in American dry measures it is equal to
drical seed-heads, generally resembling a
35.23 litres or 2150.42 cu in.
bulrush, more widely grown than any
other food crop in tropical areas with a bush fallowing a farming practice
low rainfall, an important food crop in common in equatorial forest areas in
Sudan, northern Nigeria and other coun¬ Africa, a modified form of shifting cul¬
tries on the southern Saharan border, as tivation. A small part of the forest is
well as in the driest areas of the Indian cleared by cutting and burning, and crops
subcontinent. are planted. When the fertility of the soil
in that plot is exhausted, another clearing
bunch grass any of the coarse grasses
is made and the farmers cultivate it, but
which grow in clumps or bunches (instead
they continue to live in their village, they
of forming a continuous cover of matted
do not themselves move. The abandoned
turf), in many cases separated by bare
plot quickly becomes covered with such
ground, e.g. in the semi-arid western
plants as bamboo and eventually, if left
plains of North America. It is also termed
untouched, with trees. At this stage it may
tussock grass, e.g. in New Zealand.
become managed fallow, the new trees
buran a strong northeast wind blowing supplying timber (and possibly fruit). But

54
 by-product

very often the plot is recultivated after a ing witness (temoin) to its origin. Strictly
lapse of time, fallow. every butte is a butte temoin, but because
the term butte has slipped into common
bush veld, bushveld the savanna of usage in western USA the distinction of
tropical and subtropical south Africa, butte temoin becomes necessary.
sometimes open grassland with scattered
Buys Ballot’s Law a law postulated by
trees (parkland), grading to close
C. H. D. Buys Ballot, Dutch climatologist,
woodland.
1857, that if an observer in the northern
hemisphere stands with back to the wind,
business park office park.
the atmospheric pressure will be less
butte I. small, flat-topped, isolated hill to that individual’s left than to the right,
with steep sides (its upper layers consisting the reverse in the southern hemisphere.
of resistant rock overlying weaker layers, CORIOLIS FORCE, FERREL’s LAW.

cap-rock) which remains after partial

bypass a road which skirts a place, espe¬
denudation of the surrounding table
cially a road designed to divert through-
land. It may be a small, isolated part of
traffic from roads in a congested area, e.g.
a mesa 2. in western USA, any isolated
a town centre.
flat-topped hill with steep sides, butte

temoin. by-product 1. a secondary product ob¬

tained during a specific process, of greater
butte temoin the flat-topped outlier of or less value than the product which is
an escarpment or plateau, of which it was the primary objective of the operation
once part, its height, being about the same 2. an additional result, which may or may
as that of the escarpment or plateau, bear¬ not have been intended or expected.
 V V

c
1

C 14 dating carbon 14 dating, radio¬ calcification 1. generally, the changing

carbon DATING. into calcium carbonate or into a CAL¬
CIFEROUS state by the reaction of calcium
cacao, cocoa a small tree native to trop¬
salts 2. of soil, the deposition of calcium
ical America, now widely grown in warm
carbonate near the surface of the soil (usu¬
tropical and equatorial regions with fairly
ally in the B horizon or C horizon) in
high rainfall and a fertile soil. The flowers
arid and semi-arid regions, the result of
bloom directly on the mam trunk and on
the rise, by capillary activity, ofcal-
the branches, the fruit (the pod) carrying
cium salts in solution, followed by the
seeds (beans) which after fermentation,
evaporation of the water 3. in geology,
drying and roasting are used in the manu¬
the replacement of organic or inorganic
facture of cocoa powder. Cocoa beans
material in rocks by calcium minerals 4.
contain 50 per cent or more fat (cocoa
the hardening of plant or animal tissue
butter) and extra cocoa butter is added in
by the deposition of calcium salts in it
the making of chocolate. The term cocoa
(fossil).
should be restricted to the beans and their
products, but it is now also used for the
calcination the process or action in which
tree (cocoa tree).
a physical change is brought about (usually

Cainozoic, Cenozoic, Kainozoic in inorganic materials) by heating to a high

(Greek kainos, new; zoon, animal) adj. of, temperature without fusing. It is used in

or pertaining to, the third of the main oxidizing (especially metals), in convert¬
geological eras (geological time- ing a substance to powder form, or in
scale), the era marked by the rapid evol¬ releasing volatile constituents or products.
ution of mammals, subsequent to the SMELTING.
Precambrian era. It is still termed the Ter¬
tiary era by some geologists. calcite a crystalline form of calcium
carbonate, colourless unless coloured
cairn a pyramid of rough stones piled up by impurities, the main constituent of all
as a monument or landmark of some kind. limestones (including Iceland spar, the
purest variety of calcite; and chalk,
calcareous, calcarious adj. 1. of, per¬
MARBLE, STALACTITES, STALAGMITES),
taining to, consisting of, or containing,
a gangue mineral in some hydro-
calcium carbonate, or limestone 2.
thermal deposits, a common cementing
having the character of chalk or lime¬
material in many coarse-grained sedi¬
stone.
mentary rocks. It forms when material
calciferous adj. containing or producing from some weathered igneous rock is
CALCIUM, CALCIUM CARBONATE Or transported as a calcium bicarbonate
other calcium compounds. solution, the bicarbonate decomposes, and

56
 Campbell-Stokes recorder

the calcite remains as a deposit, calci¬ and the year (the revolution of the earth
fication. round the sun). The month (revolution
of the moon round the earth) and the
calcium a soft, white element of the
week are conventional divisions. There
alkaline earth group, occurring
are difficulties if the month is regarded as
mainly as carbonate (chalk, limestone,
a natural unit, a natural division of the
marble, coral). It is used in alloys, is widely
year, because 12 lunar cycles represent 354
used in industry, and is an essential nutnent
days, but the solar year consists of 365
for plants and animals, feldspar,
days.
pedalfer.
calf ice a piece of glacier ice, smaller
calcium bicarbonate a soluble salt
than an iceberg, detached directly from a
formed when carbon dioxide from the air
glacier or produced by the breakdown
forms a solution of carbonic acid with
of an ICEBERG.
water, and this solution comes into contact
with one of the forms of calcium car¬ calm, calms a state of the atmosphere in
bonate. Calcium bicarbonate causes the which there is an absence of appreciable
temporary hardness of water and acts as a wind, such movement as there is regis¬
bone-builder in vertebrates. tering Force o on the beaufort scale.
This may occur at any time, anywhere in
calcium carbonate an insoluble salt
anticyclonic (anticyclone) conditions;
occurring, e.g. in chalk, coral, lime¬
but periods of calm are common through¬
stone, marble. It dissolves in water con¬
out the year in certain latitudes, i.e. the
taining carbon dioxide to form soluble
belt of calms, between 5°N and 5°S (dol¬
CALCIUM BICARBONATE. PEDALFER,
drums) and in the horse latitudes.
PEDOCAL.

caldera I. a broad, shallow volcanic calving of ice, the breaking away of a

crater, formed by the blowing off of the mass of ice from an ice front, iceberg

top of a crater by paroxysmal erup¬ or GLACIER. CALF ICE.

tion, or by subsidence, or by combined

Cambrian adj. of, or pertaining to, the
explosion and subsidence 2. a large circular
first geological period or system of rocks
or amphitheatre-shaped depression-2 of
of the Palaeozoic era (geological
volcanic origin.
timescale) when such rocks as lime¬
Caledonian folds, Caledonian stones, SANDSTONES, SHALES were
orogeny the great mountain-building formed under shallow seas, and the
movements and associated geological invertebrate animal was the character¬
phenomena of the late Silurian-early istic form of life.
Devonian periods (geological time-
Campbell-Stokes recorder an instru¬
scale), indicated by the northeast to
ment for measuring and recording the dur¬
southwest trend of folds, faults, hills,
ation of bright sunshine by means of a
mountains and valleys, etc. in northwest
graduated, sensitized card on to which the
Europe.
sun’s rays are focused by a lens. As the sun
calendar a system of dividing time into and the position of the image move, a
fixed periods, the natural units being the line burnt on the card records periods of
day (the revolution of the earth on its axis) continuous sunlight.

57
 \ V

campo

campo level, open grassland with scat¬ ucts. Most arrangements were operating
tered trees in Brazil, comparable with sa¬ by July 1968, but eventually led to over¬
vanna, probably not a natural climax production and excessive payments to
vegetation but one arising from human farmers. Reforms introduced in 1992
activities, especially burning. Various aimed to reduce overproduction by
types are distinguished: campo cerrado limiting support payments to fixed quotas,
(closed grassland) with scrub woodland and by bringing prices (particularly of
dominant; campo sujo (dirty grassland) cereals) down to world market prices.
with scattered trees or patches of forest; Cereal producers received area payments
and campo limpo (clean grassland) open to compensate for lower prices, provided
grassland without trees. they ‘set aside’ 15 per cent of their arable
acreage in rotation, or a higher proportion
canal an artificial watercourse constructed
(to be specified) permanently. It was
I. to unite rivers, lakes, etc., for purposes
hoped that set aside would also enhance
of inland transport 2. for water supply and
the conservation of land in the European
irrigation 3. to make a ship canal or
Union.
seaway, available to ocean-going vessels.
capability constraints the limitation
canopy the high, leafy, continuous,
imposed on an individual’s actions by bio¬
uppermost layer formed by the crowns of
logical needs (e.g. food, sleep) and/or
trees of approximately the same height,
inadequate access to desired facilities
e.g. in RAIN FOREST.
(e.g. lack of transport), time-space
canyon 1. a deep valley with very steep constraints.
sides, with a stream flowing at the bottom,
common in arid and semi-arid lands where
capacity 1. the ability to contain, accom¬
modate 2. the amount so contained or
the downward cutting power of the stream
accommodated 3. the ability of a factory,
exceeds the rate of weathering of the
society, etc. to manufacture or process its
rocks of the valley sides. The form
product, especially this as a maximum 4.
becomes exaggerated if uplifting of the
a measure of the ability of energy to do
land occurs at the same rate as the down¬
work. CAPACITY OF A STREAM, CARRY¬
cutting of the river. 2. a submarine canyon,
ING CAPACITY, CONGESTION.
a deep, steep-sided trough in the ocean
floor, in some cases very wide, in some
capacity of a stream the maximum load
winding.
of stones, pebbles, sand, etc. a stream can

CAP the Common Agricultural Policy carry, measured in grams per second.

of the European Economic Community COMPETENCE.

(eec). The basic features, adopted in Janu¬

cape a piece of land jutting into the sea;
ary 1962, aimed to achieve more efficient
a prominent headland or promontory.
agricultural production, a fair return for
famiers, reasonable prices for consumers, capillarity a phenomenon occurring
and stable market conditions; common when the surface of a liquid touches a
price levels were to be agreed and national solid. The surface of the liquid is either
protection systems were to be replaced by raised or depressed, depending on the
a Community system incorporating vari¬ difference between intermolecular at¬
able levies on imports of some farm prod¬ traction in the liquid and between the

58
 carbonation-solution

liquid and the solid, capillary flow, wealth being dependent on market forces.
CAPILLARY MOISTURE, MOLECULAR AT¬ COMMUNISM, STATE CAPITALISM.

TRACTION.
cap-rock 1. a layer of resistant rock cover¬
capillary flow the rise of water through ing another or others of less-resistant
the soil spaces above the water table material, butte 2. an impermeable layer
by means of pore-surface attraction, ca¬ overlying an aquifer or salt-dome 3.
pillarity. unproductive rock covering valuable ore.

capillary fringe the soil layer lying carat 1. the international measure of
immediately over the water table in weight used for precious stones and gem¬
which water drawn up from the ground stones equivalent to 1/142 oz or 200 milli¬
water level is held by capillarity. grams 2. a measure of purity of gold,
pure gold being 24 carat; 22 carat having
capillary moisture the water held by
22 parts gold, 2 parts of alloy; 18 carat
surface tension in pores around soil
having 18 parts gold, 6 parts of alloy etc.
particles and available to plant roots.
CAPILLARY FRINGE, FIELD CAPACITY, carbon an element-6 which, combined
HYGROSCOPIC MOISTURE. with other elements, occurs in all living
things and in carbonates in the earth’s
capital I. the head, the chief town of a
crust. Organic chemistry is the study of
country, state or province, and usually the
carbon compounds. The radioactive iso¬
seat of government. The term is often used
tope, carbon 14, is used in radiocarbon
loosely in the sense of the chief town or
DATING. CARBON CYCLE, HYDROCAR¬
city, as in the title ‘commercial capital’
BON, ORGANIC CARBON.
2. accumulated wealth used to finance
production, or any form of wealth used carbonaceous adj. containing carbon,
to help in producing more wealth. applied to rocks (e.g. coal, shale) or
accumulation 3. the stock of goods other sedimentary material (e.g. peat)
and commodities in a country. consisting largely of carbon usually derived
from organic matter.
capital goods the machinery and equip¬
ment, and the primary and partly processed carbonate adj. applied to a rock consisting
raw materials used in the manufacture of mainly of carbonate minerals, i.e. minerals
other goods, contrasting with consumer containing the carbonate group C03, e.g.
goods, producer goods. CALCIUM CARBONATE.

capital-intensive adj. needing a large carbonation saturated with or reaction

investment of capital-2 for higher earn¬ With CARBON DIOXIDE.

ings or increased productivity, as opposed

carbonation-solution the weather¬
to LABOUR-INTENSIVE.
ing of rocks by a chemical process in
capitalism broadly, an economic system which rainwater charged with carbon
characterized by private ownership of, and dioxide (forming carbonic acid)
private investment in, th‘e production of reacts with and dissolves limestone and
goods; and by private enterprise, com¬ rocks with other basic (base-2) oxides.
petition, profit-making and a market CALCIUM BICARBONATE, CORROSION,

economy, the allocation of resources and DECALCIFICATION, GRIKE.

59
carbon cycle

carbon cycle the movement of carbon by Belize, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia,

in ecosystems. The carbon occurring in St Vincent and Montserrat in May 1974
the atmosphere as carbon dioxide is and by Antigua (4 July 1974) and Associ¬
absorbed and stored by plants (photo¬ ated State ofSt Kitts—Nevis—Anguilla (26
synthesis). The plants, some bacteria and July 1974) with the aim of achieving eco¬
animals then oxidize these photosynthetic nomic integration through the Caribbean
products, having obtained nourishment Common Market, cooperation in non¬
from them directly or indirectly, thus giv¬ economic areas, the operation of certain
ing back some carbon dioxide to the common services and the coordination of
atmosphere. Decay and the burning of the foreign policies of the independent
organic matter (especially fossil fuels) member states.
also contribute to carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere.
carnivore a flesh-eating animal or plant,
a secondary consumer in a food chain.
carbon-dating radiocarbon dating. HERBIVORE, OMNIVORE.

carbon dioxide a colourless, heavy gas carrying capacity 1. the maximum

present in the atmosphere and in solu¬ biomass which an area can support for an
tion in the hydrosphere, formed by the indefinite period 2. the maximum number
oxidation of compounds containing of species that an area can provide food
carbon and by the action of acid on car¬ for during the annual period when condi¬
bonates. It does not burn and dissolves tions (e.g. of weather) are hostile 3. the
in water to form carbonic acid. maximum population-i of people or
PHOTOSYNTHESIS. of a given species for which an area can
provide food 4. of agricultural land, the
carbonic acid a weak acid formed by the
maximum number of grazing animals and/
solution of carbon dioxide from the
or the maximum amount of food crops
atmosphere and water, carbonation,
that the land can support under a given
CARBON DIOXIDE, DECALCIFICATION.
level ofmanagement without suffering de¬
Carboniferous adj. carbon-bearing, i.e. terioration 5. in planning, the maximum
coal-bearing, applied in Britain to the use or number of users that a natural or
period between the Devonian and the Per¬ artificial resource can sustain under a
mian (geological timescale), the given level of management without the
three main groups of rock being the Car¬ character and quality of the resource
boniferous Limestone (the lowest, not suffering unacceptable deterioration,
normally carrying coals), the Millstone e.g. the maximum human population
Grit and the Coal Measures. that a particular area can carry or support
without suffering unacceptable deteriora¬
cardinal points the four main points of
tion. When, in such an area, the number
the compass: north, south, east, west.
of people exactly equals this carrying
cargo freight-3. capacity, the area is said to have reached
saturation level, i.e. to be completely
CARICOM Caribbean Community, an
filled.
organization of Caribbean states estab¬
lished August 1973 by Barbados, Guyana, cartel 1. an arrangement made between
Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, joined firms (particularly those in international

60
 category

trade organizations) whereby each keeps fall, now mainly to a series of rapids of the
control of its own organization but agrees type occurring in the river Nile.
to some form of joint action in restricting
catastrophe theory a theory concerned
production and competition, e.g. in buy¬
with the relationship between qualitat¬
ing raw materials, distributing products,
ive and quantitative change within a
allocating markets and quotas, and price
SYSTEM-1,2,3, with the fact that a sudden
fixing. Cartels are especially effective in
qualitative change within the system can
controlling production, distribution and
abruptly disrupt, and change the torm of,
pricing of goods that lack substitutes 2.
a hitherto smooth continuous process pro¬
the firms so linked.
duced by a quantitative change, systems
Cartesian coordinate system grid-i. ANALYSIS.

cartogram a simplified map presenting catch crop a fast-maturing crop grown

statistical information in a diagrammatic when the ground would otherwise be
form by the use of symbols such as dots, lying fallow or idle, i.e. between two main
circles, shading, range of colours, etc. crops in a rotation (rotation of crops),
or as a substitute for a regular crop which
cartography the science and art of draw¬
has failed, or between the rows of a main
ing maps and charts.
crop.

cascade I. a rush of water falling from a

catchment area strictly, the area over
height 2. a waterfall or section of a large
which rain falls and is caught to serve a
waterfall 3. a waterfall in which the water
natural drainage area, a river basin.
tumbles naturally over rocks, or down a
watershed-2 (American usage).
series of artificial shallow steps 4. steep
RAPIDS. categorical data analysis the statistical
methods used in the analysis of data
cash crop a crop grown primarily for sale,
measured on a nominal scale, resem¬
as contrasted with a subsistence crop,
bling those used in regression analy¬
grown for the use of the grower and/or
sis, but unlike that technique in that either
the grower’s family.
the dependent or the independent

cassava manioc. variables are measured at the categorical

(nominal) level, or they both are, not (as
castellanus cloud a cloud formation in regression analysis) at the interval or
which presents a mass of turrets when ratio level, measurement in stat¬
viewed from the side. istics.

cast iron iron-carbon alloy, 4 per cent category 1. any division which serves to
carbon, produced in a blast furnace. classify 2. any one of the divisions in a
It is brittle, but easily fused. system of classification, e.g. genus in the
classification of organisms. 3. in
catalyst a substance capable ot increasing
philosophy, a division which serves to
the rate of chemical reaction without itself
classify (as in 1.), but only in certain general
suffering permanent chemical change, e.g.
classes of things or ideas, these classes vary¬
an ENZYME, PLATINUM.
ing according to the personal theory of the
cataract formerly applied to a large water¬ philosopher 4. in statistics, a homogeneous

61
cation

class-i or group of a population-4 °f the eroding action of waves or their load

objects or measurements. If the category ofpebbles, etc. (stack, blowhole), orin
is given an identifying number or letter it limestone regions when water charged
is usually termed a code. with carbon dioxide dissolves under¬
ground channels along a bedding joint to
cation ion.
produce a bedding-cave, or a much larger
cattle large, cud-chewing bovine mam¬ chamber 2. an artificial cavity, such as
mals, the domesticated species being the that caused by quarrying, or deliberately
European ox and the Indian ox (termed constructed for wine storage.
Zebu cattle, widespread in the Indian sub¬
cavern i. most commonly, a large cave
continent and the Far East). They are kept
2. synonym for cave 3. a large chamber
in all temperate and tropical lands, except
within a cave 4. (American) a cave formed
in areas which are too closely forested, too
in limestone country by solution by under¬
rugged or too dry for the adequate growth
ground water and streams.
of fodder, or elsewhere where disease
makes their keeping impossible (e.g. in caving (American) the slumping of nver
the parts of Africa infested by tsetse fly). banks.
In many parts of the tropics, especially in
cavitation a process in which bubbles in
humid areas, they are replaced by water
a liquid are formed and then collapse in
buffalo. Cattle are used as working animals
the path of a fast-moving body. Cavitation
(drawing ploughs, and carts for local trans¬
caused by the sudden increase of velocity
port in tropical lands), for the production
in a fast-running stream results in the ero¬
of meat and of milk (for liquid consump¬
sion of rocks because the collapsing
tion or for the making of cream, butter,
bubbles make little shock waves which
cheese). The distinction between beef and
strike the bed and banks of the stream.
dairy breeds, traditional in midlatitude
areas, is steadily disappearing. The tend¬ cay key.
ency is to produce rapidly maturing dual-
CBA COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS.
purpose animals, the males providing
meat, the cows producing a high yield of CBD CENTPAL BUSINESS DISTRICT.
medium quality milk.
celestial adj. pertaining to the sky, or the
causality i. the operation or relation heavens.
between two events, states of affairs,
celestial sp iere the ‘bowl’ of the
objects, in which one brings forth, pro¬
heavens, an imaginary sphere of infinite
duces, the other, i.e. one is the cause, the
radius, with the earth (and the terrestrial
other the effect, an essential concept in
observer) at its centre, on the interior sur¬
determinism 2. the state of being that
face of which heavenly bodies appear to
which brings forth a result, i.e. of being a
be placed. The plane of the earth’s equator,
cause.
when produced, crosses the celestial
cave i. a natural cavity, recess or chamber sphere at the celestial equator. Similarly
under the earth’s surface with an entrance when the axis of the earth is extended it
at the surface, caused by water erosion or touches the celestial sphere at its North
volcanic action. Caves occur particularly and South poles (celestial poles), nadir,
in weak areas of seashore cliffs, caused by ZENITH.

62
 Centigrade scale

cell I. in biology, the smallest individual tinental shelf, so-named because it

structural unit of every living organism, was navigated by ancient Celts from the
consisting of translucent, jelly-like, granu¬ bordering coasts of Ireland, Wales, Corn¬
lar material (protoplasm) surrounded by a wall and Brittany. Name introduced in
thin membrane (plasma membrane), in the 1970s with the advent of exploration
plants surrounded by a cell wall (usually for oil and gas fields, first appearing on
of cellulose); and containing a nuc¬ Admiralty charts in 1974.
leus or nuclei. A cell may have all the
characteristics of a living organism; or it cement i. a manufactured substance

may be highly specialized for a particular widely used in building to bind together

function, e.g. the cells of multicellular other building materials, such as bricks or

organisms, which are not only highly stones, to cover floors, to make walls etc.
It is produced by heating together and
specialized but also vary greatly in
then grinding chalk or limestone with clay
structure. Many microorganisms are
or shale, the resultant grey, powdery
unicellular (consisting of one cell).
atmospheric cell 2. in statistics, a cat¬ material consisting of silicates of calcium

egory defined by specific values on sev¬ and aluminates which, when mixed with
water, crystallize to a dry solid. Some types
eral vanables simultaneously.
of cement (hydraulic cement) harden
cell frequency in statistics, the frequency under water 2. a natural siliceous, cal¬
with which observations fall into a particu¬ careous or ferruginous material,
lar cell-2, i.e. the number in a particular deposited from circulating water and able
cell. to convert loose deposits (e.g. sand, gravel)

cellulose the fibrous constituent of the into a hard compact rock.

cell-i wall in higher plants, many algae

census 1. all the processes involved in
and some fungi. For industrial purposes
an official complete counting of the total
cellulose is obtained mainly from wood
number of persons inhabiting a given area
pulp, cotton and flax, to make paper,
at a particular time on a given day, usually
rayon, plastics, explosives, etc.
conducted at stated (commonly ten-
Celsius scale the internationally accepted yearly) intervals. Such a census usually
name for the Centigrade temperature incorporates social data relating to the
scale with 99 divisions between the ice persons counted 2. a similar count con¬
point (absolute zero), the freezing ducted through sampling procedure 3.
point of pure water (c°C), and steam a similar complete (or by sampling) count
point, the boiling point of pure water of items in some other field, e.g. traffic in
at sea-level with a standard pressure of a particular area 4. the data so collected 5.
atmosphere of 760 mm (1 oo°C). Thus one the published results of the count.
Celsius degree is 1/100 of the temperature
centi- c, prefix, one hundredth, attached
interval between ice point and steam
to si units to denote the unit x 10-2,
point. CENTIGRADE SCALE, FAHRENHEIT
e.g. centigram (one hundredth part of
SCALE, KELVIN SCALE, REAUMUR SCALE.
4
a gram-2), centimetre (cm), hecto-,
Celtic Sea in British Isles, a sea extending KILO-, MILLI-.
southwest from St George’s Channel, the
Bristol Channel to the edge of the con¬ Centigrade scale the name formerly

63
central business district

applied to the Celsius scale, still used centralization 1. a concentration at one

sometimes but not in si units. central point 2. the bringing or putting
(e.g. of administration, of a country, of an
central business district CBD (origin institution, or of a firm, etc.) under central
in USA, a term not always applicable else¬ control. This often puts the minor units
where) the heart of a city (downtown
on the periphery at a disadvantage, and
in the USA), the part in which there is may hasten their economic decline, cen¬
the greatest concentration of financial and tripetal AND CENTRIFUGAL FORCES,
professional services and major retail out¬ DECENTRALIZATION.
lets, the focus of transport lines, where
land use is the most dense and land values central place any location-i which
are at their highest. It is characterized by provides goods, services, administrative
tall buildings, a high daytime population functions for the consuming population
and high traffic densities. The importance of its hinterland, i.e. the surround¬
of many central business districts has ing area (termed the complementary

declined with the spread of the city and region, trade area, or tributary area). The
the practice of decentralization, bid centrality-3 of the central place is
PRICE CURVE, INNER CITY. Fig 8. determined by its various localized,
specialized functions, central place
central eruption a volcanic eruption HIERARCHY, CENTRAL PLACE SYSTEM,
from a single vent or from a tight group CENTRAL PLACE THEORY, ORDER OF
of vents, producing a cone, in contrast to GOODS.
a FISSURE ERUPTION.
central place hierarchy in central
central good, central service, central place theory, the arrangement of cen¬
function any good sold or service offered tral places in a series of discrete classes,
or function performed at any central the rank of each being determined by the
PLACE. ORDER OF GOODS. level of specialization of functions. The
central places in each class perform all the
centrality i. the quality or state of being
functions of centres in the classes below
central 2. a central tendency or cen¬
them in the hierarchy (i.e. the lower order
tral position 3. in central place
centres) but in addition perform a group of
theory, the relative importance of a place
functions that differentiate them from, and
with regard to its surrounding area, or
place them above, those lower order
the degree to which a centre serves its
centres. Higher order centres stock a wide
surrounding area. Christaller applied the
array of goods and services, and provide
term to the ‘surplus importance’ of a place
specialist goods and services to a wide area;
(i.e. of a town), expressing the centrality
lower order centres stock a limited part of
of a town as the ratio between all the
the array of the higher order centres and
services provided there (for its own res¬
provide day-to-day goods and services to
idents and visitors from its complemen¬
a smaller area, central place theory,
tary region) and the services needed by
COMPLEMENTARY REGION, K-VALUE,
its own residents only. Centres with a
ORDER OF GOODS, THRESHOLD POPU¬
high degree of centrality provided many
LATION.
services per resident; those with low cen¬
trality only a few services per resident. central place system the spatial distri-

64
 central tendency

bution of any set of central places a low threshold and range and a fairly
which are of different sizes and different compact sphere of influence, meet a daily
spacing and which satisfy the daily, weekly, need for which the consumer is not pre¬
monthly or yearly needs ofthe general con¬ pared to travel far; middle order, with a
suming population. The pattern of this medium threshold and range and a more
distribution is usually termed a network extensive sphere of influence, supply
of central places, administrative prin¬ goods and services less frequently in
ciple, CENTRAL PLACE THEORY, COM¬ demand, for which the consumer is willing
PLEMENTARY REGION, ISOTROPIC SUR¬ to make greater effort; and high order
FACE, MARKETING PRINCIPLE, ORDER OF establishments, with a high threshold and
GOODS, TRAFFIC PRINCIPLE. range and the most extensive sphere of
influence, provide specialist goods and ser¬
central place theory a theory expounded vices even less frequently in demand, for
by W. Christaller, an economic geo¬ which the consumer is prepared to travel
grapher, in 1933, which asserts that the a considerable distance. In any given area
numbers, sizes, and patterns of spatial dis¬ there will thus be many centres with low
tribution of central places can be order establishments, fewer with middle
explained by the operation of the forces order, fewer still with high order, giv¬
of supply and demand, by the way in which ing rise to a central place hierarchy

and the extent to which these centres pro¬ of higher and lower order centres (k-

vide goods and services to their surround¬ value). In any network of central places
ing areas. The theory, concentrating on (central place system) there will thus
the retailing of goods and services, assumes be many smaller, lower order centres,
that both suppliers and consumers wish to forming a dense network close together,
derive the greatest economic benefit from but fewer larger and more widely-spaced
their decisions. The suppliers (the profit higher order centres. Christaller used three
maximizers) wish to earn the maximum principles (administrative, market¬

profit from the sale of goods and services. ing, traffic) to account for the varying
The consumers (the distance mimmizers) levels and distribution of central places in
wish to satisfy their needs by obtaining a central place system, central good,

goods and services with the minimum of CENTRALITY, CONVENIENCE GOOD, ISO¬

effort and cost. The suppliers, having con¬ TROPIC SURFACE, NESTING, ORDER OF

firmed that the threshold population GOODS, SPHERE OF INFLUENCE, ZONE OF

is sufficient to make their enterprise eco¬ indifference. Figs 9(a) and (b).

nomically viable, therefore locate their

establishments as close as possible to the central tendency in statistics, the tend¬
consumers, taking into account the ency of observations to cluster around a
threshold of success as well as range. particular value, or to pile up in a particular
Threshold of success is the smallest volume category, the position of the central value
of sales necessary for an establishment to be being determined by one of the measures
economically viable, range is the greatest of location, i.e. the mean, median or
distance consumers are willing to travel to mode, each of which makes different
obtain a good or service. Establishments assumptions about the data, is calculated
can be classified according to this threshold in different ways, and for different reasons.
and range: low order establishments, with AVERAGE.

65
 V s.
central tendency

K-4

Urban areas selling low-order goods

o Market area of low-order centre

© Urban areas selling low- and higher-order goods

o Market area of high-order centre

Fig 9 (a) Central place theory market areas: K-3 (marketing pnnciple); K-4 (traffic or transporta¬
tion principle); K-7 (administrative principle)

66
 central tendency

^ < ►^ / 1 / V 1 ^ f "\
% 1 <7^

r \ / r \ / N > ^ \ / # •

r / 1^ / \ ^ x§

M ^ ^ \ / ^ \

K-3
7\ A A FAc\V71

K-4

K-7

• Low-order centre - Minor road

© High-order centre . Main road

Fig 9 (b) Central place theory: transport network corresponding to hierarchies in Fig 9 (a)

67
centrifugal

centrifugal adj. acting, moving, or tend¬ ous scrub woodland in South America
ing to move away from a centre, the op¬ north of the pampas of Argentina
posite of CENTRIPETAL. between the Andes and the river Paraguay.
There is heavy rainfall in some places, and
centripetal adj. acting, moving, or tend¬
the chaco is marshy nearly everywhere.
ing to move towards a centre, the opposite
The scrub woodland is characteristic of
of CENTRIFUGAL.
the eastern part, grassy savanna of the
centripetal and centrifugal forces two western.
counteracting forces which are said to
chain a number of connected events or
cause changes in the pattern of land use
things, e.g. of like physical features such
in urban areas. The centripetal force
as islands, or lakes, etc. When applied
causes centralization, attracting estab¬
to mountains the term implies several
lishments to the central area where they
roughly parallel ranges, e.g. the Andean
may benefit from the advantages of
chain (the term range-2 being a single
ACCESSIBILITY and AGGLOMERATION
line of mountains).
economies; but the centrifugal force

causes decentralization and urban chain migration migration-i,2 in

sprawl as it pushes dwellings and busi¬ which the individual worker (usually
nesses away from congested, expensive male) moves and his/her dependants fol¬
inner city areas towards the suburbs. low once any initial loan given for travel
CIRCULAR AND CUMULATIVE GROWTH. has been repaid and the worker has found
a secure job. Other members of the family
centripetal drainage a drainage pattern
and/or of the home community follow,
in which streams flow from many direc¬
using as a base the home of the first
tions to flow into a lake which may or
migrant, to be followed by their depend¬
may not have an outflowing stream, or to
ants, and so on.
meet the major stream at a focal area.
DRAINAGE. chalk soft, white, friable, fine-grained,
pure limestone, composed mainly of
centrocline a term sometimes used in the
calcium carbonate, especially thick
USA instead of pericline.
and extensive in southeast England. Laid
cereal I. any of the cultivated flowering down in the cretaceous period in shal¬
grasses (barley, grass, maize, millets, low water, it was once thought to be
OATS, RICE, RYE, WHEAT) of which the entirely organic in origin, consisting of
seed (grain) is used for human and animal shells or the skeletal remains of marine
food 2. loosely, a member of one of the microorganisms. Current thought sug¬
other plant orders, e.g. beans, peas. gests that chemical precipitation has played
a large part in its formation, and that ter¬
cereal adj. pertaining to grain used for
rigenous deposits such as sandfromthe
human or animal food.
floor of the seashore are also components.
cerrado, cerradao (Brazil: Portuguese)
Chalk (in stratigraphy it should be
Brazilian savanna, campo, savanna.
spelled with capital C) the upper series of
chaco (South America: Spanish) the vast rocks in the cretaceous period (geo¬
almost level alluvial plain with poor soil logical timescale). In England the
supporting grassy savanna or decidu¬ Chalk is divided into Upper Chalk (white

68
 chernozem

chalk with abundant flints overlying Chalk park- 1) 2. surviving in place-names, in¬
rock, a bed of hard nodular chalk). Middle dicating a former use, e.g. Cannock Chase.
Chalk (soft, white chalk with fewer flints
chatter mark a crescent-shaped mark,
and some marl) and Lower Chalk (grey
consisting of a series of minute cracks, so
chalk with more Chalk marl).
finely packed together that they resemble
channel I. a course for running water, a bruise on the underside of firm but brittle
either artificial, as in a canal or inigation rocks (e.g. granite) insecurely embedded
ditch; or natural, as in the deepest part of in a glacier, the ‘horns’ of the crescent
a river or stream 2. a narrow stretch of pointing to the direction of movement of
water, wider than a strait, connecting the ice. It is caused by compression and
two larger stretches of water (e.g. two seas) by the vibration arising from the looseness
or two land areas 3. a deep, navigable of the rocks.
waterway (natural or dredged) in a bay,
chelation the process whereby organisms
estuary or shallows, which affords a
or organic substances bring about the
safe passage for vessels.
decomposition and disintegration of soils

chaos adj. chaotic, complete confusion, and rocks.

e.g. the state of a system-i when the

chemical weathering corrosion,
interconnections and relationships be¬
hydrolysis, mechanical weather¬
tween its elements are disturbed so that
ing, ORGANIC WEATHERING, WEATH¬
they lack stability and coherence, and the
ERING.
future of the system becomes unpredict¬

able. A chance happening affecting one of

chemoautotrophic adj. applied to an

organism which is able to produce organic

the elements may trigger such a chaotic
material from inorganic compounds, the
state.
energy being supplied by simple inorganic
characteristic sheet a reference sheet, a reactions, e.g. by the oxidation of ferrous
sheet providing the key to the system of salts to ferric form, the energy source
conventional signs used on a map. used by some bacteria, autotrophic.
SYMBOL.
chemotrophic adj. applied to an organ¬

charcoal an amorphous form of carbon, ism that obtains energy from a source

the solid residue obtained by the imperfect other than light (phototrophic),

combustion (distillation) of animal or i.e. by chemical reactions associated

vegetable matter (usually wood) in a with organic or inorganic substances.

restncted supply of air. It is useful as a fuel, AUTOTROPHIC, CHEMOAUTOTROPHIC,

giving out intense heat; it is used in many HETEROTROPHIC.

scientific and industrial processes and, in
chernozem (Russian, black earth) a
stick form, in sketching and drawing.
group of fertile zonal soils suited to
chase 1. originally, in medieval England, the cultivation of cereals. It is granular,
an unenclosed private hunting ground well-drained, rich in humus and bases-2,

held by a subject of the^Crown and there¬ and develops under tall and mixed grasses
fore subject to Common Law, as distinct in a temperate to cool, subhumid climate,
from a Royal Forest, held by the King, i.e. in midlatitudes where grassland
and subject to Forest Law (forest-2, is/was the natural vegetation, e.g. the

69
chestnut soils

Ukraine or central Canada. Typically the ric if can be used with nominal or ordinal
dark coloured, nearly black a horizon data (nominal scale, ordinal scale),

is thick with mull or mull-like humus, and being ‘distribution free’ it does not
grading to a b horizon (if it is present) assume that the data being analysed is
which is lighter brown, with or without normally distributed (normal distri¬

a concentration of clay, beneath which bution). The formula for the measure,
lies the CALCAREOUS c HORIZON. termed chi-squared, is:

chestnut soils a group of zonal soils,

usually dark brown over lighter coloured

soil, overlying a calcareous horizon. Such
«■- £
i = 1 N

soils are friable, formed under conditions

k denotes the number of cells oi and
drier than those resulting in chernozem,
c, the observed and expected frequencies
and are thus less leached than chernozem,
respectively, for the ith cell. The value of
but similarly cover wide areas of land
X will be o if there is perfect agreement
where grassland (but of a drier type) was/
between observation and expectation; and
is the natural vegetation, e.g. the High
the value increases with increasing differ¬
Plains of USA, part of the pampas of
ences between the observed and expected
Argentina, the south African veld, Hun¬
frequencies, significance test.
gary, the steppe to the south of the cher¬
nozem in Russia. The a horizon is dark chlorophyll a green pigment in the cells
brown and, becoming paler in colour, lies of all algae and higher plants (apart from
over a b horizon in which there is an a few parasites and saprophytes),
accumulation of lime, overlying the cal¬ formed only in the presence of light. Sev¬
careous c horizon. In some places there eral types occur, with small differences
is little or no B horizon, soil, soil asso¬ in chemical structure, but each contains
ciation, SOIL HORIZON. magnesium and iron, and each is essen¬
tial in absorbing light energy in photo¬
chimney i. a narrow cleft in a vertical
synthesis. In some plants, e.g. some
rock wall that can be used by rock-climbers
seaweeds, the green of the chlorophyll
2. a volcanic vent.
is masked by other pigments, auto¬

china clay kaolin. trophic.

chinook a warm dry, southwest wind, C horizon a distinct layer in the soil,

similar to the fohn, which blows down underlying the a or b horizons, or the

the eastern side of the Rocky mountains, organic or mineral horizons (o horizons,

having been warmed adiabatically (adia¬ MINERAL HORIZONS, SOIL HORIZON),

batic) as it blew from the west across consisting of the parent material, i.e.
the mountains. It usually occurs suddenly, the little altered but weathered bedrock,
accompanied by a rapid rise in temperature transported glacial or alluvial material, or
which melts the snow in winter. an earlier soil, from which the soil is
formed. Below the C horizon lies the D
chi-squared test a nonparametric
horizon, the unaltered bedrock, soil
statistical test used to measure the extent
profile.
of the agreement between observed and
expected frequencies. Being nonparamet¬ chorography (Greek chora, a place, a

70
 circular and cumulative growth

district) a term much used in the seven¬ vent of a.volcano by debris, usually of
teenth and eighteenth centuries to make a volcanic origin, cast up during eruption.
distinction between a (geographical) study As in the ash cone the fragmentary
of a special region or district (chorography) material has not been burnt. The majority
and geography, a study dealing with the of the particles exceed 4 mm in diameter
earth in general. It is applied today by or long dimension, the larger fragments
some authors to the identification of, or being known as lapilli (5 — 10 mm) or
to a general account of, a large regional scoriae. The slopes of a cinder cone are
area (hence chorographic map) as distinct steeper than those of an ash cone because
from topography, which deals with a the angle of repose of its larger constituent
detailed study of a small area. But some fragments is greater.
American authors use the term choro¬
graphic as relating to a very large area (say, circadian rhythm a term usually applied
a subcontinent) and a chorographic map to the diurnal rhythm of a human
as a map on a scale of between 1:500 000 being.
and 1:5 mn. topographic map.
circular and cumulative growth, cir¬
chorology the study of the causal relations
cular and cumulative feedback a pro¬
of the phenomena present in a region, an
cess whereby growth feeds on and
explanatory study of a region.
reinforces itself by the creation of new
chorometrics the statistical study of spa¬ demands for goods and services, etc. It
tial distributions. tends to reinforce major cities and
favoured regions at the expense of less
choropleth map a quantity in area map,
advantaged areas (cumulative upward
presenting the subj ect under study in terms
causation). As the central area prospers,
of average value per unit area within spe¬
the periphery (reinforcing the centre)
cific boundaries, e.g. density ofpopulation
suffers the backwash effect of the flow of
per sq km shown within local, regional or
skilled manpower, investment and locally
national administrative areas; or by divid¬
generated capital to the centre; the peri¬
ing the unit area into squares or hexagons
phery becomes poorer than the centre
and calculating a mean value for each.
in social services and amenities, etc., and
Sometimes a range of stippling, shading
products from the centre flow to the
or colouring is used to show orders of
periphery, flooding the market and in¬
density.
hibiting local enterprise. Thus unequal
chronology the science of measuring and development is maintained. But ulti¬
adjusting time or periods of time, of mately the centre’s successful development
recording and arranging events in order combined with the establishment of an
of time, and of assigning events to dates efficient transport and communication net¬
considered to be correct in the light of work cause a spread effect, a centrifugal
contemporary knowledge. force (centripetal and centrifugal

forces), leading to decentralization ac¬

cinder the residue of incompletely burnt
companied by development in the peri¬
coal or similar combustible material, cin¬
phery, thereby spreading development
der cone.
and reducing regional inequality, core¬

cinder cone a cone formed round the periphery model.

7i
circulation

circulation of people, short-term move¬ basiij glacially eroded on a mountainside.

ments, many being repetitive, including
cirrocumulus a type of high cloud
daily commuting (commuter), weekly
(above 6000 m: 20 000 ft), usually formed
movements, the following of seasonal
by ice crystals, appearing as lines of small
work, travelling employment (e.g. of sales
round puffs interspersed with blue sky, i.e.
representatives) and short-term changes of
as a MACKEREL SKY.
residence (e.g. of employees in firms with

works and offices in various locations).

cirrostratus a layer of milky, fibrous-
circumdenudation, circumerosion I. lookmg high sheet cloud (above 6000 m:

in general, denudation all round 2. the 20 000 ft), lightly veiling the sun, heralding

process by which hills or mountains, by

the approach of a warm front. If it

denudation all round them, were iso¬ thickens it develops into altostratus.

lated from an original parent mass such as

cirrus high, wispy, fibrous cloud (6000
a plateau.
to 12 000 m: 20 000 to 40 000 ft), com¬
cirque (French; Gaelic coire; Scottish posed of tiny ice crystals, through which
corne; Welsh cwm) a steep-walled sunlight or moonlight may penetrate.
amphitheatre, or basin, of glacial origin Strong winds in the upper atmosphere
at the head of a mountain valley (in some may draw out the ‘fibres’ to form ‘mare’s
cases containing a small lake), resulting tails’ or ‘stringers’. It is usually associated
from frost and glacial action (nivation, with fair weather, but if it thickens
rotational slip). At the meeting oftwo to cirrostratus it may signal the
cirques a knife edge or arete is formed. approach of a depression-3 . false

Fig io. cirrus.

cirque glacier a short-tongued small CIS Commonwealth of Independent

glacier which fills a separate, rounded States, the political system that came into

72
 classical economic theory

being following the dissolution of the cladistics a systematic method of classi¬

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. fication used by some taxonomists (tax¬

SOVIET. onomy), based on the theory of evolution

by descent with modification, but exclud¬
CITES Convention on International
ing consideration of the speed or of the
Trade in Endangered Species, a United
mechanism of evolution, punctuated
Nations international convention set up to
EQUILIBRIUM.
regulate trade in threatened or endangered
species. 132 signatory countries agreed to class 1. in general, a division based on
establish a management and scientific quality or grade 2. in biology, one of the
authority to police such trade. TRAFFIC groups used in the classification of

INTERNATIONAL, an ngo, acts as a organisms, consisting of a number of

watchdog to monitor the effectiveness of similar orders-2, but sometimes of only
CITES. one order 3. a group of people of similar
status, rank, or culture in a community.
city 1. in general, in Britain, a large
social class 4. a concept or system of
town-i 2. more strictly, a town of any
social division, social class 5. in stat¬
size which is or has been the seat of a
istics, a group of occurrences with a
bishop and has a cathedral 3. in USA, city
common characteristic or set of character¬
implies the incorporation of a settlement
istics formed when data is divided, each
and the establishment of some form of
group being mutually exclusive. The vari¬
local government, but a city may in this
ate values determining the upper and
sense be only a few hundred people,
lower limits of a class are class boundaries;
and the word is used loosely as being
the interval between them is the class
synonymous with town. central
interval; the frequency falling into the
PLACE THEORY, CITY REGION, CITY
class is the class frequency.
STATE, CONCENTRIC ZONE GROWTH

THEORY, ECUMENOPOLIS, GATEWAY classical economic theory the body of

CITY, INDUSTRIAL CITY, METROPOLIS, theory propounded by Adam Smith,
POST-INDUSTRIAL CITY, PRE-INDUS¬ David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill and
TRIAL CITY, PRIMATE CITY, RANK-SIZE others in the late eighteenth and the nine¬
RULE, WORLD CITY. teenth centuries. To generalize broadly,
the theory assumes that in a capitalist
city region a city or large town and the
society a policy of individualism, of lais¬
area surrounding it (hinterland-2), the
sez-faire, combined with the free
surrounding area being so functionally
operation of price in the market place,
linked to and dominated by that city or
the investment of capital to promote eco¬
town that the two are interdependent and
nomic growth, freedom from govern¬
function together as one unit, core¬
ment intervention and freedom ofinterna-
periphery model.
tional trade, would result in economic
city state a state which has sufficient benefit to the whole community. The
power-1,2 to constitute an independent, classical period of economics came to
sovereign state, usually exerting its au¬ be dominated by Ricardo, who ex¬
thority over the surrounding region, e.g. pounded his LABOUR THEORY OF VALUE.

Athens, one of the city states of classical COMMODITY, NEOCLASSICAL ECON¬

Greece, or Singapore. OMIC THEORY.

73
classification

classification in general, arrangement in a group of people into age groups, the age
classes, putting into groups systematically, groups selected being o to io years, n to
on the criteria of common characteristics 20 years, and so on, the size of the interval
or properties. is io years.

classification oflakes the systematic des¬ clast a sedimentary particle, commonly a

ignation of lakes, commonly based on the rock fragment or mineral grain produced
origin of the depression in which the water by the disintegration of a larger mass or
accumulated, i.e. erosion (glaciation, so¬ by volcanic explosion.
lution, wind); enclosure by deposition or
clastic adj. applied to a rock composed of
barrier (including deltaic and morainic
broken fragments (clast) of pre-existing
deposits, sand bars, dams of ice or vegeta¬
rocks or of shell fragments which have
tion); structural (sagging of the earth’s
been converted into a consolidated mass,
crust, rift-valley, down-faulted basins);
e.g. SEDIMENTARY ROCKS (CLAY, CON¬
volcanic (crater lakes, lava dam); artificial
GLOMERATE, SANDSTONE, SHALE), PYRO¬
(especially by great dams built for hydro¬
CLASTIC rocks (agglomerate, tuff,
electric power and irrigation schemes; and
VOLCANIC ASH).
tanks in India), crater lake, etang,
FINGER LAKE, LOCH, LOUGH, MERE, clay I. a fine-textured sedimentary
POND, SHOTTS, TANK, TARN. rock consisting mainly of hydrous silic¬
ates of alumina, with other minerals and
classification of organisms the system¬
chemicals and organic material in varying
atic designation of animals and plants based
amount, resulting from the weathering
on groups which reflect evolutionary
and decomposition of feldspathic rocks.
relationships, the rank of the group being
Some of the constituents are usually in a
measured by the number of organisms that
colloidal state (colloid) and lubricate the
belong to it. To qualify for group member¬
grains and flakes of the non-colloidal con¬
ship the organisms must resemble each
stituents. When wet, clay is plastic and
other in some property or characteristic
impermeable, because the water held by
more than they resemble any other organ¬
surface tension round the particles fills
ism. The smallest group is the species-i,
the tiny interstices between them; when
though in some cases subspecies and vari¬
dry it loses its plasticity and develops
eties are identified; species that resemble
cracks; when heated to a high temperature
each other more closely than they
it becomes brittle and stone-like. 2. the
resemble other species are put together to
finest particles in a soil, with a diameter
form the genus (plural genera); genera that
ofless than 0.002 mm (0.005 mm in US A),
are similarly alike form the family; families
and the resulting soils, a clay soil being
form an order-2, orders a class-2;
one which has at least 30 per cent of such
classes together form a phylum (botany or
' particles.
zoology) or a division (botany); and phyla
or divisions form a kingdom, the highest clay pan a layer of stiff clay-i formed
rank. below the surface of the soil (hard pan),
acting as a more or less impermeable
class interval in statistics, the size of the
layer and leading to waterlogging.
interval used in the division of data into
classes or categories, e.g. in the division of clay-slate a slate formed from the

74
 climatic climax

metamorphism of clay-i, as distinct ent from that of the original bedding. As

from slate derived from compacted vol¬ a result roofing slates can be prepared from
canic ash. rock with a well developed slaty cleavage.

clay soil clay-2, soil texture. cliff I. a high, steep or perpendicular face
of rock, the angle of slope dependent on
clay-with-flints a deposit consisting of a
the jointing, bedding and hardness of the
mixture of chalk-flints and reddish or
rocks forming it, e.g. along a sea coast
brown clay-i, sometimes nearly black at
(sea-cliff, particularly subject to erosion by
the base, becoming lighter and sandier
waves); or bordering a lake (lake-cliff).
towards the surface, overlying the chalk
FREE FACE, RAISED BEACH 2. a Steep face
(e.g. in southern England) and also in
of unconsolidated sediments carved by the
PIPES-2 or POTHOLES. SUPERFICIAL
river in a meander (river-cliff). Fig n.
DEPOSIT.
climate the average weather conditions
clear felling the felling of all the trees in
throughout the seasons over a fairly wide
an area, regardless of size, coppice.
or very extensive area of the earth’s surface
cleavage usually applied to slaty cleavage, and considered over many years (usually
the fissile structure developed in certain 30 to 35 years) in terms of climatic

fine-grained rocks (e.g. clay-slate or ELEMENTS. CLIMATOLOGY, LOCAL CLI¬

compacted volcanic ash) especially as MATE, MACROCLIMATE, MESOCLIMATE,

a result of dynamic metamorphism. MICROCLIMATE, MICROCLIMATOLOGY.

Minute flakes of micaceous minerals,

climatic amelioration amelioration.
formed as a result of the metamorphism,
tend to arrange themselves at right angles climatic climax the climax developed

to the direction of the pressure, and the in a local climate which differs from

rock thus splits in a direction quite differ¬ the climate normal to the area.

Fig 11 The formation of cliffs. The three sections show how cliffs are cut back and a submarine
peneplane formed

75
 S v

climatic elements

climatic elements atmospheric closed system an isolated system-1,2,3

pressure, humidity (covering enclosed by a boundary through which

CLOUDS, EVAPORATION, PRECIPI¬ neither energy nor material can pass
TATION, water), temperature (cover¬ (unlike an open system), general

ing radiation), and wind, resulting SYSTEMS THEORY.

from the interrelationship of latitude, alti¬

cloud a visible mass of tiny particles float¬
tude, the spatial distribution of land and
ing in the atmosphere, consisting some¬
sea, ocean currents, relief, soil and vegeta¬
times of ice crystals, more usually of water
tion. CLIMATE.
formed from condensation of water
climatic formations vegetation groups vapour on nuclei of dust or smoke par¬
classified according to the climatic factors ticles or ionized molecules of the air
(climate, climatic elements) that itself. The formation of cloud thus depends
determine them, as distinct from edaphic on the cooling of moist air, which may
formations. The large vegetation forma¬ result from the rising and expansion of
tions tend to be determined by climatic such air, the mixing of warm air with cold
factors, the smaller units by edaphic air, or by a loss of heat by radiation. Very
factors. low cloud is termed fog or mist, cloud

AMOUNT, CLOUD FORMS.

climatic geomorphology in geomor¬

phology, the study of the association cloud amount cloud cover, estimated
between climatic elements and the visually, expressed as the proportion of sky
development of landforms. covered either in tenths or, more com¬
monly, in eighths (oktas), o representing
climatology the study of the climates
a cloudless sky, 8 total cloud cover. The
of the earth, describing and where possible
lines drawn to show areas of equal cloudi¬
explaining them and the part they play in
ness are termed isonephs.
the natural environment, local cli¬

mate, MACROCLIMATE, METEOROLOGY, cloud base the height above the earth’s

MICROCLIMATE, MICROCLIMATOLOGY, surface of the lowest part of a cloud or

SYNOPTIC CLIMATOLOGY. of a general cloud layer.

climax the final stage in the possible cloud forest mist forest.

development of the natural vegetation of

cloud forms clouds are classified by
a locality or region, when the composition
height above sea-level (low, up to 2400 m:
of the plant community is relatively stable
8000 ft; medium, 2400 to 6000 m; 8000
and in equilibrium with the existing
to 20 000 ft; high, 6000 to 12 000 m: 20 000
environmental conditions. This is nor¬
to 40 000 ft) and by form (cirrus, feathery;
mally determined by climate (climatic
cumulus, globular or heaped; stratus, sheet
climax) or soil (edaphic climax).
of layer). To these three form names alto
SERE, SUCCESSION-2.
is added to show height, nimbus to indicate
clint, clent a low, flat-topped ridge, falling rain. These main genera are subdiv¬
sometimes with lapies, in a horizontal ided into species (distinguished by shape
limestone surface, parallel to the bed¬ and structure), varieties (arrangement and
ding plane and separated from another transparency, with additional features) and
clint by furrows or fissures, grike. accessory cloud formations. The varieties

76
 coalfield

of form include, among others, lenti¬ have little correlation with items outside
cular, lens-shaped; castellanus (formerly it.
castellatus), turret-shaped; mammatus,
CMEA Council for Mutual Economic
breast-shaped; fracto-, ragged; banner,
Assistance, primarily an economic associ¬
like a banner. Accessory cloud forma¬
ation, initiated 1949 by the USSR, work¬
tions include arcus, arched; incus, anvil¬
ing language Russian. The founder
shaped; tuba, column- or cone-like.
members were the USSR, Bulgaria,
ALTOCUMULUS, ALTOSTRATUS, ANVIL
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland,
CLOUD, BANNER, CASTELLANUS, CIRRO-
Romania. They were joined by Albania
CUMULUS, CIRROSTRATUS, CIRRUS,
(1949-61), Cuba (1972), German Demo¬
CUMULONIMBUS, CUMULOSTRATUS,
cratic Republic (1950), Mongolia (1962),
CUMULUS, FRACTUS, LENTICULAR,
Vietnam (1978). Yugoslavia agreed to par¬
NIMBOSTRATUS, STRATOCUMULUS.
ticipate partially (1964). Angola, Laos and
cloud seeding the introduction of dry North Korea participated as observers, and
ice, salt particles or silver iodide smoke there were cooperative agreements with
into clouds in order to promote rainfall. Finland, Iraq and Mexico. CMEA was
This technique is also being used experi¬ the official acronym, but other popular
mentally to suppress lightning and to abbreviations were COMECON and
change the structure and movement of CEMA. The association ended in 1991
HURRICANES-2. when the USSR became the Common¬
wealth of Independent States, cis.
Club of Rome an unofficial association
founded April 1968 by Aurelio Peccei, coal a carbonaceous fossil fuel, a
Italian manager and consultant, restricted brownish-black or black combustible
to 100 members, comprising social and mineral substance found in beds or seams
environmental scientists, educators, eco¬ in sedimentary rocks and derived
nomists, civil servants, managers, philo¬ from vegetable material growing in the
sophers, from different countries. The carboniferous era on level, swampy
aims were to foster among policy-makers ground, compacted and hardened by pres¬
and the public alike a better understanding sure and heat arising from earth move¬
of the problems faced by the developing ments. A series based on percentage of
and industrialized world; and to promote fixed carbon (from peats and brown coals
new policy initiatives and action. with less than 55 per cent, through bitu¬

cluster a number of similar things grow¬

minous or humic coals, to anthracite with

ing or gathered together. A cluster may more than 93 per cent) may be distin¬

be shown on a map by means of symbols

guished, with a corresponding limitation

(dot map) or on a graph by the flattening

in the amount of volatile material and

of a LORENZ CURVE.
moisture, anthracite, bituminous

and brown coal, coalfield, coal

cluster analysis in statistics, an analysis GAS, COAL MEASURES, COKE, LIGNITE.
which aims to discover whether the indi¬
viduals in a population-4 fall into groups coalfield a tract of land underlain by
or clusters. In the ideal cluster the coal. If the workable coal is covered by
members should correlate highly with younger deposits the coalfield is described
each other, but the cluster itself should as concealed.

77
coal gas

coal gas a gas (in volume 50 per cent coastline a term applied loosely to the
hydrogen, 30 per cent methane, 8 per continuous edge of the land, or the general
cent carbon monoxide, 8 per cent carbon appearance of the coast, as seen from the
dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen, 4 per cent sea; or to the zone between the back-

gaseous hydrocarbons other than meth¬ shore and the coast; or to the landward
ane) used as a fuel. It is obtained by heating limit of the beach; or used as a synonym
suitable coal in closed retorts (i.e. with¬ for coast. More precisely it is applied to
out air) whereby gas is driven off and coke the line on the land indicated by 1. the
remains. highest storm waves of the spring tides

2. the high-water mark of medium tides

coal measures. Coal Measures the 3. the base of the sea-cliffs.
series of sediments, mainly sandstones

and shales, in which coal is found. cobble, cobblestone a naturally

With initial capital letters, the term is ap¬ rounded, water-worn stone, larger than a

plied specifically to the upper division pebble, smaller than a boulder. The British

of the CARBONIFEROUS. GEOLOGICAL

Standards Institution ranks cobbles (60 to

TIMESCALE.
200 mm: 2.4 to 8 in in diameter) between
coarse gravel and a boulder. The USA
coal tar a viscous liquid obtained in the wentworth scale defines a cobble (64
process of coal distillation in retort or to 256 mm: 2.5 to 10 in in diameter) as
coke oven. between a pebble and a boulder.

coast a term loosely applied to the zone cockpit 1. a pit where gamecocks were
of indetemiinate width where land and set to fight for sport 2. in karst, any

sea (or other extensive tract ofwater) meet, natural enclosed depression with steep

considered as the boundary of the land sides 3. a sink-hole with steep sides,

(coastline). More specifically, the meet¬ especially a star-shaped one with a conical

ing place of land and sea (width not spe¬ or slightly concave floor, as in the Cockpit

cified) covering I. the narrow strip of land country of Jamaica.

immediately landward of high water,

cocoa CACAO.
the line of the mean spring tides 2. a
more extensive zone stretching inland 3. coconut the coconut palm, native to
a zone which includes the shore 4. a zone tropical lands, tolerant of salty, sandy soils,

which excludes the shore. Various types and also bearing fruit in some warmer

of coast are identified, e.g. Atlantic,

subtropical areas (e.g. the Bahamas). It is

CONCORDANT, DISCORDANT, LON¬

cultivated in the lowlands of both those

GITUDINAL, PACIFIC, TRANSVERSE.

areas for the sake of its edible fruit, which
has a shiny waterproof skin, with a fibrous
coastal plain any comparatively level land mass inside (the fibres yield coir, used in
of low elevation, sloping gently seaward , making coarse string, matting etc.). Inside
and bordering the sea or ocean, resulting the fibrous mass is the nut which has a
from the deposition of sediment washed hard shell lined with a thm, white fleshy
down from the land, or from denudation layer. There is a hollow within the nut
by the sea, or by the emergence of part of which, before the nut is ripe, is partly filled
the continental shelf following a fall with a nutritious sugary liquid, coconut
in sea-level. milk. The milk is gradually absorbed into

78
 cohort analysis

the flesh as ripening progresses. The flesh connected with the gaining of knowledge

can be eaten directly, or dried and flaked or the forming of beliefs.

to form desiccated coconut; when dned

cognitive consonance a condition of
it forms copra, from which coconut oil is
harmony in a cognitive system, when
extracted. The oil is used in cooking and
there is consistency and accord among the
in making soap, margarine, and cosmetics.
items of knowledge, ideas and beliefs in
The residue left after the oil has been
the system, cognitive dissonance.
extracted from the copra is used as cattle
cake. The shells of the nuts can be used as cognitive dissonance i. a condition of

fuel. The tree trunks make good building disharmony in a cognitive system,

timber, the leaves are used for thatching; when there are contradictions and a lack

the sap of the tree has a high sugar content, of consistency among the items of know¬

and can be evaporated to make crude sugar ledge, ideas and beliefs in the system 2.

or fermented to make a drink (toddy), perceived incongruity between the

distilled to make the spirit arrack. behaviour and attitudes of an individual.

coefficient in mathematics, the non¬ cognitive map a mental map, an image

varying factor of a variable product, i.e. the ofa place, of an environment, an organized

number or quantity usually placed before representation of reality developed in the

and multiplying another quantity (e.g. the brain of an individual as a result of in¬

2 in 2x). formation’s being received, mentally

coded, stored, recalled, decoded and inter¬

coenosis a random assemblage of organ¬ preted (cognition) and, in some cases,
isms held together by common ecological combined with sentiment, feelings, asso¬
needs, as distinct from a community-2.
ciated with the place or environment.

coffee a small tropical tree or shrub, grown cognitive system the collection ot inter¬
for the sake of the ‘berries’ which contain related items of knowledge, ideas and
aromatic beans (seeds), the beans being beliefs which an individual holds about
roasted, ground and brewed in hot water other individuals, groups, events, objects,
to produce a stimulating, non-alcoholic concrete or abstract subjects, etc. Each
drink. It needs a rich, well-drained, slightly individual formulates a number of such
acid soil; moderate rainfall and equable systems, and these too are interrelated,
heat; and protection from the direct rays the extent of the interrelationship varying
of the sun; it can withstand slight frost. widely, cognitive consonance, cog¬

nitive DISSONANCE.
cognition i. the act or the faculty of
knowing, a collective term covering all cohort in demography, a group of indi¬

the psychological processes involved in viduals who experience a significant event

the acquisition, organization and use during the same period of time, who thus

of knowledge, including perception, have a common statistical characteristic,

judgement, reasoning, remembering, e.g. belonging to the same age group,

thinkingand imagining (cognitive map) entering hospital at the same time, etc.

2. the product of the act of knowing. fertility-3.

cognitive adj. of, or pertaining to, cog¬ cohort analysis in demography, lon¬

nition, to those aspects of mental life gitudinal analysis, the analysis

79
coke

concerned with the study of a cohort -20°C (-4°F) or lower, warm glacier.
over a long period of time, e.g. people
cold occlusion an occlusion in which
born or married in a particular year who
the overtaking cold air is colder than the
are studied at selected stages throughout
cold air ahead of it.
their lives. It is used particularly in the
Study of FERTILITY-3. cold-water desert the continental west
coast desert strip (e.g. of northern Chile,
coke the hard, porous, combustible res¬
northwest and southwest Africa, or north¬
idue, almost pure carbon, produced
west Australia) where the climate is influ¬
when coal is heated in a closed retort or
enced by cold sea currents flowing towards
oven so that coal gas and other volatile
the equator. The cool air flowing over the
material is driven off.
sea to the land reduces summer temper¬
col i. a marked depression on a mountain atures and produces fogs and heavy dew.
ridge or range, commonly occurring FOG DRIP.
where opposed cirques meet, thus
affording a pass 2. in meteorology, by collective consumption 1. the services
analogy (higher pressure representing the which can be consumed only collectively

ridge, lower pressure the valley), a region and are thus provided by the state, e.g.

of relatively low pressure between two defence services 2. the main services pro¬

adjacent anticyclones or between two vided by the state, e.g. public transport,

adjacent depressions-3. welfare 3. in neo-Marxism, the collective

ways by which the state works to create a
colatitude the complement of the lat¬ labour force and sustain it, i.e. to provide
itude, i.e. the difference between 90° goods and services for most of the popu¬
and the latitude. lation.

cold desert a general term for areas with

collective farming agricultural organ¬
such low temperatures that plant and an¬
ization in which the farms are subjected
imal life are inhibited, e.g. polar-i re¬
to collectivization, i.e. they are acquired
gion, TUNDRA.
and amalgamated, e.g. by a village (as in
cold front the boundary zone between the kibbutz of Israel), or by the state (as
an advancing mass of cold air and a mass in the kolkhoz of the former USSR),
of warm air. The cold heavy air usually which assumes ownership of the land but
acts like a wedge, undercutting and forcing leases it permanently to a large group of
the lighter, warmer air upward, resulting shareholder farm workers who cooperate
in a drop in temperature, the formation in running the holding as a single unit.
of clouds (especially cumulonimbus The farm workers usually have shares in
and fracto-), rain (sometimes falling the produce or in the revenue from sales,
in heavy showers, sometimes with thun¬ generally in proportion to the work done
derstorms) and winds, anafront, by the individual worker. In many cases
FRONT, KATAFRONT, LINE SQUALL, the farm workers are allowed a small plot
OCCLUSION. of land for their own, private use and
personal benefit, land tenure, sov¬
cold glacier polar glacier, a moving ice-
khoz, STATE FARMING.
mass, very rarely with surface melting,
maintaining a constant temperature at collision zone in plate tectonics, a

80
 colony

zone where converging plates carrying screes-2 and mud flows down the slope
continental crust meet, with the result that under gravity, mass movement.
the edge of one plate dives under the other
colonial adj. I. of, or pertaining to, a
but the rocks of the continental crust pile
colony 2. in USA, of or belonging
up, crushed and buckled and mixed with
to the thirteen British colonies which
material swept up from the floor of any
became the United States, or to the period
ocean which may formerly have separated
of time (seventeenth and eighteenth cen¬
the plates, the ocean being squeezed
turies) when they were still colonies,
out of existence. Such a collision pro¬
applied especially to the works of art, arti¬
duces chains of fold mountains, e.g.
facts, furniture and architecture of that
the Alpine-Hnnalayan chain, oceanic
period.
TRENCH.
colonial animal an animal which is a
colloid a substance (gas, liquid or solid),
member of an association of incompletely
finely divided and dispersed in a continu¬
separated individuals, e.g. coral.
ous gas, liquid or solid medium, the par¬
ticles consisting of very large molecules colonialism i. the principle or practice of
or aggregation of molecules which do not having or keeping colonies (colony- i ,2)
settle at all, or only very slowly. Thus the 2. the economic, political and social pol¬
system is neither a solution (in which icies by which colonies are governed by
the dispersed particles are single molecules) the sovereign metropolitan country
nor a suspension (in which the particles (the colonial power), usually based on
are large enough to tend to fall by grav¬ the maintenance of a marked distinc¬
itation and concentrate as a sediment- tion between the governing country and
i). The electrical forces in the system are the subordinate (colonial) population 3.
important in soil formation; colloids may in a derogatory sense, an alleged policy of
loosen or dislodge rock particles from sur¬ exploitation of weak peoples by a large,
faces with which they are in contact, strong power, which has the effect of
attracting ions of dissolved substances, perpetuating the economic differences
especially those that are basic (base-2); or between the colonies and the governing
some constituent particles of the soil may power 4. the belief that a colonial system
stick to each other, as in colloidal clay, (for policies see 2.) benefits and promotes
COLLOIDAL PLUCKING, FLOCCULATION. the welfare of the state colonized, neo¬

colloidal or colloid plucking a weather¬ colonialism.

ing process in which soil colloids loosen

colonization 1. the act or policy ofbring¬
or pull off small fragments of rock from
ing human settlers into a locality, or to
the surfaces with which they come into
what is to them a foreign country, of estab¬
contact.
lishing acoLONY-i, of forming that ter¬
colluvial soil a soil formed from col¬ ritory into a colony-2. CONTACT-ZONE.

luvium. decolonization 2. the spread of a

group of animals, or of a plant species, into
colluvium (American slope-wash) a col¬
an area, closed community.
lection of rock debris of varied origin
which has accumulated at the base of a colony I. a human settlement formed in
slope as a result of the movement of a territory by people from other territory.

81
columnar structure

usually from another country (to the falling as temperature rises, sensible tem¬
government of which it, the colony, perature.
becomes in some degree subject) 2. the
commensalism I. in ecology, the close
territory so occupied 3. in ecology, loosely
association between organisms of differ¬
applied to any collection of animals or of
ent species from which one benefits
plants living together in one place (e.g. a
but the other is unharmed, coenosis,
society-2), an isolated group, a group of
MUTUALISM, PARASITISM, SYMBIOSIS 2.
individuals of a plant species migrant in
in urban geography, the association
a new habitat, a group of colonial an¬
between an individual and a group of sim¬
imals, or a culture ofMiCROORGANiSMS.
ilar individuals operating in close proxim¬
columnar structure a geological struc¬ ity, the individual cooperating with the
ture comprising hexagonal columns other members of the group and benefiting
formed in the cooling ofiGNEOUS rocks, from the advantages derived from group
especially of basalt. The contraction activities and group membership while
occurring in the cooling results in a series competing with the other members, e.g.
of regular joints at right angles to the specialized commercial or professional
surfaces of cooling, thereby producing the enterprises (e.g. the clothing industry,
columns, e.g. as in the Giant’s Causeway, lawyers) in a particular district of a town
Northern Ireland. Similar hexagonal or city.
cracks develop when mud dries.
commercial agriculture the growing of
combe, coombe, coomb, coom 1. in agricultural produce for sale, subsist¬
southern England, a deep hollow or valley, ence AGRICULTURE.
especially if short and steep at the head,
commercial crops industrial crops.
or closed in, common in chalk country
2. in southwestern England, a short steep commodity I. in general, a good which
valley opening to the sea 3. a cirque in results from a production process (i.e. it
the English Lake District. is the product of labour), meets human
needs, and has an exchange value, some¬
COMECON CMEA.
times used as a synonym for economic
comet a celestial body consisting of a good, i.e. a good which has a price 2.
gaseous cloud enveloping a bright nucleus, in the business community, raw materials,
moving around the sun in an elliptical or as in commodity exchange.
parabolic orbit so eccentrically that some
common, common land in England
comets escape from the solar system.
and Wales, land, usually unenclosed, over
O11 nearing the sun the pressure of the
which certain persons or groups of people
sun’s radiation forces the gas ofa comet
have vanous common rights, though they
into a tail, pointing away from the sun.
do not own the land. In general common
comfort zone the range of temper¬ land represents the poorer quality land
ature-2 and relative humidity in a which, when inclosure of lands took
climate within which human beings feel place, was left unenclosed and provided
comfortable. Common standards are 20° grazing for the villagers or peasants who
to 2i°C (68° to 72°F) and 55 to 60 per would otherwise have been left landless.
cent relative humidity, the latter preferably Under later legislation, the general public

82
 commuter village

has been given rights of access on certain Commonwealth of Independent

commons, including those within bor¬ States cis.
oughs or urban areas, but unless there is
communism i. historically, the com¬
specific legislation the public has no rights
mon ownership of all property in a society,
on rural commons.
e.g. as in a non-literate society, extended
Common Agricultural Policy cap. today to some monastic establishments 2.
since 1848, a theory or practice linked
common field, common arable in especially to the ideas developed by Karl
England and parts of western Europe until Marx from his interpretation of history.
inclosure in the fifteenth to eighteenth He advocated a classless society, organized
centuries, one of the large, open arable on the basis of common ownership of
fields worked by the village community. property and the means of production,
FIELD SYSTEM. distribution and supply, the individual
members contributing ‘each according to
Common Market eec.
his ability’ and receiving ‘each according
common rights, rights of common to his need’.
the rights held by certain persons on
community 1. a group of people living
common land which is the property of
in a particular area; or living near one
another. The chief rights are to pasture
another, with distinct social relationships;
certain animals, usually limited in number
or a group of people sharing a common
(common of pasture); of digging peat for
faith, culture, profession, life-style 2. in
fuel (common of turbary); of gathering,
ecology, a general term applied to any
sometimes cutting, wood for fuel or house
naturally occurring group of different
repairs (common of estovers); of fishing
organisms occupying a common envir¬
(common of piscary); of digging for sand
onment, interacting with each other,
and stone (common of soil and stone).
particularly through food relationships,
Common rights may belong to an indi¬
but relatively independent of other
vidual such as the tenant of a farm (right
groups. The size may vary and the larger
of common appendant), or may be at¬
communities may contain smaller ones.
tached to the dwelling itself (common
SOCIETY.
appurtenant) or by a grant to an indi¬
vidual descending to that individual’s heirs commuter one who travels regularly,
(common in gross). usually daily (but also at other regular
intervals, e.g. weekly or monthly) from
commonwealth, the Commonwealth
residence to place of work. Historically
I. a free association ofself-governing, indi¬
the greatest number of commuting trips
vidual territories organized in a federation,
were inward to central employment areas;
the federation government taking res¬
but outward (or reverse) commuting is
ponsibility for certain common matters,
now common where the speed of
such as defence, e.g. Australia 2. the
decentralization has outpaced the
Commonwealth, a free association of
shift of population to new locations.
Britain and certain independent sover¬
eign states, each of which was formerly commuter village dormitory village, a
a dependency or colony-2 within the village in a rural area, formerly inhabited
British Empire. by people who worked in, or who had

83
 N. V

commuter zone

worked in, the village or close to it, now largest pebble or boulder it can move.
inhabited mainly by people who travel CAPACITY OF A STREAM.
regularly to work in a nearby town, com¬
muter, DORMITORY TOWN. competence of rocks, competent bed
the relative strength of a bed of stratum
commuter zone the area in which com¬ when subjected to folding. If strong
muting takes place, from which com¬ enough to bend without distortion when
muters are drawn to work in a nearby subjected to the stress of folding, it is said
town. to be competent; if weak and thus liable
to distortion, it is incompetent.
compaction I. in geology, the process
in which fine rock particles, e.g. of silt complementary region a trade area, a
or clay, are combined tightly together by tributary area, the area served by a cen¬
pressure of earth movements or weight of tral place, that of a higher order centre
later overlying deposits 2. of soils, the being large and in many cases overlapping
pressing together of soil particles (e.g. by the smaller area served by a lower order
torrential rain, or by heavy mechanical centre, central place hierarchy,
equipment especially in wet conditions) so ISOTROPIC SURFACE.
that the voids between them are reduced,
with consequent loss of air, to the detri¬
components of change approach an
approach to the study of the changing
ment of soil fertility.
pattern of employment (usually in manu¬
comparative cost analysis an evalu¬ facturing) in a region or urban area. The
ation of the advantages or disadvantages changes that have occurred during a
of alternative locations, based on the defined time period in the study area are
cost of production at those locations. broken down into four components, i.e.
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS, VARIABLE changes caused by (A) birth (the formation
COST ANALYSIS, VARIABLE REVENUE of new firms); by (B) death (the closing
ANALYSIS. down of existing firms); by migration, i.e.
movement of some firms into (C), and
compass an instrument used to find others out of (D), the area; or by (E)
direction. In a magnetic compass a free- in situ change (the growth or decline of
swinging magnetized needle is fixed to, employment in firms existing in the area
and swings freely over, a dial which is at the start of the period of study). The
graduated in degrees and shows the car¬ net change in employment in the area
dinal points (north, east, south and west). during the defined time period can then
Under the influence of the local line of be calculated: A (birth) minus B (death)
magnetic force, the needle indicates the plus E (net change in employment in firms
NORTH and SOUTH MAGNETIC POLES. A surviving through the period) plus C
non-magnetic compass (gyrocompass) (immigrant firms) minus D (emigrant
points TRUE NORTH. BEARING-3, PRIS¬ firms).
MATIC COMPASS.
composite volcanic cone a volcanic
competence of a stream the ability of cone composed of layers of ash, cinder
a stream to transport debris, measured in and lava built up over a long period of
terms of the size (not the weight) of the time by a series of eruptions through the

84
 concordant coast

main pipe which is topped by a crater-i, cities (e.g. by terrain, routes and other
e.g. Vesuvius, volcano. constraints); but he suggested that radial
expansion along a broad front, stimulated
compost a soil conditioner and fer¬
by invasion and succession, was a domi¬
tilizer produced by the planned de¬
nant process in the shaping of the pattern
composition of organic material, such as
of a city, industrial city. Fig 12.
vegetable remains.
Zone 5
compression forcing into smaller com¬
pass, reducing in volume, condensation
by pressure, pressing together. The effect
of compression on the rocks of the earth’s
surface contributes to faulting and
FOLDING. CHATTER MARK, TENSION.

compressional wave push wave.

concentric zone growth theory a

theory introduced by E. W. Burgess in
1927 based on his studies of urban growth
in the Chicago area. He saw Chicago
as a city in an industrialized country,
expanding radically from its centre in a
series of concentric zones. He suggested
that the expansion and the formation of
these concentric zones were created by Fig 12 Burgess’s concentric zone theory

succession and invasion, as the occu¬

piers of each inner zone, seeking what they concept a general notion , idea, or under¬
saw as more agreeable locations, moved standing, especially one constructed by
outwards to colonize the next outer zone. generalization from particular examples.
From the centre outwards he identified the
concentric zones as (1) the inner central
concordance of summit-levels
ACCORDANCE OF SUMMIT LEVELS.
business district, (2) a transition zone
(inner city) with residential areas in¬
concordant adj. agreeing or consistent
vaded by business and industry from the
with, thus lying or running parallel to the
core-2, the run-down dwellings being
structural trend lines of the relief, of the
subdivided and overcrowded and in¬
general strata, discordant.
habited by poor immigrants, especially
ethnic minorities, (3) a low-income concordant coast a coast lying approx¬
residential zone with second generation imately parallel to the structural trend lines
immigrant dwellings, (4) a middle-income of the land, also termed a longitudinal
residential zone with one-family dwell¬ or pacific coast. If it is drowned by the
ings, and (5) an outer commuting zone sea a line of islands (the peaks of a former
with higher income dwellings in suburban mountain range) may be formed, separated
areas and satellite towns. He acknowl¬ from the mainland by the drowned parallel
edged that the general, simplified pattern valleys (sound), e.g. the eastern Adriatic
would be modified if applied to other coast.

85
 V v
concordant drainage

concordant drainage the pattern of TIVE CONE, ALLUVIAL CONE, ASH CONE,
drainage-2 which arises from and closely CINDER CONE, DOME VOLCANO, PARA¬
follows the trends of the underlying SITIC CONE, SPATTER CONE 2. the fruit of
STRATA. some trees, e.g. pine trees, coniferous.

concordant intrusion an intrusion of confluence i. the place where two

igneous material lying parallel to the streams, about equal in size, converge and
trend of the rock strata that it penetrates. unite 2. the place at which a stream flows
into another 3. the body of water so
condensation the physical process of the
produced 4. by analogy, a junction of
transition of a substance from the vapour
routeways.
to the liquid state, e.g. as a result of
cooling or increase of pressure. It occurs conformable adj. applied in geology to
in the atmosphere when the air is sat¬ strata deposited one on another in paral¬
urated (by evaporation into it), or when lel planes in proper geological sequence,
it is cooled, cloud, dew, dew-point, without breaks or interruption caused
FOG, MIST, RAINFALL, SNOW. by denudation or earth movements, in
contrast to unconformable. uncon¬
condensation trail contrail, the white,
formity.
ribbon-like, cloud-like phenomenon seen
behind an aircraft flying at high altitudes congelifluction, congelifluxion a flow
in cold, clear but humid air, caused by the of earth under periglacial conditions.
condensation of the water vapour (the SOLIFLUCTION.
product of fuel combustion) coming from
congelifraction the splitting of rocks etc.
the engine’s exhaust, and by the lowered
by frost action.
pressure behind the wing-tips.
congeliturbation frost action, including
conditional instability the state of an
frost-heaving, churning of the ground
air mass with an environmental lapse
and solifluction, affectingboth the soil
rate greater than the saturated adia¬
and subsoil, in some cases producing pat¬
batic lapse rate but less than the dry
terned ground.
adiabatic lapse rate, the instability
depending on the amount of water vapour congestion the state of being packed
held in the air mass. A pocket of unsat¬ closely together, clogged by overcrowd¬
urated air, if pushed upward from ground ing, e.g. the result of the use of some
level, will gradually become cooler than facility, such as a road network, in excess
the surrounding air and descend; but a of its CAPACITY-2.
pocket of saturated air will remain relat¬
conglomerate a sedimentary rock,
ively warmer, and thus will continue to
e.g. puddingstone, consisting of round,
ascend, absolute instability, poten¬
waterworn pebbles in a matrix of natural
tial INSTABILITY.
ce'menting material such as calcium
conductivity the ability of a substance to CARBONATE, SILICA or IRON oxide.
transmit or be capable of transmitting, heat AGGLOMERATE, BRECCIA.
or electricity, thermal conduction.
coniferous adj. applied to trees belonging
cone I. a volcanic peak, with a roughly to Conilerales, a large order of trees and
circular base tapering to a point, adven- shrubs, commonly (but not always) ever-
 consumer durables

green, with slender leaves, and reprodu¬ direction as the dip of the underlying
cing by means of seeds contained in a rocks. A secondary consequent stream is
cone (a reproductive structure consisting a tributary of a subsequent stream;
of woody carpels closely grouped around it flows parallel to the main consequent
a central axis, bearing pollen or ovules). stream, drainage, obsequent. Fig 42.

coniferous forest forest characterized conservation protection from destruct¬

by coniferous trees which occurs under ive influences. A term applied in general
many conditions of soil, climate, aspect, to the positive work of maintenance,
elevation (hygrophyte, mesophyte, enhancement and wise management, or
xerophyte). The largest continuous area reducing the rate of consumption to avoid
is the northern coniferous forest (taiga), irrevocable depletion, in order to benefit
also known as the boreal forest. Away posterity, as in the conservation of nature,
from very low temperatures, coniferous or of natural resources, or of buildings or
trees generally grow rapidly, so are much works of art of special merit, etc. Specific¬
favoured there for afforestation and as a ally it is applied to the work of protecting
commercial crop, producing softwoods and maintaining the soil (soil conservation)
of varying quality for widely ranging and wild life (nature conservation), pre¬
purposes (wood-pulp for paper-making, servation, RESOURCE CONSERVATION.
timber for house construction, etc. as well
conservative plate margin plate tec¬
as resin, turpentine, etc.). Most of the
tonics, TRANSFORM FAULT.
timber consumed commercially is that of
coniferous trees, forest. constant capital in Marxism, labour
from the past (dead or expended labour)
conjunction the position of two planets
incorporated in the means of pro¬
or other heavenly bodies which, when
duction, qualified as constant because
viewed from the earth, he in line in the
the value is fixed (only living labour being
same direction (syzygy). The ‘new
able to create new value), social invest¬
moon’ is the result of the earth, moon and
ment, variable capital.
sun being in conjunction, when forces
bringing about tidal action are at constant slope part of a slope profile,
maximum strength, giving rise to spring the straight slope of the lower hillside,
TIDES. MOON, OPPOSITION, QUAD¬ below the free face and above the wan¬
RATURE. ing slope.

connate water fossil water, water trapped constructive plate margin oceanic
in sedimentary rock at the time of its RIDGE, PLATE TECTONICS.
deposition.
constructive wave one of a series of
connectivity network connectiv¬ waves rolling regularly and gently on a
ity. coast, the swash of the wave being more
powerful than the backwash, with the
consequent drainage, consequent
result that shingle, etc. is pushed up the
river or stream, consequent valley a
beach to form ridges.
natural water flow or valley directly related
to the original slope of the land surface; consumer durables those consumer
also a river or stream flowing in the same goods which can be used many times

87
consumer goods

over a period of dme and are thus used touching, neighbouring 2. next in order
up gradually (e.g. cars, clothes, furniture). or in time, topology.
Consumer goods which can be stored but
contiguous zone territorial
used only once (e.g. canned or frozen
WATERS. Fig 45.
food) are not classified as durable.

consumer goods, consumers’ goods continent one of the large continuous

goods and services which directly satisfy masses ofland on the earth’s surface. Seven

the needs and desires of the individual are usually distinguished: North and South

person, e.g. food items, capital goods, America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia,

CONSUMER DURABLES, ECONOMIC and Antarctica. Australia and New Zea¬

GOODS, FREE GOODS, PRODUCER GOODS. land together are often referred to as ‘Aus¬
tralasia’. ‘Oceania’ covers the Pacific
contact field the distribution pattern of islands. ‘The Continent’ in British writings
an individual’s or a group’s contacts with denotes the mainland ofEurope (contin¬
others, especially in activity space. ental). Some authors insist that Eurasia
AWARENESS SPACE. is one continent. The traditional boundary

contact metamorphism thermal between Europe and Asia along the Ural

metamorphism; and igneous, Mountains and the Ural River does not

MAGMA, METAMORPHIC AUREOLE, coincide with any existing administrative

METAMORPHISM. boundary within the CIS.

contact zone in colonization-i continental adj. of, relating to, or charac¬

times, the space within which commu¬ teristic of, a very large land mass, i.e. of a
nities previously geographically and histor¬ CONTINENT.
ically separate meet and interrelate.
continental air mass an air mass, usu¬
container, container transport a special ally of low humidity, the source of which
large, strong, durable packing case of is a high pressure region over the interior
standard size, usually with internal vol¬ of a continent. Distinguished by the sym¬
ume exceeding i cu m (35.3 cu ft), made bol c it may be of high latitude, i.e. polar
of steel, aluminium-alloy etc.; suitable for (Pc) or low latitude, i.e. tropical (Tc).
repeated use and for mechanical handling,
continental climate the climate associ¬
into which goods are easily packed and
ated with the intenor of a continent or
locked for transport by road, sea, air, thus
other places protected from or unaffected
designed for easy switching from one form
by the moderating influence of the sea,
of transport to another. For example con¬
and so characterized by great extremes of
tainers at a port may be moved from quay
temperature between summer and winter,
to ship by lift-on/lift-off (Lo-Lo) equip¬
low, variable, precipitation, occurring
ment; or they may be directly transferred
mainly in early summer, and low humid¬
by the practice of roll-on/roll-off (Ro-
ity. The effect of continentality is
Ro), a wheeled vehicle, complete with
most marked in midlatitudes, but it is also
containers, being driven along a ramp or
significant in high and low latitudes.
link-span pontoon bridge joining the quay
MARITIME CLIMATE, OCEANIC CLI¬
with the ship, piggyback transport.
MATE, TROPICAL AIR MASS, TROPICAL
contiguity the state ofbeing 1. in contact. CLIMATE.

88
 contour interval

continental crust plate tectonics. mountains lie close to the ocean), form¬
ing a border to nearly every continent,
continental divide the main waterpart¬
stretching from the coast to the con¬
ing in a continent, e.g. in North America,
tinental slope, i.e. to the point where
where the streams flow on one side of the
the seaward slope inclines markedly to the
divide to the Pacific and on the other to
ocean floor. The depth of this outer edge
the Atlantic.
has been defined as lying approximately

continental drift the theory or hypo¬ between 120 m (65 fathoms: 395 ft) and

thesis first postulated in 1858, re-stated 370 m (200 fathoms: 1215 ft); but the

by A. Wegener in 1911, that the present continental shelf itself is, in general, con¬

distribution of the continental masses is sidered to be covered by seawater usually

the result of fragmentation of one or more less than 183 nr (100 fathoms: 600 ft) deep.

pre-existing masses which have drifted The precise definition and delimitation

apart, the intervening hollows having of the continental shelf is important in

become occupied by the oceans, plate international law in connexion with the

tectonics. ownership of minerals and other resources

lying on or under the shelf, continental
continental island an island near to and MARGIN, TERRITORIAL WATERS.
closely associated structurally with the

neighbouring land mass, oceanic

continental slope the marked slope,
commonly with an angle between 20 and
ISLAND.
50, lying between the edge of the con¬
continentality the condition of being tinental shelf and the deep ocean
continental (adj.) as opposed to floor (abyssal plain), bathyal, con¬
oceanic, applied especially to the tinental MARGIN. Fig 45.
measure of the extent to which the climate
continental terrace the marine-built
of a place is influenced by its distance from
terrace consisting of material removed
the sea. continental climate.
in the cutting of the marine-cut terrace
continental margin a zone comprising which lies to landward. The abrasion
the CONTINENTAL SHELF and the CON¬ platform and the marine-built terrace
TINENTAL slope, extending from the together constitute the continental
coastline to depths of approximately SHELF.
2000 m (1095 fathoms: 6560 ft), but distinct
contour an imaginary line joining all the
from the deep sea floor, territorial
points on the ground that are at the same
waters.
height above sea-level or, for submarine

continental platform a continent and its contours, below sea-level, usually based

continental shelf to the edge of the on an instrumental survey, form-line,

continental slope, i.e. the part of the RELIEF MAP.

earth’s crust carrying sial, as distinct from

contour interval the difference in height
the oceanic parts (sima).
represented by adjacent contours

continental shelf a gently sloping sub¬ shown on any given map. If the contours

marine plain, usually of i° slope or less, and shown are at 50,100,150,200 m or ft above
of variable width (scarcely present along sea-level, the contour interval would be

some concordant coasts where fold 50 m or ft; if at 100, 200, 300 m or ft, the

89
contour ploughing

contour interval would be ioo m or ft. expands, rises and cools (adiabatic) to
The contour interval is often vaned on a dew-point, to form cumulus and
map. cumulonimbus clouds, which drop
very heavy, torrential rain, often accom¬
contour ploughing the farming practice
panied by thunder.
of cutting furrows across a hillslope, fol¬
lowing the contours rather than convenience good a good of low order
ploughing up and down the slope, the (order of goods) which needs to be
object being to reduce soil erosion bought frequently but for which people
caused by the run-off of rainwater. are not willing to travel a great distance,
and for which the threshold popu¬
controlled environment the state
lation is fairly low, e.g. bread, central
within a building (or sometimes within a
PLACE THEORY, NEIGHBOURHOOD UNIT.
group of totally enclosed buildings) where
the air temperature, the humidity, the rate conventional name an exonym, the
of movement of and the particle content name given by the people of one linguistic
in the air are completely controlled, and group or nation to important towns, local¬
lighting is artificial. ities, physical features etc. of another. Thus

conurbation a continuously urban area in English the exonyms Warsaw, Vienna,

formed by the expansion and consequent Rome are used for cities known to the

coalescence of previously separate urban inhabitants of the countries concerned as

areas. In some cases it may include enclaves Warszawa, Wien, Roma. There is now

of rural land in agricultural use. ecumen- international agreement that local names

OPOLIS, MEGALOPOLIS, RANDSTAD. should be used.

convection the process of heat transfer conventional sign a standard symbol

from place to place within a fluid (i.e. a used on a map, and explained in the
gas or liquid) caused by the circulatory legend, to convey a definite meaning,
movement of the fluid itself (due to e.g. dots of different size may represent
differences in temperature and hence in towns of varying size.
density) andthepullofGRAViTY. Convec¬
convergence in general, the act of
tion produces vertical movement (in
coming together to meet in a common
contrast to ad vection, horizontal move¬
result or at a point of operation (diver¬
ment), as in the upward welling of cold
gence). There are many specialized ap¬
water in the oceans or in convection
plications: i. in climatology, with refer¬
RAIN. RADIATION, THERMAL CONDUC¬
ence to air flow, itcz 2. in geology, the
TION, UNSTABLE AIR MASS.
thinning of rock formations so that the
convection current a stream of fluid, upper and lower horizons draw closer
e.g. in the atmosphere or ocean, produced together 3. in oceanography, the move¬
by CONVECTION. ment of waters of different salinity and
temperature 4. in plate tectonics, the
convection rain precipitation caused by
movement of plates, collision zone,
the warming of air (moist with water taken
OCEANIC TRENCH.
up from the ground and its vegetation) by
thermal conduction from the heated cooperative farm a farming enterprise
land surface. The warmed, moist air in which individual fanners combine in a

90
 core area

group for mutual benefit. Usually the (polyps) that secrete it/them. The colour
group pays for the bulk purchase of and form of the coral depend on the habits
machinery, seeds, fertilizers etc. and for of the species that builds it. colonial
services, and markets the produce, the ANIMAL, ZOOPHYTE.
costs and profits being shared by the
coral reef an extensive reef formed by
members.
coral, coral sands and other coral
coordinate, co-ordinate in mathem¬ derivatives, commonly known as a bar¬
atics, each of a system of two or more rier reef if separated from the shore by
magnitudes specifying the position of a a lagoon, or a fringing reef if bordering
point on a line or a surface or in space, the land, atoll.
e.g. latitude and longitude are the
coral sand sand composed of commin¬
coordinates of a point on the earth’s
uted fragments of coral.
surface.
cordillera a mountain chain, a term
copper a red, ductile, metallic ele¬
applied particularly to the parallel ranges
ment-6, unaffected by water or steam, a
of the Andes in South America and their
trace element, found native in nature,
continuation through central America and
but mainly obtained from a variety of ores,
Mexico, and to the ranges of the great
copper pyrites and the carbonates (mal¬
western mountain system of North
achite and azurite) in particular. The ores
America, including the Rockies, Sierra
occur especially in veins or scattered
Nevada, Cascades, Coast Ranges etc.
through metamorphic rocks. It was
the first metal to be used for ornaments core the innermost part of anything: 1.
and vessels, later alloyed with tin to form of the earth, the central part of the earth’s
bronze. A good conductor of electricity interior (radius approximately 3476 km:
and heat, it is now widely used in alloys, 2160 mi) consisting of the outer layer of
some of its salts being used as fungicides. dense material (probably nickel-iron, with
a density of about 12.0) which behaves as
coppice a small wood-2 in which the
a liquid, and with n which the earth’s
trees are coppiced, i.e. cut off close to the
magnetic field is generated by circu¬
ground and so encouraged lo send up
lation, and containing the solid inner core
several shoots, each to serve in due course
(radius approximately 1380 to 1450 km:
for fencing posts or poles. Trees used in
860 to 900 mi, density about 17.0) at the
this way include the oak, hazel, sweet
centre. Between the outer core and the
chestnut.
mantle that envelops it is the Guten¬
copse a small wood consisting of trees and berg discontinuity 2. of a city or
undergrowth, coppice. town, the functionally specialized centre,
DOWNTOWN (CENTRAL BUSINESS DIS¬
coral a hard, calcareous, rock-like sub¬ TRICT), usually lacking residences, core
stance formed either by the continuous
AREA, CORE-FRAME CONCEPT, CORE¬
skeleton or fused skeletons of members of
PERIPHERY MODEL.
a group of sedentary marine animals that
live in COLONIES-3 only in clear, warm, core area of a culture-i, region-i,
shallow seas, or by the skeleton or fused state, or city, a term loosely applied to the
skeletons together with the animals central area, the heart, the nucleus or the

9i
 \ v
core-frame concept

place of birth and nurture of a culture, the core at the expense of the peripheral
region, nation, or city, from which the areas. centripetal and centrifugal
culture/region/state/city expanded and FORCES, CIRCULAR AND CUMULATIVE
spread, cultural hearth, domain-2, GROWTH.
OUTLIER-2, SPHERE-3,5.
Coriolis force (Corioli’s is incorrect
core-frame concept in the structure of
spelling) the effect of the force produced
the central area of a city, the notion that
by the earth’s rotation on a body moving
within the central area there is an inner
on its surface. The body is deflected to
core-2 (with high land values, tall build¬
the right of the path of movement in the
ings, a concentrated daytime population,
northern hemisphere, to the left in the
where strong functional links between
southern, buys ballot’s law, ferrel’s
various offices, and between offices and
law.
shops, create distinct clusters of functions
which form particular small land use cork the impermeable layer of dead cells
zones) and a ‘frame’ (the less intensively forming the outermost protective layer of
developed area surrounding the core, with stems or roots, applied particularly to the
relatively lower land values and widely thick bark of the cork oak, a small tree
distributed functions such as wholesaling, growing in Mediterranean lands. As soon
off-street parking, light manufacturing, as the tree is large enough the bark (cork)
etc. which have only their location in can be cut off the trunk and main branches.
common). It soon begins to form again, so that after
ten or twelve years it can again be cut. In
core-periphery model a model-2 or
nature the purpose of the bark is to prevent
hypothesis concerned with the spatial
loss of moisture in the hot, dry Mediter¬
structure of the relationship between a
ranean summer.
centre (a core-2, core area) and its
peripheral areas in an economic system.
com in North America applied to Indian
The wealthy core, with its high potential
corn or maize; but in Britain (and con¬
for growth, productivity, technical
tinental Europe) applied either to the
progress and innovation, is seen as
cereals wheat, rye, oats, barley etc. col¬
economically and socially dynamic. Its
lectively, or to the most important cereal
concentration of advantages encourages a
of an area, e.g. barley in some districts,
steady influx of capital-2 and talent,
wheat in others.
some from the periphery, to the disad¬
vantage of the peripheral areas, which Corn Belt the region in the USA, south
are accordingly economically and soci¬ and southwest of the Great Takes, where
ally weakened (cumulative upward corn (maize) is or was the dominant cul¬
causation). The institutions in the core, tivated plant.
becoming ever more powerful, come to
dominate the peripheral areas, making corrasion the process of mechanical ero¬
decisions that not only determine their sion of a rock surface by the friction of
growth and development but favour the rock material with the surface, the rock
core itself, an imbalance that may be material being moved under gravity, or
further reinforced by governmental, eco¬ carried by running water (streams, rivers
nomic and political policies that support and waves), by ice (glaciers), or by wind

92
 cosmology

(wind-blown sand), abrasion, trans¬ duced by the solvent action of residual

portation-2. magma. -

correlation i. in general, the condition co-seismal line, co-seismic line homo-

of two or more things mutually or recip¬ seismal line, a line connecting points on
rocally related, or the act of bringing two the earth’s surface simultaneously experi¬
or more things into mutual or reciprocal encing the arrival of an earthquake wave,
relationship 2. in statistics, the degree of not to be confused with an isoseismal line
relationship, the extent to which two (iso-) which is related to the amount of
measurable variables vary together, lin¬
earthquake intensity.
ear correlation being commonly measured
by a correlation coefficient, of which cosmic adj. of, or pertaining to, the cos¬
there are several types, most varying be¬ mos (the universe seen as an orderly
tween + 1.0 and — i.o. The term positive whole), applied to any phenomenon of
correlation indicates that the variables space outside the atmosphere of the earth.
have a tendency to increase or decrease
together. Negative or inverse correlation cosmic dust very small particles of solid
indicates that there is a tendency for one matter present everywhere in the universe.
variable to increase as the other decreases,
and vice versa. If changes in one variable cosmic rays a continuous shower of very
are negatively or positively proportional high-frequency subatomic particles that,

to changes in the other, the correlation is originating in outer space (at that stage

said to be linear, and non-linear if the termed primary cosmic rays), collide with

changes are not proportional. A com¬ atoms and molecules of the earth’s upper

monly used measurement of correlation atmosphere and, as secondary cosmic rays,

which tests the degree to which any two reach the earth’s surface, sometimes pen¬

sets of data are correlated is the spear¬ etrating it. The subatomic particles of the

man’s RANK CORRELATION COEF¬ primary cosmic rays consist mainly of the

FICIENT. nuclei of atoms, certainly those of hydro¬

gen (protons), and possibly of silicon and
corridor a strip of territory belonging iron.
to one country but running through the
territory of another country in order to cosmography i. a description or rep¬
give the country owning the strip access resentation of the general features of the
to an international waterway, the sea, etc. earth and/or the universe (cosmos) 2.
The term has been extended to air cor¬ the science concerned with the structure
ridor, an airway allowing a country or of the earth and/or the universe, including
countries right of access by air over the astronomy, geography and geology 3. his¬
territory of a foreign country. torically, a synonym for physical geo¬
graphy. A term with a long, complex
corrie (Scottish) cirque.
history, it is now rarely used.
corrosion i. the wearing away of rock
or soil by chemical and solvent action, cosmology the science or theory con¬
i.e. by carbonation, hydration, cerned with the physical universe viewed
HYDROLYSIS, OXIDATION, SOLUTION 2. as an ordered entity and with the general
the changes in the crystals of a rock pro¬ laws that govern it.

93
cosmonaut V v

cosmonaut an astronaut, especially resentation of an area, resembling a con¬

one from the CIS. tour map, but constructed to show spatial
variations in production costs at varying
cosmopolitan adj. belonging to all parts
distances from various locations, the con¬
of the world and free from national lim¬
tours joining, for example, points with
itations.
equal total costs, or the cost of a single
cosmos the world or the universe as an item (e.g. land, labour, transport, power,
orderly whole, a harmonious system. materials, or a particular individual
matenal involved in an operation). A cost
costa (Spanish) coast, applied particularly
surface with its cost contours therefore
to the Spanish coasts bordering the Medi¬
shows not only the total costs an enterprise
terranean which have been developed
at a given location may incur in obtaining
with holiday resorts, e.g. Costa Brava,
land, labour, power, materials etc. and in
Costa del Sol etc.
distributing its products to customers at

cost benefit analysis CBA, the evalu¬ any and all points throughout an area: it

ation in monetary terms of the costs and also identifies the least-cost loca¬

benefits accruing from a scheme or from tion. SPACE COST CURVE.

alternative schemes, taking into account

co-tidal line a line drawn on a tidal chart
all the factors involved, i.e. not only the
linking points with a common time of
commercial but also the social and
high water. Co-tidal lines radiate from the
environmental factors for which value
AMPHIDROMIC POINT (OSCILLATORY
judgements must be made (e.g. social
wave theory of tides) where the water
benefits, loss of amenity, traffic hazards,
remains relatively level, the height of the
mental or physical strain, etc.).
tidal rise growing as the co-tidal lines
cost curve a line on a two-dimensional spread to their extremities, standing
graph which shows the relationship wave.
between cost of production and volume
cottage industry manufacturing wholly
of output. SPACE COST CURVE.
or partly carried on in the home of the
cost space, cost distance, time space, worker.
time distance in the explanation of
cotton a small, shrubby plant native to
human spatial structure, relative space as
tropical and subtropical regions, cultivated
opposed to absolute space (e.g. people
especially for the sake of its seed hairs, i.e.
travelling or moving goods between places
the fibres (used for textiles) attached to its
are more concerned with the cost and the
seeds, the seeds and white fibres being
time involved than they are with the actual
contained by the ‘boll’ or seed case.
distance to be covered). Some authors pre¬
According to the species and variety culti¬
fer the term cost (or time) distance to
vated, the fibres vary in length (termed
cost (or time) space as being more precise,
staple), and in texture (from harsh and
maintaining that the term ‘space’
coarse to fine and silky). Being a tropical
encompasses too many dimensions.
or subtropical crop, cotton needs annually
ACCESSIBILITY, TIME-SPACE CONVER¬
200 frost-free days and a low rainfall,
GENCE.
especially at picking time when rain would
cost surface a three dimensional rep¬ damage the ripe, open bolls. The hairs are

94
 crater

separated from the seeds by mechanical usually a feature, and in most country parks
‘ginning’ (once done by hand). The cotton information about the plant and animal
seed is crushed and the edible oil extracted life etc. is supplied.
for use in cooking and food preparations,
country rock a mass of rock traversed by
such as margarine; the residue provides
later intrusions of igneous rock or
meal or oilcake, used as cattle feed or
penetrated by a mineral vein.
fertilizer. The cotton fibres (lint) are
combed out into slivers, twisted to form covariance in statistics, a measure of the
yarn (spinning), then woven into fabric extent to which values on two variables
(weaving). In many manufacturing areas in vary together, i.e. high values on one being
Britain spinning and weaving were carried associated with high values on the other,
out in separate mills, even in separate or low with low. It is not, as is a cor¬
towns. In clothing manufacture cotton relation-2 coefficient, restricted to
gradually replaced wool in the eighteenth values between +1.0 and —1.0. The size
century, expanded greatly in the nine¬ of the covariance increases or decreases
teenth century, declined with the advent with the increasing or decreasing strength
of synthetic fibres; but cotton fibres, of the relationship. A zero value indicates
valued for their absorbent qualities, can no linear-5 relationship (linear
satisfactorily be woven with synthetic model), and positive or negative values
fibres to make fabrics comfortable to wear, indicate data showing evidence of corre¬
so cotton is still in demand. sponding to a positive or negative linear
trend, variance.
Cotton Belt that part of the southeastern
USA where cotton was the dominant cove 1. a steep-sided, rounded hollow or
crop. recess in a rock 2. a small inlet in a rocky
sea coast with a narrow opening and a
Council for Mutual Economic Assist¬ small curved bay 3. a recess with precip¬
ance cmea, popularly abbreviated to itous sides on a steep mountainside 4. a
COMECON. small rounded hollow at the head of a
valley.
counterfactual a construction of a hypo¬
thetical event, process, or state of affairs cover crop a fast-growing crop, planted
which does not accord with the facts on cleared land between main crops, to
known about an actual event, process, or form a blanket of vegetation and protect
state of affairs. the soil from erosion.

counter-urbanization the movement of crag and tail a rock mass showing an

people and industry away from major abrupt and often precipitous face on one
towns and cities, de-industrializa¬ side (the crag, the stoss side or stossend)
tion, URBANIZATION. which faced a pre-existing glacier and a
long gentle slope or tail on the other where
country park in Britain, a tract of land,
the hard rock of the ‘crag’ protected loose
in some cases land and water, commonly
material so that it was not swept away by
of about io ha (25 acres), i.e. much smaller
the ice.
than a national PAkK, designated for
the recreational use (without payment) by crater 1. a bowl-shaped depression or
the public. Signposted nature trails are cavity in the earth’s surface, especially that

95
crater lake V v

around the orifice of a volcano 2. a critical geography an approach to the

depression made by the impact of a study of the meeting-point of interna¬
meteorite or artificial explosive, e.g. a tional relations and political geography.
bomb 3. a flaring or bowl-shaped opening GEOPOLITICS.
of a GEYSER. ADVENTIVE CRATER.
critical isodapane the isodapane (iso-)
crater lake a lake occupying a crater, which indicates the point where additional
usually the crater of an extinct volcano. transport costs balance savings in labour
costs.
craton, kratogen a resistant, very large,
stable block of the earth’s crust which has critical path analysis a technique used
remained relatively unaffected by oro- to discover the most efficient sequence of
genic activity (orogenesis) for a very phases necessary to carry out and complete
long period of time. a complex task speedily. A schedule of
phases is drawn up, and this reveals those
creek diverse uses, but most commonly
places where a slight delay will have a
applied to I. a comparatively narrow inlet
knock-on effect, upsetting the whole
of fresh or salt water which is tidal 2. in
schedule. These are the phases which mark
USA and elsewhere, a branch of a main
the critical path, the identification of
river bigger than a brook but smaller than
which is crucial to the smooth, speedy
a river 3. in Australia, an intermittent
running of the operation.
stream.
critical temperature i. the level of tem¬
creep the gradual movement downhill
perature above which a gas cannot be
of rock debris and soil, primarily due to
liquefied by pressure alone, the highest
gravity helped by the presence of water,
temperature at which a liquid and its va¬
alternate freezing and thawing or wetting
pour can co-exist 2. a temperature of
and drying, the growth of plant roots, the
vital importance to a plant, e.g. the tem¬
work of burrowing animals, mass
perature below which growth cannot take
MOVEMENT.
place, in midlatitudes 6°C (43°F) for
crescentic dune barchan. most food crops, accumulated tem¬
perature.
crest of a wave, the position in a wave
where the displacement or disturbance of croft a small agricultural holding worked
particles is at its maximum, trough. for subsistence by an hereditary tenant,
especially in the Highlands of Scotland.
Cretaceous adj. applied to the geological
period when the beds of chalk of crofting a system of small hereditary
southern England were deposited, reptiles tenant holdings, in which the tenant (the
were dominant on land and in the sea, crofter) holds the arable land with a right
and angiosperms became the dominant of grazing, with others, on unenclosed
plants. GEOLOGICAL TIMESCALE. hillsides.

crevasse 1. a fissure or chasm in the ice crop I. the annually or seasonally har¬
ofa GLACIER. LONGITUDINAL CREVASSE, vested produce resulting from the cul¬
TRANSVERSE CREVASSE 2. in USA, a tivation of grain, grass, fruit etc. 2.
break in the natural levee or bank of a cultivated produce while growing, crop
river such as the Mississippi. FARMING, ROTATION OF CROPS.

96
 crystal

crop verb. I. to cultivate, sow, plant, reap the underlying mantle by the moho-

or bear a crop 2. by animals, to eat the tops rovicic discontinuity. There are two
of plants, grasses, to graze 3. in geology, to kinds of crust: continental, which has an
crop out, to come to the surface. average density 2.7, average thickness 35
to 40 km (22 to 25 mi) but under high
crop farming arable farming, the grow¬
mountain chains ranging between 60 and
ing of INDUSTRIAL CROPS, Or of food
70 km (37 and 44 mi), with large areas
crops such as cereals, vegetables etc. on
older than 1500 mn years (some exceeding
arable land (i.e. land which has been
3500 mn years), a complicated structure,
tilled), as distinct from livestock farm¬
and variable composition; and oceanic,
ing or MIXED FARMING.
which is heavier than continental, average
cross-cutting relationships, law of a density 3.0, average thickness only 6 km
law which states that an igneous rock (3.7 mi), nowhere older than 200 mn years,
is younger than any rock across which it with a simple layered structure of uniform

cuts. composition. The junction of the two

types of crust is usually obscured by recent
cross profile of a valley a transverse pro¬ SEDIMENTATION. PLATE TECTONICS.
file of a valley drawn approximately at
right angles to the stream flowing through cryopedology the scientific study of frost
it. RIVER PROFILE. action and of permanently frozen ground,
including studies of the processes and their
cross section I. a transverse section-i,
occurrence and also of the engineering
the surface resulting from the cutting of a
devices and techniques which may be
solid at nght angles to its length or to the
employed to overcome the physical prob¬
axis of a cylinder. 2. a sample that is typical
lems in such conditions.
or representative of the whole.

cross-sectional study longitudinal cryophyte a plant growing on snow or

STUDY. ice, usually a micro-plant such as algae,

but it may also be a bacterium, fungus

crude oil petroleum. or moss. The algae produce red snow.

crumb in soil science, a naturally formed

cryosphere the permanently frozen
rounded, porous aggregate-3 of soil
region of the earth’s surface.
particles, up to 10 mm in maximum
dimension, crumb structure, ped, cryostatic hypothesis the hypo-
SOIL STRUCTURE. thesis-i that debris, in freezing, is

squeezed between downward freezing

crumb structure a soil in which the con¬
ground and the permafrost table, up¬
stituent particles are aggregated into
ward injection taking place in areas where
crumbs which permit the percolation of
relief is easiest, mud circle.
air and water between them, soil
STRUCTURE.
crystal the solid state of many simple sub¬
crust of the earth the lithosphere, the stances and their natural compounds,
outermost shell of the darth, consisting of created naturally in the aggregation of their
the surface granitic sial and the inter¬ constituent atoms in an ordered, regular
mediate basic sima layers, separated from pattern. Usually the external, symmetrical

97
crystalline V v

plane faces of the solid meet at angles people — environment interrelationships

peculiar to the substance. and v impact, the distribution and spatial
diffusion-i of distinct cultures and the
crystalline adj. consisting of, or resem¬
differences between them, and their effects
bling, a CRYSTAL.
on the landscape, cultural landscape,
crystalline rocks rocks composed partly CULTURE AREA, ECOLOGY.
or wholly of crystals. The term applies
cultural hearth the centre, the cradle of
both to igneous rocks (crystallized as a
a culture or ofa cultural group from which,
result of cooling of molten rock) and to
in favourable conditions, the successful
metamorphic rocks (in which the
culture or cultural group will spread,
crystals have developed as a result of
effecting the changes in the natural
metamorphism).
landscape which bring into being the
crystallization the solidification of min¬ particular cultural landscape of the
erals as crystals either through the culture or group, domain-2, outlier-2,
cooling of molten magma or as a result sphere-5.
of METAMORPHISM. CRYSTALLINE ROCK.
cultural landscape the natural land¬
cuesta (Spanish) a landform consisting of scape as modified by human activities,
an asymmetrical ridge with an abrupt cliff i.e. most of the present landscape, there
or steep slope, the escarpment (the being very few parts of the world now
inface) and a gentle back slope (dip slope) unaffected by such activity, cultural
which lies almost parallel to the dip of the HEARTH, CULTURE, CULTURE AREA,
strata, the result of differential denudation LANDSCAPE.
of gently inclined strata where resistant
beds overlie weaker layers. The term cultural region culture area.
covers the whole landform and is prefer¬
able to the ambiguous terms formerly used, culture 1. the collective mental and spir¬
i.e. escarpment and scarp, which are itual manifestations (aesthetic perception,

better applied not to the whole of the beliefs, ideas, symbols, values etc.), the

landform but only to the steep slope. forms of behaviour and social structures
Fig 42. (modes of organization, rituals, groupings,
institutions etc.), together with material
cultigen a plant species-i or its equi¬ and artistic manifestations (tools, build¬
valent produced by cultivation, a product ings, works of art etc.), formulated and
of human action, classification of created by people according to the con¬
ORGANISMS, CULTIVAR. ditions of their lives, characterizing a
sociETY-2,3 and transmitted as a social
cultivar cv, a plant variety arising from
heritage from one generation to the next,
cultivation, deliberately produced by
undergoing modification and change in
human action, as distinct from a natural
'the* process (culture area, culture
variety, occurring without human inter¬
contact, enculturation). Culture
vention. classification of organ¬
exerts a strong influence on the way in
isms, cultigen.
which the environment is perceived.
cultural geography a branch of hum an perception 2. the rearing of fish, silk¬
geography concerned particularly with worms etc. 3. the growing of micro-

98
 current

organisms, tissues etc. in a prepared media, peripheral area (part of the backwash
or the product of such cultivation. effect). AGGLOMERATION ECONOMIES,
CENTRIPETAL AND CENTRIFUGAL
culture area, cultural region a
FORCES, CIRCULAR AND CUMULATIVE
region-i identified by the existence
GROWTH, MULTIPLIER EFFECT.
within it of a single, distinctive cul¬
ture- i or of cultures similar to one cumulonimbus a low-based mass of
another, cultural hearth, cultural cumulus cloud, dark grey when viewed
LANDSCAPE, DOMAIN-2, SPHERE-5. from below, shining white from the side,
developed to a great vertical height, the
culture contact the meeting or mingling upper part spreading into the shape of an
of groups with differing cultural traditions, anvil (anvil cloud, ice anvil, incus),
brought about by migration, displace¬ usually associated with thunderstorms,
ment, or enlargement of territory etc. heavy rain or hail, cloud.
Results vary: a dominant, technologically
superior, stronger, more successful culture cumulostratus stratocljmulus.

may swamp the weaker; the weaker may cumulus a heaped mass of low-lying,
form itself into a self-sufficient, tightly- rounded convection cloud with a large,
knit ethnic minority within the larger white, domed crown, which develops ver¬
group; cultural groups of equal strength tically from a flat base, in some cases to
may merge; or, as a result of the interaction a considerable height. It may disperse as
of diverse cultural groups and traditions, convection currents die away, or
a new society with its own particular develop into cumulonimbus if convec¬
cultural traditions may emerge, accul¬ tion currents grow in power.
turation, ENCULTURATION, PLURAL¬
ISTIC INTEGRATION, PLURALISM, current a body of water, air or other
PLURAL SOCIETY. fluid moving vertically or horizontally in
a definite direction, e.g. 1. the vertical
cumec cusec. movement of fluid material within the
earth, of water in the ocean, of air in an
cumulative frequency distribution in
air mass, convection current 2. the
statistics, a distribution produced by start¬
horizontal movement of water in certain
ing at one end of a range of scores and for
channels of a river 3. the permanent or
each successive class interval adding
semi-permanent, horizontal movement of
the frequency in that class interval to all
the surface water of the ocean-i (drift)
the preceding class intervals. Ifpercentages
caused mainly by the dragging action of
of the total cases falling in each class interval
the planetary winds. Fig 34. 4. the
are used, it is termed a cumulative relative
horizontal movement of water through a
frequency distribution, frequency dis¬
strait due to differences in temperature
tribution.
and salinity at each end. density cur¬
cumulative upward causation the pro¬ rent 5. the horizontal movement ofwater
cess by which economic activity leading through a restricted channel due to
to prosperity and increasing economic differing tidal regimes at each end, i.e. a
development tends to.concentrate in an tidal current (not to be confused with
area with an initial advantage, draining a TIDAL STREAM). LITTORAL CURRENT,
investment and skilled labour from the LONGSHORE CURRENT.

99
current bedding

current bedding, current-bedding, resenting the final stage in the biological

cross bedding, cross-bedding lam¬ succession: diatoms (spring), green algae
inae that lie parallel to each other for short and cyanobacteria (late summer/early
distances but are inclined at angles oblique autumn).
to the general stratification, occurring
cycle 1. a series of events or phenomena
especially in sandstone, due to a change
recurring in the same order 2. a period of
in the direction of the currents in the water
time occupied by such events or phenom¬
and wind depositing the sand grains. If
ena 3. an ordered series of phenomena in
such a change was very marked the beds
which a process is completed, e.g. a life
may be truncated; and laminae deposited
cycle.
thereafter may he at a different angle.
FALSE BEDDING. cycle of erosion the geomorphic cycle
curvilinear relationship in statistics, the defined by W. M. Davis, 1850—1934,

relationship between two variables American geologist and meteorologist, the

which is shown by some kind of curved hypothetical sequence of changes or stages

line rather than by a straight line when through which an uplifted land surface

one is plotted against the other. LiNEAR-4. would pass in its reduction to base level
by the action of natural agencies in the
cusec the unit of measurement of flow processes of erosion. In youth streams
of a fluid, an abbreviation of cubic feet flow through steep-sided V-shaped val¬
per second (1 cusec = 102 cu m per hour), leys; in adolescence the characteristic fea¬
commonly used as a measure of river flow tures of maturity start to appear; in
(the number of cubic feet per second pass¬ maturity (mature) or middle age valleys
ing a particular reach). The abbreviation are broader with gentler slopes; in old
of cubic metres per second is cumec. dis¬ age valleys are broad and flat, rivers slug¬
charge OF A STREAM. gish, and the land surface becomes a

cuspate delta a triangular-shaped delta peneplain, ready for rejuvenation.

with the apex projecting seawards, formed This hypothesis is no longer uncritically

on a straight coast where strong wave accepted, river.

action distributes the sediments evenly on

cycle of poverty poverty cycle.
each side of the river mouth, e.g. the delta
of the River Tevere (Tiber), Italy. cyclogenesis an atmospheric process in
which a local heat force causes horizontal
cuspate foreland a large, approximately
convergence and violent vortical disturb¬
triangular-shaped foreland-i with the
ance, the rotation of the air being intens¬
apex pointing seawards, usually formed by
ified and upward motion speeded up,
the convergence of two curved spits of
resulting in the formation of towering
shingle and sand built up by the action
„ cumulus clouds and the development of
of opposing, powerful constructive waves
intense tropical storms over the ocean.
and currents.
cyclone a system of winds (circulating
cwm (Welsh) cirque.
anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere,
cyanobacteria blue-green algae occur¬ clockwise in the southern) round a centre
ring naturally in eutrophic conditions of low barometric pressure, especially
in persistent warm calm weather, rep¬ applied to a fast-moving tropical revolving

100
 cyclothem

storm where the low pressure system itudes, as the warm moist air mass of the
is small (diameter 80 to 400 km: 50 to depression meets and overrides colder,
250 mi) and the barometric gradient steep, heavier air. Characteristically, widespread
associated with strong winds, thunder¬ drizzle is followed by heavy ram and squalls
storms, heavy rainfall, known as a hur¬ as the cold front passes.
ricane or typhoon. The term used to
cyclothem in geology, a stratigraphical
be applied to any small, travelling low
unit consisting of a series of beds deposited
pressure system, but in midlatitudes such
during a single cycle of sedimentation,
a system is now termed a depression-3,
beginning with shallow water deposits as
low, or cyclonic disturbance, filling.
the land sank, passing into deeper water
cyclonic (frontal) rain precipitation deposits and again into shallow water or
associated with the passage of a coastal deposits as the basins became
depression-3 in middle and high lat¬ infilled or the land rose.
D
dairy cattle cattle reared specifically for invaders in the ninth and tenth centuries
milk production. 2. the part of England governed by those
laws.
dairy farm a farm specializing in dairy
FARMING. dasymetric method a method used in
drawing a density map (e.g. ofpopulation)
dairy farming farming devoted primarily
which does not use average figures related
to the keeping of cows for their yield of
to administrative units (which produces
milk, whether for consumption as such,
an unrealistic map with sharp contrasts
or conversion to butter, cheese and other
between one area and another, choro-
milk products.
pleth map) but instead draws on all avail¬

dale mainly in northern England, a broad, able geographical knowledge to draw up

open valley, a term commonly used in realistic categories for which densities can
place-names. be estimated. Such dasymetric plotting
gives a more realistic representation.
Dalmatian coast a concordant
coastline, a name derived from the east¬ date palm a long-lived tall tree of dry
ern Adriatic coast where the coastline lies subtropical areas, characteristic of the oases

approximately parallel to the trend of the of hot deserts, usually grown without ir¬

relief, the tops of former mountain ranges rigation, and bearing a nutritious fruit with

appearing as lines of islands, the parallel high sugar content. The fruit is sold loose

valleys having been drowned when the as fresh dates, or semi-dried and packaged;

sea level rose, submerged coast. if dried it keeps for a long time and can
be ground into a flour, or soaked in water
dam a barrier of earth, rock, masonry or for eating.
concrete built across the course of a river
to hold back or restrict the flow of the
dating the determining, so far as is pos¬
sible, of dates for structures, events,
water for a specific purpose, barrage.
artifacts. The techniques used in¬
dambo (Bantu) I. the floodplain of a clude DENDROCHRONOLOGY, LICHENO-
river in central Africa, swampy in the wet METRY, OSL, P AL AEOM AGNETISM
season, but dry for most of the year, sup¬ (archaeomagnetism) investigation, po¬
porting long grass 2. a shallow depression, tassium argon dating, radiocarbon
lacking distinct drainage channels, at the dating, varve investigation.
head of a drainage system, a term originally
datum (Latin, pi. data) a thing given,
applied to such a depression in tropical
something known and made the basis of
Africa, now extended to other areas.
reasoning or calculation. Purists maintain
Danelaw I. the code of laws established that the plural, data, should always be used
in north and east England by Norse with a plural verb.

102
 deciduous

datum level, datum line, datum plane rocks, sand, clay, moved from their place
the zero altitude base from which the of origin and redeposited, denudation.
measurement of elevation starts. The Ord¬
debris avalanche a rapid flow of rock
nance Datum (OD) from which heights
debris, sliding in narrow tracks down a
for British official (Ordnance Survey)
steep slope under the influence of gravity.
maps are calculated is the mean sea level
MASS MOVEMENT.
at Newlyn, Cornwall, England.
debris fall the precipitate, nearly free, fall
day the time during which the sun is
of earth debris from a vertical or over¬
above the horizon, the opposite of night.
hanging face under the influence of grav¬
day degree the measure of the duration ity. MASS MOVEMENT.
of temperatures-2 above or below a
debris slide the rapid downward rolling
selected basal temperature in a period ol
or sliding of unconsolidated earth debris,
24hourS. ACCUMULATED TEMPERATURE,
without backward rotation of the mass,
CRITICAL TEMPERATURE.
under the influence of gravity, mass
daylength photoperiod, one of the MOVEMENT.
important environmental factors influ¬
decalcification the removal of cal¬
encing the reproduction of plants, and the
cium CARBONATE from a SOIL HORIZON
seasonal activities of animals (e.g. hiber¬
or horizons as carbonic acid reacts
nation, migration-3, reproduction).
with the carbonate mineral material.
daylight saving a system in which time CARBONATION.
in an area is advanced, usually by one hour,
decentralization i. the action or fact of
in relation to the standard time of that
moving away from a concentration at a
area in order to extend the period of day¬
central point 2. the diminishing of central
light at the end of a normal working day.
control or authority in administration in
dead adj. I. having no life 2. inactive, in order to increase the authority of groups
contrast to active. at places, branches etc. distant from the
centre, or the pursuance of that policy.
dead cave a cave in which excavation and
CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT, CENTRI¬
deposition have finished, active cave.
PETAL AND CENTRIFUGAL FORCES.
dead cliff a sea cliff no longer subject
deciduous adj. applied to trees or shrubs
to erosion by waves owing to the
which shed all their leaves at a certain
build-up of protecting beach material or
season every year, as opposed to ever¬
to a fall in sea level, weathering reduces
green, applied to trees or shrubs which
the angle of slope, and ultimately the dead
carry green leaves throughout the year.
cliff is colonized by vegetation.
Although certain coniferous trees (not¬
dead ice stagnant ice, usually covered ably the larch) are deciduous, deciduous
with rock debris, at the edges of a motion¬ is commonly used as synonymous with
less glacier or ice sheet. broadleaved, applied to trees which
shed their leaves in the autumn or fall
death-rate birth-rate.
in midlatitudes as the temperature
debris detritus, an accumulation ot falls. Deciduous trees of the- monsoon
rock waste consisting of disintegrated forests drop their leaves in the hot dry

103
 \ s.
decolonization

season as a protection against excessive deer park park-i.

V
TRANSPIRATION.
defended neighbourhood a neigh¬
decolonization the process whereby a bourhood with residents who, feeling
metropolitan-2 country gives up its threatened by outsiders who are seen as
authority over a dependent territory so competitors for scarce resources (e.g.
that the dependent territory becomes a housing), try to exclude those outsiders
SOVEREIGN STATE. COLONIZATION-I. from the neighbourhood, e.g. by raising
house prices, racial attack, threatening
decomposition i. in biology, the break¬
graffiti (graffito).
ing down, the separation, of organic mat¬
ter into simpler compounds, food chain deferred junction of a tributary with a
2. in geology, the breaking down of rocks, river, a phenomenon occurring when a
commencing with corrosion of the tributary is prevented by levees from
component minerals. joining the river, and flows parallel with

deduction i. reasoning from the general it for a considerable distance before the

to the particular, i.e. in which the con¬ ultimate confluence-2 which in many

clusion necessarily follows from the cases takes place on the convex side of

given premises 2. the conclusion reached a large meander. A deferred junction

in this way. ecological fallacy, usually occurs on a floodplain.

INDUCTION.
deficiency disease a disease in humans
deep in the ocean, a trough-like caused by the lack of an essential food
depression or trench in the sea floor, of substance (e.g. rickets in children, due to
limited extent and great depth (over a lack of vitamin D).
5500 m: 3000 fathoms: 18 050 ft). Deeps
deflation 1. the removal of fine rock
occur mostly at the convergence of plates
debris by wind, especially likely to occur
in SUBDUCTION ZONES (PLATE TEC¬
in arid or semi-arid areas lacking the
TONICS). Thus there are many near the
protection of vegetation (dust bowl). 2.
island arcs in the Pacific, e.g. the Man¬
in economic geography and economics,
ana Trench near Guam (11 033 m: 6000
the reduction of the value of currency
fathoms. 36 198 ft), or the Emden Deep
or of prices from an inflated condition.
near the Philippines (10 794 m: 5900
INFLATION.
fathoms: 35 413 ft).

deepening in meteorology, the decreas¬ deflation hollow blowout-i.

ing atmospheric pressure at the centre of
deforest, deforestation 1. the perman¬
a low pressure system (depression-3), as
ent removal of forest-i and its under¬
opposed to filling. Deepening usually
growth 2. historically, the release of an area
gives rise to greater windspeed and pre¬
from the strict Forest Laws (forest-2).
cipitation.
deformation in geology 1. a general term
deep focus of an earthquake, a seismic
applied to the change in the shape, volume
focus occurring at a depth below some
or structure of some region or feature of
300 km (185 mi).
the earth’s crust caused by stress-i arising
deer forest forest-4. from tectonic activity (e.g. ofrocks: com-

104
 demographic transition

PRESSION, FAULT, FOLD-2, SHEARING) 2. goods (i.e. from secondary industry)

the process producing those results. usually to the provision of services
(i.e. to TERTIARY INDUSTRY). COUNTER¬
deglaciation, deglacierization the with¬
URBANIZATION, INDUSTRIALIZATION.
drawal of an ice sheet from an area.
Deglaciation sometimes refers to former delta originally the tract of alluvial land
times only, deglacierization to the present. traversed by the distributaries of the River
Nile downstream from Cairo and so
deglomeration the setting-up of pro¬
applied to the more or less triangular ter¬
ductive enterprises at a distance from the
minal floodplain of other rivers. A delta is
centre of an established agglomera¬
formed when a river deposits solid material
tion-4, occurring when the advantages
at its mouth at a rate faster than that by
or economies of the agglomeration
which it can be moved by tidal and other
(agglomeration economies) begin to
currents. As the deposits grow the river
dimmish with its increasing size and land
splits to make new channels and the dis¬
values, etc.
tributaries thus formed divide and subdiv¬
degradation i. the process of lowering ide, each stream depositing its load. Small
a surface by erosion and the removal of deltas may form where a river meets a lake
rock waste 2. the general lowering of the (lacustrine delta), or at the conflu¬
surface of the land by erosive processes 3. ence of rivers where a swiftly flowing
of soil, a change in the soil due to increased stream, carrying its load of deposits, meets a
LEACHING. sluggish older, broader stream. Delta forms
are classified as arcuate (fan-shaped, as
degree (symbol °) 1. the measure of tem¬
the Nile delta), bird’s foot (lobate or
perature on any thermometric scale, tem¬
digitate, as the Mississippi) and cus¬
perature 2. 1/360th of the angle that
pate (as the Tavere). Fig 13.
the radius of a circle describes in a full
revolution; thus a right angle is 90° 3. the demersal adj. sometimes used as a syn¬
unit of angular measurement of latitude onym for benthic, living in the lowest
and longitude, 1/3 60th of the earth’s cir¬ layer of a sea or lake, e.g. demersal fish,
cumference, measuredforLATiTUDE from such as cod, haddock, halibut, sole, plaice,
the equator, for longitude from the living near the bottom of a sea in compar¬
prime meridian. In latitude and long¬ atively shallow water and caught mainly
itude each degree is divided into 60 by trawling, seine.
minutes (symbol ') and each minute into
democracy 1. a form of government in
60 seconds (symbol"). A degree of latitude
which political power lies in the hands of
is roughly 111 km (69 statute mi).
the people through elected repres¬
degrees of freedom in statistics, the entatives. The popular interpretation of
highest number of observations or cat¬ democracy in western societies is that it is
egories it is possible to assign freely before government for the people, of the people
all of those which remain are completely and by the people; and that it therefore
determined. gives rise to policies and decisions which
accord with the general will of the people
de-industrialization the process in
2. a state so governed.
which there is a marked movement of
employment away from the production of demographic transition the gradual

105
 \ N.
demography

Fig 13 Delta forms: an arcuate and a bird’s foot delta

change in the manner of population when the death rate is more hkely to fluc¬
growth occurring over a period of time, tuate than the birth rate, birth rate,

particularly that associated with the effects POPULATION PYRAMID.

of the spread of industrialization and

URBANIZATION On FERTILITY-3 and
demography the scientific study of

mortality. The classical stylized model human populations primarily in respect of

shows four phases. The first is termed high their size, structure and development. It

stationary (high birth and death rates, a is concerned not only with statistics of

fluctuating but low population growth birth, disease, death, marriage, life expect¬

due to famine, disease, war); the second ancy, migration, the division ofpopulation

is early expanding (continuing high birth into groups on the basis of sex, age, marital

rate, but declining death rate, and increase status and the changes in those structures,

in life expectancy resulting from better but also with all aspects of population

nutrition, sanitation and medical care, studies, including relationships with social

leading to an expansion of population); and economic factors, population geo¬

graphy.
the third, late expanding, is characterized
by the stabilization of the death rate at a
demoiselle (French) an earth pillar,
low level, and a decline in the birth rate
weathered from volcanic breccia or
linked to the growth of an urban-industrial
similar material, but capped by a large
society with its high cost of child-rearing
boulder which has protected the material
and the ready availability and use of birth
underlying it.
control techniques. The fourth phase,
low stationary, is a period of very slow dendritic drainage a drainage pattern
population growth, with birth and death resembling the branching of a tree,
rates stabilized at a low level, the former developed especially on a gentle, nearly
being more likely to fluctuate than the uniform slope where no control is exer¬
latter. In this it differs from the first phase, cised by the underlying geological struc-

106
 deposition

ture, so that insequent streams deeper rocks by any natural agency, i.e.
develop, and as each insequent cuts its by any agent of erosion as well as by
own valley it receives its own insequent WEATHERING and MASS MOVEMENT, and
tributaries, drainage. Fig 17. therefore not to be confused with the term
erosion, which excludes weathering and
dendroarchaeology the investigation
mass movement. Denudation is also
concerned with the analysis of wood
applied generally to the lowering of a land
remains found in archaeological excava¬
surface by erosion and the removal of rock
tions and the dating of the sites based
waste, and is thus synonymous with
on such evidence, dendrochrono¬
degradation. Rocks vary in resistance
logy.
to denudation, hence the term differential
dendrochronology dating by the process denudation is applied to areas where this
of counting the annual growth rings is apparent, circumdenudation.
of a tree, dendroarchaeology.
dependency, dependent territory a
denitrification the process in which ni¬ territory relying on or subject to the con¬
trates are broken down by bacteria in trol of another country of which it does
the soil, resulting in the release of free not form an integral part.
nitrogen (free-2) and a reduction in soil
dependency ratio in population, the
fertility. It usually occurs in anaerobic
ratio of the number of people who cannot
conditions, e.g. in a waterlogged soil.
be gainfully employed in a population
NITROGEN CYCLE.
(the dependants) to the number who
density 1. the quantity of anything per are actively or potentially active (the
unit area, hence the density of persons, of employed or employable). The dependent
houses, or of habitable rooms per sq km, population is sometimes classified as those
per ha, per acre etc. 2. the relation of mass in the age groups o to 14 and 65 years of
(the amount of matter) to the space it age and over.
occupies (its volume) expressed as gm per
dependent variable a variable which
cu cm, the unit of measurement used being
is to be explained or predicted. It is de¬
the density of water at o°C (at that tem¬
pendent on one or more other variables
perature 1 cc of water weighs nearly 1 gm).
which may control it or relate to it. Thus
Thus density is an absolute quantity, unlike
it is not under the control of the experi¬
specific gravity which, while numer¬
menter; and it will be affected by other
ically the same, is a relative quantity. The
variables which are being manipulated.
density of water depends on temperature,
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE.
salinity, particles in solution.
depopulation a marked reduction in the
density current an ocean current
number of inhabitants of an area, popu¬
resulting from the differences in den-
lation-2.
sity-2 of water caused by variations in
salinity and temperature, cold or very deposit material laid down, a natural
saline water being more dense, and there¬ accumulation, a sediment, deposition.
fore sinking and flowing,under less dense,
deposition the action of laying down of
warm, less saline water.
material, especially of the debris trans¬
denudation broadly, the uncovering of ported mechanically by wind, running
depressed area \ v

water, tides and currents in the ocean and derelict land land damaged by some pro¬
seas; of the materials transported in solu¬ cess (e.g. by extractive or other industry)
tion, subject to evaporation and chemical and/or neglect, abandoned and left to fall
precipitation (e.g. rock salt) or to the to rum, incapable of being used in its
intervention of living organisms (e.g. present condition.
coral); or of organic matter, mainly the
desalination, desalinization the process
remains of vegetation (e.g. peat). Depos¬
of removing dissolved salts from water,
ition is thus the opposite of denudation,
especially from sea water, or from the soil.
the two processes together acting on the
earth’s crust at or very near its surface. desegregation the process of abandoning
the practice of segregation, e.g. of
depressed area an area in economic
bringing to an end the provision of separate
decline, with a high level of unemploy¬
facilities, such as educational facilities, for
ment over a long period of time, devel¬
different ethnic or social groups.
opment area.
desert a region in which evaporation
depression i. in general, the process of
exceeds precipitation, from whatever
sinking, the action of pressing down, or
cause, so that the moisture present is
the fact of being pressed down, the con¬
insufficient to support any but the scantiest
dition of being lowered in position, of
vegetation, arid, cold-water desert.
being less active than usual 2. any hollow
or relatively sunken area, especially one desertification the spread of land de¬
enclosed by higher land, without an outlet gradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-
for surface drainage 3. in meteorology, humid areas, leading to the outward spread
specifically, a region of the atmosphere of desert fringes, brought about by cli¬
where the atmospheric pressure is lower matic variations and the activities ofpeople
than that of its surroundings, i.e. a low and their livestock.
pressure system, a ‘low’ or ‘disturbance’ in
desert pavement, desert mosaic in a
midlatitudes and high latitudes, replacing
hot desert, an exposure ofbedrock or of
the term cyclone (warm front). A
pebbles, closely packed after the removal
deep depression is one in which the pres¬
of finer rock material, polished or
sure at the centre is considerably lower
smoothed by blown sand so that eventually
than that at the edges; a shallow depression
the upper surfaces of the bedrock or
is one in which there is little difference
pebbles are ground flat. The pebbles are
between those two pressures. Figs 14, 15.
often bonded together by salts drawn to
deprivation the state of being prevented the surface in solution by capillarity
from using, of being taken away from, and precipitated by evaporation, which
of lacking something necessary or desir¬ act as a cement-2.
able. MULTIPLE DEPRIVATION, POVERTY
desert soils soils of arid regions where
CYCLE.
there is a net deficiency of rainfall (com¬
deranged drainage a confused drain- monly areas with rainfall under 250 mm:
age-2 system which produces a mosaic of 10 in), hence a lack of vegetation and a
small lakes, streams, marshes, small islands thin or discontinuous organic layer. There
(as in Finland) caused by the haphazard is commonly a surface layer of pebbles,
distribution of (glacial) drift-i. the leached layer being only about 15 cm

108
 desire line

%> Direction of movement

(20—30 mph/30—50 kmph)

—<•>—Warm front

-A—Cold front

-i**-A**— Occluded front

^-0 Wind direction and force,

cloud cover

Rain

Pressure in millibars

COLD FRONT WARM FRONT

Fig 15 Section through a depression

(6 in) thick, underlain by a carbonate working in them, to such an extent that

layer, soil classification. it contributes to social malaise. The term
has been applied particularly to large (espe¬
design disadvantagement the disad-
cially high rise) blocks of low-rent fiats
vantagement originating from buildings,
in densely built-up urban areas in Britain.
the design of which fails to meet the needs

of people who cannot avoid living or desire line a straight line drawn on a map

109
destructive plate margin

between the point of origin and the point made of the natural and economic
of destination of a trip, i.e. the shortest resources, skills, machinery etc. present
distance between these two points, in¬ there, the necessary capital being available,
dicating the route a person would like to and that what had formerly been potential

follow if it were possible. is being realized, developing, develop¬

ment, third world. The gross national
destructive plate margin collision product (gnp) is commonly used to
ZONE, OCEANIC TRENCH, PLATE TEC¬ measure the degree of such development.
TONICS, SUBDUCTION ZONE. For a broader view see underdevel¬
opment.
destructive wave one of a rapid suc¬
cession of strong storm waves which drop developing adj. applied to a country or
almost vertically on to the beach, the a region, formerly underdeveloped,
backwash of the wave being so much now in the process of becoming
more powerful than the swash that the DEVELOPED.BRANDT REPORT.
beach material is dragged seaward, con¬
development I. the act of causing to
structive wave.
grow, to expand, to realize what had
determinism I. the theory that the formerly been potential 2. in Britain,
world, or nature, or event, or human according to the Town and Country
action is subject to causal law 2. in geo¬ Planning Act 1971, the carrying out of
graphy, the belief that the environment building, engineering, mining or other
(particularly its physical factors) dom¬ operations in, on, over or under land or
inates, even determines, the pattern of the making of any material change of use
human life and human behaviour, that in any building or of the land, brandt
people are largely conditioned by envir¬ REPORT, UNDERDEVELOPMENT.
onmental factors. Scientific determinism
development area in British legislation,
expresses the same belief, but the justi¬
certain parts of the country, particularly
fication for it is statistically based, pro¬
those suffering industrial decline, where
ceeding from statistical analysis of data
development-2, especially of new
sets, rather than from individual case
industry, is to be encouraged by the
studies. ENVIRONMENTALISM, POSSIBIL-
government. In the years between the two
ISM, PROBABILISM.
World Wars some of the older industrial
detritus i. fragmented rock material, areas suffered from serious unemployment
formed by the breaking up and wearing and decay and were successively desig¬
away of rocks, that has been transported nated ‘depressed’ or ‘distressed’ areas,
from the place of origin to a site elsewhere ‘special’ areas, and finally ‘development
2. an accumulation of such material. The areas’.
term debris has now generally superseded
Devensian in Britain, the final glacial
detritus.
stage of the Pleistocene (geological
developed adj. applied particularly to a timescale), characterized by fluctuating
country or a region frequently in con¬ advances of the ice interspersed with
nexion with the economy of the area, warmer conditions, when birch and con¬
implying that the area is culturally and ifers became temporarily, and early human
socially advanced, and that full use is being beings became strongly, established. In the

110
 dialectical materialism

Devensian the extent and duration of the diagnostic horizon a strictly defined

ice-cover varied from one area to another: soil horizon which clearly shows the

nearly all of southern England and East soil-forming processes at work in an area,

Anglia was ice-free; but western Scotland and is used as a basis for classifying soils in

lay permanently under ice for most of this a SOIL CLASSIFICATION.

Stage. FLANDRIAN.

dialectic I. the art of logical disputation,

Devonian adj. of the fourth geological
of critically examining the truth of an
period of the palaeozoic era (geolo¬
opinion or theory by question and answer
gical timescale) when sandstones,
2. in Hegelian philosophy, broadly, the
grits, slates and limestone were laid
logical subjective development in thought
down in the sea (as apparent in south¬
from thesis through antithesis to synthesis
western England) and red and brown sand¬
(dialectical materialism), or logical
stones, conglomerates, marls-3 and
objective development in history by the
LIMESTONE (the OLD RED SANDSTONE)
continuous reconciliation, the unification,
in lakes, and the characteristic life forms
of parts, of opposites. Marx saw this process
were ferns and lower fishes.
at work in his interpretation of the histor¬
dew droplets of water deposited on any ical successionofMODES of production.

cool surface by condensation of In DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM dialectic

water vapour in the atmosphere, is not only equated with the way reality
especially at night after a hot day. dew¬ changes, it is declared to be the method
point, PRECIPITATION-I. of discovering the ‘laws of motion’, a
method, it is asserted, which is applicable
dew-point the temperature at which air,
to all scientific disciplines, historical
on cooling, becomes saturated with
MATERIALISM, MARXISM.
water vapour, and below which con¬

densation begins and dew forms.

dialectical materialism the philosophy
dew pond a shallow artificial pond-i, underlying Marxist theory, first formu¬
lined with a mixture of kneaded clay and lated by Engels (marxism), based broadly
straw and sand (sometimes), made espe¬ on a modification of the standard theory
cially on the chalk downlands of southern of materialism-i combined with a
England, the lining preventing water development of Hegelian philosophy
from percolating downwards. It was long (dialectic-2), i.e. that everything that
believed that these ponds were fed with exists can be shown to derive ultimately
dew, hence the name, but dew contributes from matter and that (using Hegelian
very little to the water held: some of it philosophy) the development of nature,
comes from the condensation of sea mist, society and thought occurs by conflict
but most is derived from precipita- between an original direction (the thesis),
TION-I. its direct opposite (the antithesis) and ulti¬
mately by synthesis (the reconciliation and
D horizon c horizon, soil horizon.
unification of parts of these two extremes).
diabatic adj. of the thermodynamic pro¬ Dialectical materialism maintains that dia¬
cess in which loss or gain of heat occurs lectic is not only the way reality changes,
(e.g. in an air mass), the opposite of it is the method to be used in discovering
ADIABATIC. the ‘laws of motion’, a method applicable

111
diamond \ v.

to all scientific disciplines, historical plants, animals, ideas, culture-i, lan¬

MATERIALISM, MARXISM. guages, knowledge, innovation, tech¬
niques) over an ever-extending surface or
diamond a precious stone, the crystal¬
over space-2 from a single source (termed
line form of pure carbon, the hardest
mononuclear diffusion) or from many
mineral (hardness), usually occurring
sources (polynuclear diffusion), barriers
embedded in pipes-3 iniGNEOUS rock or
AND DIFFUSION WAVES,. DISTANCE-
washed out and redeposited in placers,
DECAY phenomenon 2. in meteorology,
measured in carats. The better quality
the seemingly random mixing of air bodies
diamonds are used as gemstones; the
brought about by a slow process of mixing
poorer in industry for cutting and as
(termed molecular diffusion) or by tur¬
abrasives.
bulence (eddy diffusion). The term is
diaspora the dispersal ofpeople from their also applied to similar processes in liquids
perceived original homeland. and light.

diastrophic eustatism, deformational diffusion wave, innovation wave the

eustatism a global change of ocean level movement of diffusion-i of innova¬
(NEGATIVE MOVEMENT, POSITIVE MOVE- tion, termed the innovation wave by
ment) due to a variation in the capa¬ T. Hagerstrand, who identified four stages
city of ocean beds, caused by filling in its progress, i.e. the primary (the begin¬
in by sedimentation or movements of the ning when the centres adopting the
ocean floors, a change which often leads innovation are established and the con¬
to REJUVENATION. EUSTATISM, GLACIO- trast between them and remote areas is
EUSTATISM. great); the diffusion (the start of the dif-
fusionprocesscharacterizedby the creation
diatom a subdivision of algae, micro¬
of new, rapidly-expanding innovation
scopic, unicellular, yellow-brown, with
centres distant from the source, and a dim¬
silica in the cell walls, occurring singly
ming of the contrast seen in the primary
or in colonies which, with other divisions
stage); the condensing (marked by a relat¬
of algae, form part of marine and fresh¬
ive increase in the number of acceptances,
water plankton. The deposited remains
equal in all locations irrespective of dis¬
of dead diatoms of the past appear today
tance from the innovation source); and
as diatomaceous earth (diatomite) or, with
finally the saturation stage (characterized
other decomposed organisms, as petro¬
by a slowing down and eventual ending
leum. DIATOM OOZE.
of the process, with apparent overall
diatom ooze ooze consisting of the sili¬ acceptance without regional variation).
ceous skeletons of diatoms deposited in The wave will speed up or slow down
the abyssal zone of cold ocean water, according to the nature of the medium
occurring particularly in a belt around the through which it moves; and if it meets
earth in the Southern Ocean in latitudes another diffusion wave coming from
50°S to 6o°S and in the North Pacific another direction from another centre it
Ocean. may completely lose its identity.

diffusion 1. the spreading out, the propa¬ dike, dyke (the spelling dyke is common
gation, the dissemination through time but etymologically incorrect) 1. a ditch, a
of a phenomenon or phenomena (e.g. wall, an embankment, a ridge 2. in geo-

112
 discharge of a stream

logy, an intrusion where the molten applied to the inclination-2 of land

rock (magma) has ascended through an surfaces, apparent dip, strike, true
approximately vertical fissure to solidify as dip. Figs 16, 42.
a wall of rock often harder than the rocks
dip slip slip.
of the surrounding strata, dike-spring,
RING-DYKE. Fig 21.
dip slope the surface slope of the ground
dike- (dyke-) spring a spring-2 issuing where it inclines in approximately the
along the line of a dike-2 where water same direction as the dip-2 of the under¬
from an aquiferous, permeable or lying rocks. CUESTA.
pervious rock meets a dike of imper¬
dip-stream a stream flowing roughly par¬
meable rock which is penetrating the
allel to the dip-2 of the underlying rocks.
aquiferous surrounding strata.

dike (dyke) swarm in geology, a collec¬ Dirichlet polygon a polygon that con¬

tion of dikes-2 of the same age, usually tains within it areas which are nearer to the

with a common trend over a wide area, point around which they are constructed
than to any other points, named after
sometimes radiating from a common
P. G. L. Dirichlet, 1805 — 59, German
centre.
mathematician; also known as a Thiessen
dilatation of rocks, the release of pressure polygon or a first-order Brillouin region.
effected within a rock mass when overly¬
ing layers are removed by denudation, dirt band a dark band of ice, demarcated
causing the rock to expand and split along by light bands, formed within the ice of a
expansion joints (dilatation joints) and glacier between the annual accumula¬
concentric layers at right angles to the tion layers ofFiRN. The almost bubble-free
direction of the pressure release to split dirt band is formed when melt-water con¬
away from the upper surface, from taining dirt is re-frozen. The light ice band,
which they are commonly removed by a mass of bubbles, may be the result of
WEATHERING. winter freezing of snow.

dip i. the angle of maximum slope of an discharge of a stream the quantity of

inclined surface 2. in geology, true dip, water passing through any cross section of
the angle of maximum slope (i.e. maxi¬ a stream in a given unit of time. It is usually
mum INCLINATION-2) of SEDIMENT ARY measured either in cubic feet per second
rocks (or of rocks bedded with them) at (cusec) or cubic metres per second
a certain point. The term should not be (curnec).

Fig 16 Dip

113
 S. v
discordant

discordant adj. at variance, incongruous; tern in which farmhouses and rural dwell¬
not in accord, not harmoniously con¬ ings are scattered instead of being grouped
nected. CONCORDANT. together in a hamlet, nucleated set¬
tlement, VILLAGE.
discordant coast a coast where the coast¬
line cuts across the folds-2 and faults dissection the cutting of a land surface by
of the geological structure, i.e. across the erosion, especially by eroding streams,
‘grain’ of the country; a transverse or into numerous valleys.
ATLANTIC TYPE COASTLINE.
dissolved load the organic and inorganic
discordant drainage the condition of material in solution-i carried by a
drainage when the surface drainage does stream-i , as distinct from the bed load
not directly relate to the dip-2 of the and the suspended load. The total
underlying strata. amount of dissolved material in the water
is usually assessed by evaporating a known
discordant junction a river junction in
volume of filtered water and weighing the
which a tributary stream falls abruptly into
dry residue.
the main stream, e.g. from a hanging
VALLEY. ACCORDANT JUNCTION. distance-decay phenomenon the weak¬
ening, the fading, of process or pattern
disease endemic, epidemic, pan¬
with increasing distance. It is apparent, for
demic.
example, in transport flows in that as the
diseconomies of scale an increase in unit distance between the point of origin and
costs arising from an increased scale of the point of destination increases the
production. This rise in unit costs may be intensity of the flow tends to decrease.
brought about by internal diseconomies
(e.g. the need for a large administrative distanciation time-space distanci-
organization, the loss of contact between ATION.

staff and management), or by the dis¬

distillation a process in which a liquid
economies experienced when an urban
or a solid is subjected to evaporation
area grows so large that it becomes con¬
and condensation in order to purify
gested, transport costs rise and staff are no
it or separate it into smaller parts with
longer readily available, diseconomies
different properties, gas coal.
OF URBANIZATION, DISECONOMY, ECO¬
NOMIES OF SCALE. distributary I. a branch of a river which
flows away from the main stream and does
diseconomies of urbanization the dis¬
not return to it, as in a delta 2. a branch
economies of scale associated with
canal distributing water from a main canal
large cities, with their high costs oflabour,
in an irrigation system 3. an ice stream
land, and transport.
flowing from an ice sheet or ice cap.
diseconomy any unfavourable effect'
distribution 1. in general, the action of
which results from an increased scale of
apportioning, of dealing out, of allocating
production, e.g. diminishing returns or
to distinct places, of dispersing to (or over)
profitability, diseconomies of scale,
all parts of an area or space; or the condition
diseconomies of urbanization.
of being so divided, allocated, dispersed
dispersed settlement a settlement pat¬ 2. the dispersal ofcoMMODiTiES-i among
 dolomite

consumers 3. the geographical range of termed a pie diagram or pie graph, a dia¬
an organism or group of organisms 4. in gram in which a circle, representing the
statistics, a classification or arrangement, total of the values, is divided into sectors,
especially of statistical information. each sector being proportional to the value
CUMULATIVE FREQUENCY DISTRIBU¬ it represents.
TION, NORMAL DISTRIBUTION, POISSON
division of labour international
DISTRIBUTION.
DIVISION OF LABOUR.
disturbance in meteorology, a depres¬
dock an enclosure or artificial basin, fitted
sion-3 or low of no great intens¬
with floodgates, in a harbour or river, in
ity.
which vessels are loaded, unloaded,
diurnal adj. in general, of, or belonging refitted, repaired. The pi. docks, denotes
to, each day, completed once in one day. the dock basins with adjoining wharfs,
warehouses, workshops and yards, offices.
diurnal range the difference between
DRY (GRAVING) DOCK, FLOATING DOCK,
minimum and maximum values in 24
TIDAL DOCK, WET DOCK.
hours, e.g. as applied to air temperature.
dockyard an enclosure with docks and
diurnal rhythm, circadian rhythm the
equipment for building and repairing
rhythmic physiological changes that, ori¬
ships, especially naval vessels.
ginating within an organism, occur in
every 24 hours even when the organism doldrums the region of small pressure
is isolated from the daily rhythmic changes gradient, the belt of calms with high
in its environment, e.g. sleep rhythm in humidity and high temperatures occurring
animals (including humans), or leaf move¬ near the equator, approximately between
ments in plants. 5°N and 5°S, especially over the eastern
part of the oceans, itcz. Fig 5.
divagating meander a meander which
is liable to variation from time to time doline a shallow basin or funnel-shaped
because the surface on which it occurs depression typical of karst landscape. It
approaches the condition ofa peneplain. usually has a flat floor, sometimes cultiv¬
ated, linked to the underlying drainage
divergence in general, the action of start¬
system by a vertical shaft. The size and
ing off from a point or source, and con¬
form vary, the diameter from a few metres
tinuing in separate directions, with the
to a kilometre, the depth from a few to
result that the degree of separation
several hundred metres. If formed mainly
increases with distance 1. in climatology,
by direct solution of surface limestone, it
a type of airflow in which in a certain area
is termed a solution doline; if by the col¬
at a given altitude the outflow is greater
lapse ofa cave roof following subterranean
than the inflow, resulting in a decrease in
solution, a collapse doline.
the air contained 2. in oceanography, the
movement of surface water away from a doline lake a body of freshwater occupy¬
zone, brought about by wind-drift, re¬ ing a DOLINE.
sulting in the rise of water from the
dolomite 1. a mineral consisting of equal
depths.
molecules of calcium carbonate and mag¬
divided circle diagram popularly nesium carbonate, commonly occurring
domain

in evaporite deposits, e.g. from seawater; domestic trade internal trade as opposed
or as a replacement in limestone, some to international trade.
of the calcium having been replaced by
dome volcano a volcano composed of
magnesium; as a cement; as a gangue
highly viscous lava which, on eruption,
mineral in hydrothermal deposits; and
congeals above and around the orifice
in carbonatites 2. commonly applied to
instead of flowing away, the older lava
a rock consisting predominantly of that
sometimes being raised by pressure of the
mineral, hence dolomitic limestone, a
lava welling up from below.
limestone with some dolomite. Dolomite
rock is sometimes termed magnesian dominant adj. controlling or ruling, most
LIMESTONE. CALCIFICATION. noticeable, commanding on account of
strength or position.
domain I. the estate or territory within
dominant wave the largest, most power¬
defined limits over which control or
ful wave rolling on part of the coast.
influence is exerted 2. the zone which
immediately adjoins the core area of dominant wind the wind that blows
a culture-i (cultural hearth) and with the most effect. It may, or may not,
into which the culture spreads. OUT- be the prevailing wind.
LIER-2, SPHERE-5.
dormant adj. sleeping, quiescent, applied
specifically to a volcano which has not
dome loosely applied to any dome-shaped
erupted in historic time, but is not
(hemispherical) mass of rock or dome¬
regarded as extinct.
shaped landform. More precisely applied
to a structural feature where the under¬ dormitory town a town from which res¬
lying rocks form a dome, i.e. the strata idents travel daily to work in an accessible
dip away in all directions from a central, nearby larger town or conurbation.
rounded area, batholith, dome vol¬ COMMUTER.
cano, LACCOLITH, OIL DOME, SALT
dormitory village commuter village
DOME.
dot map a map showing spatial distri¬
Domesday Book a documentary, de¬ bution (commonly based on statistical data
tailed survey of England on a county for an administrative unit) by the use of
basis compiled in 1086—7 on the orders dots, usually of uniform size, each rep¬
of William I (the Conqueror), King of resenting a specific number of the objects
England, recording the extent, value, concerned. The value of the dot must be
ownership of estates, census of house¬ carefully chosen, bearing in mind the high
holders, local customs, in two volumes, and low quantities to be represented and
one covering Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, the their location. If statistical data only are
other the remainder of England apart from available the dots have to be spaced evenly
Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland within the administrative unit; but with a
and north Westmorland, which were knowledge of local conditions they can
excluded. be placed more precisely to give a more
realistic representation, less misleading
domestic animal a tame animal living than even spacing, but usually involving
under and dependent on human care. subjective judgement.
 drift

double tide a tidal regime in which there downwind 1. adj. situated to leeward.
is a double high tide (the first falling a little lee 2. adv. on the leeward side, in the
before rising again to a second maximum, same direction as the wind.
e.g. in Southampton Water, southern
drainage 1. the act of taking off excess
England) or a double low tide (termed a
water from the land by artificial channels
gulder near Portland, Dorset, England). It
2. the natural runoff of water from an
is due to the effects of the shape of the
area by streams, rivers etc. consequent,
coast or of shallow water, tide.
OBSEQUENT, SUBSEQUENT DRAINAGE.
down, downs, downland I. an open The terms applied to the drainage pattern,
expanse of gently undulating, elevated system or network, i.e. to the arrangement
land, usually of chalk and supporting of the main river and its tributaries, include
pasture, typically the treeless chalk ACCORDANT, ANTECEDENT, CENTRI¬
uplands of south and southeastern England PETAL, CONCORDANT, DENDRITIC, DE¬
2. in Australia and New Zealand, midlat¬ RANGED, INCONSEQUENT, INLAND,
itude grasslands 3. The Downs, the name INSEQUENT, PARALLEL, PINNATE, RA¬
given to part of the North Sea near the DIAL, RECTANGULAR, RESEQUENT,
Goodwin Sands, off the east coast of Kent, SUPERIMPOSED, TRELLIS. Fig 17.
England.
drainage area all the land with a common
downsizing in industry, the reduction in outlet for its surface water, synonymous
number of employees. with river basin if the river flows into
the ocean; but if several rivers flow into
downthrow in geology, the subsidence
an inland sea the whole area draining to
of rock strata on one side of a fault, the
that sea may be included.
strata being lowered on the downthrow
side. THROW OF A FAULT.
drainage basin the tract of land drained
downtown (American) the main business by a sole river system.

district of a town or city, central

draw (American) a blind creek.
BUSINESS DISTRICT.
drift 1. in geology, transported superficial
downward-transition region core¬
deposits, especially those transported and
periphery MODEL.
deposited by ice, the two main types being
down-warping a smooth, downward stratified drift (fluvioglacial depos¬
deformation or sagging of the earth’s crust ition) and unstratified (boulder clay,
caused by the pressure of weight of a wide¬ till). In the British Geological Survey
spread and geat mass of material, such as ‘drift’ maps cover all superficial deposits;
a continental ice sheet (e.g. as in the Great the ‘solid’ edition maps cover the solid
Lakes margin of the Canadian Shield) or bedrock. 2. slow movement, e.g. of sur¬
sediments (e.g. as underneath the Missis¬ face waters in the ocean under the influ¬
sippi delta). When the great weight is ence of prevailing winds, less distinct than
removed the crust recoils and in many a current 3. the movement, and
cases large shallow lakes result. In North accumulation, of loose material such as
America down-warping and recoil con¬ snow (snowdrift) or sand (sand drift,
tributed to the formation of the Great sand dune) caused by wind, continen¬
Lakes, geosyncline. tal DRIFT.

117
drift net

Fig 17 Drainage patterns

drift net a large fishing net, held down meteorology as absolute drought,
and open by weights at the bottom and PARTIAL DROUGHT and DRY SPELL.
floats at the top, that moves with the tide.
drove-road, drove-way a driftway,
drizzle a very fine rainfall, with raindrops
drift-way, an ancient road or track along
less than 0.5 mm (0.02 in) in diameter,
which there is free right of way for cattle
falling continuously, especially associated
but which is not necessarily kept in order
with a WARM FRONT.
by any authority. Hence drover, one who
drought a prolonged, continuous period drives droves of cattle, sheep etc. to a
of dry weather, classified in British distant market, and is thus a dealer in cattle.

118
 dry adj.

drowned valley a valley which was ex¬ axis in line with the movement of the
cavated in a land surface but owing to a ice that deposited it. Rock drumlins are
change in sea level has been partly or smoothed mounds of rock with or without
wholly drowned by the sea. concord¬ their veneer of boulder clay. Drumlins
ant COAST, FJORD, RIA. often occur in groups (swarms) as a
drumlin field or basket of eggs relief.
drumlin a smooth, oval, low hill or FALSE DRUMLIN.

mound composed mainly of boulder

clay or glacial sands and gravels, occur¬ dry adj. lacking moisture, specifically
ring in a once-glaciated region, the long defined when applied to air (less than 60

119
 \ s.
dry adiabatic lapse rate

per cent relative humidity) and to cli¬ dry stone wall a wall, usually of natural
mate (generally when evaporation exceeds stdne, built without mortar, to mark
precipitation), arid. boundaries, especially in southwestern and
northern Britain.
dry adiabatic lapse rate the rate of loss
of temperature with increasing height dry valley a valley, originally carved by
occurring in an unsaturated body of air water (especially in chalk and lime¬
as it ascends adiabatically (adiabatic), stone), which no longer has a running
about i°C in ioo m (5-4°F in 1000 ft) stream, though a bourne may flow after
of ascent, environmental lapse rate, heavy precipitation. There are many
LAPSE RATE, SATURATED ADIABATIC theories about the origin of dry valleys,
LAPSE RATE. including a slow lowering of the water
table resulting from lowered precipita¬
dry-bulb thermometer an ordinary
tion; or the divergence of a stream that
mercury thermometer used together
formed the valley (river capture); or
with a wet-bulb thermometer to dis¬
a change in climatic conditions (e.g. in
cover RELATIVE HUMIDITY.
Pleistocene glaciations); or the cutting
dry (graving) dock a narrow basin into back of an escarpment with resultant
which a vessel passes and from which water lowering of the spring-line; or surface
is then pumped, leaving the vessel out of erosion under periglacial conditions;
the water, dry, for repair, dock. or spring-sapping; or, in limestone, the
disappearance of a former surface stream
dry farming a farming practice that
down a joint, or the collapse ofan under¬
involves special treatment of the land to
ground cavern. It is also possible that some
overcome a shortage of water. One
small dry valleys in chalk were formed not
method is to crop the land only every two
by stream erosion but by the enlargement
years, conserving at least part of the rainfall
of lines ot structural weakness, e.g. some
of one year to add to that received in the
joints enlarged by frost, the debris being
next by pulverizing the soil surface or by
moved away by solifluction.
protecting it by a mulch (a layer of straw
or decaying plant leaves etc.). dualism the quality or state of consisting
of two distinct parts, e.g. the condition
dry gap wind gap.
in the economy of a country where a
drying oil an oil that has the property of relatively small group of well-educated,
drying and forming a thin elastic film on affluent, socially and economically ad¬
exposure to air, e.g. linseed oil, used indus¬ vanced controlling elite live in the cen¬
trially. tral city or in the larger towns, where
the economy is dynamic and growing,
dry point settlement a settlement on a
industry (supported by large injections of
site not liable to flooding in a flood region,
qapital) uses modern production tech¬
or on a patch of dry soil in a wet soil'
niques and management and is capital
region, wet point settlement.
intensive, labour is specialized, commer¬
dry spell i. in UK, any period of cial exchange is extensive and complex,
drought 2. in USA, a period of 14 days the professions are gathered together and
without measurable precipitation, abso¬ salaries are high, while the majority of the
lute DROUGHT. population (who are much poorer) live in

120
 dust-devil

the countryside where the economy is market by two suppliers, who thus dom¬
static, industry is labour intensive, tech¬ inate the market and between them con¬
niques are traditional, trade with other trol the price and scale of the supply.
areas is limited and services are inadequate. MONOPOLY, OLIGOPOLY, PERFECT COM¬
PLURALISM. PETITION.

ductile adj. of metals, capable of being durable goods goods that are not likely
pressed or drawn into shape without the to wear out or decay for a long time,
aid of heat, malleable. e.g. carpets, furniture, to buy which the
consumer is prepared to travel some dis¬
dude ranch a ranch organized for the
tance. CENTRAL PLACE THEORY, CON¬
entertainment of tourists, as a place for a
VENIENCE GOOD, ORDER OF GOODS.
holiday, mainly in the USA.
duricrust a hard crust covering a relatively
dumb-bell island an island consisting of
soft soil surface in semi-arid, flat areas with
two parts, often rocky, joined by a narrow
a short rainy season and a long, hot dry
isthmus, often of sand, which is never in
season. It consists of aluminous, cal¬
any part of its length below high water
careous, siliceous, ferruginous and mag¬
mark, tombolo.
nesian materials, drawn to the surface by

dune a hill or ridge of sand piled up by capillarity, which brings to the upper

the wind in dry regions (desert dunes) or soil during the dry season the minerals

along sandy coasts, often independently of dissolved during the wet season. At depth

any fixed surface feature which might form it forms duripan (hard pan).

an obstacle. The form depends on the

dust minute particles of any comminuted
presence of such an obstacle (which may
dry matter, so fine that they can float in
provide a nucleus), the type and quantity of
air.
sand, the characteristics of the land surface
over which the sand is moved, the strength dust bowl a semi-arid tract of land from
and direction of the wind, the presence or which the surface soil, exposed by the
absence of ground water, and ofvegetation unwise removal of the covering grassy
which ‘fixes’ the sand. Coastal dunes are vegetation by ploughing or over-
particularly affected by the presence or grazing, has been blown away by
absence of vegetation and of welling-up wind (deflation-i). The term became
ground water as well as by erosion by the widely used after two or three very
sea. They are identified, in sequence from dry years (especially 1934 — 5) in south¬
the sea inland, as foredunes, mobile western USA, when strong winds raised
dunes, stabilized dunes. For other huge dust-storms in areas where grassy
dune details see advanced dune, anti¬ vegetation, formerly protecting the soil,
dune, ATTACHED DUNE, BARCHAN, had been removed by ploughing and the
HEAD DUNE, LATERAL DUNE, LONG¬ land had been cultivated without the
ITUDINAL DUNE, PARABOLIC DUNE, necessary protection of windbreaks,
PLINTH, SEIF-DUNE, SLIP-FACE, TAIL soil erosion.
DUNE, TRANSVERSE DUNE, WAKE DUNE.
dust-devil a local swirl of wind, laden
duopoly the exclusive control of the sup¬ with dust, forming a fast-moving pillar
ply of a product or service in a particular of dust, varying in breadth and height,

121
dust-storm \ x.

common in most arid lands, especially in dynamic metamorphism, dynamo-

hot deserts. It is created by extreme, metamorphism the alteration of pre¬
localized heating of the land surface, lead¬ existing rocks by intense pressure
ing to strong convection currents, associated with earth movements, usually
which gather up the dust, whirlwind. on a relatively small scale and without a
great rise in temperature, so that new,
dust-storm a broad, general term applied
well-defined rock is formed, meta-
to a strong dust-laden wind in arid and
MORPEIIC ROCK, METAMORPHISM, THER¬
semi-arid regions, arising when the air is
MAL (contact) METAMORPHISM.
very hot, excessively dry and accompanied
by high electrical tension. The turbulent dynamic rejuvenation rejuvenation
wind gathers dust from the dry surface caused by epeirogenic uplift of a land-
and carries it to heights up to 3000 m mass with accompanying tilting and
(10 000 ft), sometimes producing a wall of warping.
dust, sometimes a dust-laden whirl¬
wind, larger than a dust-devil, dust dyne an absolute unit of force: that force
BOWL, SANDSTORM, SIMOOM. which, when applied to a mass of one
gram, produces an acceleration of one
dyke, dyke-phase, dyke-spring, dyke
centimetre per second per second. On si
swarm dike, ring-dyke. Fig 21.
io5 dynes = 1 newton. At sea-level at
dynamic adj. of or related to motion or 45°N and45°Samass ofi gram is subjected
force. to a gravitational force of 980.616 dynes.

dynamic equilibrium a state in which dystrophic adj. applied to a body of fresh¬

balance is maintained despite continual water poor in plant nutrients and low in
change, e.g. on a slope where the rate of calcium, occurring typically in acid peat
weathering of the rock is balanced by the areas, the bed of the water being covered
rate of removal of the weathered rock with undecomposed plant remains, eu-
material, steady state. TROPHIC.

122
eagre, egre a tidal wave or bore. land (29.22 per cent of the surface); but
some authorities give the surface area as
earth I. the planet on which we live, a
509 610 000 sq km (196 836 000 sq mi), of
flattened sphere (oblate spheroid) in
which 148 065 120 sq km (57 168 000 sq
orbit round the sun, fifth in size and third
mi) is land. The mean density is 5.517; the
in order from the sun of the nine planets
mass is 5.882 x io21 tonnes, atmosphere,
of the solar system. The polar diameter
AXIS OF THE EARTH, BARYSPHERE, CORE,
is 12 712 km (7899 mi), the equatorial
CRUST, HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE, HYDRO¬
diameter 12 755 km (7926 mi); the polar
SPHERE, LITHOSPHERE, MANTLE, ORBIT
circumference 40 008 km (24 860 mi), the
OF THE EARTH, PLATE TECTONICS,
equatorial circumference 40 076 km
ROTATION OF THE EARTH. TERRESTRIAL
(24 902 mi). It is generally agreed that the
magnetism 2. the solid material of that
surface area is 510100448 sq km
planet, as distinct from air and water 3.
(196 949 98osqmi), ofwhich 361 059 266
the disintegrated, loose material on the
sq km (139 405 122 sq mi) is water (70.78
surface of it, the soil as distinct from the
per cent of the total surface) and
solid rock. Fig 18.
149 041 182 sq km (57 544 858 sq mi) is

Plane of the ecliptic

Vernal
equinox
Summer 21 March
solstice
21 June

Night
North Pole Winter
solstice
Arctic Circle
22 Dec.
Tropic of Cancer Autumnal
equinox
Rotation of Earth 23 Sept.

Equator

Day

Circle of illumination

Fig 18 The earth’s orbit, and seasons in the northern hemisphere

123
earthflow

earthflow a slipping downwards of measured on the richter scale and of

unconsolidated rock material on the intensity (related to the effects of waves at
earth’s surface, due to its saturation by the surface) on the modified mercalli
water and the influence of gravity, occur¬ SCALE. AFTERSHOCK, ASTHENOSPHERE,
ring on steep and shallow slopes, mass ELASTIC REBOUND, HOMOSEISMAL LINE,
MOVEMENT, MUDFLOW, SOLIFLUCTION. PLATE TECTONICS, SEISMIC FOCUS, SOIL
LIQUEFACTION.
earth-movement i. a movement of the
earth’s crust arising from disturbances in Earth Resources Technology Satellite
the earth’s interior (compression, de- ERTS. LANDSAT.
PRESSION-I, FAULTING, FOLDING, TEN¬
earth’s crust crust.
SION, uplifting), including both the slow
(secular) movements and the sudden earth’s magnetic field terrestrial
(earthquakes and volcanic activity) 2. MAGNETISM.
a synonym for orogenesis.
Earth Summit, Rio the meeting of the
earth pillar a high pillar of earthy material Heads of Government in Rio de Janeiro,
or soft rock, sandstone etc. capped by a June 1992, at which contemporary
stone or boulder which protects the environmental problems were discussed,
underlying soft, easily eroded material. including the need to reduce atmospheric
Earth pillars are common in dry regions pollution; climatic change; sustain¬
which are subject to occasionally heavy able development; and the mainten¬
downpours, demoiselle. ance of BIODIVERSITY.

earthquake a shaking of the ground earth tremor a small, low intensity

caused by deep-seated disturbances, pro¬ EARTHQUAKE.

ducing a series of elastic shock waves

east 1. one of the four cardinal points
spreading outwards from the epicentre.
of the compass, the direction at which
An earthquake usually originates from
the sun rises at the equinox 2. adv.
sudden adjustments in the crust of the
towards the area lying in that direction
earth, notably by movement along faults
from the observer, hence, from Europe,
(and thus of tectonic origin), or as a result of
the NEAR EAST, MIDDLE EAST, FAR EAST
volcanic activity. Most severe earthquakes
3. adj. of, pertaining to, belonging to,
are associated with fault lines where
coming from, or situated towards the east,
there are no volcanoes to act as safety
e.g. of winds blowing from that direction.
valves. Occasionally they occur in granitic
and metamorphic rocks of continental easting the first part of a grid reference
shields. These may be due to the weak¬ (grid), the distance east on a map as
ening of the crust arising from com¬ measured from a point fixed in its south¬
pression of plate edges; or the weakening west corner, northing.
of the crust from previous tectonic activ¬
ebb and flow the backward and forward
ity. The shock waves are classified as P
movement of tidal water in relation to the
(primary, push wave), a body wave
shore, slack-2.
within the earth; S (secondary, or shake
wave); and L (surface, longitudinal ebb channel 1. the channel in which the
w a ve) . The degree of magnitude is usually tide flows out most strongly in a river

124
 economic base theory

estuary 2. the route taken by a tidal system by the gradual readjustments in

stream as it flows seaward after high tide, the composition of a balanced community
in some cases differing from the flood in response to natural succession,
channel, the route taken by the flood tidal changes in climate, or other influences.
stream. Such a delicate balance is easily upset by
human activities, e.g. by the introduction
ebb tide the receding or outward move¬
or elimination of plants or animals, by
ment of tidal water, after high tide and
pollution of the environment, by the
before low tide, in contrast to the flood
destruction of habitats etc.
TIDE. SLACK-2.
ecological factor any environmental fac¬
echo sounder an instrument used espe¬
tor which affects a living organism.
cially for calculating the depth of water
by measuring the time taken for a sound ecological fallacy the false assumption
(sonic or ultra-sonic vibration) generated that characteristics or relationships ob¬
at the surface to return after being reflected served in aggregated (aggregate-i) data
from the sea floor (sounding). It is also are also present in the individual data from
used to measure the thickness of ice and which the aggregated data is produced.
the depth of different densities of rock or HISTORICAL FALLACY.
of soil. SONAR.
ecological validity a research finding
eclipse the total or partial cutting off of held to be true in a range of natural settings
light received by one celestial body from or conditions, as distinct from on 2 that is
another by the interception of a third ce¬ true in artificial settings or conditions only.
lestial body in passing between the other
two. From the earth the eclipse of the ecology the scientific study of the inter¬
sun (solar eclipse) occurs when the moon relationships between living organisms
comes into line between the sun and the and the environment (including the
earth and casts a shadow on the earth; the other living organisms present) in which
eclipse of the moon (lunar eclipse) when they live. Without qualification the term
the earth intercepts light from the sun to ecology tends to be confined to plant eco¬
the moon and casts a shadow on the moon. logy. Ecologists use many special terms
in their studies, particularly in connexion
ecliptic the apparent path of the sun in
with plant communities which have
the celestial sphere during the period
developed in harmony with the environ¬
of one year as seen from the earth, and
ment, the idea of development (climax,
relative to the fixed stars. The path makes
succession) being fundamental, eco¬
a great circle, at an angle of 2}°2j' with
system, ecotone. Geography has been
the celestial equator; and it is divided into
defined as human ecology, the inter¬
12 imaginary sections, each identified by
relationship between people and place.
a sign of the zodiac. Fig 18.
economic base theory a theory based
ecocentrism the state or quality of being
on the assumption that urban and regional
focused on the elements-i of the natural
growth can be explained in terms of the
environment, anthropocentrism.
♦
numbers employed in the basic activ¬
ecological balance the balance of nature, ities, responsive to external demand, and
the balance maintained in a stable eco¬ the non-Basic activities, meeting the

125
 S s.

economic determinism

internal demands of the city or region cqsts and the highest profits, bounded

itself. LOWRY MODEL. RATIONALITY.

economic determinism in Marxism, economic rent i. the net surplus avail¬

the theory that the economic processes of able to any factor of production (e.g. cap¬
a society have a determining effect on its ital, labour, land) after the deduction (a) of
other processes, particularly, for example, all the costs, including interest on invested
on the political processes, technolo¬ capital, involved in keeping it in its present
gical DETERMINISM. use; and (b) the returns possible from an
alternative use of the factor of production
economic distance the distance a com-
(termed opportunity costs), land rent.
modity-i may travel before its value is
This concept of economic rent is used
exceeded by the transport costs.
particularly in agricultural geography to
economic geography the branch of account for the farmer’s decision to use
geography dealing with the interaction land in one way rather than another (based
of geographical and economic conditions, on the assumption that the farmer will opt
with the production, spatial distribution, for the use yielding the higher economic
exchange and consumption of wealth, and rent) 2. a variation of that application,
with the study of the economic factors used in studies of agricultural location, to
affecting the areal differentiation of account for the fact that the land is farmed
the earth’s surface. at all. InsuchstudiesOPPORTUNiTY costs

are not taken into account, ignored on

economic good a good of economic
the assumption that only one use of the
value, i.e. it is useful, scarce and market¬
resource is possible, i.e. agriculture. The
able. Economic goods are usually classified
economic rent then becomes the net
as consumer goods and services, and
income earned by the farmer in excess of
producer goods and services, capital
the net income which might be earned
GOODS, COMMODITY, CONSUMER DUR¬
from producing at the margin. The margin
ABLES, FREE GOODS.
is the point where the level of net income
economic growth the increase in real justifies the use of land for agriculture,
national income or (more commonly) in and where a true economic rent (defined
real national income per head over a long above) is non-existent. The position of
period of time. the margin is usually governed by the level
of transport costs involved in marketing,
economic man in classical eco¬
which increase with increasing distance
nomic theory, a person who is motiv¬
from the market. David Ricardo, the nine¬
ated solely by economic considerations,
teenth century classical economist, held
who manages personal income and ex¬
this same concept of economic rent, but
penditure strictly in accordance with per¬
he considered variations in soil fertility
sonal, material interest, profit being the'
resulted in variations of land use, resulting
only objective. This concept assumes per¬
in differences in economic rent. 3. a syn¬
fect knowledge of relevant circumstances
onym for LAND RENT. RENT, VON
and a perfect ability to use that knowledge
THUNEN MODEL.
in order to take the greatest advantage of
it; and the gift oftotally accurate prediction economies of scale the lowering of unit
in order to achieve the lowest possible costs achieved by increasing the scale of

126
 ecumenopolis

production. The reduction in unit costs is and physical factors of the environment in
brought about by internal economies, i.e. which they live, all being linked by the
economies within the enterprise (e.g. transfer of energy and materials (food
greater specialization and division of chain). The boundary of an ecosystem is
labour, the spreading of research, develop¬ difficult to define (the whole world may
ment and other fixed costs over more be considered as an ecosystem), but the
production units) and from the external term is usually applied to a small system
economies (economies of localization) where the net transfer of energy and
which arise when firms in the same or materials across the boundary is low, e.g.
similar industries are located close a pond, a forest, a small oceanic island. An
together, thereby benefiting from the ecosystem is never totally self-contained
availability of a skilled labour force, or closed: solar energy received crosses the
specialist services, supplies, infrastructure, boundary, as does a foraging animal. The
marketing etc. (agglomeration-3), or part of the world which forms the home
when the growth of an entire industry for an ecosystem is termed an ecotope;
reduces the costs in each individual firm. but ecotope is sometimes used as a syn¬
DISECONOMIES OF SCALE, ECONOMIES onym for ecosystem.
OF URBANIZATION.
ecotone a transitional zone between two
economies of urbanization the eco¬ habitats where different plant associ¬
nomies of scale achieved by a wide ations merge.
range of industries from the circumstances
ecotope ECOSYSTEM.
of urbanization-i, i.e. the well-
developed physical structure and services, ecotourism tourism planned to respect
large labour force with diverse skills, large and safeguard the environment, based on
potential market, diseconomies of the natural attractions of an area and aware
URBANIZATION. ofthe conceptofsUSTAINABLE DEVELOP¬
MENT of fragile ecosystems.
economy i. a system-5 of production
and distribution designed to meet the ecumene, oecumene I. the habitable
material needs of a country, region or world known to the ancient Greeks 2. the
society 2. a part of such a system, e.g. part ofthe earth’s surface suitable, through
agricultural economy. climatic conditions, for permanent human
settlement, anecumene.
eco-refugees people who leave their
homeland to escape drought, desert¬ ecumenopolis the city of the future,
ification, soil erosion and other covering most of the habitable surface of
environmental problems. the earth as a continuous system, forming a
universal settlement, the limits determined
ecosphere the biosphere and all the
by climatic constraints and the extent of
ecological factors which affect
fairly flat land. The term was introduced
organisms.
in 1961 by C. A. Doxiadis, who saw the
ecosystem ecological system, a system-2 natural hierarchy of large urban settle¬
formed by the interaction of all living ments as large city, metropolis-2,
organisms (plants, animals, bacteria etc.) CONURBATION, MEGALOPOLIS, ecu-
with each other and with the chemical menopolis.

127
 S. v
edaphic

edaphic adj. related to, due to, dependent Republic. Greenland, on gaining inde¬
on, or having characteristics due to, the pendence from Denmark, withdrew on
nature of the soil. 23 February 1982. Greece joined in 1981,
Spain and Portugal in 1986, Sweden and
edaphic climax the vegetation climax
Finland in 1995. Customs duties on trade
produced by edaphic factors.
between the six were phased out by 1 July
edaphic factors soil factors, the biologi¬ 1968, between the nine by 1 July 1977.
cal, chemical and physical properties of a Some developing countries have associate
soil. EDAPHIC CLIMAX. status in the EEC, others have trading
agreements with the Community. In 1992
edaphic formations vegetation forma¬
the name was changed to the European
tions classified according to the soil types
Union (EU). The aims, operation and
that determine them, as distinct from cli¬
membership of the EU are detailed in the
matic FORMATIONS.
Statesman’s Year-Book, Macmillan, cap.
eddy a swirling movement of fluid within
effective accessibility the extent to
a larger mass of fluid, in a direction con¬
which a place or service is actually access¬
trary to that of the main flow, e.g. as in
ible, governed not only by the distance to
depressions or highs in the atmosphere, or
be travelled but also by whether or not
in the water of a river as it encounters
the means of transport, the time avail¬
an obstruction in its flow, hydraulic
able, and social circumstances make an
FORCE.
approach possible, accessibility, cost
edge i. loosely, a sharp ridge, especially space.
one with an exposure of rock, a topo¬
effective precipitation 1. that part of
graphic term not generally used spe¬
total precipitation which is of use to plants
cifically in geographical writing, but
2. in hydrology, that part of total precip¬
commonly used in place-names to indicate
itation which flows into a stream channel.
an arete, ridge or mountain crest, e.g.
Wenlock Edge in Shropshire, England 2. effluent a pouring out, flowing away,
in mathematics, a link, a route in a topo¬ hence a stream flowing out of a lake or
logical diagram, graph-2. out of a reservoir, or from land after ir¬
rigation; or the flow of waste liquid from
EEC, European Economic Com¬
sewage works or from a factory.
munity, Common Market, European
Union (EU) a group of European coun¬ EFT A, European Free Trade Associ¬
tries established i January 1958 on the basis ation a group consisting originally of
of a treaty signed in Rome 25 March 1957. seven European countries (sometimes
The aims included increased productivity, known as the outer seven in contrast to
free mobility oflabour, coordinated trans¬ the original six countries of the EEC)
port and commercial policies, and control, which linked themselves together effect¬
of restrictive practices among members. ively in i960 for the purposes of trade,
The original six members, Belgium, aiming to abolish tariffs on imports of
France, Federal Republic of Germany, goods originating in the group. The ori¬
Italy, Luxembourg and Netherlands, were ginal members were the UK, Norway,
joined 1 January 1973 by the UK, Den¬ Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, Austria and
mark (with Greenland) and the Irish Switzerland, joined by Iceland 1970, Fin-

128
 electron

land as an associate member 1961. The temperatures (usually exceeding 3000°C:

UK and Denmark left 1972 on joining the 5420°F), occurring when an electric cur¬
EEC. rent is carried by the vapour of the elec¬

trode (or by ionized gas) between two

egocentrism the state or quality of being
separated electrodes, arc furnace.
egocentric, of perceiving the world with
the self as centre. In the ordering of the electricity, electrical energy, elec¬
world from the egocentric viewpoint (i.e. trical power power generated in dy¬
with the individual perceiving self as namos in which energy is derived from
centre), the value of its components, the turbines of two types: 1. steam-turbines
perceived objects, declines rapidly with (producing thermal electricity) driven by
increasing distance from the individual. heat from coal (especially low-grade bi¬
ANTHROPOCENTRIC, ETHNOCENTRISM. tuminous, lignite and brown coal), oil-,

NATURAL GAS, PEAT, NUCLEAR ENERGY,

E horizon soil horizon.
geothermal energy (and, experiment¬
ejido (Spanish) 1. a system of land tenure ally, solar energy) 2. hydraulic turbines
reform under which haciendas were (producing hydroelectric power)

transferred to communal ownership in driven by water power, including tidal

Mexico 2. an agrarian property, held and power (tidal power station). The
worked in common, and belonging to output of electrical energy is commonly
Mexican villagers. measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh).

elastic adj. of or pertaining to any sub¬ electrode either of the two conductors

stance that returns to its original shape or (i.e. the anode or the cathode) by which

size after being defomied by stress so long an electric current is passed by an electrical

as the stress does not exceed the elastic circuit in an apparatus such as a discharge

character of the substance and the sub¬ tube or an electrolytic cell, electric arc.

stance itself is not over-fatigued, plastic.

electromagnetic spectrum the range of
elastic rebound the recoil of rocks to a wavelength (or of frequencies) of energy
position near to that of the original after radiated by electromagnetic waves.

they have been forced apart by stress and The spectrum is divided into bands on the
the strain has relaxed, as in faults and basis of the type of wave, i.e., in order of
EARTHQUAKES. decreasing wavelength, radiowaves (the
longest), radar waves, infra-red radiation,
E-layer heaviside layer.
visible light, ultra-violet radiation, x-rays
elbow of capture of a river, river and gamma rays. Fig 19.
CAPTURE.
electromagnetic wave a wave propag¬
electoral geography the branch of ated through space or a medium by simul¬
human geography concerned with the taneous periodic variation in the electric
study of election statistics and the geo¬ and magnetic field intensity at right angles
graphical aspects of the organization, re¬ to each other and to the direction of
sults and consequences ofelections. propagation, electromagnetic spec¬

trum, ENERGY.
electric arc a luminous, continual elec¬

trical discharge producing very high electron ion.

129
element \ v

Near
Gamma rays Ultraviolet infrared Microwaves AM radio
I I I-1 |-1 kr ~i I-1
1CT7 10'6 10'5 1CT4 10'310-2 10'1 1 10 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109

Wavelength (/2m)

-J L J
Cosmic rays X-rays Thermal Weather radar Short-wave Long-wave
Visible \ infrared Radiosonde radio radio

0-4 05 06 07 Television
FM radio
L
Violet
Blue
J
J L Orange
Red

Green Yellow

Fig 19 Electromagnetic spectrum showing bands and wavelengths

element 1. generally, a small quantity of el Nino effect a warm ocean current,

something, present in a larger whole 2. a originating in the warm equatorial current,
basic component of a branch of study 3. which every seven to fourteen years tem¬
in ancient and medieval philosophy, one porarily replaces the cold current (Hum¬
of what were considered to be the basic boldt current) off the Peruvian coast. This
constituents of the universe, i.e. earth, air, occurs when the southeast trade winds in
fire, water 4. rhetorically, ‘to brave the the Pacific lose their strength; it leads to a
elements’, to go outside in unpleasant fall in the quantity of plankton associ¬
weather, e.g. in a heavy snowstorm 5. in ated with the cold Humboldt current, and
biology, the natural habitat of an organism thus to a decrease in fish numbers. It also
6. in chemistry, a substance that has never seriously upsets the tropical atmos¬
been separated into simpler substances by pheric circulation, leading to major
ordinary chemical means because all its climatic anomalies. These self-reinforcing
atoms have the same atomic number. disturbances of ocean and atmosphere are
There are over 100 such substances termed the El Nino and Southern Oscilla¬
known, any of which, individually or tion (ENSO).
together, are present in all matter, the first
eluvial horizon the soil layer (broadly
ninety-two (up to and including uranium)
the a horizon) that is subject to elu-
occurring naturally.
VIATION. HARD PAN, ILLUVIAL, ILLU¬
elevation 1. the vertical distance above a VIATION, SOIL, SOIL HORIZON.
specific level, e.g. above sea-level 2. the
eluviation the process by which material
vertical angle between the horizontal and
(especially that consisting of bases-2) is
a high point, e.g. between the horizon
removed in solution-i (leaching), or
and a star, or between a hill base and a hill,
mechanically in water suspension, from
top. altitude 3. in architecture, the view
the upper horizon or horizons of a soil
of one of the sides of a building, or a
by downward or lateral percolation of
drawing of this view.
the water, illuviation, sub-surface
ellipsoid a spheroid with a form that is wash. In American usage eluviation is
regularly oval, geoid, oblate. confined to the mechanical transport,

130
 energy

leaching being the term applied to the nation state lying within the territory of
process in which particles are moved in another nation state, as seen from the point
solution. of view of the territory in which it lies.
exclave 2. a small cultural or linguistic
emergence the process of coming forth
group surrounded by another cultural or
from concealment, hence applied particu¬
linguistic group which is dominant.
larly to I. the rise of the level of the land
in relation to the sea, so that land formerly enclosure inclosure.

under the sea becomes dry, e.g. a raised

enculturation the process by which indi¬
beach 2. the point at which an under¬
viduals are brought up to be members
ground stream comes to the surface.
of a culture or sociETY-3. accul¬
emigrant one who migrates (moves) turation.
voluntarily away from the land of
endangered species plant and animal
birth to take up permanent residence
species with population-i numbers so
in another country, exile, expatriate,
reduced (often by human activities) that
IMMIGRANT, MIGRANT, MIGRATION,
their future existence seems uncertain.
REFUGEE.
CITES.

empirical adj. I. pertaining to, derived

endemic adj. restricted to a certain region
from, based on, or making use of, experi¬
or people, having originated there, applied
ence, trial and error, observation or
especially to a disease that is normally con¬
experiment rather than theory or know¬
fined and always likely to occur in certain
ledge 2. in mathematics, applied to a for¬
areas, sometimes reaching epidemic pro¬
mula reached by inductive reasoning, not
portions. PANDEMIC.
verified by deductive proof, deduction,
INDUCTION. end moraine terminal moraine.

empiricism i. the theory that all concepts endogenetic, endogenic adj. arising
are derived from experience and that all from within, having an internal cause or
statements claiming to express knowledge origin, e.g. applied to the geological pro¬
depend on experience for their justifica¬ cesses which originate from within the
tion 2. the philosophical system which earth (e.g. diastrophism, vulcan¬
considers true knowledge to be that which ic it y) and landforms arising therefrom,
can be perceived and rejects that which in contrast to exogenetic. Endogenetic
cannot be verified (e.g. theoretical is the usual English form, endogenic the
statements) 3. the scientific method American; but American authors some¬
of proceeding by inductive reasoning times differentiate endogenetic (applied to
(induction) from observation to the for¬ the product, e.g. the rocks formed) from
mulation of a general principle which is endogenic (applied to the process).
then checked by experiment, empiri¬
endoreic adj. in-flowing, applied particu¬
cal, LOGICAL POSITIVISM, POSITIVISM,
larly to basins of inland drainage, areic,
SCIENTIFIC LAW.
EXOREIC.

empolder verb to reclaim by the creation

* energy the capacity to do work possessed
of POLDERS.
by a physical body or system of physical
enclave (French) 1. an outlying part of a bodies, i.e. the capacity to move a force a
 v v

energy pyramid

certain distance, measuredinjouLES. The Enlightenment, the modernity-2.

two main types are kinetic and poten¬
Enterprise Zone one of the zones, desig¬
tial, other forms being mechanical (of
nated according to the UK Finance Act
moving bodies, stretched springs),
1980, in economically derelict urban areas.
chemical (energy stored in molecules
Various concessions, designed to attract
of compounds), thermal (energy of heat,
industry to such areas, included a ten-year
including geothermal, derived from the
exemption from rates, exemption from
interior of the earth; and from the internal
Development Land Tax, 100 per cent
random movement of molecules), nuclear
capital allowances, simplified planning
(of the nucleus of the atom) and radiant
controls, few government requests for
(e.g. solar), camedby electromagnetic
statistical information.
waves, the only form of energy existing
in free space, i.e. in the absence of matter. entisols in soil classification, USA,
Each form of energy can be transferred to young mineral soils, lacking developed
another form by suitable means, but the horizons, occurring in all climates.
transformation is possible only in the pres¬
entrepot (French) anglicized entrepot,
ence of matter, electricity, natural
a place to which goods are brought to be
resources, nuclear energy, power,
stored temporarily while awaiting transfer
RADIATION.
to another country, and where they are
energy pyramid in ecology, a bar not liable to customs duties. Commonly
graph in the form of a pyramid showing used as an adj., e.g. entrepot port, entrepot
the energy lost and retained in the different trade.
TROPHIC LEVELS-1 of a FOOD CHAIN.
entrepreneur a person who wholly or
Each trophic level is represented by a hori¬
partly undertakes, manages and controls
zontal bar representing the total energy
an enterprise and, in the case of a business,
received by the organisms in that level;
bears the financial risks involved.
and each bar is divided to show how much
of that energy received is retained by and entropy a measure of the amount of dis¬
lost by the organisms in that level. Such a order in a SYSTEM-1,2,3. The more dis¬
graph is particularly useful in providing a ordered the system the higher the entropy.
quantitative picture of an ecosystem. NEGENTROPY.

Engels’ Law the generalization pro¬ environment that which surrounds, the
pounded by Friedrich Engels, 1820 — 95, sum total of the conditions of the sur¬
that as the income of an individual rises roundings within which an organism, or
the proportion of the total spent on food group, or an object, exists (including the
decreases. natural conditions, the natural as modi¬
fied by human activity, and the arti¬
englacial adj. embedded in a glacier, >
ficial). The term is used broadly in
as distinct from subglacial, super¬
geography, especially in human geo¬
glacial.
graphy, where the emphasis is on the eco¬
enhancement the processes and tech¬ nomic, cultural and social conditions of
niques used to sharpen the images-3 the surroundings, behavioural envir¬
received by sensors in order to ease the onment, CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT,
interpretation of the pixel. CULTURE, ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD,

132
 ephemeral

ENVIRONMENTALISM, ENVIRONMENTAL enzyme an organic catalyst, one of

STUDIES. a very large class of protein-containing
compounds formed in and produced by
environmental determinism deter¬
living matter, which promote the chemi¬
minism.
cal reactions on which life depends (e.g.

environmental hazard a risk (usually to digestion, reproduction). Each enzyme is

human beings) associated with the physical usually responsible for one, or a few, of

environment. Such a risk maybe natural these reactions, the enzyme combining

(e.g. flash-flood, landslide, vol¬ with a specific substance to bring about a

canic eruption) orproducedby human chemical change in that substance without

activity (e.g. pollution). itself suffering permanent change. The

process is usually dependent on tempera¬
environmental impact the impression, ture, pH, the presence of co-enzymes, and
particularly the undesirable or unpleasant activators such as vitamins, metallic salts,
impression, made on an environment etc.
by the introduction of something alien to
eolith a crude stone tool showing some
it, e.g. grazing animals in an area of sparse
chipping believed to be the result of
vegetation.
human work. In England and France flint
environmentalism the philosophical was the stone most commonly used in the
concept which stresses the influence of all eolith 1 c (dawn of Stone Age) and in
the items and conditions of the environ¬ the PALAEOLiTLiic (old Stone Age); in
ment on the life and activities of people. the neolithic (new Stone Age) stone
In its extreme form it becomes environ¬ implements were polished and refined.
mental determinism.
Eolithic Age the earliest period of the
environmental lapse rate static lapse stone age when eoliths first came into
rate, the actual rate of loss of temperature use.
with increasing height at a specific location
epeirogenetic, epeirogenic adj. of or
at a specific time, averaging some o.6°C
pertaining to the formation of continents,
per ioo m (i°F per 300 ft), lapse rate.
applied to the type of mass earth move¬

environmentally sensitive area esa.

ments which result in changes of level
over large areas (e.g. continental uplift and
environmental studies a collective term depression, which may involve tilting
for the studies which aim to make people or warping but not intense folding) in
aware of the conditions of the world they contrast to orogemc movement (oro¬
inhabit, and of the interrelationship of genesis).
people with the physical, cultural and
ephemeral adj. applied to a plant with
social items and conditions of their sur¬
a short life cycle (from germination to
roundings, i.e. the study of natural history,
production of seed). It may produce sev¬
architecture, ecology, meteorology and
eral generations in a year, e.g. groundsel;
many of the other studies commonly
or have a brief life when environmental
included in geography.
conditions are suitable, e.g. after heavy
environs the area surrounding a place (not rain in a hot desert region, annual, bien¬
a person), environment. nial, PERENNIAL.

133
epicentre

epicentre the point on the earth’s surface imately between the latitudes io°N and
immediately above the centre of origin io°S, the area of the equatorial
(the seismic focus) of an earthquake. CLIMATE.

epidemic a disease that becomes wide¬ equatorial climate the climate occurring
spread in a particular place at a particular in a belt on each side of the equator,
time. ENDEMIC, PANDEMIC. near sea-level and between approximately
io°N and io°S, characterized by constant
epidemiology the branch of medicine
high temperature (about 27°C: 8o°F) and
concerned with the study of the factors
humidity with little range throughout day
influencing the frequency and spread of
and night and the year, and approximately
diseases. It is concerned with the features
a 12-hour day, 12-hour night. It is subject
and the prevalence of a disease in a popu¬
to convectional rain, the maxima
lation, rather than in an individual.
corresponding to the equinoxes.
epilimnion the warmer top layer of water
equatorial current, equatorial coun¬
in a lake or the ocean, liable to be dis¬
ter-current the surface movement of
turbed by wind and convection currents,
ocean water in equatorial latitudes. In
lying above the thermocline. thermal
the northern hemisphere the north equat¬
STRATIFICATION.
orial current moves towards the southwest
epiphyte a plant which grows on the or west; in the southern hemisphere the
outside of another plant, using that plant southern equatorial current moves
just for support (i.e. not a parasite or a towards the northwest or west; between
saprophyte), e.g. liana, lichens, the two the equatorial counter-current
mosses, orchids. flows eastwards, el nino.

epistemology the branch of philosophy equatorial forest the luxuriant forest-i

concerned with the study of the nature, mostly of evergreen hy grophilous (hygro-
origin, foundations, limits and validity of phyte) species, growing at lower altitudes
knowledge, idealism-3, metaphysics. in a belt from approximately 7°N to 7°S
in areas of equatorial climate, par¬
epoch GEOLOGICAL TIMESCALE.
ticularly in the Amazon and Congo (Zaire)
equator an imaginary great circle basins and also, with modifications, in parts
round the earth in a plane perpendicular of Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and west
to the earth’s axis and equidistant between Africa. The constant moisture and heat
the north and south poles, thus dividing encourage rapid growth of tall, mostly
the earth into the northern and the hardwood, trees, their spreading
southern hemispheres. Fig 27. crowns forming a thick canopy, lianas
and other woody climbers struggle up
equatorial adj. or, near to, or pertaining
them to reach the light. In the modified
to, the EQUATOR.
areas, where tree growth is less dense,
equatorial air mass a warm air mass enough light penetrates to allow smaller
of high humidity, the source of which plants to grow and form undergrowth.
lies over the ocean in the zone of the BUSH FALLOWING, RAIN FOREST, TIM¬
EQUATORIAL CLIMATE. BER.

equatorial belt the zone lying approx¬ equatorial front equatorial trough, itcz .

134
 ESA

equifinality the end state, one of of the Sahara, the kum of central Asia.
similarity, achieved by systems-1,2,3 HAMADA, REG.
founded on different initial conditions and
undergoing change. The term is applied
ericaceous soil an acid, lime-free soil,
one on which plants of the genus Erica,
especially to landforms, e.g. a pene-
family Ericaceae, flourish.
PLAiN,andinsystems analysis, multi¬
finality.
erosion the processes of the wearing away
equilibrium a state of balance between of the land surface by natural agents (run¬
opposing forces or effects. A body is said ning water, ice, wave action, wind, and
to be in a state of stable equilibrium if it including corrasion and corrosion)
returns to its original position after being and the transport of the rock debris that
moved by a small impulse; unstable if it results. This does not include the weath¬
continues to move away from its original ering ofrocks in situ or mass movement
position in the direction given to it by a caused by the force of gravity. Erosion is
small impulse; neutral if it comes immedi¬ used frequently, but incorrectly, as syn¬
ately to rest and remains stationary in its onymous with DENUDATION. ACCELER¬
new position after being moved by a small ATED EROSION, THERMAL EROSION.
impulse. In geography the term equilib¬
erratic, erratic block a mass of rock or
rium is usually applied to a static condition,
a boulder transported by a glacier or ice
i.e. one of no change; or a dynamic con¬
sheet (which usually has since disappeared)
dition, i.e. one where a balance is main¬
and deposited in an area remote from its
tained by continued adjustments in
place of origin. The erratics of valley
reaction of the opposing forces (lowry
glaciers often perch precariously on the
model), e.g. in slopes where the rate of
valley sides, and are thus termed perched
rock weathering and the rate of removal
blocks; far-travelled boulders are some¬
of the rock debris reach a state of balance,
times distinguished by the term ‘exotic’.
the angle of the slope continually
The former course of the glacier or ice
accommodating to changing factors of
sheet can be traced by tracking erratic
weathering and removal, dynamic equi¬
blocks back to their sources.
librium, STEADY STATE.

equinox day and night of equal length. ERTS Earth Resources Technology
Satellite, landsat.
The moment or point when the sun crosses
the equator during its apparent annual
eruption the process by which solid,
movement from north to south and is
liquid or gaseous material pours forth
directly overhead at noon along the
gently or explosively from the vent of a
equator, i.e. 21 March and 22 September,
volcano or from fissures in the earth’s
respectively the spring (vernal) equinox
crust as a result of volcanic activity; and
and the autumnal equinox in the northern
to the process by which hot water and
hemisphere, precession of the equi¬
steam pour forth from a geyser.
noxes. Fig 18.
ESA environmentally sensitive area, an
era one of the major divisions of geological
area in the eu with a fragile or rare hab¬
time. GEOLOGICAL TIMESCALE.
itat, and designated by the EU as being
erg (north Africa: Arabic) the sandy desert in need of special protection.

U5
 N.
escalator region

escalator region a region-i where essential minerals the mineral constitu¬

occupational and class mobility are ent, not necessarily the major constitu¬
higher than those in other regions. ents, of an igneous or metamorphic
rock which determine its mineralogical
escarpment i. generally, any more or
classification and from which the rock is
less continuous line of cliffs or steep slopes
named, accessory mineral.
resulting from the differential erosion
of gently inclined strata or from faulting. estancia a large farm in South America
fault 2. specifically, the abrupt cliff face on which cattle are reared on a large scale.
or steep slope of a cuesta. The term HACIENDA, LATIFUNDIA, RANCH.
escarpment should not be applied to the
estuarine adj. of or pertaining to an es¬
cuesta as a whole, and is preferable to the
tuary, applied especially to the deposits
term scarp which is sometimes applied
laid down in brackish water and to the
to the steep face of a cuesta. Fig 42.
environmental conditions of an estuary.
esker a long, continuous, sinuous, steep¬
estuary the tidal mouth of a river where
sided ridge of glacial and fluvioglacial sands
the saltwater of the tide meets the fresh¬
and gravels, deposited by the melt-water
water of the river current.
of a glacier or ice sheet, beaded esker,
kame. Fig 20. etang (French) a shallow pool or lake

Eskers 'beaded' at
stillstand positions

Terminal 'push' moraine

(farthest extent of ice)

Fig 20 Eskers, moraines and outwash fans

136
 eustatism

caused by the ponding back ofwater drain¬ are controlled by bigger, more dominant
ing from the land by beach material groups. CULTURE CONTACT.

thrown up by the sea (an etang sale being

ethnobotany the branch of botany con¬
one which communicates with the sea).
cerned with the scientific study or descrip¬
etesian wind (Turkish meltemi) a strong tion of the relationship between people
north to northwesterly wind blowing in and plants, particularly the study of the
Greece and other parts of the eastern knowledge and customs, and the under¬
Mediterranean, caused by a steep pressure standing, of indigenous people of the
gradient associated with the thermal low plants in their own environment; and the
pressure lying over the Sahara. Strongest uses to which plants and plant products
in the afternoon, dying out in the evening, are put by different cultural groups.
it gives rise to rough seas, fog in coastal
ethnocentrism the state or quality of
areas, and clouds of dust; and it may blow
being ethnocentric, i.e. regarding one’s
with such force and dryness in some local¬
own ethnic group as being of superior,
ities that it prohibits tree growth.
or supreme, importance, the human attri¬
butes of other groups decreasing with
ethnic adj. I. historically, pertaining to
increased distance (physical, or the dis¬
nations not Jewish or Chnstian, thus Gen¬
tance created by cultural differences, etc.)
tile, heathen, pagan 2. now, of or relating
from one’s own group. An extreme form
to people unified by common geographic
of ethnocentrism is exhibited in racism.
origin, skin pigmentation, cultural, reli¬
ANTHROPOCENTRIC, EGOCENTRISM.
gious or linguistic ties, or deriving from
or belonging to such ties, ethnic etiology, aetiology in medicine, the
MINORITY. science, doctrine, demonstration of
the factors associated with the causation
ethnic cleansing a process in a multi¬
of disease, medical geography.
cultural state whereby one cultural group
or ethnic community is expelled by force euphotic zone the uppermost zone of
from territory shared with others by ocean or lake depths where penetration by
another more powerful group or com¬ sunlight is sufficient for photosynthesis
munity that wishes to create a homogen¬ to take place, rarely extending to depths
eous state/society, e.g. Bosnian Muslims below 100 m (55 fathoms: 325 ft), pela¬
by Bosnian Serbs in the civil conflict in gic, photic.
the former Yugoslavian Republic in 1992.
European Community EEC.

ethnic minority, minority ethnic

European Free Trade Area eeta.
group a small ethnic-2 group, usually
composed of immigrants or the des¬ eustatism, eustasy a world-wide simul¬
cendants of past immigrants, commonly taneous change of ocean level due to a rise
living in large towns, sometimes in or fall of the ocean, not to that of the land
ghettoes. Such a group is minor not (isostasy). This change of level may be
only m the number of its members but due to glacio-eustatism, with a conse¬
<

also in the relationship of the group to the quent decrease or increase in the amount
structures of political and economic power of ocean water, to ocean floor spreading
in the society in which it lives, which (plate tectonics) or to changes in the

137
 V v

eutrophic

capacity of ocean basins due, e.g., to in¬ everglade a low marshy region, usually
filling by sedimentation, diastrophic under water, with hummocks and small
EUSTATISM, NEGATIVE MOVEMENT, POS¬ islands, and overgrown with tall grass,
ITIVE MOVEMENT, REJUVENATION. canes and trees sometimes hung with
Spanish moss. The term is specifically
eutrophic adj. applied to a body of fresh applied to a large area of this nature, the
water (e.g. a swamp or lake) which, having Everglades, a National Park in Florida,
been over-supplied with organic or min¬ USA.
eral nutrients, promotes excessive growth
of algae and other plants which draw on evergreen a plant that bears green leaves
so much oxygen that little (or none in throughout the year, in contrast to a
extreme cases) remains to support animal deciduous plant.
life, which is accordingly depleted or
evolution i. gradual change and develop¬
destroyed, dystrophic.
ment 2. the gradual, cumulative change
evaporation the process by which a from a simple to a more complex form,
solid or liquid is converted to a gaseous e.g. as seen by Charles Darwin to be at

state, to vapour; or the action or process work in the progressive diversification

of driving off the liquid part of a substance in the characteristics of organisms or

in the form of vapour by means of heat. populations in successive generations
Water vapour in the atmosphere is the descended (according to his theory of
result of the evaporation of water from the evolution) from related ancestors, leading
earth’s surface (hydrological cycle), a to the development of different species
continual process dependent on air tem¬ and sub-species. He based his theory
perature, the quantity of water vapour of evolution on natural selection, the sur¬
already in the atmosphere, nature of the vival of the fittest. To summarize his
water or the land surface, and wind. The theory, organisms in each generation
highest rate of evaporation occurs in hot produce many, variant offspring, but only
deserts in conditions of great heat, dry the successful variants, i.e. those most
atmosphere, lack of surface cover (plant or fitted to their environmental conditions
soil); the lowest rate in equatorial regions, (environment), survive and breed,
with very high humidity (equatorial transmitting their advantageous character¬
climate) and much surface cover, lat¬ istics to their offspring. Thus when
ent heat. environmental conditions change, or
organisms spread to new areas, new,
evaporite a sedimentary rock, such strong, successful forms emerge, each well
as gypsum, consisting of minerals which, adapted to its particular environment.
having been precipitated from a solution, PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM.
remain after evaporation.
>
exclave a portion of an administrative or
evapotranspiration the total return of other kind of area, e.g. of a state, which
water from the land to the atmosphere, is separated from the main part and sur¬
i.e. the combined evaporation from rounded by alien territory (and regarded
the soil surface and transpiration in that territory as an enclave). If the
from plants, potential evapotran¬ portion is not physically separated, but is
spiration. conveniently approachable only through

138
 expanded-foot glacier

alien territory, it is termed a pene-exclave. Human beings are thus seen not to be part
If, in practice, an exclave has ceased to be of an ordered, all-embracing, metaphysical
treated legally as such, it is in some cases scheme, but to exist in an alien world of
termed a quasi-exclave. A temporary ex¬ objects from which they are estranged.
clave is one created as a result of some Later existentialists, e.g. Jean-Paul Sartre,
territorial arrangement which has not been held that each individual, being free and
concluded, e.g. West Berlin, following the responsible but not endowed at birth with
Second World War. character or goals, is self-creating in the
situation and environment specific to
exfoliation (American spalling) onion
him/her, through acts of will, of decision,
weathering, the weathering process in
and the self-development of his/her own
which strains lead to the splitting off of
‘essence’.
the surface of rocks in scales or layers,
common in hot desert and semi-arid exogenetic, exogenic adj. arising from
lands and in monsoon lands with a without, having an external cause or
marked dry season. It is due mainly to origin, hence in geology applied to the
hydration, resulting in the expansion external processes (i.e. those at or near the
of salt crystals in the pores of the rock surface of the earth), e.g. denudation
surface. Ground water with its dissolved and deposition, and to the rocks and
salts is drawn to the surface by capil¬ landforms arising therefrom. Exogenetic
larity where it is subjected to evap¬ is the usual English form, exogenic the
oration, salt crystals being precipitated American, endogenetic, endogenic.
toformafilm. hydrolysis, si heroidal
weathering. exonym the conventional name
given by people of one linguistic group or
exhumation the action or process of
nation to the place-names etc. of another.
bringing to the surface something buried
in the ground, a term widely applied in exoreic adj. flowing to the outside,
geographic! 1 literature to previously applied to normal drainage, i.e. flowing
existing sui faces uncovered by erosion, to the sea. areic, endoreic.
e.g. mountains, peneplained surfaces and
exosphere the uppermost zone in the
plateaus buried by later deposits.
upper atmosphere-1 of the earth, in the
exile I. banishment, expulsion from home ionosphere, above c. 700 km (435 mi),
or native land 2. a person banished from, from which neutral particles escape into
compelled to live away from, home or space. The upper atmosphere may be de¬
native land 3. paradoxically, a voluntary fined as the atmosphere below the exo¬
exile, one who chooses to go into exile. sphere and above the tropopause.
EMIGRANT, EXPATRIATE, REFUGEE.
exotic adj. 1. brought in from a foreign
existentialism a body of philosophical country or from a foreign language 2. like,
doctrine (inaugurated by the Danish
or imitating, something foreign.
philosopher, S. A. Kierkegaard, 1813 — 55)
concerned with the gulfbetween the exist¬ expanded-foot glacier a glacier
ence of human beings (born with will and spreading out from the mouth of a valley
consciousness) and the kind of existence to form a broad tongue of ice on the plain,
of natural objects (possessed of neither). a small piedmont glacier.

139
 V x.

expanded town

expanded town in Britain, a town place with regard to compass direction or

enlarged under the Town Development to climatic influences, adret, aspect.
Act 1952 by accommodating the over¬
extended family a family-3 group
spill population and industry from a
comprising not only parents and children
major city, new town.
(nuclear family) but also blood rel¬
expatriate one who voluntarily chooses atives and relatives by marriage, all living
to live (and in some cases work) away from close to one another.
his/her native country, but not neces¬
extensive agriculture farming practised
sarily permanently, emigrant, exile,
in large units in which the amount of
REFUGEE.
capital and the labour employed is small
exponential curve a curve which may in relation to the size of the unit. The
be assumed by a surface in accordance with work is sometimes highly mechanized, so
a particular mathematical formula. that the yield per worker is high though
the yield per ha (per acre) is low (due to
exponential growth geometric pro¬
low inputs), resulting in a high total output
gression.
from the unit. The term is often, and
export something sent out from one incorrectly, applied to farming in any large
country to another, the sender receiving unit. INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE.
in return money, goods or services in pay¬
external economies cost advantages
ment (import). Invisible exports consist
which benefit a commercial activity but
of payments for services, which include
which are not produced within it, being
interest on overseas investments and loans,
derived from a source outside the activity,
earnings from transport, shipping, bank¬
e.g. as in an agglomeration-4.
ing, insurance, and tourism. Visible ex¬
ports are foodstuffs and raw materials, externality a concept concerned with the
natural or partly processed, and manufac¬ social and economic costs or benefits
tured goods. BALANCE OF PAYMENTS, caused by the activity of an individual (or
BALANCE OF TRADE. an institution) which do not enter the
internal production costs of that activity
export base theory a theory that sees the
but which affect the activity of another
development of a city or region as being
(or others) and over which the latter has/
linked solely to its export performance,
have no control. Thus the costs or benefits
i.e. to the magnitude of its exports to
are externalized and fall on others. Exter¬
areas outside the city or region, basic
nalities are often fortuitous and may be
ACTIVITY, NON-BASIC ACTIVITY.
negative (creating costs) or positive (bene¬
exposure 1. the state of being left ficial) to the recipient, agglomera¬
uncovered, bare, without protection 2. in tion-4, EXTERNAL ECONOMIES, NEIGH-
* *
geology, a place where the solid rocks BOURHOOD EFFECT.
reach the surface and are not obscured
exterritoriality the immunities granted
by soil etc., the act of uncovering being
to a diplomatic envoy and staff in accord¬
natural or artificial (a rock reaching the
ance with international law. Not to be
surface through a covering of soil pro¬
confused with extraterritoriality.
duced by its own disintegration is best
termed an outcrop) 3. the position of a extinct volcano volcano.

140
 extrusive rock

extraction the process of obtaining by diction beyond the borders of the state,
pressure, distillation, evaporation, treat¬ involving the partial exemption from local
ment with a solvent etc., e.g. of a metal law and jurisdiction enjoyed by diplomatic
from its ore. agents and others (such as troops) stationed
in foreign countries, who thus remain
extractive agriculture an agricultural
under the laws of their own country, usu¬
practice which is more concerned with
ally with the agreement of the foreign
immediate short-term benefits than with
country in which they are living.
conserving resources for future agricul¬
tural use. extreme climate a climate with a great
range of temperature between the coldest
extractive industry a primary indus¬
and the warmest months.
try in which non-replaceable materials
are removed in their natural state, e.g. extremes of temperature the highest
mining, quarrying. Strictly, the term and the lowest shade temperatures, or the
excludes forestry and agriculture, but some highest mean and the lowest mean tem¬
authors include forestry. peratures, recorded during any selected
period (day, month, year) at a meteoro¬
extrapolation i. the estimation of values
logical station.
outside a range of known values based
on the assumption that trends within the
extrusion the action of pushing out by
known existing range will be continued
mechanical force, emergence, e.g. the dis¬
outside it 2. drawing a conclusion about
charge of solid, liquid or gaseous material
a future or hypothetical situation by using
to the earth’s surface during a volcanic
observed tendencies as a basis.
ERUPTION. EXTRUSIVE ROCK.

extraterrestrial adj. outside the earth or

extrusive rock volcanic rock, an
its atmosphere.
igneous rock resulting from the pouring
extraterritoriality the extension of juris¬ forth or extrusion of molten material

Lava flow Laccolith Volcano Dyke

\ \

Fig 21 Extrusive and intrusive rocks: magma breaking through and cooling at the earth’s
surface fonns extrusive rock; magma cooling in the crust fonns intrusive rock (batholith,
laccolith, sill)

141
 eye

(magma) at the earth’s surface as lava ing storm, the still, calm area, limited
and its consolidation there. It usually in extent, at the centre of the storm,
has a glassy texture, and contains crys¬ where the atmospheric pressure is at its
tals smaller than those occurring in an lowest.
INTRUSIVE ROCK. EXTRUSION, INTRU¬
eyot, ait a small island, a term surviving
SION, PLUTONIC ROCK. Fig 21.
in many English place-names in its abbre¬
eye of a hurricane or other tropical revolv¬ viated form, -ey.

142
fabric structural material, especially the underlies only a specific group of items is
physical composition (textural and struc¬ termed a group factor. A factor loading
tural) of a compound, e.g. till. of an item on a factor is the correlation
between the factor and the item.
facies i. in botany, the general appearance
and form of a plant, or the composition factors of production the components
of a natural group 2. in geology, the total needed in a production process, conven¬
character of any part of a formation, tionally, capital, land, labour (including
shown by the fossils it contains, the com¬ enterprise, e.g. of an entrepreneur).
position, colour, texture, form of strati¬
factory farm a capital-intensive live¬
fication and nature of the constituent
stock farm in which the stock (e.g. pigs
rocks, or by other special features; hence
for meat, poultry for meat and eggs,
used in stratigraphy in differentiating
cows for milk) is reared and tended under
one rock stratum from another.
cover in carefully controlled conditions
facilities the things (aids, equipment, (environmental control), the food
structures, favourable conditions, oppor¬ intake, rate of growth, egg production,
tunities) that make easier some action, milk-yield etc. being carefully monitored.
specified activity or task. The disposal of the effluent, e.g. from a pig
unit, often presents difficulties, battery
factor i. a circumstance, fact, agent or
system.
influence contributing to a result, effect
or condition 2. in arithmetic, a whole fadama a floodplain in a wide, fairly flat,
number which, when multiplied by one river valley, subject to annual inundation,
or more whole numbers, produces a given common in the savanna zones ofSudan
number (e.g. 2, 3, 4, 6 are all factors of 12) and Guinea, supporting typical savanna
3. in algebra, an expression which will vegetation (grasses, sedges, and the tree
divide into a given expression 4. in stat¬ species Mitragyna inermis and Borassus). The
istics, a quantity under examination in an term may also refer to an isolated
experiment as a possible cause of variation. depression on the low terrace or over-bank
zone of a river course.
factor analysis a branch of multivari¬
ate analysis, a statistical technique Fahrenheit scale a temperature scale
which ignores the uniqueness of a number established 1715 by Daniel Gabriel Fah¬
of variables (or test items) in a set of obser¬ renheit, German physicist, on which the
vations and aims to descnbe them in terms ice point, the freezing point of pure water,
of a smaller number of more basic, hypo¬ is 3 2° (32°F) and the steam point, the
thetical components. A factor which to boiling point of pure water at sea-level
varying degree underlies all items in a test with a standard pressure of the atmosphere
is termed a general factor; one which ofybomm, is 2120 (2i2°F). (o°F represents

M3
 \ s.
fall-line

the melting-point ofice in a sal-ammoniac false colour the use of a colour, arbitrarily
and water mixture, but 32°F represents selected, to portray a band (e.g. infra¬
the melting-point of ice in water.) The red radiation) on an image received
difference between ice point and steam by REMOTE SENSING. ELECTROMAG¬
point is thus i8o°, and one Fahrenheit NETIC SPECTRUM.
degree is i/i 80 of the temperature interval
false drumlin a formation that resembles
between the two points; so i° Celsius
a true drumlin but is actually a rock
or centigrade equals i.8° Fahrenheit.
mass overlain by a thin coating of drift
KELVIN SCALE, REAUMUR SCALE.
deposited by ice.
fall-line, fall zone a line or narrow zone
false origin a selected point in a grid
where a number of nearly parallel rivers
system used on maps from which the
plunge over the edge of a plateau to the
position of any place can be expressed
lowland below, marking the change in the
in terms of its coordinates from the
character of their courses from the rocky
selected point. The false origin differs from
channels with swift currents of the upper
the true origin (the intersection of the
courses, to the more placid courses on the
projection axes) in order to exclude neg¬
plain. In the USA applied particularly to
ative Values. NATIONAL GRID.
the boundary between the ancient crystal¬
line rocks of the Appalachian plateau and falsifiability a principle expounded by
the younger, softer rocks of the Atlantic Karl Popper, 1902-94, Austrian-born,
coastal plain. British philosopher, that a theory holds
good until it is disproved and that falsifica¬
fallow ploughed or cultivated land which
tion, not verification, is the proper object¬
is being allowed to rest, uncropped or
ive of scientific procedures; that a theory
partially cropped, for one or more seasons,
which is not falsifiable is not scientific.
or sometimes for a shorter period, bare
Thus any scientific hypothesis must be
FALLOW, BUSH FALLOWING, GREEN FAL¬
expressed in terms that make it capable
LOW, LAND ROTATION, SHIFTING CUL¬
of being submitted to rigorous, sustained
TIVATION, SWIDDEN FARMING.
testing in an attempt to show it is wrong.
false bedding, false-bedding laminae, For Popper falsifiability distinguishes
especially in sandstone, deposited under science from pseudo-science, logical
the influence of changing currents in shal¬ positivism.
low water areas, lying parallel to each other
family 1. a group of people consisting of
for short distances, but inclined at varying
one parent/parents and a child/children,
oblique angles to the general stratification.
living together or not. 2. a person’s chil¬
False bedding (a term synonymous with
dren 3. a unit formed by people who are,
current bedding or cross bedding), is
or who are nearly, connected by blood or
caused by swift local currents and swirling
, by affinity, extended family, nuclear
gusts of wind, thus studies of it provide
family 4. a household denoting a group
much information regarding current
of people living in one dwelling, or with
direction and conditions of deposition.
one head of household, including parents,
false cirrus thick, grey cirrus cloud children, servants 5. persons descended or
associated with the top of a thundercloud, claiming descent from a common ances¬
and usually heralding bad weather. tor. CLASSIFICATION OF ORGANISMS.

144
 fault

family life cycle the progressive senes of BATTERY SYSTEM, COLLECTIVE FARM¬
changes in size and composition which a ING, COOPERATIVE FARM, EJIDO, EX¬
nuclear family (i.e. a married couple TENSIVE AGRICULTURE, FACTORY FARM,
with dependent children) undergoes over FARMER, FARMING, FAZENDA, FRAG¬
time. The stages usually identified are mar¬ MENTATION-2, HACIENDA, HUERTA,
riage and the formation of the household, INFIELD-OUTFIELD, INTENSIVE AGRI¬
child rearing, child launching, contraction CULTURE, LATIFUNDIA, RANCH, SMALL¬
in size as children leave home, post-child HOLDING.
(often associated with retirement). The
farmer a term used as loosely as is farm,
patterns of the life cycle of other types of
broadly one who, whether as tenant or
family differ with the composition of the
landlord, is occupied in agriculture,
family.
AQUACULTURE or PISCICULTURE.
fan the alluvial (alluvium) or stony
farming the activity of a farmer. The
deposit of a stream where it issues from a
main types of farming include crop farm¬
ravine or canyon and drops its load on to
ing, DAIRY FARMING, MIXED FARM¬
a plain (alluvial fan). Some deltas
ING, stock farming. Examples of some
are fan-shaped (arcuate delta).
specific farming practices and activities are
F AO Food and Agriculture Organization listed under farm, but see also commer¬
of the United Nations, a specialist organ¬ cial AGRICULTURE, PEASANT FARMING,
ization of the United Nations established SHIFTING CULTIVATION, SUBSISTENCE
on 16 October 1945, with the aims of AGRICULTURE.
giving international support to national
farmstead the land and buildings of a
programmes designed to increase the
small farm.
efficiency of agriculture, forestry and
fisheries, and of improving the conditions fascism any political or social ideology of
of people engaged in relevant activities. the extreme right that favours and encour¬
ages the gaining and retaining of power
Far East far to the east of Europe, i.e.
by the brutal use of force, modernism.
east and southeast Asia, including China,
Korea, Japan and, usually, Malaysia and fast ice sea ice, varying in width, firmly
the Indochinese peninsula, east. fixed along the coast, usually in the po¬
sition of its original formation. It may
farinaceous (Latin farina, flour) adj. rich
stretch over 400 km (250 mi) from the
in starch, the main nutritional constituent
coast.
of cereal grains and edible roots, the
common staple foodstuffs. fathom a nautical measurement of the
depth of water, based on the span of the
farm any tract or tracts of land or of water,
outstretched human arms, i.e. 1.829 m
varying greatly in extent, worked as a unit,
(6 ft); 100 fathoms = 1 cable.
used for the cultivation of crops or for
the rearing of livestock or fish, under fault in geology, a fracture or break in a
individual or collective management. Spe¬ series of rocks along which there has been
cific names such as dairy farm, fish vertical or lateral movement or both as
farm, fur farm indicate the purpose of a result of excessive strain (elastic
the farm, agribusiness, agriculture, rebound), normal faults are those in

145
 S. v

fault apron

which the rocks on one side have slipped

down relative to the other; reverse /
/

/
faults where they have been pushed up
(a reverse fault of very low angle, the upper
beds pushed far over the lower, isaTHRUST
fault); overthrust faults where the
plane is near the horizontal. Faults may be
nearly parallel to the dip of the rocks (dip
faults), to the strike (longitudinal or
STRIKE FAULTS, STRIKE-SLIP Or TEAR
fault), oblique (with planes between dip
and strike); and there are groups of faults fault breccia a rock composed of shat¬
forming a complex fault or fault zone, step tered angular fragments resulting from
faults, trough faults, ridge faults movement along a fault.
(forming a horst). For some of the many
other terms applied to faults see those that
fault-line scarp a scarp formed when,
by faulting, a hard rock confronts a soft
follow as well as compression, foot
rock and the soft rock is subsequently
WALL, HADE, HEAVE, LAG FAULT, NAPPE,
eroded, leaving the hard rock standing
THROW, TRANSFORM FAULT. Figs 22, 23.
as a cliff' or scarp; but this scarp is not
Strike-slip fault
necessarily the original footwall of the
fault, as it is in a true fault scarp.
OBSEQUENT FAULT-LINE SCARP, RESE-
QUENT FAULT-LINE SCARP, WATERFALL.

fault plane the surface of movement of a

fault, where material may be shattered
and broken off to form fault breccia,
or ground to rock flour which may
become consolidated.

fault scarp a steep face of rock result¬

Normal fault Reverse fault
ing from the uplift along one side of a
Fig 22 Diagram showing the direction of recently active fault. An early landform,
movement at some types of fault in the rocks it is rapidly affected by weathering
of the earth’s crust
and erosion, which may result in its
disappearance, or its later development
fault apron an accumulation of rock
into a FAULT-LINE SCARP. ESCARPMENT,
debris at the base of a (fault) scarp resulting
SCARP.
from rapid dissection, and formed by the
coalescence of many alluvial cones. fault spring a spring-2 issuing along a
fault where a permeable bed encoun¬
fault block a block of country, often of
ters IMPERMEABLE rock.
considerable size, bounded by faults, in
many cases resulting from vertical move¬ fauna 1. the animal life, considered col¬
ments in the earth’s crust, basin and lectively, of any given period, environ¬
RANGE, HORST. ment or region, biota, flora 2. the

146
 felsenmeer

classification of the animals of a period, the return to a system, process or device

environment or region. of part of its output. Normal (termed ne¬
gative) feedback has a modifying effect in
favela (Brazil: Portuguese) a shack, a
that it controls and corrects discrepancies
slum. The plural, favelas, is applied to a
in the working of the system, process or
shanty-town, with shelters improvised
device, i.e. the response to a stimulus tends
from scrap materials, forming a slum
to counteract or inhibit the repetition of
settlement on the outskirts of a large town,
the stimulus (e.g. there is a lack of the
e.g. of Rio de Janeiro.
feeling of thirst in an animal which has
fazenda (Brazil: Portuguese) a very large quenched its thirst: an animal in this situ¬
landed property in northeast Brazil origin¬ ation will not drink any more even if water
ally granted by the King of Portugal to is available). Positive feedback, which is
selected leaders when Portugal colonized less common, does not have a modifying
Brazil. Fazendas became economically effect, but a snowballing effect in that it
self-contained agricultural estates, with strengthens the stimulus (e.g. ever greater
agricultural workers attached by various traffic flow on an ever-widened road: a
forms of tenure, e.g. sharecropping. growing volume of traffic which encour¬
Today many fazendas are engaged in ages the widening ofa road, which in turn
MONOCULTURE (e.g. SUGARCANE) and attracts a greater volume of traffic).
the sharecroppers have become wage-
feldspar, felspar any of a wide-ranging
earners. LATIFUNDIA.
group of crystalline minerals, white or pink
fecundity fertility-2. in colour, consisting mainly of alumino¬
silicates of potassium, sodium, cal¬
federal adj. I. of or pertaining to a form
cium, barium. Usually classified as alkali
of government in which two or more
or plagioclase, feldspars are abundant
states unite, but have some independence
in metamorphic rocks and in ark-
in internal affairs 2. in U S A, relating to the
oses, are used in the manufacture of por¬
central government, federal district.
celain and glass, and are a source of
federal district an area allocated as the semi-precious stones, e.g. moonstone.
seat of the capital ofa country, e.g. District Alkali feldspars are characteristic of all alk¬
of Columbia (for Washington) in USA. ali igneous rocks, form constituents of such
basic rocks as basalt and gabbro (in
federal system of government, a political calcic form) and of sialic rocks (sial).
system which varies in detail from one
country to another, but in which the main fell in northern England i. a wild elevated
authoritative control is usually divided stretch of rough grazing or moorland,
between a central or national government especially if interrupted by boulders or
and a regional or state government, with rock outcrops 2. a summit, e.g. Bowfell,
local government being directly respon¬ English Lake District.
sible to the regional or state government
felsenmeer (German) a boulder field,
authority, not to the central or national
block field, rock-block field, rock river,
authority, unitary system.
an area on top of a flat-topped mountain
feedback the action by which the output or high plateau in a temperate climate,
of a process is coupled to the input, i.e. sometimes on lowland in much colder

147
feminist geography

regions, covered with angular blocks of the vcoast and fen peat further inland.
rock created in situ by frost action in Except for Wicken Fen, National Trust
JOINTS. property, the area has been largely
reclaimed (notably by Vermuyden and the
feminist geography a branch of human
fifth Earl of Bedford) and now provides
geography that concentrates on the
land valuable for cultivation.
gender ROLE of women in society from
the woman’s perspective, particularly feral adj. like a wild beast, applied espe¬
access to employment, social services etc. cially to an animal (once domesticated) or
and the extent to which women are disad¬ to a plant (once cultivated) which has now
vantaged. established itself in the wild.

fen a lowland covered wholly or partly fermentation a chemical change brought

with shallow water with water-loving about by the action of enzymes on
vegetation which decays to form peat. In organic substances, with the release of
contrast to a bog, where the organic soil energy, especially the anaerobic break¬
is very acid, the soil in a fen is alkaline, down by yeasts and bacteria of carbo¬
neutral or only slightly acid, acid soil, hydrates, yielding alcohols, acids and
ALKALINE SOIL, FEN PEAT, MARSH, carbon dioxide, anaerobic respira¬
SWAMP. tion.

feng-shui, fong-choui, fung-shui

Ferrel’s Law a law postulated in 1856 by
(Chinese feng, wind; shui, water) in
the American scientist W. Ferrel, who
China, the spirit of wind and water of a
developed the concept of coriolis
locality, the good in a system of good and
force. The law states that due to the force
evil influences that inhabit natural features
produced by the rotation of the earth,
in the landscape, thus important in the
a body moving over its surface will be
siting of buildings and graves.
deflected to the right in the northern
fenland I. a tract of land occupied by fen hemisphere, to the left in the southern,
2. with an initial capital letter, Fenland, a the force at the equator being zero, and
synonym for the fens in eastern England, increasing progressively with distance
around the Wash. from the equator. The effects are especially
noticeable in water and in air. buys
fen peat alkaline or neutral black peat
ballot’s law.
in which the plant structure is not appar¬
ent, cellulose is absent, but there is a high ferric adj. pertaining to or containing
content of ash and proteins. It supports IRON. OXIDATION.
typical fen vegetation in which sedges,
ferricrete a duricrust in which the
grasses and rushes predominate, bog peat.
cementing agent is formed from iron
Fens, Fenland in eastern England, a flat oxides.
lowland below 15 m (50 ft) extending
around the Wash in the lower basins of ferriferous adj. iron-bearing, applied

the rivers Witham, Welland, Nene and especially to rocks, iron.

Great Ouse, consisting of naturally marshy

ferrite any of the iron ores.
land built up by the deposition of sediment
by sea and rivers, forming alluvial flats near ferromagnesian mineral a dark, dense

148
 feudal system

mineral, containing high proportions of fecundity is the more precise term for
IRON and MAGNESIUM. this 3. in demography, actual reproduction
performance (fertile-4). In measuring
ferromagnetic adj. possessing ferro¬
fertility in a human population a broad
magnetism.
distinction is made between current fertil¬
ferromagnetism the property possessed ity (measured by the number of births of
by iron, nickel and cobalt, as well as by a particular year) and period fertility or
some alloys, of holding magnetism in the cohort fertility (the total number of
absence of an external magnetic field children born to a cohort throughout
and of responding characteristically to a the reproductive lives of the members).
magnetic field. Horseshoe and bar magnets REPRODUCTION RATE.

are usually ferromagnetic, magnet.

fertilizer a substance consisting of one or
ferruginous adj. of or containing iron a mixture of chemical elements essential
or iron rust-i, or resembling the colour for plant growth (nitrogen, phos¬
of rust, applied especially to reddish phorus, potassium) added to the soil to
coloured rocks containing some iron. enrich it or make good its deficiencies.
Most plant fertilizers are now artificial,
ferry i. a boat (ferryboat) or an aircraft
made in factories, but natural mineral fert¬
(air ferry) carrying people, goods, vehicles
ilizers include potash salts, such as the
from one point to another on a regular
famous Stassfurt deposits in Germany,
route 2. a place where people, goods,
nitrate of soda from the deserts of Chile,
vehicles are carried, or the service carrying
phosphates of lime, notably from north
them.
America, and guano from the droppings
ferry port a port serving ferries. of birds accumulated in arid lands, espe¬
cially tropical islands. Natural organic
fertile adj. I. highly productive, e.g. a
fertilizers include fish meal, bonemeal,
fertile soil 2. capable ofbreeding or repro¬
dried blood, dung, composted vegetable
ducing 3. capable of developing, e.g. a
remains (compost), seaweed.
fertile egg 4. in demography, applied to a
woman or man who has produced at least fetch the distance of open water over
one live-born child. which a wind blows and over which a sea
WAVE-3, blown by the wind, travels, the
Fertile Crescent the approximately cres¬
length being an important factor in
cent-shaped area of fertile land bounded
determining the height and energy of the
by the rivers Tigris and Euphrates that
wave and thus its effect on the beach and
was the site of the Sumerian, Babylonian,
coast.
Assyrian, Phoenician and Hebrew civiliza¬
tions, and where agriculture was practised feud historically, an estate (land ten¬
with the help of elaborate irrigation and ure) held by a tenant (a vassal) on con¬
drainage systems, hydraulic civiliza¬ dition of services being rendered to an
tion. overlord, feudal system.

fertility 1. the state or condition of being feudal system an economic, political and
fertile 2. in general, sometimes loosely social system, a pre-capitalist mode of
applied to the potential capacity to repro¬ production common in western
duce (to produce live-born children), but Europe between the ninth and sixteenth

149
 V

fiard

centuries, and elsewhere (e.g. in Japan to (two cultivated, one part lying fallow),
the nineteenth century), taking a wide termed the Three-Field system, open
variety of forms. Commonly the system FIELD.
involved a social hierarchy based on land
filling in meteorology, the condition in
held in feud, and the relationship of land¬
a low pressure system (depression-3)
lord to tenant, the former having jurisdic¬
when there is an increase of atmospheric
tion over the latter. Neither labour nor the
pressure in the central area so that there is
products oflabour were commodities-i.
a filling-up, and dying away of the
The tenant, legally tied to the land, could
depression, in contrast to a deepening.
own some of the means of production
but the land and a set part of the product financial exclusion the processes that
were the property of the landlord. For prevent the access of poor and disadvant¬
example, in England the manor was the aged groups to the financial system, red-
economic unit. The lord of the manor LINE DISTRICT.
held the land from the king in return for
military service and homage. Tenants who finger lake a long narrow lake occupying
occupied and cultivated the land held it a U-shaped glacial valley.

from the lord in return for dues (services

finger millet a short-stemmed millet
or the products of their labour). Bound in
with the ear consisting offive spikes radiat¬
service to the lord or to the manor were
ing from a central point, probably originat¬
the serfs, labourers ‘attached to the soil’,
ing in the Indian subcontinent, now
whose mobility was restricted and who
grown as a food grain there, in the drier
were transferred from one lord to another
parts of Sn Lanka, and in semi-arid areas
if the land changed hands.
of Africa, where it is often the staple food.

fiard fjard. The grain stores well for as long as five

years, and is thus important as famine
field capacity in soil science, storage reserve food. Very little enters trade out¬
capacity, the amount of water held in a side the growing areas.
well-drained soil by capillarity after
fiord FJORD.
excess water has drained away by gravity
and the rate of downward movement firn (French neve) snow which has been
has materially decreased, infiltration partly consolidated by alternate thawing
CAPACITY, WILTING POINT. and freezing but is not yet at the stage of
being glacier-ice because, although the
field system the medieval agricultural
particles are partially joined together
system in England and parts of western
(which distinguishes it from snow), the
Europe. The arable land of the village
small air spaces between the particles com-
consisted of unenclosed strips (strip cul¬
'mumcate with each other (which distin¬
tivation) held by different owners or
guishes it from ice).
cultivators, and was used as common pas¬
ture for a certain period in each year. First World the countries which have
Where the common arable was divided in some form of capitalist, market-orientated
two (one part cultivated, the other lying economy, including the countries of
fallow) the system is known as Two-Field. northwestern Europe and of Australasia,
More usual was the division into three and the USA, Canada, Japan. Spain,

150
Portugal, Greece, South Africa and especially in a rock 2. a linear volcanic
Argentina are sometimes qualified as VENT. FISSURE ERUPTION, VOLCANO.
borderline, second world, third
fissure eruption linear eruption, a steady,
world.
non-explosive outpouring of lava, usu¬
firth (Scottish) loosely applied to an area ally basic, from the depths of the earth
of coastal water, e.g. an arm of the sea, the to the earth’s surface, occurring along a
lower part of an estuary, a fjord, a strait. weak line (sometimes many kilometres in
length) in the crust, often resulting in a
fish a member of Pisces, a class of ver¬ basalt plateau, central eruption,
tebrate aquatic animals, many yielding
VOLCANO.
nutntious flesh, some yielding oil tor food
or industrial use. Some (e.g. bream) live fixed capital the buildings and machinery
in freshwater, others in the ocean, where of a firm, capital-3.
the pelagic, free-swimming species (e.g.
fixed costs i. costs that do not vary with
herring) swim in shoals in surface waters, volume of output within a certain range
the demersal fish (e.g. plaice, sole, halibut) (unlike variable costs), i.e. capital
living near the sandy sea bed in shallow investment in plant and machinery, rent,
waters. The salmon, in nature, spends part rates and certain other overhead costs
of its life cycle in the ocean, part in a river. incurred irrespective of the volume ofpro-
FISH FARM. duction 2. in spatial economic analysis,

fish farm a farm where fish are bred and costs that are constant in space, e.g. the

reared for market, under carefully con¬ cost of finance, labour costs if fixed rates

trolled conditions in tanks or in protected apply in the particular area, any com¬

parts of coastal waters, lakes, rivers and ponents or materials sold at a uniform
delivered price.
their estuaries.
fjard, fiard (Swedish) a term applied by
fishing port a port used by fishery vessels
some English authors to an inlet of the sea
for anchorage, fuelling, repair etc. and for
with low banks, the result of a rise in
the landing offish, where these are import¬
sea level (submerged coast), in contrast
ant among the other activities of the port.
with fjord. This does not conform to the
fissile adj. able to be split, applied particu¬ original Swedish application, which was
larly to rocks which are easily split along simply to a large continuous area of water
their well-developed bedding planes, surrounded by skerryguard islands.
CLEAVAGE, LAMINAE Or JOINTS, e.g.
fjeld (Norwegian) widely applied in Nor¬
shale, slate.
wegian to any upland rocky area, but
fission the act or process of splitting restricted in English to an elevated, rocky
into parts. In nuclear fission (nuclear plateau above the treeline, snow-
energy) the atomic nucleus is split into covered in winter, fell.
roughly equal parts by bombardment with
fjord, fiord (Norwegian) a term widely
neutrons, with an overall loss in mass
applied in Norway and Denmark to almost
(fusion), thereby releasing great energy.
any sea inlet, but restricted in English to
fissure i. an extensive crack, a narrow a deep narrow inlet in the coast with high
opening cleft or fracture made by splitting, rocky parallel sides smoothed by ice action,
flagstone

hanging valleys and an irregular rocky beijt 2. the bending of strata etc. under
floor, the floor being frequently deeper pressure.
than the sea floor offshore, from which
flint a heavy, very hard, grey or grey-black
it is separated by a submerged sill near
nodule or mass of a pure fine-grained
the entrance. It is caused by the submer¬
silica, encrusted with white, occurring
gence ofa deep glacial valley, submerged
in the bedding planes or joints in the
coast.
Upper Chalk, and probably formed when
flagstone, flag a natural hard stone used silica-rich biogenic ooze became mixed
for paving, capping walls etc., usually cut with chalk mud on the ocean bed, the
from sandstone or some types of lime¬ silica being carried downwards in solution
stone which split conveniently and easily and precipitated round a core (e.g. the
along bedding planes, fissile. skeletal remains of a sponge, sea-urchin
etc.), the flint nodule gradually enlarging
Flandrian the post-glacial stage of the within the chalk mud. Easily chipped to
quaternary in northwest Europe (suc¬ a cutting edge, flint was the mam source
ceeding the d e v e n s i a n ) when the climate of tools and weapons of the Stone Ages
became less severe, woodland began to (eolith). It has long been used as a build¬
spread, and the sea level rose. ing stone; and when struck with steel it
emits a spark, hence its use in a flintlock
flash-flood a sudden violent flood
gun.
caused by exceptionally heavy rain in a
normall/ dry valley in a semi-arid area, the floating dock a large floating structure
torrential stream sometimes being laden into which a vessel may pass and which
with debris; or by the collapse or breach can be used as a dry dock. dock.
of a dam or sea wall, environmental
flocculation 1. in soils, the process by
HAZARD.
which fine-grained particles come into
flat I. a stretch of level ground without contact and gather together into tufted
marked hollows or elevations, or of masses to form crumbs, thereby improv¬
country without hills 2. any nearly level ing the soil texture, especially the aggrega¬
stretch of land within hilly country 3. a tion of colloidal (colloid) particles (clay)
low-lying tract of marshy land 4. the low into tufted masses in the presence of an
land through which a river flows 5. mud- alkali (lime) 2. the process of the aggrega¬
flat, a bank of mud over which the tide tion of water-borne colloidal particles into
flows, exposed at low tide 6. an alluvial small lumps which are able to settle out,
deposit yielding tin or gold in a stream occurring when a river carrying electric¬
bed 7. a horizontal deposit of ore in a ally changed colloidal clays in its fresh
BEDDING PLANE. water meets and mixes with the sea, which
carries electrically charged particles in so¬
F layer in the atmosphere-i, a layer lution in its salt water.
in the ionosphere which reflects high
frequency radio waves. It lies at a height flood the overwhelming of usually dry
of some 250 km (155 mi) above the earth’s land by a large amount of water that comes

surface. from an overflowing river or lake, an

exceptionally high tide, melting snow, or
flexure 1. the state or process of being sudden excessive rainfall.

152
 fluting and grooving

flood basalt basaltic lava, very fluid at the finely-ground edible parts of other
high temperatures, which has spread over food crops, e.g. ofpoTATOES or cassava.
a very extensive area as the result of a ROCK FLOUR.
volcanic eruption or series of eruptions.
flow I. of a fluid, or something that
flood control I. the regulation of excess¬ behaves comparably, the smooth move¬

ive runoff of water in order to prevent ment with a continuous change in shape,

inundation of the land, e.g. by the building e.g. of lava, or of a stream confined

of river barrages; the deepening of exist¬ between banks, or of grain, under the

ing and the cutting of new channels to influence of gravity; or of water gushing

speed over flow; the making of temporary forth from a spring; of air; of solid rocks

storage basins, such as tanks; the conser¬ under stress, without fracturing (i.e. plastic

vation or planting of vegetation in a drain¬ flow); of ice in a glacier 2. a steady move¬

age area to slow down runoff 2. the ment of ideas, goods etc. (e.g. of inter¬

building of sea walls etc. to prevent inun¬ national trade).

dation by exceptionally high tides. flow diagram, flow chart a diagram

showing a sequence of interconnected
flood hazard the dangerous chance of
events, actions or items to indicate the
the inundation of usually dry land by water
progressive development or evolution of
from an overflowing river or lake (e.g.
a theme, product, or other objective.
caused by a break in a d am) , melting snow,
sudden excessive rainfall, or an exception¬ flow resources natural resources.
ally high tide.
fluid matter that does not have a fixed
floodplain the relatively level part of the shape, i.e. a gas or a liquid, being able
valley bordering a river resulting from allu¬ to flow along a channel or tube, solid,
vium deposited by the river in times of VISCOSITY, VISCOUS.
flood. Fig 29.
fluidization a process in igneous activity
flood stage of a river, the stage when a by which hot gases, moving through
river begins to overflow its banks, bank- fine-grained material, cause it to flow,
full STAGE, OVERBANK STAGE, STREAM thereby cracking and enlarging existing
STAGE. cracks in the rock by physical and chemical
action. In some cases the enlargement of
flood tide, flood-tide the advancing or
the crack is cylindrical, so that a pipe forms.
rising tide, starting at low tide, ending at
high tide, in contrast to ebb tide. flume i. an artificial channel made to
carry water over some distance for irriga¬
flora 1. the plant life considered collect¬
tion or for industrial use, e.g. for power,
ively of a region or age 2. a list of plant
for transport (e.g. of logs), or in placer
species of a particular area arranged in
mining 2. (American) a ravine or gorge
families and genera (classification of
with a stream flowing through it.
organisms), with descriptions and a key
to aid identification, biota, fauna. flush a sudden growth in the volume of
a stream, creating a rush ot water that does
flour 1. the finely-ground meal (the edi¬
not quite overflow the banks.
ble part of coarsely-ground GRAiN-5) of
CEREALS such as WHEAT, BARLEY, RYE 2. fluting and grooving small ridges and

153
 V <v

fluvial

depressions caused by differential erosion, fog drip, fog precipitation moisture

especially by wave action, on an exposed deposited from fog especially in cold-

rock-surface with marked joining. water desert coastal areas, where low

JOINT. cloud or fog encounters trees, the water

droplets saturate the branches, twigs,

fluvial, fluviatile adj. I. of or pertaining
leaves, and then drip to the ground.
to a river 2. found or living in a river. It
is usual to apply fluvial to the action of foggara in northwest Africa, especially in
the nver (flow and erosive activity); and Mauritania, a gently inclined underground
fluviatile to the deposits laid down by water channel bringing water for irrigation
the river, or to the flora and fauna of a from aquifers near the foot of mountains
river. and carrying it, in some cases over long
distances, to dry areas. A foggara is com¬
fluvioglacial adj. produced by or due to
parable with a karez of Baluchistan, or a
the action of streams of water derived from
qanat of Iran.
the melting of the ice of the snout of a
glacier or the margin of an ice sheet, fohn (German) a warm dry wind blowing
applied particularly to the deposits of an down slopes on the leeward side of a ridge
out wash fan. Some glaciologists prefer of mountains, the warmth being due to
the term glaciofluvial because the action the compression of the descending air, as in
of the glacier precedes the flow of the Chinook, nor’wester (New Zealand),
streams. SAMUN, SANTA ANA. ADIABATIC.

fluvioglacial deposition the laying fold I. in farming, a pen or enclosure,

down of stratified drift-i by melt¬ especially a temporary one, often made
water, especially in an outwash apron, with movable hurdles, for sheep or other
a varve, or a proglacial lake. Strati¬ domestic animals 2. the condition when
fied drift consists of rounded, washed and one part of something is made to lie on
sorted sand and gravel, unlike till, which another, hence, in geology, used as a
is angular or subangular and not sorted. general term for bending (flexure) in
the rocks (strata) of the earth’s crust
fodder i. loosely, any food for cattle,
resulting from compression. The fold
sheep, horses 2. specifically, dried hay,
may be a simple arch or upfold (anti¬
straw etc. used as food for some livestock,
cline) or a hollow or downfold (syn¬
e.g. cattle, sheep, horses.
cline), either of which may be sym¬

fog an opaque cloud in the ground sur¬ metrical or asymmetrical, the axis
face layers of the atmosphere, consisting of an asymmetrical anticline being so
of condensed water vapour with smoke slanted that an overfold or recumbent
and dust particles held in suspension, that fold may result. A very large anticline
obscures vision for any distance up to one is a geanticline or geoanticline; a big
kilometre (International Meteorological syncline a geosyncline. A complex anti¬
Code). AD VECTION, ARCTIC SMOKE, cline is an anticlinorium, a complex
COLD-WATER DESERT, FRONTAL FOG, syncline a synclinorium. A fold with
HAZE, HILL FOG, ICE FOG, INVERSION, only one limb is a monocline (English
MIST, RADIATION FOG, SMOG, STEAM usage); and repeated tight folds form iso¬

FOG. clinal strata (isocline), breached

154
 food chain

Hinge

2 Asymmetrical

4 Isoclinal

5 Recumbent

Fig 24 Types of fold, and terminology

ANTICLINE, CENTROCLINE, HETERO- stance from inorganic compounds, using

CLINAL FOLD, NAPPE, OROGENY, PERI- energy from the sun and making energy
CLINE. Fig 24. available to the consumer levels which
follow it. At the second level are the
fold mountain a mountain resulting from
primary consumers, the herbivores,
the folding (flexuring) of the earth’s crust,
which supply energy to the secondary
in contrast to a block mountain, col¬
consumers, the smaller followed by the
lision ZONE, YOUNG FOLD MOUNTAIN.
larger carnivores. At each level much
foliation (Latin folia, leaves) 1. the more of the energy obtained is lost in respira¬
or less parallel, wavy layers or bands of tion, so that progressively fewer organ¬
minerals found in some metamorphic isms can be supported. Thus in a balanced
rocks, e.g. schists, gneiss (metamor¬ community the biomass of each trophic
phism) orinsomeiGNEOUS rocks which level is always greater than that of the
flowed as they cooled 2. the wavy bands succeeding level, omnivores (diversi-
of ice seen in the depths of a glacier. vores) will eat almost anything; bacteria,
fungi and various microorganisms are
Food and Agriculture Organization
consumers operating at all levels. All
FAO.
organisms, including predators, die
food chain a chain of organisms, existing naturally if not eaten, their dead tissues
in any natural community, along which being decomposed by microorganisms
energy passes, the organisms in each link (decomposers) which release carbon
obtaining energy by preying on or parasit¬ dioxide, ammonia and mineral salts to
izing those in the preceding link, and being the environment. The sequence up to the
so treated in turn by those in the suc¬ death of an organism is termed the predator
ceeding link. At the first energy level, chain, the energy flow after death being
the first trophic level-i, there is nearly termed the detritus chain. Any natural
always a green plant-1 or other organism community will have many interlinked
capable of producing its own organic sub¬ food chains, making up a food cycle or

155
 V V

food web

FOOD WEB. BIOTIC PYRAMID, CARBON began to break up and disperse, with large
CYCLE, NITROGEN CYCLE, PHOSPHORUS, regional branch plants (some in the Third
PHOTOSYNTHESIS, PRIMARY PRO¬ World) contributing considerably to the
DUCTION. economic health of the corporation.
POST-FORDISM.
food web all the interconnected food
chains in an ecosystem. forecast a prediction based on scientific
observation, on experience, or by an es¬
foothills a belt of hills aligned approx¬
timate of probability, as in a weather
imately parallel to a mountain range and
forecast.
lying between it and the plain below.
foredeep 1. a relatively narrow, deep,
footloose industry, footloose activity elongated, steep-sided trough in the ocean
a mobile enterprise, usually light indus¬
floor, near or parallel to a mountainous
try, which, by the nature of the raw land area, or associated with an island
materials used and its labour, market and arc 2. such a trough when infilled with
transport needs, is not tied to a particular
sediment, e.g. the Himalayan foredeep,
location, industry.
now in the Indo-Gangetic plain, deep,

foot wall the lower side of a fault. ocean.

foredune a dune or line of dunes nearest

forage crops in Britain, all crops-i and
to the sea in a system of dunes on a sandy
grass (including grass from rough graz¬
shore, comparable with an advanced
ing) grown on a farm specifically for graz¬
dune in a hot desert.
ing livestock, but not pulses or crops
harvested as grain-5- foreland land or territory lying in front,
e.g. 1. a low promontory such asaCAPE
ford a part of a river shallow enough to
or headland jutting seawards, e.g. North
be crossed by wading, hence common in
Foreland, Kent, England 2. a stable con¬
riverside place-names, e.g. Oxford.
tinental mass on the margin of a geosyn¬
Fordism a term connoting the system cline 3. in the study of ports, the seaward
of fast mass production and the terms of trading area connected with the port
employment pioneered by Henry Ford through mantime organization.
(1863 — 1947) in his vast Ford Motor Co.
foreshore a term loosely applied to the
works in Detroit, Mich., USA. He aimed
part of the seashore lying between the
to produce low cost, low priced stand¬
lowest low water line and the average
ardized motor vehicles at speed while
high water line, backshore.
sustaining good relations with his factory
workers, who performed small, repetitive forest 1. an extensive, continuous area
tasks (needing little or no skill) on a of land dominated by trees (sometimes
fast-moving assembly line for 8 hours specified as large trees in order to contrast
a day. They were motivated by high forest with woodland), sometimes
wages related to their high productivity, including patches ofpasture, economically
and by the welfare services provided. Ford exploited or not and (fao qualification)
wanted them (and their families) to be able capable of producing wood, or of influ¬
to afford the mass produced products of encing local climate or the water regime,
their labour. As time passed, the system or providing shelter for livestock and

156
 fracture

wildlife, boreal, coniferous, decidu¬ fossil 1. specifically, the remains, or an

ous, EQUATORIAL, GALLERY, MON¬ impression left by the remains, or the
SOON, MOSSY, RAIN and TROPICAL traces, of a plant or animal, preserved in the
FOREST and FORESTRY, natural earth’s crust by natural processes, usually
RESOURCES, PATCH CUTTING, SUS¬ in sedimentary rocks, sometimes in
TAINED YIELD FORESTRY, TIMBER 2. his¬ metamorphic if the metamorphism has
torically in medieval England, a legal term, not been too violent. The hard parts of
an area of land, not necessarily tree- the organism may be preserved intact, or
covered, set aside for a royal hunting they may be replaced by another mineral
ground (the hunting rights being the prop¬ (calcification, MINERALIZATION-2,
erty of the Crown), subject to the strict petrification). There may be internal
Forest Laws and outside the Common or external casts of the organism in the
Law, surviving in such place-names as rock, or impressions of soft parts, or carbon
Dartmoor Forest, Bowland Forest. residues of the decomposed organism, or
park-i 3. the association with hunting traces of plant and animal activities (e.g.
similarly survives in the term deer forest, tracks, burrows of animals, root passages of
an unenclosed hunting ground, devoid plants); or the organism may be preserved
wholly or partly of sheep, cattle, crops, intact, e.g. mammoths in frozen ground
used for deer stalking. in Siberia, insects in amber (fossil resin).
palaeontology 2. loosely applied to
forestry the science and art of planting, any feature of geological age buried in the
cultivating and managing forests-i, earth’s surface naturally or by geological
usually conveying the idea of manage¬ agencies, e.g. fossil fuel.
ment with a view to economic develop¬
ment, whereas woodland management fossil fuel combustible material derived
may not imply that, patch cutting, from the fossilized remains of plants and
RESOURCE CONSERVATION, RESOURCE animals, i.e. biofuels, coal, natural
MANAGEMENT, SUSTAINED YIELD FOR¬ gas, OIL.
ESTRY, TIMBER.
fossil water connate water, water trapped
formation 1. in ecology, the largest nat¬ in sedimentary rocks during their

ural vegetation type, the plants of a land deposition.

biome 2. in geology, sometimes termed

Fourth World third world.
a stage, the fourth division in the hierarchy
of rocks in geological time, a sub¬ fractal (Latin fractus, broken) n. and adj.
division of a series, corresponding in the a phenomenon composed of geometric
time interval to an age (geological patterns that are self-similar, repeated at
timescale). It consists of a stratum or every scale. Fractal geometry is concerned
series of strata which are similar in charac¬ with the geometry of irregular objects, i.e.
ter (homogeneous), having some property with natural or artificial forms that are not
which makes them distinctive. composed of straight lines (as in Euclidean
geometry, which is based on straight lines).
form-line a contour based on general Attempts have been made to associate frac¬
observations and sketched in, rather than
tals with patterns of urban settlement.
one based on instrumental survey and
determined by exact measurement. fracture 1. a split, break or state of

157
fractus cloud

being broken 2. in geology, a clean dissolved in a medium such as water.

break in stratum brought about by ANAEROBE, ANAEROBIC.
deformation under the strain of com¬
pression or TENSION. free port, free city an enclosed guarded
city, usually a port or part ofa port, where
fractus cloud, fracto- ragged, shredded goods may be loaded or unloaded free
cloud indicating strong winds and from customs dues, most customs regu¬
stormy conditions in the*- upper atmo¬ lations and similar restrictions. It usually
sphere. The prefix fracto- is used to indi¬ develops a large entrepot trade.
cate a similar ragged condition in other
cloud forms, e.g. fractocumulus, fracton- freestone i. a rock that can easily be cut
imbus, fractostratus, etc. in any direction, thus a fine-grained rock
of uniform particles occumng in thick
fragmentation I. the breaking of a whole
beds, e.g. sandstone, limestone 2. in
into separate, isolated parts 2. of a farm,
botany, a fruit in which the stone does not
the division of the land of a farm into
stick to the flesh; or the stone of such fruit.
separate, isolated parts. If the farm remains
a single holding it may become difficult free trade the commercial interchange
to work as a unit if the land is divided (e.g. between nation states or an economic
if the construction of a motorway cuts group of nations and others, in which there
through the farm). If the fragmentation is are no tariff barriers or other protective
the result of the law of equal inheritance, measures such as quota restrictions.
the land being parcelled out to family
members, a number of small farm units freeze-thaw a form of weathering in
of doubtful economic viability may be periglac.al areas where the temp era ture
created, land reform. hovers around freezing point, below
which frost breaks up the rock and above
free adj. i. unhampered, unimpeded, at
which the ice melts, so that water flows
liberty, without restrictions 2. in chem¬
and carries away the rock fragments.
istry, not combined, e.g. free oxygen.
freezing point the temperature at which
free face a vertical facet cut in bare rock,
a substance in the liquid state changes to
part of the slope profile of a hillside, below
the solid state, e.g. at which pure water
thewAxiNG slope,abovethecoNSTANT
changes to ice, o°C (32°F). frost, ice
slope, too steep for debris to rest on it (the
POINT.
debris falls downwards to form scree),
slope.
F region the outer region of the iono¬
free goods goods (good) which are so sphere, lying 200 to 400 km (125 to
abundant that at any given time and place 250 mi) above the earth’s surface.
they are obtainable without cost or, being
freight 1. the hire of a vessel or vehicle
scarce enough to warrant a price, they
to carry goods 2. the service of carrying
are impossible to sell, capital goods,
goods, originally by ship but now
COMMODITY, CONSUMER DURABLES,
extended to land vehicles and aircraft 3.
CONSUMER GOODS, ECONOMIC GOODS,
the goods so carried 4. the payment for
PRODUCER GOODS.
that service, sometimes being specifically
free oxygen gaseous oxygen or oxygen applied to goods carried in bulk, more

158
 frontal

slowly than the normal service and at lower distribution lacks a short tail and ends
cost. abruptly at the peak, it is termed a trunc¬
ated positively skewed frequency distri¬
freighter a ship or aircraft that carries
bution curve (poisson distribution).
cargo, i.e. freight-3■
frequency distribution in statistics, the
freight rates the money paid to a
organization of statistical data brought
carrier for the loading, transporting
about by separating the range of values
and unloading of goods.
covered by a set of observations on a single
frequency i. in general, the condition variable into class intervals, arranging
or quality of repeatedly occurring 2. the the class intervals consecutively in increas¬
number of times something, some event, ing or decreasing order, and tabulating the
or some process occurs in a given unit of number of observations (the frequencies)
time 3. in statistics, the number of falling in each.
members of a population-4, or a
freshwater water that is not salt, regis¬
number of occurrences of a given type of
tering less than 0.2 per cent salinity.
event, falling into a single class in a statist¬
ical survey of the variation of specified
friable adj. easily crumbled, hence applied
characteristics. to rocks having that characteristic and to

frequency curve a graph of a continuous soils with a good crumb structure.

FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION. The class
friction the force which offers resistance
interval is shown on the horizontal axis in
to the relative movement of one surface
order of increasing value from the inter¬
sliding or rolling over another with which
section of the two axes, the class frequency
it is in contact.
on the vertical axis in order of increasing
frequency from the point of intersection. friction of distance, friction of space
The data may group around the values in the retarding effect of distance on human
the centre of a range of values (central interactions, hindering perfect or imme¬
tendency), with a few low values (to the diate accessibility. Efficient transport
left) and about an equal number of high partly offsets this friction; but site rentals
values (to the right). This forms a sym¬ and transport costs represent the charge
metrical curve, the curve of the theoretical for the friction remaining.
normal distribution. If the curve is asym¬
fringing reef coral reef.
metrical it is said to be skewed. If most of
the data group around relatively low values front the surface of separation between
and there is a long tail of very high values, two large or small air masses of mark¬
the slope on the right flank of the curve edly different temperature and humidity,
becomes shallower and longer than that termed a frontal zone if the air masses
on the left, and the curve is said to be are widely separated, anafront, cold
positively skewed. But if most of the data FRONT, KATAFRONT, OCCLUDED FRONT,
group around relatively high values, so OCCLUSION, WARM FRONT.
that the slope on the left flank of the curve
is shallower and longer than that on the frontal adj. 1. relating to a meteorological
nght, it is said to be negatively skewed. If front 2. in, at, or relating to the forward
the curve of a positively skewed frequency part.

159
frontal fog

frontal fog fog formed when very fine frost line a boundary indicating the in¬
warm drizzle resulting from the passing cidence or the seasonal limit of frost-i,
of the WARM FRONT of a DEPRESSION revealing areas I. that never experience
encounters cold air near the ground, temperatures below the freezing point
which becomes saturated. of water, e.g. the altitudinal limit in trop¬
ical countries below which frost never
frontal rain cyclonic rain.
occurs 2. with a mean minimum tempera¬
ture or the lowest mean monthly tempera¬
frontier i. that part of a country or other
ture higher than freezing point, o°C (32°F)
political unit which fronts or faces another
3. that do not experience frost at certain
country or other political unit, sometimes
times of the year, e.g. with a frost-free
applied to the actual boundary, some¬
period of a specific number of days, im¬
times to a zone, march 2. in USA, the
portant to certain crops, such as maize
border or advance area of settlement,
or cotton, which need a frost-free grow¬
carrying few people.
ing season 4. lacking a month with a
frontogenesis the processes in the atmo¬ mean temperature above o°C (32°F), the
sphere that lead to the formation or in¬ boundary of a frost climate, a climate
tensification of FRONTS. characterized by perpetual frost.

frost I. the temperature of the atmo¬ frost pocket a small, low-lying area into
sphere, at about 1.2 m (4 ft) above the which cold air rolls down by gravity from
ground surface, at or below the freezing a hillslope, the cold air having been created
point of water, expressed in the number by swift radiation of heat from the hill-
of degrees C or F that the temperature slope (katabatic wind). The cold air is
falls below that freezing point, air frost, trapped in the pocket and may stay at
ground frost 2. frozen dew, fog or freezing point after the temperature of
water vapour, termed hoar frost or the air over the hillslope has risen. Thus
rime, appearing as white ice-crystals on fruit-growers, anxious to avoid frost dam¬
exposed surfaces, black frost, glaze 3. age to blossom, do not plant in frost
a powerful, mechanical weathering, pockets.
disintegrating agent effective when water
frost smoke fog-like clouds formed when
that has penetrated cracks and gaps in rocks
cold air comes into contact with relatively
and soil freezes, expands, and splits apart
warm sea-water, arctic smoke.
the rock or soil particles, e.g. in jointed
rocks in regular beds, shattered by frost frost thrust the sideways pressure of
along lines of weakness to produce rect¬ freezing ground water, frost heave.
angular blocks, a process known as block
DISINTEGRATION. full 1. the rounded part of a sandbank 2.
a ridge of sand or shingle created by wave
frost action congelifraction, con- action, usually lying almost parallel to the
GELITURBATION, FREEZE-THAW, FROST coastline. Depressions between fulls are
HEAVE, FROST THRUST. known as swales, slashes or furrows.

frost heave the raising of the soil surface fumarole (Italian) a vent in the ground
by frost-i formedinit. congeliturba- in volcanic regions emitting steam and
TION, FROST THRUST. other gases (e.g. ammonium chloride,

160
 fusion

carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide) in the plants and animals, especially in highly acid
form of powerful jets, a manifestation of soils where they largely take over the role
dying or extinct volcanic activity. SOL- ofbacteria; some, e.g. the mushroom, are
FATARA. valued for food; some for the organic fer¬
mentation they produce, e.g. some fungi
functional analysis an analysis of are the source of certain antibiotics such
phenomena on the basis of the part they as penicillin.
play within a particular, wider organiza¬
tion, e.g. of rivers in tenns of their role in funnel cloud a tuba cloud, a spinning
denudation, of towns in terms of the cone of dark grey cloud descending from

part they play within an economy. the base of a low-lying cumulonimbus

cloud until it reaches the surface of the
functional classification of towns a sea, where it may become part ofa water¬
classification of cities and towns based on spout. It may also be associated with a
their characteristic economic activities. TORNADO-2.

functionalism i. broadly, a concept of a fur farm a farm concerned with the rear¬
culture or a society regarded as an entity, ing of certain fur-beanng animals under

a system comprising smaller, differentiated controlled conditions with the objective

and interdependent systems, all parts of of producing pelts for sale.

which function to maintain one another furrow a narrow trench made in the earth
and the whole, any change occurring in by a plough, into which seed is sown. The
one part leading to readjustment in the ridge of earth turned up by the plough in
others 2. in design, the theory that the making the furrow is known as the furrow
function of the thing to be designed should slice.
dictate the form of the design, extended
in the 1920s and 1930s to the conviction
fusion a melting or blending together,
that the form most closely concerned with e.g. of metals, to form a fused mass, the
components becoming indistinguishable.
function was the most beautiful, the most
In nuclear fusion (nuclear energy) light
desirable.
atomic nuclei are exposed to extreme tem¬
fungus pi. fungi, a parasitic or saprophytic perature and extreme pressure to form
plant, lacking chlorophyll, having a world¬ heavier atomic nuclei, without loss in
wide distribution. Some are important in mass, resulting in a great output of energy.
the breakdown of the remains of dead LATENT HEAT.
G
G7 Group Seven, the seven leading world a tunnel) the forest fringing both river
industrialized countries (Canada, France, banks in otherwise open country. The
Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA), that foliage may meet in an arch over narrow
operate collectively in the world economy streams, hence the association with a
to coordinate economic exchange. They tunnel.
support the imf with loans.
game theory the application of math¬
gabbro a coarsely crystalline basic, Plu¬ ematical logic to the strategy, tactics and
tonic rock, dark in colour, consisting fluctuating odds in situations where two
essentially of calcium-rich plagioclase or more people (the players) are totally or
feldspar and a ferromagnesian min¬ partly in conflict, aware of the costs and
eral and accessory minerals, com¬ benefits of all the potential results but
monly occurring, e.g. as a lopolith. unaware of the choices of the other(s);
GNEISS. and where each opponent is free to adopt
several courses of action in order to select
Gaia hypothesis the proposition put for¬
the optimum strategy and achieve the
ward by James Lovelock, scientist, 1979,
desired goal of minimizing the maximum
that all the processes in the atmosphere,
loss the other(s) can impose on him/her
hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere of
(the minimax solution), hotelling
the earth-1 are interrelated and self¬
MODEL.
regulating in order to sustain the planet
and its phenomena; and that organic life gangue the worthless mineral material,
in all its forms is an indispensable element e.g. quartz, surrounding or accom¬
in the interaction. He regarded his theory panying a metallic ore in a lode ora vein,
as scientific and testable, not mystical of little value in relation to the ore itself.
or teleological as the title ‘Gaia’ (the The term expresses a judgement of eco¬
Greek earth-goddess) might suggest. nomic value: mineral material regarded as
TELEOLOGY. gangue at one place or at a certain period
of time may be valued highly in another
galaxy one of the great number of systems
place or time where or when economic
in the universe, consisting of stars (indi¬
conditions are different; or it may be of
vidual and in clusters), nebular and inter¬
higher value in places where the concen¬
stellar particles etc., and classified by shape
tration of the mineral is greater.
(amorphous, irregular, ellipsoidal, ellipt¬
ical, spheroidal, spherical, spiral). The ganister, gannister a fine-grained, hard,
earth lies in a spiral galaxy, the Milky Way. very pure arenaceous-i, siliceous-i
rock underlying some coal-seams in the
gale a strong wind, beaufort scale.
Lower coal measures, used in making
gallery forest (Italian and Spanish galleria, heat-refractory bricks in furnace linings.

162
 gateway city

gap a break in a ridge or belt of hills. If phytes and stunted evergreen oak,
the break is just an indent and no stream occurring on limestone in drier
is present, it is termed a dry gap or wind- areas of Mediterranean climate. It is
gap; if the cutting is deep and a stream anthropogenic-2 in origin, resulting
flows through it, it is termed a from the effects of human settlements, fire
WATER-GAP. and the browsing of domestic and feral
goats on the earlier vegetation, maquis.
gap town a town situated in or at the
entrance to a gap, a natural centre for lines garua (South America) a heavy, dense
of communication, holding a command¬ mist or drizzle occurring in winter on the
ing position. Pacific slopes of the Coastal Range or the
lower foothills of the Andes, soaking the
garden city I. specifically, based on the
land and promoting the growth of quick¬
definition of Ebenezer Howard who used
flowering plants and grasses, loma.
the term in 1898 (apparently unaware of
its use by A. T. Stewart in Long Island, gas 1. a fluid substance with neither def¬
USA, in 1869): a planned, self-contained, inite volume nor definite shape, having a
industrial-residential settlement, rural in fixed mass but no fixed volume, the vol¬
character, with open spaces and trees, ume changing with temperature and pres¬
catering for inhabitants of various grades sure, filling and taking the shape of its
of society, providing properly planned container, fluid, liquid, solid 2. afluid
facilities for cultural and recreational substance at a temperature above its crit¬
opportunities, with properly planned ical TEMPER A TU RE-1. VAPOUR 3. a Sllb-
facilities for industry, and with a relatively stance or mixture ofsubstances in a gaseous
low housing density (10 units per acre, or state used for some specific purpose, e.g.
35 persons per acre), the whole of the land provision of light and heat, an anaesthetic
being in public ownership or held in trust etc. COAL GAS, NATURAL GAS.
for the community, being of a size that
gas coal a coal, usually bituminous, used
makes possible a full measure of social life,
for making GAS-3 by distillation.
but not larger, and surrounded by a rural
belt. Such a settlement is exemplified in gash breccia a rock consisting of angular
England by Letchworth (1903) and Wel¬ fragments of dolomite and limestone
wyn Garden City (1920). 2. now loosely in a matrix-3 of calcite and clay,
applied to an open density, planned, peculiar to the carboniferous lime¬
industrial-residential settlement, similar stone of southwest Wales.
to Howard’s specification, but not neces¬
gatekeepers senior employees in banks
sarily so tightly restricted, e.g. with regard
and building societies (sometimes in estate
to land ownership, or an encircling green
agents’ offices) who have the power to
belt.
advance financial loans to prospective
garden suburb a suburb with a well- home buyers, red-line district.
planned, open layout (not to be confused
gateway city a settlement, usually occu¬
with a garden city)? e.g. Hampstead
pying a favourable, commanding site,
Garden Suburb, northwest London.
which acts as a link between two areas
garigue, garrigue (French) scrub ve¬ and in many cases becomes a primate
getation, especially of aromatic xero- city.

163
 \ v

GATT

GATT General Agreement on Tariffs affection, kinship or membership of a close

and Trade, a treaty signed in 1947 by 23 community such as a family, or a group
nations. By 1981 there were 8 5 contracting of friends, or a religious sect; Gesellschaft
parties, by 1995 there were 100, with being a loose, rational association of isol¬
others participating, aiming to reduce bar¬ ated individuals concerned with personal
riers to international trade, to overcome self-interest, each of whom enters the
trade problems, and to expand world trade association for limited purposes and with
by negotiation and consultation. It was limited commitments. Gemeinschaft is
succeeded by the WTO (World Trade considered to be typical of pre-industrial,
Organization) in 1995, and now includes pre-capitalist, pre-urban society; Gesell¬
bodies dealing with intellectual property schaft to be typical of industrial, capit¬
rights and services. alist, urban society.

GDP gross domestic product, the total gender male or female. A distinction is
market value of commodities (goods and often made in the use of the terms gender
services) produced in a country in a given and sex (male or female), gender relat¬
penod of time, usually a year. No allow¬ ing to what may be perceived as socially
ance is made for capital consumption and produced differences between male and
depreciation; the use of market prices female, sex to the physical differences.
ensures the value of indirect taxes and
subsidies are incorporated. The value of gender roles the differing parts played
intermediate goods used in the production by males and females in the social and
of other goods is excluded, being incor¬ economic life of a society, often deter¬
porated in the market price of the final mined by custom and tradition, feminist
goods. The distinction between inter¬ GEOGRAPHY.
mediate and final products is an arbitrary
gene the basic unit of the material of
one, varying from one country (or one
inheritance, part of a chromosome, passed
economic statistician) to another, com¬
on from parent to offspring and responsible
modity, GNP.
for controlling the processes of growth,
geanticline, geoanticline a very large development and reproduction which dis¬
complex anticline, extending over tinguish each species, biodiversity,
many kilometres, commonly caused by GENOME PROJECT.
compression of the sedimentary rocks
within a geosyncline. General Agreement on Tariffs and
Trade gatt.
gelifluction in permafrost areas, the
slow, spontaneous downward movement general circulation of the atmosphere,
of soil and ground ice in penglacial areas, ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION.
facilitated by the melting of ice in spring.
general land use model a hierarchical
MASS MOVEMENT, SOLIFLUCTION.
model devised to ease the interpretation
Gemeinshcaft, Gesellschaft (German, ot land use maps, consisting of three
community, society) terms used to con¬ stable ‘scape’ territories (wildscape, farm-
trast one with the other, Gemeinschaft scape, townscape) with intervening less-
being the long-lasting, intimate social stable territories (marginal fringe and
relationship between individuals, based on RURBAN FRINGE).

164
 geographical imagination

general systems theory a concept restore run-down housing in an inner city

developed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in or other neglected area, housing formerly
the 1940s— 1950s as a framework for a sci¬ inhabited by poorer people, the tenure
ence of ‘wholeness’ and organization. By usually shifting from private rented to
making theoretical generalizations about owner occupation. It occurs particularly
the properties common to different types in inner city areas as a result of the wishes
of SYSTEM-1,2,3,4,5 an attempt is made of the wealthier people to have easy access
to discover isomorphisms between to their jobs and the recreational facilities
systems, to liken a system drawn from one (e.g. theatres) in the central area. Once
discipline to that of another or others, and started in a distnct, the process spreads
thus to produce a doctrine of‘wholeness’. rapidly until most of the poorer inhabitants
This approach emphasizes the relationship are displaced, so that the social character
between form and process and draws of, and the value of the property in, the
attention to the multivariate character of neighbourhood markedly changes.
phenomena; so it has come to be applied
genus (pi. genera) one of the groups
to geographical systems where isomorph¬
used in the classification of organ¬
ism may often be found, e.g. in sys¬
isms, consisting of a number of similar
tems displaying allometric growth,
species-1, sometimes of only one species,
entropy, or the hierarchical structure of
a group of similar genera constituting a
the processes involved in the filling of
family, binomial nomenclature.
Space. SYSTEMS ANAI.YSIS.
geo, gio (Norse gya, a creek) in northern
genetically modified organism gen¬
Scotland and Faeroes 1. a long narrow
etic ENGINEERING.
inlet of the sea, penetrating cliffs, especially
genetic engineering the technology in areas of well-jointed old red sand¬
involved in manipulating the molecular stone 2. in geomorphology, a coastal
building blocks of organisms (the genes). cleft, often marking joints, faults or
Organisms treated in this way are termed dikes from which material has been
genetically modified organisms (GMOs). removed by wave action.
Very broadly, genetic engineering in
geode a hollow, rounded, rock nodule, its
plants isolates chromosomal DNA with
interior walls lined with inward-pointing
specific, desirable characteristics and trans¬
crystals, common in sedimentary rock,
fers it into other species, e.g. the introduc¬
especially in limestone.
tion into a plant of bacteria that produce
insecticides, bio-catalyst, biotech¬ geodetic distance the shortest distance
nology. (‘as the crow flies’ distance) between two
places on the earth’s surface.
genome project the attempt to map and
eventually to sequence the human geographic, geographical adj. of, per¬
genome, i.e. all the genetic information, taining to, or relating to geography. On
contained in the chemical structure of the the whole, geographic is used more fre¬
chromosomes, that describes individual quently by American authors than by
human beings, gene. British.

gentrification a process in which geographical imagination the personal

wealthier people move into, renovate and concept of the world, local and global,
geographical inertia

that encompasses place, landscape, time space accessible to human beings and their
and space, and people, is formulated by instruments (SPACE-2,3,4), especially the
maps, the news media (especially tele¬ patterns of, and variation in, their distri¬
vision), the visual arts, literature in all its bution in that space, on all scales, in the
forms, travel brochures, personal travel past or present.
experience, and local and international Human geography is concerned with
social contacts etc. It vanes with expen- human activities (of individuals and of
ence and with the passage of time. groups) and organization in so far as these
COGNITIVE MAP, ICONOGRAPHY, TIME relate to the interaction (past or present)
GEOGRAPHY. of people with their physical environment
and with the environments created by
geographical inertia the tendency of a
human beings themselves, and the conse¬
place with established installations and ser¬
quences of these interrelationships.
vices to maintain its size and its importance
Physical geography is concerned with
as a focus of activity after the conditions
the physical characteristics and processes of
originally influencing its development
the ATMOSPHERE-I, BIOSPHERE, HYDRO¬
have appreciably altered, ceased to be rel¬
SPHERE and LITHOSPHERE.
evant, or disappeared, geographical
MOMENTUM, INDUSTRIAL INERTIA, IN¬ geoid 1. an earth-shaped body 2. the earth
DUSTRIAL MOMENTUM. in geometrical terms, i.e. an oblate
spheroid or ellipsoid (a sphere, spheroid
geographical information system gis.
or ellipsoid flattened at the poles),
geographical mile a nautical mile, a regarded as a mean sea-level surface (i.e.
mile theoretically equal to one minute (i') supposing all mountains and ocean basins
of latitude but, owing to the fact that to be levelled to the mean sea-level surface),
the earth is a sphere flattened at the poles or as an undulating surface related to gravi¬
(geoid), a minute oflatitude varies slightly tational force (gravity-2), higher than
in length. The geographical or nautical the actual surface of the spheroid under the
mile has therefore been standardized continents, lower under the oceans.
internationally as being equal to 1.852
geologic, geological adj. of, pertaining
kilometres (1 km = 0.539 international
to, derived from geology. Geological is
nautical mile), knot, mile.
the usual English usage.
geographical momentum the tend¬
geological inversion strat 1 which
ency of a place with established instal¬
have the normal sequence of h yers, but
lations and services not only to maintain
in reverse order (i.e. upside down, as in the
(geographical inertia) but also to
lowerlimb of an overfold), occurring in
increase its size and its importance as a
regions of intense folding (fold-2).
focus of activity after the conditions ori- '
gmally influencing its development have geological structure structl re-3.
appreciably altered, ceased to be relevant,
geological time the chronology of the
or disappeared, industrial inertia, in¬
history of the earth revealed by its rocks.
dustrial MOMENTUM.
The hierarchy of time-periods shown in
geography the study that deals with the the geological timescale is not always
material and human phenomena in the strictly observed: there are variations in
 geopolitics

the names and the periods used. An epoch which a formation (of rocks) may be
(time) may be divided into ages-2, during laid down. See table.

geological timescale

Era Period Epoch Duration Million

(time) (time) in million years
or Series years ago
System (rock) (approx.) (approx.)
(rock)

Holocene (12 000

(Recent) years)
Quaternary ——-
Pleistocene

(Glacial) c. 1.5
c. 1.5
CAINOZOIC Pliocene 5-5
(CENOZOIC) 7-
Miocene 19
26 —
Tertiary Oligocene 12
38-
Eocene 16
54-
Palaeocene 11
65 -
Cretaceous 71
136-
MESOZOIC Jurassic 54
190 —
(SECONDARY) Triassic 35
225 —
Permian 55
280 —
American
Carboniferous Pennsylvanian 65
Mississippian
345
PALAEOZOIC Devonian 50
(PRIMARY) 395
Silurian 35
430
Ordovician 70
500
Cambrian 70
570
PROTEROZOIC
PRECAMBRIAN ARCHE0Z01C

geology the scientific study of the origin geomorphology the study concerned
and nature of the earth’s crust, the rocks with landforms, especially the genesis,
of which it is composed, and the history evolution and processes involved in the
of its development and changes. The study formation of the surface forms of the earth.
concerned with landforms is geomor¬
geophysics an interdisciplinary scientific
phology, GEOLOGICAL TIMESCALE.
study concerned with the structure, phys¬
geometric progression a series of ical phenomena and evolution of the
numbers in which each is multiplied by a earth’s interior and crust.
fixed number to produce the next, e.g. 1,
3, 9, 27. ARITHMETIC PROGRESSION. geopolitics (German Geopolitik) 1. the

167
 s v

geosophy

study of states-2 or nations viewed as balance below 455 m (1500 ft) above sea-
organic entities in space, and as such level, so that at these lower levels winds
subject to biological laws of growth and blow at an oblique angle to the isobars
decline (in territorial extent and political towards low pressure, ferrel’s law.
influence, as well as in economic and social
geosyncline a very large linear depression
terms), being, like other organisms, en¬
or syncline or down-warping of the
gaged in a perpetual struggle for survival,
earth’s crust, filled (especially in the central
for control over the space occupied.
zone) with a deep layer of sediments
F. Ratzel is credited with the introduction
derived from the land masses on each side
of this concept in the late nineteenth cen¬
and deposited on the floor of the de¬
tury; it was taken up by the English geo¬
pression at approximately the same rate as
grapher, Halford Mackinder; by the
it slowly, continuously subsided during a
Swedish political scientist, RudolfKjellen;
long period of geological time.
and later by the German geographer,
K. Haushofer. But it became particularly geothermal energy energy, in the form
prominent (and disreputable) before and ofheat derived from anomalies in the geo¬
during the Second World War when thermal gradient, which gives rise in
adopted by the Nazi Party in Germany to nature to the delivery of hot water and
advance its theory of race superiority and steam to the earth’s surface by thermal
to justify the Third Reich’s demand for springs and geysers (hydrother¬
lebensraum 2. the influence, or the study mal). The hot water and steam can be
of the influence, of spatial aspects on the used in generating electricity, e.g. as
political nature, history, institutions, etc. in Iceland and New Zealand. In addition
of states or nations, and especially on their the heat of the rocks in the earth’s crust
political and economic relations with can be used to warm cold water pumped
other states. down from the surface through a borehole.
The water is passed over the hot rock
geosophy the study of the nature and
and rises to the surface by another bore¬
expression of geographical ideas.
hole, where its acquired heat can be tapped
locally.
geostationary satellite in remote sens¬
ing a satellite-i with an orbital speed geothermal gradient the rise in tem¬
synchronous with that of the rotation of perature in the rocks of the earth’s crust
the earth, much used in communication with increasing depth. There are indica¬
systems. tions that the rate is not constant but speeds
up with increasing depth. Estimates range
geostrophic flow, geostrophic wind
from i°C in 28 m (i°F in some 51 ft) to
the concept of a wind blowing parallel to
i°C in 40 m (i°F in about 73 ft), but an
the isobars as a result of the force exerted
average in the sial could be about i°C
by the horizontal atmospheric pres¬
in about 28.6 m (i°F in about 52 ft). The
sure gradient in one direction, balanced
temperature of the base of the sial may be
by the deflection of the coriolis force
some 986°C (about i8o6°F). geother¬
in the opposite direction. It is only in the
mal ENERGY, HOT ROCK.
upper atmosphere that winds come near
to perfect geostrophic flow, because fric¬ gerrymander the drawing of the bound¬
tion near the earth’s surface upsets the aries of electoral districts in such a way that

168
 glacial

one political party is given an advantage. ghibli KHAMSIN.

Gestalt, gestalt theory a shape, pattern, ghost town a town, usually once a min¬
configuration, structure which can be per¬ ing town, now wholly abandoned, or
ceived only as a whole or unity, with inhabited by a few people if the town is
qualities different from those of its now a tourist attraction, e.g. in Klondike,
components: it cannot be expressed as the USA.
sum of its parts, because the parts acquire
certain characteristics produced by their gibber (Australian: aboriginal) a large
inclusion in the whole, and the whole has stone or boulder. A gibber plain is a desert

some characteristics belonging to none of area strewn with pebbles or boulders, a

the parts, giving it an additional, often type of gravel desert.

indefinable, quality (e.g. a melody cannot

gibbous adj. moon.
be expressed as the sum of its components,
the notes). Hence the Gestalt theory of the gilgai (Australian) a low, rounded mound
Gestalt school of psychology, that human on the surface of the plain in parts of the
perceptions, reactions, responses are all Murrumbidgee basin, New South Wales,
Gestalten, that enquiries about them formed when fragments of the a horizon
should examine the whole to discover falls down cracks in theB horizon. When
what are the components, rather than start the soil becomes saturated the B horizon
with the components and try to syn¬ expands, and the A horizon is pushed up
thesize them to form the whole, beha¬ in a series of mounds, continually eroded
vioural ENVIRONMENT, PHENOMENAL until the B horizon is exposed at the
ENVIRONMENT. surface.

geyser a hot spring that intermittently, Gini coefficient, Gini index a measure
sometimes at regular intervals, throws up of concentration, calculated by taking the
a jet of hot water, steam etc. in areas that ratio between the area contained by the
are or were volcanic. Famous examples diagonal and the lorenz curve and the
are in the volcanic distncts of Iceland and area in the whole triangle below the diag¬
the USA. The original ‘geyser’, the Giant onal. The value of the index increases with
Geyser in Iceland, erupts on occasions to the increasing size of the area between
55 m (180 ft), the Giant Geyser in Yellow¬ the curve and the diagonal. The index is
stone National Park, USA, to 60 m (200 ft) frequently used as a measure of inequality
at irregular intervals. The Waimangu in the welfare approach (welfare geo¬
Geyser, New Zealand, is said to have graphy).
erupted to 305 m (1000 ft) in 1909. geo¬

thermal ENERGY. GIS Geographical Information System, a

readily accessible collection of geograph¬
ghetto 1. historically, the part of a town ical data stored in digital form in a
or city in which Jews were required to live computer, easily analysed and constantly
in parts of medieval Europe, e.g. Poland, updated with new data (especially that
Italy 2. the part of a town or city where provided by remote sensing).
members of a minority group live on
account of economic or social pressure. glacial adj. 1. icy, frozen, used very loosely
SEGREGATION. in connexion with a glacier, ice age, lake
glacial age

etc. 2. strictly, of or pertaining to a lation to lower ground (or, if afloat, con¬

GLACIER. tinuously spreading), in some cases carving
a broad, steep-sided valley on its way. It
glacial age, epoch, era, period a period
may be active, moving quickly and carry¬
of geological time when much of the
ing much material; or passive (the rates of
earth’s surface was covered by glaciers.
accumulation and ablation being low, the
ICE AGE.
slope gentle), moving little if at all, and
glacial boulder a boulder which has carrying little or no material, ablation,
been carried by a glacier, erratic. alimentation, ice cap, ice sheet, and
glacier qualified by the terms active,
glacial diffluence the branching of a
APPOSED, CIRQUE, COLD, EXPANDED-
valley glacier, usually due to an
FOOT, HANGING, MOULIN, PASSIVE,
obstruction in the channel which causes a
PIEDMONT, TIDAL, WALL-SIDED , WARM.
build-up of ice in the main glacier and
an overflow (often over a col) into an glacierization the occupation of an area
adjoining valley. by a glacier or ice sheet at the present day.
GLACIATION.
glacial divergence the obstruction of an
established drainage pattern by an advan¬ glacier karst the KARST-like appearance
cing glacier or ice sheet, leading to a of an ice mass caused by the action of
change of course in the drainage. melt-water lying under a covering of mo¬
rainic and glaciofluvial material which,
glacial drainage channel a stream bed
varying in thickness, leads to variations in
cut by the melt-water of a glacier.
the rate of ablation. As in true karst,
glacial drift DRIFT. underground streams, poljes etc. are pro¬
duced. GLACIOKARST.
glacial lake a body of water contained by
the wall of a valley and the margin of a glacier mice glacier mouse.
glacier.
glacier milk a murky, greenish-white
glacial outburst jokulhlaup. stream of melt-water containing rock
flour, issuing from a glacier snout.
glaciated valley u-shaped valley.

glaciation i. the occupation of an area glacier mill moulin.

by an ice sheet or by glaciers 2. the
glacier mouse (Icelandic jokla mys, gla¬
action of ice on rocks over which it has
cier mice) a small, rounded, moss-covered
passed 3. the time when such took place
stone occurring on some glaciers in
(e.g. first and second glaciations).
Iceland.

glacier originally a river of ice moving

glacier retreat the stage of a glacier when
down a valley (now termed a valley
the ice is moving forward but the snout
glacier, alpine glacier or mountain
is receding, reached when the rate of
glacier). Now applied to a mass of snow
ablation exceeds that of accumula¬
and ice formed by the consolidation
tion.
(under pressure) of snow falling on high
ground (firn, neve), moving outward glacier snout the cavernous end of a
and downward from the zone of accumu¬ VALLEY GLACIER.
 gley

glacier tongue the part of a glacier especially to the branches of trees, super¬
extending to the sea, and usually afloat. cooling.

glacio-eustatism a global change of glen (Scottish and Gaelic; Irish glean;

ocean level caused by the abstraction of Welsh glyn) a steep-sided, usually glaci¬
water by the growth of ice sheets, or ated, valley characterized by a narrow
the return of water to the ocean when floor, sometimes contrasted with a strath,
these melt, diastrophic eustatism, a broad, open and cultivated valley.
EUSTATISM, GLACIO-ISOSTASY, NEGAT¬
gley, glei a sticky yellow and grey mot¬
IVE MOVEMENT, POSITIVE MOVEMENT,
tling in the soil, or the horizon thus
REJUVENATION.
mottled. It is caused by poor drainage,
glaciofluvial, glacifluvial fluvio- intermittent waterlogging reducing ox¬
GTACIAL. idation or causing the deoxidation
of ferric compounds. The compounds
glacio-isostasy the deformation of part which result are bluish-grey, mottled,
of the earth’s crust caused by the weight sticky, clayey and compact, podzolic
of an extensive ice-sheet. The great SOILS, WATERLOGGED.
weight of the ice depresses the crust but
the land surface recoils as the ice melts, in gleying the development of a gley struc¬
many cases leading to tilting and warp¬ ture in soil.

ing-2. GLACIO-EUSTATISM, ISOSTASY.

gley podzol podzolic soils.
glaciokarst, nival karst karstic land- gley (glei) soils, gleysols soils subject
forms (karst) in a limestone area resulting to periodic or permanent waterlogging
from the effects of glaciation and sub¬ (waterlogged), not artificially drained,
sequent melting, the ice subjecting the and to some extent displaying the
area to differential erosion (abrasion), mottled horizon below the surface layer
and the melt-water from the ice and snow, typical of gleying. There may or may
charged with carbon dioxide, dissolv¬ not be a humic, peaty topsoil. They are
ing the calcium carbonate in the lime¬ charactenzed by the extent to which
stone. GLACIER KARST. humus, clay, sand, peat are present, and to
the severity of waterlogging. Those with a
glasshouse greenhouse.
peaty surface horizon overlying a clayey,
glaze, glazed frost a generally homo- mottled impermeable horizon are
geneous-2, transparent clear ice formed termed humic gley soils or stagnohumic
when i. raindrops or non-supercooled gley soils: they are excessively wet and
drizzle droplets fall on an exposed sur¬ typically non-calcareous. Those that lack
face with a temperature well below o°C the peaty surface horizon and have a sub¬
(32°F) (e.g. on a road, forming black surface horizon that is slightly less imper¬
ice) 2. supercooled raindrops or drizzle meable are termed stagnogley soils: in
droplets fall on objects with a surface tem¬ general these are non-alluvial and non-
perature below or slightly above o°F calcareous and are classified as loamy or
(32°F) (e.g. on tree branches) 3. frost clayey. Other gley soils lacking the peaty
recurs after some thawing. The weight of surface horizon are termed argillaceous
ice of a glazed frost can be very damaging, (clayey) or sandy, podzolic soils.

171
glint

glint a steep cliff, steep terrace, steep edge globate adj. shaped like a globe.
of a plateau.
globe 1. a spherical body 2. the earth-i
glint line an erosion escarpment, the con¬ 3. a spherical model with a map of the earth
spicuous edge ofa stretch of denuded rock, (terrestrial globe) or the heavens (celestial
particularly the edge between an ancient globe) shown on it.
shield (such as the Laurentian shield) and
GMO genetically modified organism, a
younger rocks.
term applied in biotechnology to a
glint-line lake a lake, frequently one of product resulting from genetic engin¬
a string, formed along a glint line. eering.

global adj. I. of or pertaining to the earth GMT, Greenwich Mean Time the
as a whole 2. spherical 3. comprehensive, local time at the meridian of Green¬

total, encompassing all or nearly all con¬ wich, England (o° longitude, passing

siderations, categories, items etc. through the former Royal Observatory at

Greenwich), the standard time for
global city world city. the British Isles and the standard from
which most of the countries of the world
globalization the process by which
reckon their standard times, mean solar
people, their ideas and their activities
time.
(economic, cultural, political) in pre¬
viously relatively separated parts of the gneiss a foliated (foliation-i), coarsely
world become interconnected, integrated, crystalline rock with characteristic altern¬
drawn to the same social space at the ating dark and light bands composed of
same historical time. It does not imply dissimilar minerals (usually minerals in the
homogenization, or the elimination of mica group alternating with bands of
regional differences or ofuNEVEN devel¬ quartz and feldspar), having the com¬
opment. It leads to increased ecological position of granite but produced by the
interdependence; and the globalized metamorphism and recrystallization of
world economy is based particularly on bothiGNEOUS rocksandsediments. Those
the transnational movement of informa¬ resulting from the dynamic meta¬
tion and the mobile factors of pro¬ morphism of igneous rocks are termed
duction (capital, labour, technology). orthogneiss; those from metamorphism
of sedimentary rocks are termed para-
Global Positioning System gps.
gneiss. Gneiss is the most common of crys¬
global warming the potential slight rise talline rocks (the term covering a wide
in the temperature of the earth’s atmo¬ range of crystalline rocks), and gneisses
sphere arising from pollution due to natu¬ make up a large part of the areas of ancient
ral causes (e.g. emissions from volcanic rocks, e.g. of the Laurentian shield.
eruptions) and human activities (e.g.
gneissose structure a structure shown
destruction of vegetation cover, burning
by coarsely crystalline rocks, characterized
of fossil fuels) that upset the natural
by discontinuous foliation-i.
balance of atmospheric gases (e.g. by add¬
ing excessive amounts of carbon dioxide), GNP gross national product, a measure
thus enhancing the greenhouse effect of the total flow of output in an economy
and possibly damaging the ozone layer. during any specified period of time

172
 graded sediments

(excluding goods or services used as inputs mental Programme and designed to mon¬
in the production of further goods or itor the massive energy movements in the
services), i.e. the gdp (gross domestic world ocean-i. The information gath¬
product) of a country combined with ered should lead eventually to improved
income derived from overseas invest¬ forecasting of weather and of climatic
ments less profits generated by production change, including anticipation of the in¬
within the country but due to foreigners cidence of the el nino effect, and of
abroad. earthquakes.

gold an indestructible, yellow precious gorge a rocky-walled, steep-sided deep,

metal, almost resistant to chemical attack narrow river valley.
(noble metal). It occurs in alluvial
GPS Global Positioning System, a means
deposits (pan) or in quartz veins in a free
of locating position on the earth’s surface
state. It is sometimes associated with other
(land or water) by using a simple earth-
metals in the quartz veins or in the other
based instrument that receives signals
forms in which these occur, thus gold is
from two or three geostationary sat¬
sometimes mined directly or won as a
ellites. The position of the receiving
byproduct from other metals. It is alloyed
instrument is calculated by triangula¬
with other metals to achieve hardness or
tion.
to change its natural colour, carat.
graben (German) a long, narrow,
golf course, golf links terms used inter¬ depressed tract of the earth’s crust, a trough
changeably, but strictly golf links (links) between parallel normal faults, the
should be restricted to a tract of land lying throws of which face in opposite direc¬
near the sea coast, on which the game of tions. The term is sometimes applied to a
golf is played. rift valley, but such usage is unaccept¬
able to some authors on the grounds that
Gondwanaland the southern part of the
a graben is a structural feature and not
great precambrian landmass, pangaea.
necessarily a valley.
Current scientific evidence suggests that
it included today’s Africa, Madagascar, gradation the bringing of the surface of
Australia, part of South America, Antarc¬ the land to a common level by the pro¬
tica and the Indian subcontinent, and cesses of AGGRADATION and DEGRADA¬
began to break up in palaeozoic times. TION.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT, LAURASIA, PLATE
graded river, graded stream a river
TECTONICS, TETHYS OCEAN.
which has by erosion and deposition
good in economics, anything (morally adjusted its channel and the slope of its
good or morally bad, material or in¬ bed so that the rate of its flow is exactly
tangible) which is capable of satisfying that needed for the carrying of the material
a human want, capital goods, con¬ supplied by the drainage basin, a delicately
sumer DURABLES, CONSUMER GOODS, balanced condition which may be upset
ECONOMIC GOODS, FREE GOODS, PRO¬ at any time.
DUCER GOODS.
graded sediments loose or cemented
GO OS the Global Ocean Observing sediments with particles sorted by natural
System, backed by the UN Environ¬ means, according to size. Various systems

173
 V v

gradient

of grain size are used in the study of sedi¬ gramme, gm, the unit of mass in the metric
ments and soils (soil texture, Went¬ measurement system, one thousandth part
worth scale), e.g. of a KILOGRAM. KILO-.

granary 1. a storehouse for threshed

Grade International American
cereal (grain) crops 2. a region produ¬
diameter diameter
(mm) (mm) cing or exporting much grain.

Gran Chaco chaco.

stones over 2.00 over 2.00
coarse sand 0.2-2.00 0.2-2.00 granite 1. specifically, a granular,
fine sand 0.02-0.2 0.05-0.2 coarsely-crystalline acid Plutonic rock,
silt 0.002-0.02 0.002-0.05
the most common and widespread of
clay below 0.002 below 0.002
plutonic rocks, consisting essentially
of orthoclase feldspar with free
gradient I. the degree of slope of a land quartz and a mica, formed by the slow
surface, stream, road, railway, away from cooling of a large intrusion of magma
the horizontal, expressed as a percentage, or possibly by the transformation of
or an angtilar measurement from the hori¬ pre-existing country rock by a form
zontal, or as a proportion between its ver¬ of metasomatism 2. loosely, any
tical interval, reduced to unity, and coarsely-crystallme, pale, igneous rock.
its HORIZONTAL EQUIVALENT. SLOPE Granite is used as a building stone, espe¬
length 2. the degree of variation in cially polished for facings, and as an ag¬
certain phenomena, e.g. atmospheric gregate-4. ACID ROCK, B ATHOLITH,
pressure, temperature, density etc. geo¬ GNEISS.
thermal GRADIENT.
granular disintegration a type ofMECH-
graffito (Italian, pi. graffiti) I. unauthor¬ anical weathering, the breaking
ized drawing or writing on a wall or other down of porous rocks (porosity) into
surface (the term originally implied fragments to form a granular mass, caused
scratching, as on the ancient walls of Pom¬ either by the freezing and thawing of water
peii and Rome etc.) 2. an incised decor¬ absorbed in the rock pores (which dis¬
ation, e.g. on a pot, produced by scratching lodges rock particles), or by differential
through a superficial layer of plaster, glaze, contraction and expansion caused by
etc. to reveal a ground-5 of different insolation-i,2 (which results in the
colour. disintegration of the GRAINS-4).

grain i. the general trend of the geological grape the juicy edible green or purple
structure, folds, faults etc. reflected in the fruit growing in bunches on a grapevine.
dominant direction of mountain ranges, Some grapes are used for dessert, others
river valleys etc. 2. the natural arrangement' for wine, or for drying as currants, sultanas,
of strata in rock, coal etc. 3. the direction raisins. Grape vines flourish in Mediter¬
and pattern in which wood fibres grow 4. ranean conditions and in mild midlatitude
a very small hard particle, especially of a areas (including southern England) in the
mineral 5. the seed ol a cereal; or har¬ open air, or under glass in cooler areas.
vested cereal crops in general, flour. VINEYARD, VITICULTURE.

gram 1. a pulse, e.g. chick pea 2. gram, graph 1. a geometric representation of

174
 gravitation

a function, i.e. a diagram indicating the ics concerned with the properties of
relationship of one variable quantity to graphs-2, i.e. with the vertices (access
one or more others by showing their values points, junctions, nodes, points, terminals)
as distances from two axes (occasionally and edges (links, routes). Graph theory is
three) usually placed at right angles to used to describe networks, to indicate
one another, one of the variables to be ACCESSIBILITY, etc.
plotted being scaled along each of the axes.
grass a loose herbaceous plant with
By convention, in a two-dimensional
shallow, fibrous roots, and with a world¬
graph showing a frequency distri¬
wide distribution in areas with sufficient
bution, the DEPENDENT VARIABLE is
moisture. Among the grasses are cereals,
plotted along the vertical axis (i.e. the
reeds, bamboos, pasture grasses. Grasses
y-axis), representing the frequency of
provide valuable food for people and their
occurrence, the independent variable
livestock, through their starchy seeds, rich
along the honzontal axis (i.e. the v-axis) 2.
in protein, and their nutritious foliage.
a mathematical structure, a topological
The leaves of some species are used in
diagram, consisting of a set of objects
paper-making, the stems of others (bam¬
(which may also be termed access points,
boo) provide structural timber, sugar
junctions, nodes, points, terminals, or ver¬
cane.
tices, sing, vertex) some of which are con¬
nected to each other by edges (which may grassland land covered with grass I.
also be termed links or routes), thus estab¬ occurring naturally in areas with enough
lishing a binary relation between the moisture to stimulate and maintain
objects (accesspoints, junctions etc.). Such seasonal growth, e.g. tropical (savanna),
a graph, being topological, ignores the midlatitude (downs, pampas, prairie,
spacing of the objects and the lengths of puszta, steppe, veld), mountain (alp)
the connecting edges (links, routes). It is 2. cultivated for pasture or hay, either
used to represent a network and is basic permanent or short ley (grown in rotation
to GRAPH THEORY. BAR GRAPH, DIVIDED with arable crops), usually sown and fert¬
CIRCLE DIAGRAM, HISTOGRAM. ilized.

graphicacy the state or condition ofbeing gravel a loose, water-worn sediment in

able to form an idea of (to conceptualize), which small rounded stones, variously
interpret and express relationships (e.g. defined as 2 to 10 mm (0.08 to 0.4 in), or
two- or three-dimensional spatial relation¬ 2 to 20 mm (0.08 to 0.8 in), or 2 to 50 mm
ships) that cannot be expressed in words (0.08 to 2 in) in ‘diameter’, predomin¬
and/or mathematical terms alone (i.e. ate. It is used especially in making con¬
not in the languages of literacy crete. When consolidated it becomes a
and/or numeracy alone) by the use of CONGLOMERATE. BOULDER, COBBLE,
maps, diagrams, graphs (cartography PEBBLE.
in its widest sense) and illustrative ma¬
gravitation 1. the act or process of
terial such as photographs, supported
moving under the force of gravity-2
by the skills of literacy an,d of the various
2. the attractive force between any two
branches of mathematics, articul¬
pieces of matter, between two bodies, that
acy, INGRAPHICATE.
is independent of the chemical nature of
graph theory the branch of mathemat- those bodies, or the presence of bodies

175
 V s.

gravity

between them 3- the law (newton’s law resenting the population of one place, Pj
OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION) Stating that the other; and the distance between them
any two pieces of matter attract one
another with a force which is directly pro¬
PP
1 J
portional to the product of their masses,
D 2
and inversely proportional to the square v
of the distance between them. Using this equation the relative trans¬
actions between towns A and B (TAB) and
gravity I. weight, heaviness 2. the
A and C (TAC) can be calculated:
gravitational force between the earth and
a body on the earth’s surface or in the Population of A x population of B
earth’s gravitational field. The force Tab ~
Distance between A and B2
decreases with increasing distance from the
earth, the force of gravity being inversely Population of A x population of C
proportional to the square of the distance. tac = -—--—

Distance between A and C2

gravity model 3. adj. synonymous with
gravitational. This over-simplified version of a gravity
model is usually much refined in practice.
gravity anomaly a deviation from the reilly’s law of retail gravitation.
predicted value of the gravity of rocks,
termed positive anomaly if exceeding gravity slope that part of the slope of a
expectation, negative anomaly if below. hillside which is steep in comparison with
The deviation may be due to the existence the gentler slope, the haldenhang,
of rocks of unexpectedly different densities which occurs lower down.
or magnetic characters in the earth’s crust,
gravity slumping, gravitational slump¬
so the detection of gravity anomaly is
ing, sliding the downward slipping
important in the study of the structure
of rock masses or sediments due to
of the earth’s crust, anomaly, iso-
GRAVITY-2. MASS MOVEMENT, SLUMP.
STASY.
gravity water, gravitational water
gravity model a mathematical model-2
water in the soil, moving by the force of
inspired by Newton’s Law of universal
gravity-2 towards the water table.
gravitation, i.e. the force of attraction of
Either term may appear as a synonym for
two masses, or bodies, is proportional to
VADOSE WATER.
the product of their masses and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance grazing a pasture area where livestock
between them. By analogy with this phys¬ feed on growing grass or other herbs-1.
ical law a mathematical gravity model may A distinction is often made between land
be used to predict the attraction of places, used for grazing and land which is precisely
and thus the potential movement of people similar, but from which the herbage is
between them. cut for hay or drying, meadow, rough
Thus, in a crude analogy, the force of GRAZING.
attraction becomes the transactions (T)
between two places, i andj (Tf; the masses great circle any hypothetical circle on
become the two places represented by the the earth’s surface the plane ofwhich passes
numbers of their inhabitants (P), P, rep¬ through the earth’s centre, and thus divides

176
 green revolution

the earth into two hemispheres. The which the atmosphere-i near the earth’s
equator is a great circle, and each meri¬ surface holds heat. Incoming short-wave
dian is half of a great circle. The number solar radiation (which includes visible
of great circles which can be drawn on a light and heat) has no difficulty in passing
sphere is limitless. The shortest distance through the atmosphere to the earth’s sur¬
between any two points on the earth’s face. It is absorbed there by materials that
surface is the arc of the great circle on re-radiate on longer wavelengths. But this
which they lie, hence the use of the great outgoing returning long-wave radi¬
circle routes by aircraft, e.g. over the north ation from the earth does have difficulty
polar regions. in passing through the atmosphere: it is
inhibited especially in the presence of
Great Ice Age ice age.
cloud, being absorbed and radiated back
green belt a tract of open country of to earth by water vapour, particles and
varying width, and not necessarily con¬ carbon dioxide. Thus the atmosphere near
tinuous, with farmland, open recreational the earth’s surface is warmed by long-wave
areas, woodland etc. surrounding a large radiation and, like the glass of a green¬
built-up area and, by planning regulations, house, restrains the rising heat, an effect
protected from further building in order enhanced by cloud cover, atmospheric
to prevent urban sprawl and to provide WINDOW, GLOBAL WARMING.
an AMENITY.
green labour people who for the first
green fallow partial fallow, fallow land time go outside the home to work for
from which a quickly maturing green crop payment, cottage industry.
(e.g. turnips, potatoes) is taken, the crop
green lane an unmetalled road, still bear¬
being planted in rows and weeded by hoe¬
ing a turf or grass surface, but constituting a
ing. Bastard fallow (pin fallow) is a type
right-of-way. Often identical with drift¬
of green fallow, the land being sown with
way.
a quickly maturing crop (e.g. vetches) in
autumn, fed-off in spring, fallow. green manure a green crop, especially
one rich in nitrogen, e.g. clover, which
green field, greenfield site a planning
is, while still green, ploughed directly into
term for a plot of land, previously unde¬
the soil to increase soil fertility and improve
veloped, for which development-2 is
structure, leguminosae, pea, rape.
proposed, or on which it is in progress.
green revolution an agricultural
greenhouse glasshouse, a building with
revolution in less developed countries,
glass or clear plastic roof and sides, some¬
especially in Asia in the 1960s and 1970s,
times heated artificially, used to provide
which gave rise to increased food pro¬
the protection from air turbulence and
duction, brought about mainly by the
warmth needed in some areas by certain
rapid improvement of yields of cereal
growing plants. The glass or clear plastic
crops (particularly of rice, maize and
allows incoming short-wave solar radi¬
wheat) resulting from the introduction
ation to enter the structure, but acts as a
of new high-yielding varieties and the
barrier to outgoing long-wave radiation
techniques, relying on an abundant water
from the earth, greenhouse effect.
supply and the use of fertilizers, necessary
greenhouse effect the phenomenon in to grow them.

177
green village

green village a small nucleated settlement angles, the lines being such a distance apart
in which the homesteads surround an open as to represent a fixed distance (e.g. i km,
space or village green. io km). The lines are numbered eastwards
and northwards from a point fixed in
Greenwich Mean Time gmt.
the southwest corner of the whole area
Greenwich meridian the prime meri¬ covered (false origin); thus any point
dian (o° longitude) passing through the can be expressed exactly in terms of its
former Royal Observatory at Greenwich, easting and northing, without the
England, from which other meridians are cumbersome use ofLONGiTUDE and lat¬
calculated, expressed east or west, to i8o° itude. Grid north is the direction of the
longitude. approximately north to south grid lines,
but coincides with true north only
grey box approach black box ap¬
along the meridian of origin, bearing,
proach.
national grid 2. any uniform pattern
grey-brown (gray-brown) podzol laid on a surface for the purpose ofmapping
(podzolic soil) an acidic soil, transitional (and subsequently spatially analysing) data,
between a podzol and brown forest or for calculating values at the node-2 of
soil, less leached and with a greater each unit of the pattern so that isopleths
organic content than a podzol. It occurs may be drawn 3. a network-2, e.g. of
mainly in western Europe (including the electricity cables or gas pipelines for a
UK) and northeast USA, where humid power supply.
conditions lead to some leaching, but less
grike, gryke a deep cranny or fissure lying
than in the climatic conditions resulting
between ridges and traversing limestone
in a true podzol. It supports good quality
pavements, caused by carbonation-
grassland, and is suitable for mixed farm¬
solution along well-defined joints.
ing. The upper layer of the a horizon
has a mull-humus form, and there is grit, gritstone an ambiguous term
marked illuviation of clay in the b applied to 1. small, usually angular, par¬
HORIZON. SOIL, SOIL HORIZON, SOIL ticles of rock 2. coarse-grained sand¬
PROFILE. stone, or sandstone (coarse or fine) made
up of angular grains 3. sandstone of grains
grey earth a soil in arid areas of mid¬
of conspicuously unequal size 4. strati-
latitudes, deficient in organic matter
graphically, in names of such forma¬
and nitrogen, commonly salt encrusted,
tions as Millstone Grit.
because the lack of rainfall discourages
plant growth and leaching is rare. groin groyne.

grid i. an arbitrary network drawn on a gross domestic product gdp.

map so that an exact reference can be made v
gross national product gnp.
to any point on the map. In reference grids
for small areas the Cartesian coordinate gross reproduction rate reproduc¬
system is commonly used, the location of tion RATE.
a point being identified by its distance
ground fog radiation fog.
from two reference lines intersecting at
right angles. In this system the grid usually ground frost a frost occurring on the
consists of two sets of parallel lines at right surface of the ground or in the upper soil

178
 growth area

layer when the ground surface temperat¬ idue is made into oilcake for animal feed.
ure drops to — i°C (30.2°F), a condition
ground rent the rent paid by a leaseholder
likely to have a marked effect on plant
to the freeholder for the privilege of using
tissues. AIR FROST.
or leasing the ground on which a building
ground ice i. ice formed on the bed of stands, land tenure.
a river, lake or shallow sea when the water
ground swell the deep, slow rolling of
as a whole remains unfrozen (also termed
the sea (sometimes caused by a distant
anchor ice or bottom ice) 2. fossil ice, a
storm or a seismic disturbance) which in
mass of clear ice associated with perma¬
passing into shallow water raises the height
frost.
of the waves.
ground information in remote sens¬
groundwater, groundwater phreatic
ing, information concerning the state of
water, all the water derived from per¬
the physical environment derived from
colation of rainwater, from water
aerial photographs and measurements
trapped in a sediment at its time of de¬
(based on sample estimates) of soil mois¬
position (connate water) and from
ture, temperature, biomass etc. Ideally this
magmatic sources (juvenile water), ly¬
information is recorded at the time when
ing under the surface of the ground above
a remote sensor, also collecting data, is
an impermeable layer, but excluding
passing over the area concerned.
underground streams, vadose water,

ground-mass, groundmass the com¬ WATER TABLE. Fig 41.

pact fine-grained mineral material of an Group Seven G7.

igneous rock, in which the crystals are
embedded, matrix-3.
growing season that part of the year
when plant growth is active on account
ground moraine debris carried by the of favourable temperature, availability
underside of a glacier or ice sheet and of moisture, and sufficient hours of day¬
deposited as till, boulder clay, light. The duration of the season usually
LODGEMENT TILL, MORAINE. decreases with increasing distance from
the equator. The crucial temperature for
groundnut, monkey nut, peanut a leg¬
many plants in midlatitudes is 5°C (42°F),
uminous plant (leguminosae), native to
below which vegetative growth does not
South America, now an important food
take place and the plant is dormant; but
plant on light soils. The stalk bearing the
the number ofcontinuously frost-free days
flowers lengthens after germination and
while the plant is growing to maturity is
forces the seed pods into the soil, where
sometimes an overriding factor, cotton,
they develop (underground). Harvesting
maize.
is carried out by hand or machine. The
nuts (seeds) are high in protein, oil and growth area, growth centre, growth
vitamins B and E. They are cooked, eaten point in planning, a district in which
raw or roasted, roasted and ground to economic growth starts or is deliberately
form peanut butter. The oil extracted from concentrated as part of regional develop¬
them is valuable as a cooking oil, and in ment strategy (regional planning) and
the making of margarine, soap and toilet continues if stimulated, thereby benefiting
preparations. After oil extraction the res¬ the area and its surrounding region.

179
groyne

groyne, groin a construction of timber, the'earth, where the material of the earth’s
concrete, or stone jutting seawards, usually interior is in transition between the solid
at right angles to the coast, to combat and plastic state, and where the speed of
longshore drifting ofsand and shingle the P-waves of earthquakes slackens
and maintain a level beach. and S-waves are absent. In the Gutenberg
Channel, lying between 100 and 200 km
guano the thick deposit formed by the
(60 to 120 mi) beneath the lithosphere,
excreta of seabirds valued, as a source of
at the upper surface of the mantle, the
nitrogen and phosphates, for fertilizer,
material becomes more plastic and both
e.g. occurring on the many islands of the
P-waves and S-waves exist but are slow¬
dry Chilean and Peruvian coasts where
ing down. ASTHENOSPHERE, PUSH WAVE,
there is little or no rainfall to wash it away.
SHAKE WAVE.
gulch in western USA, a narrow, deep, guyot tablemount, a topographical fea¬
rocky ravine. ture of the ocean bed, a flat-topped vol¬

gulf i. a large inlet of the sea, cutting into canic mountain, occurring especially on

the land more deeply than a bay. It is more the floor of the Pacific ocean (as opposed

enclosed by the coast than a bay is; and it to a seamount with its pointed summit).

may itself contain one or more bays 2. a It may rise to a great height, e.g. 3200 m

deep hollow, a chasm, an abyss, e.g. a (some 10 000 ft), but the summit usually

steep-walled sinkhole with a flat alluvial lies well below the ocean surface, e.g.

floor in which an underground stream may 800 m (2700 ft) below.

sink or rise. gymnosperm a plant producing seeds

gully, gulley a narrow channel worn in not enclosed in an ovary (e.g. conifers),
and thus unlike an angiosperm. By the
the earth by the action of water, especially
end of the cretaceous penod angio-
a miniature valley resulting from a heavy
sperms had succeeded gymnosperms as
downpour of ram. gully erosion.
dominant land plants.
gully erosion, gullying soil erosion
gyrocompass a compass that makes use
resulting from a sudden heavy downfall of
of the properties of a continuously driven
rain which cuts channels (gully), espe¬
gyroscope (a fast-spinning wheel mounted
cially in soil or soft rock.
in such a way that its plane of rotation can
gumland in New Zealand, land from vary, but which, unless subject to a very
which fossil kauri gum has been obtained, great disturbing force, keeps the plane
but commonly applied to land which may constant in space). In the gyrocompass the
or may not have yielded gum, now spinning axis of the continuously driven
covered with scrub. gyroscope can move only in the horizontal
plane and, due to the rotation ot the earth,
gust a sudden, strong, brief rush of wind.
this axis aligns itself with the axis of the
Gutenberg Discontinuity the discon¬ earth, thus pointing true north (unlike
tinuity occurring between the lower sur¬ a magnetic compass, which points to mag¬
face area of the mantle and the core of netic north).
H

habitat a place or a kmd of place that lode or fault plane with the vertical, i.e.
provides a particular set of environmental the slope of the fault as contrasted with
conditions for the organism or organisms the dip of the beds. Fig 23.
inhabiting it. Some geographers use the
term as a synonym for environment.
Hadley cell a thermally driven vertical
circulation cell (atmospheric cell-2)
Habitat I, Habitat II United Nations forming that part of the general circulation
conferences on human settlement, at¬ of the atmosphere-i between the
tended by world leaders, planners, archi¬ equator and approximately 30°N and
tects, population experts etc., to discuss 30°S. Warmed air rises from the equatorial
the problems of rapidly expanding and area to high altitudes, spreads polewards
overcrowded cities. and, cooled, descends at about 30°N and
30°S, flowing towards the equator in the
habitus the individual’s sense of‘home’,
lower levels of the atmosphere, as trade
of place in the world, based on geograph¬
winds at the surface. The cell takes its
ical background, cultural origin, inher¬
name from G. Hadley who, in his ex¬
itance, experience and social networks
planation of trade winds in 1735, issued
carried through life, subject to refash¬
his modification of the original theory
ioning viewed through the rosy spectacles
on the circulation of the atmosphere put
of passing time and increasing distance.
forward by Edmund Halley in 1686. Fig 5.
hachure (French) short lines of shading
haematite, hematite an important iron
on a map drawn at right angles to the
ore, grey, black or reddish in colour,
contours to represent slopes, the lines
abundant and widely distributed, valued
being thicker and more closely spaced at
for its lack of phosphorus, occurring in
areas of greatest slope, but not giving spe¬
crystalline, massive or granular (in
cific information about altitude.
grains) form, sometimes in kidney-shaped
hacienda (Spanish) in Spain and former nodules (kidney ore), as a cement-2 in
Spanish colonies, a large agricultural estate sandstone, as an accessory mineral
with a dwelling house. The term is some¬ in igneous rock, and in hydro-
times applied to a country house and its thermal veins and replacement deposits.
associated activities, e.g. in monoculture, LIMONITE.
cash crop farming, sheep or cattle ranching
hafF (German, pi. hafle) a coastal lagoon
(and some would add mining or manufac¬
of fresh or brackish water, fed by a stream
turing conducted on the estate); some¬
which is blocked by a nehrung, through
times it is restricted to the country house
which it is linked to the sea by a channel,
itself. FARMING, LATIFUNDIA.
typical of the Baltic coast of Germany,
bade the angle made by a mineral vein, Poland and Russia.

181
 V s.

hail

hail, hailstone a small ball or piece of ice white, but ifit is sharply defined, the inner¬
with a concentric layered structure, the most ring appears red, the outermost blue.
diameter usually ranging between 5 and
halo effect of a boundary, the detri¬
50 mm (0.2 to 2 in), falling separately
mental effect of a boundary on locations
or agglomerated from cumulonimbus
close to it, making them unattractive to
cloud at the passing of a cold front,
people, e.g. of a political boundary in dis¬
sometimes damaging crops, trees, green¬
puted territory, resulting in the emigration
houses and injuring livestock and people.
of the population; but there may be a
Hailstones are caused by the fast ascent of
beneficial effect (intervening oppor¬
moist air in which frozen droplets of ice
tunity effect). •
are carried ever higher by the force of the
updraught, their size growing as additional halophyte a plant that tolerates soil
water vapour freezes on them, until impregnated with salt, e.g. the soil of a salt
their weight overcomes the force of the marsh, the seashore, a salt desert.
ascending air current and they fall to earth.
ham in southern England, a local term 1.
On the way they sometimes gather more
a plot of meadow land, especially a tract
ice from supercooled (supercooling)
of rich pasture by a river 2. (Old English
water droplets in the moist air. precipi-
ham, home) a settlement ranging in size
TATION-I.
from a single homestead to a town,
hailstorm a violent fall of hail. common in place-names in the parts of
England influenced by Anglo-Saxons,
haldenhang wash slope, the part of a slope
surviving in hamlet.
that is less steep than the part above it,
occurring at the foot of a rock wall, usually hamada, hamada, hammada (north
beneath an accumulation of talus. Africa: Arabic) the rocky desert of the
plateaus of the Sahara, stripped of sand and
half-life in physics, the time needed for
dust by air currents, the surface smoothed
one half of the atoms of a sample of a
by abrasion, erg, reg.
radioactive element (radioactivity) to
disintegrate or change into the isotope hamlet a small group of dwellings in the
of another element. The half-life of a English countryside, usually smaller than
radioactive element is known and con¬ a village and lacking a church, ham-2.
stant, e.g. the half-life of carbon 14 is 5600
hanger a wood-2, most commonly of
years (but see radiocarbon dating);
beech trees (hence beech-hanger), on the
of radium 226 is 1620 years; of uranium
steep chalk slopes of southern England.
238, U238, is 4.51 x io9 years, decaying to
lead 206; of U235 is 7.13 x io18, decaying hanging glacier a truncated glacier
to lead 207; potassium 40 has a half-life of projecting from a basin or shelf high on a
47 000 mn years, decaying to strontium mountainside, from which ice may break
87- off and fall as an ice avalanche.

halo a ring or rings of diffused light seen hanging valley a tributary valley, the
from the earth to encircle the sun or moon lower end of which is well above the bed
in conditions of thin cloud, caused by the of the main valley (and from which a
refraction of light by water-drops or ice waterfall may descend), commonly
crystals in cloud. It usually appears to be found where the main valley has been

182
 harmattan

deepened by a glacier which has since fragipan, an acid, cemented, platey layer
disappeared, u-shaped valley. between the parent material and the upper
soil layers; iron pan, a layer of sand or fine
harbour I. an anchorage haven, stretch
gravel cemented with iron oxides; laterite
of water, close to and sheltered by the
or plinthite, a layer cemented with ferric
shore and protected from the sea and swell
oxide; lime pan, a thick layer of cal¬
by artificial or natural walls which allow
cium carbonate; moorpan, compactre-
access for vessels through a narrow
depositedhumus compounds, laterite.
entrance (the harbour mouth). In the har¬
bour vessels can lie at anchor, secured to hardware the physical equipment used
buoys or alongside wharfs, piers etc. The for data collection and handling, including
facilities of a port may or may not be remote sensing equipment, computers
provided 2. a term used in place-names etc. and their parts, software.
in England, especially applied to farms in
hard water water which does not easily
sheltered situations.
form a lather with soap or detergent on
hardebank kimberlite. account of the inhibiting effect of dissolved
calcium, magnesium and iron compounds
hardeveld (Afnkaans) veld where a thin present in it, derived from the rocks over
layer of soil is underlain by hard gravel or or through which the water has passed
rock, making ploughing impossible. (e.g. water flowing over limestone). The
greater the quantity of these salts in it, the
hardness I. the quality of being hard, in
harder the water.
solid objects generally, ofbeing resistant to
cutting, cracking or crushing 2. in metals, hardwood I. any deciduous or ever¬
resistance to indentation or deformation green broadleaved tree, with vessels
3. in minerals, resistance to abrasion. in its wood, that produces close-grained
The hardness of minerals is indicated on wood 2. the timber of such a tree. Most
a scale devised by Friedrich Mohs (Mohs’ hardwoods, e.g. oak, beech, maple, wal¬
Scale), a German mineralogist, 1773 — nut, grow in temperate regions. Other
1839, in which the softest (talc) was rep¬ examples are the evergreen oak, native to
resented by 1 and the hardest (diamond) the region of Mediterranean climate; the
by 10 (subsequently revised, the diamond eucalyptus, native to eastern Australia; the
now being 15) 4. of water, hard water. hard, heavy teak of the regions of monsoon
climate; and ebony and mahogany, grow¬
hardpan an indurated (induration) or
ing in tropical forests. All are used mainly
cemented layer of soil of varying character
in furniture making, softwood.
found at varying distances below, or some¬
times at, the upper surface of the soil. It is harmattan, hamattan a strong, dry wind
usually formed from material carried down blowing from a noitheasterly or some¬
mechanically or in solution by rainwater times easterly direction over northwest
percolating from the surface, and later Africa, from the Sahara to the northwest
deposited. The term is applied to the layer African coast, the southern limit averaging
or the material, e.g. clay pan, a dense 5°N in January (mid-winter) and i8°N in
subsoil formed by the washing down of July. Heavily dust-laden and parching in
clay or syntheses of clay; duripan or sil- the interior, it helps to evaporate the high
crete, cemented siliceous minerals; humidity of the Guinea Coast, and thus

183
Hawaiian volcanic eruption

seems a relatively cool and healthy wind heartland, heart-land 1. the central part
in that area, hence its local name there, of a land mass inaccessible to a seapower.
the Doctor. The term was introduced by Sir Halford
Mackinder, 1904, with reference to the
Hawaiian volcanic eruption a non¬
heart of the Euro-Asian continental
explosive volcanic eruption in which basic
mass, and subsequently developed by
(base-2) and highly fluid lava flows over
him (world-island). He postulated his
a large area and hardens to form a volcano
theory of world power, that the fertile,
shaped like a shield (shield volcano).
self-sufficient heartland of the world-
PELEAN, STROMBOLIAN, VULCANIAN
island, being land based, held the key to
ERUPTION.
potential world domination, rather than
hay the stems and leaves of grasses, cut a vulnerable maritime-based state 2. the
and dried, and used as fodder. heartland of the USA, usually defined as
the area within the rectangle Boston—
hazard a risk, a chance associated with Washington—St Louis—Chicago.
danger or with a damaging effect.
ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD, FLOOD heat balance the condition of equilib¬
HAZARD. rium in which radiation reaching the earth
and its atmosphere from the sun (in¬
haze the condition in the atmosphere near solation) is approximately equalled by
the earth’s surface when visibility is re¬ radiation and reflection (albedo) from
stricted to more than i km (0.6 mi) but the earth, heat engine.
less than 2 km (1.2 mi), commonly result¬
ing from the suspension in the air of solid heat engine a mechanical system set in
matter such as dust or smoke particles, or motion by heat energy, e.g. as in the

from shimmering caused by intense heat, atmosphere-i, where differences in net

which produces irregularities and changes radiation balance (heat balance)

in density in the layers of the atmosphere. provide the thermal power, and the vari¬

FOG, MIST. ous movements in the atmosphere distrib¬

ute the energy (the heat energy being
HDC highly developed country, a converted to kinetic energy).
country which is well advanced in realiz¬
ing its full potential, ldc, mdc, under¬ heath, heathland, heather moor an
development. uncultivated, open tract ofland, with poor
acid soils, supporting shrubby plants of
head dune a sand dune formed on the which the dominant are the common
windward side of an obstacle, where the heather or ling, Caluna vulgaris, and spe¬
air is stagnant. cies of heath, Erica. The term heath or
heathland may persist in place-names
headland a comparatively high promon¬
where such vegetation has almost or com¬
tory with a steep face, projecting into the
pletely disappeared.
sea or a lake.
heat island, heat-island the persistent
headwall the steep wall that forms the
warmth of the densely built-over part of
back of a cirque.
a large town, the overlying air having an
headward erosion the action of a stream average temperature higher than that of
in extending its valley upstream. the air overlying the more open surround-

184
 herbaceous

ing area. This is due in part to the storage heavy land, heavy soil land that is
of solar heat in roads and the mass of difficult to plough, especially in wet con¬
building etc. and its slow release, in com¬ ditions, e.g. a thick clay soil.
parison with the heat stored and released
hectare ha, a metric unit of area, equi¬
more quickly from the surrounding, more
valent to 10000 sq m or 2.471 acres.
open area; in part to the effect of buildings
100 hectares equal 1 square kilometre.
in reducing wind speed; in part to the
heat derived from the internal heating of
hecto- h, prefix, a hundred, attached to
buildings, from industry, transport, power
si units to denote the unit x io2, e.g.
generation, human metabolism; in part to
hectolitre (100 litres), centi-, kilo-,
the blanket effect of polluted air overlying
MiLLi-.
large towns. The effects of a heat island
spread to areas lying at some distance from hegemony (originally used with refer¬
it. ence to the states of ancient Greece)
predominance, leadership I. the predom¬
heat wave, heave-wave a relatively long inance of, the leadership exercised by,
unbroken spell of abnormally hot weather. one state in relation to others in a group,
e.g. in a union or confederacy of states 2.
heave of a fault the forward, lateral dis¬
in Marxism, the predominance of one
placement of strata on an inclined nor¬
social class over others.
mal fault, expressed as the horizontal
distance between the ends of the surfaces hemisphere the half of a sphere formed
of the displaced strata, throw of a on each side of a plane passing through its
fault. Fig 23. centre. The earth’s surface is commonly
considered to be bisected by the
Heaviside Layer the E layer of the
equator, producing the northern hemi¬
atmosphere-i, lying in the ionosphere
sphere and the southern hemisphere. The
at about 100 to 120 km (60 to 72 mi), and
eastern hemisphere (Asia, Africa, Europe,
reflecting medium and long radiowaves
Australia and New Zealand) is separated
(electromagnetic spectrum) back to
from the western hemisphere (the New
the earth while allowing short radiowaves
World, i.e. North and South America) by
from the earth to penetrate until they reach
the meridians 20°W and i6o°E. great
the appleton layer. Oliver Heaviside,
circle.
1850—1915, suggested the existence of
such a layer; but it is also known as the herb 1. in botany, a non-woody vascu¬
Kennelly-Heaviside Layer, Arthur Edwin lar plant lacking parts that persist above
Kennedy, 1861-1939, having made the the ground (annual, biennial, peren¬
same prediction. nial) in the unfavourable season, thereby
enhancing its chances of survival, as dis¬
heavy industry a secondary indus¬ tinct from a shrub or a tree 2. a plant
try in which the weight of materials used that is not necessarily a herb in the botan¬
per worker is high, the machinery used is ical sense, but is valued for its fragrant,
bulky and the finished products have a medicinal or flavouring properties.
low value in relation to their weight, e.g.
ship building, basic industry, light herbaceous adj. of, pertaining to, or
INDUSTRY. resembling a herb-i.

185
herbivore

herbivore a plant-eating animal, a energy. All animals and fungi, most

primary consumer in the food chain. bacteria, and some flowering plants are
CARNIVORE, OMNIVORE. heterotrophic.

Hercynian adj. applied to the earth build¬ heuristic adj. 1. useful for discovery or
ing movements and associated mountain for solving problems, e.g. applied to a
remnants of Upper Carboniferous to Per¬ method of education which encourages
mian times (geological timescale) in the student to gain knowledge by personal
Europe, variously and confusingly named. investigation; or to a procedure (heuristic
Hercynian is applied by some authors to method) for discovering an unknown goal
the whole mountain system of central by a progressive sequence of operations or
Europe (also termed the altaides); investigations based on a known criterion,
others use it as a synonym for variscan. e.g. a person put against a wall in a totally
(Others restrict the use of Variscan to the dark room and asked to find the door will
eastern sector of the Hercynian earth discover it by moving systematically in
movements, applying armorican to the the same direction round the walls 2. of
western, i.e. to earth movements in Brit¬ practical, though perhaps unexplained, use
tany and southwestern Britain.) There are in invention or discovery, e.g. in social
remnants of mountains of similar age in science, applied to conceptual devices such
Asia (the Urals, T’ien Shan, Nan Shan), as models-2 and working hypotheses the
in North America (the Appalachians) and aim of which is not to describe or explain
in South America (the foothills of the the facts but to suggest or to eliminate
Andes). possible explanations.

hermeneutics the art, science or skill of H horizon o horizon, soil horizon.

interpretation, of the classification of
hide 1. the raw or dressed skin of dead
meaning, of understanding the signif¬
cattle, used especially in shoe making. The
icance of human actions, statements, term usually appears linked to skin in
institutions, products. trade statistics 2. (Anglo-Saxon) an inexact
measure ofland in the domesday book,
heteroclinal fold a fold-2 of which one
reckoned at four yardlands, but the
side slopes at an angle steeper than that of
term sometimes refers to an area ofland
the other.
capable of supporting one family.
heterogeneous adj. I. diverse or dissim¬
hierarchy the organization of a system-6
ilar in kind or character 2. composed of
into successive ranks, in ascending or
different or disparate ingredients or
descending order.
elements 3. a rock composed of diverse
materials 4. rocks varying in nature or high an anticyclone, an area of high
kind and adjacent to each other, homo¬ ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE.
geneous.
high farming a term applied to the period
heterotrophic adj. applied to an organism in England in the 1850s and 1860s when
which needs an organic food supply from the large landowners adopted new farm¬
outside itself in order to produce its own ing techniques and spent considerable
constituents and (with a very few minor, amounts of money on underdraining their
phototrophic, exceptions) to obtain land, improving its fertility, raising the

186
 histogram

quality of their livestock and crops, and mark indicates the high-water mark of
improving farm buildings. medium tides (HWMMT).

highland, highlands in general, any tract hill loosely, a natural elevation of the
ofhigh or elevated land or the more moun¬ earth’s surface, not so high as a moun¬
tainous parts of any country. Used specif¬ tain. It is sometimes defined as an el¬
ically, usually in plural, in proper names, evation under 300 m (1000 ft), but such
e.g. the Highlands ofScotland. lowland. exactness is misleading: some ranges
termed hills exceed 2680 m (8800 ft).
high latitudes latitude.
hill farming generally, farming in hill
highly developed country hdc.
country, in Britain traditionally pas¬
high plains plains lying at an elevation toral, and devoted to sheep rearing.
above some 600 m (2000 ft). There are EEC subsidies designed to
encourage the continued farming of poor
high pressure high.
hill land, less favoured land.

high technology the application of the

hill fog low cloud covering the higher
knowledge of and/or the use of advanced
levels of hills as seen by the observer
techniques, complex equipment, and
standing below.
materials drawn from any convenient
source to a task or an industrial process, hill village a village, a hamlet, or even a
or to the solution of a problem arising small market town or other non-
from the interaction of people with their agricultural settlement occupying a site
ENVIRONMENT. INTERMEDIATE TECH¬ from which the ground slopes markedly
NOLOGY, LOW TECHNOLOGY, TECH¬ downwards.
NOLOGY-3.
hinge of fold that part of a fold where
high tide 1. the tide at highest flood 2. the strata is under maximum stress.
the level of the sea at, or the time of, the
hinterland 1. originally the district be¬
highest flood, flood tide, low tide,
hind a settlement on a coast, especially the
NEAP TIDE, SPRING TIDE.
area serving and served by a port-i 2. the
high water the state of the tide when area influenced by any settlement 3. the
the water is at its highest for any given sphere of influence of an establishment
tide. The level varies through the year so within a settlement.
that the high water ordinary spring tide
histogram a two-dimensional graph
(HWOST) is higher than high water
showing a frequency distribution by
ordinary neap tide (HWONT), both
means of rectangles, the widths of the
of which may appear on maps, high-
rectangles being proportional to the CLASS
water MARK, LOW WATER, NEAP TIDE,
INTERVALS Or CATEGORIES (shown On
SPRING TIDE.
the horizontal axis), the heights (on the
high-water mark the mark left by the vertical axis) showing the frequencies of
tide at high water, or at the highest occurrence in each cl ass . Ifthe frequency
level ever reached, similarly applied to the of each class is expressed as a percentage
water level in a river or lake. On British of all classes (i.e. not by the absolute fre¬
Ordnance Survey maps the high-water quency of each class), the resultant diagram

187
 S. v

historical fallacy

is termed a relative frequency histogram. whbn the dew-point is below o°C (32°F).
BAR GRAPH, FREQUENCY-3, FREQUENCY FROST, RIME.
CURVE.
hobby farmer a part-time farmer
historical fallacy the false assumption who owns the freehold of, or rents, a
that a relationship observed in a cross- farm, who may or may not use any build¬
sectional study will be present in a ing on it as a mam residence, who does not
similar longitudinal study, or vice rely on the farm output for a livelihood,
versa, ecological fallacy. whose mam income comes from another
source, e.g. from an urban occupation,
historical geography the geography,
and who farms mainly for pleasure.
physical and human, real, perceived or
theoretical, of the past. hoe a projecting ndge of land, a height
ending abruptly or steeply. The term is
historical materialism a materialist con¬
now obsolete except in place-names, e.g.
ception of history, the Marxist theory of
Plymouth Hoe, Ivinghoe.
history, seen as a natural process related to
human material needs. Marx believed that hogback, hog back, hogsback, hog’s
this historical human evolution was the back an elongated narrow ridge shaped
product of the class struggle arising like the back of a hog (pig), the result of
between and amongst the exploiting and unequal erosion on alternating hard and
exploited classes throughout the suc¬ soft layers of steeply inclined rocks. It
cession of the MODES OF PRODUCTION, differs from a cuesta because both slopes
each mode of production determining the of the ridge (i.e. the dip slope and the scarp
general character of the social, political, slope) are steep and more nearly equal.
intellectual and spiritual processes in a
holding in agriculture, land held or occu¬
society (social existence being determined
pied by legal nght for purposes of farming.
by human consciousness, not vice versa).
The term is sometimes used as a synonym
Marx and Engels came to modify their
for farm, but several farms may be com¬
views that such economic determinism
bined and worked as one holding, small
governed all aspects of historical develop¬
holding.
ment; and Marxists have since variously
interpreted the theory and its concepts. holism adj. holistic, a philosophy so
DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM, MARXISM, named byj. C. Smuts that there is a tend¬
MATERIALISM. ency in nature to produce ‘wholes’ (whole
bodies or whole organisms) from an
histosolsinsoiL classification, USA,
ordered grouping of unit structures, the
an order of soils developed mainly by the
whole being greater than the sum of the
accumulation of organic matter in a water¬
properties (property-3) and relationships
logged area, and thus including bog soils
of its parts (gestalt). This phenomenon
and soils rich in peat.
can be recognized in other ‘wholes’, lead¬
hoar frost, hoar-frost, hoarfrost a ing to the doctrine that a functioning
white deposit of ice with a crystalline whole (e.g. an organization, institution,
appearance, formed directly from the society) affects its component parts, is
cooling of water vapour on surfaces with inimical to analysis, and that therefore the
a temperature below that of dew-point parts should not be studied in isolation. It

188
 horizon

has also led to a theory of science which honeycomb weathering a type of

sees science not as a collection of disparate weathering which causes a rock surface
parts but as an integrated system. to resemble that of a honeycomb. The
current theory is that hard material filling
Holocene the period in which we are
some ofthejoints in the rock is left standing
living, sometimes termed Recent or Post¬
as softer material is worn down more
glacial, i.e. the most recent of the geo¬
speedily by wind and water. The same
logical periods, the youngest of the
pattern is sometimes seen on a shore,
Quaternary (geological timescale),
where wind and water act together on
and the rocks of that period, dating from
small pools in the rocks, enlarging the
the end of the last ice age.
hollows in which they lie to such an extent
holocoen in ecology, the whole envir¬ that they are eventually separated only by
onment, i.e. including all the living steep, sharp ridges.
(biocoen) and the non-living (abiocen)
honeypot a place with some special inter¬
components.
est (e.g. scenic beauty, historical associ¬
holotype in biology, the type specimen, ation) that is over-popular with visitors
i.e. the original specimen(s) forming the and becomes overcrowded at peak holiday
basis of identification of a new species. times. In some sensitive areas (e.g. national
BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE, CLASSI¬ parks in Britain) honeypot locations have
FICATION OF ORGANISMS. been identified and enhanced by the pro¬
vision of picnic sites, car parks, toilet and
homeostasis, homoiostasis the main¬
refreshment facilities, information desks
tenance of a constant, balanced internal
etc. to concentrate visitors and traffic and
environment within a system (open
divert them from fragile, unspoilt areas
system), person, group etc. steady
elsewhere.
STATE.

homestead I. a house or home, especially hop a perennial herbaceous climber

a farm with its associated buildings 2. in native to Europe and western Asia, now

USA, a plot of land adequate for the res¬ cultivated there and in other midlatitude

idence and maintenance of a family, given areas for the sake of its essential oils and

special and legal meaning, notably under soft resins used in flavouring beer in

the 1862 Homestead Act, a grant of 65 ha Europe since the Middle Ages.

(160 acres) being regarded as sufficient to

horizon 1. visible honzon (also termed
support a family, rising to some 255 ha
apparent, geographical, natural, physical,
(640 acres) in mountainous or semi-arid
or sensible, horizon), the line at which
areas 3. a rural settlement of dispersed
the earth or sea and the sky appear to
farms.
meet when seen from any given view¬
homocline monocline. point, excluding anything interrupting
or obstructing the view. In clear visibility,
homogeneous adj. 1. similar in kind,
to a person standing at an elevation of 3 m
character or nature 2. having at all points
(10 ft) from the horizontal the horizon is
the same composition and properties, the
nearly 6.5 km (just over 4 mi) distant; at
opposite of HETEROGENEOUS.
30 m (too ft) it is 21 km (13 mi) away 2.
homoseismal line co-seismal line. in geology, a plane in a series of geological
 V s.

horizontal equivalent

strata, or the level at which a particular horst an elevated block of the earth’s crust,
fossil occurs 3. in soil science, a distinct usually with a level summit, standing
soil layer with more or less well-defined prominently above parallel normal
characteristics produced by soil-forming faults, formed either by the sinking of
processes, soil, soil horizon. the crust on each side outside the faults,
or by the uplift of a block between the
horizontal equivalent HE, the distance faults. In some cases it is denuded to the
between two points on the land surface extent that it is no longer upstanding, rift
when projected on to a horizontal plane, VALLEY.
as on a map. If two points on a hillside,
say 75 m (245 ft) apart measured down the horticulture originally the cultivation of
actual slope length, are projected on to a garden, now applied to the intensive
a map they will be a shorter distance apart cultivation of vegetables, fruit and flower
in the horizontal plane: this is the HE or crops on relatively small plots, in a market
Horizontal Equivalent, say 60 m (195 ft) garden, greenhouse or nursery.
in the example. A rise of i° in an HE
Horton’s Law the theory relating to
of 30 m (100 ft) represents a vertical
streams and their order (stream order)
interval of about 0.5 m (1.74 ft), gra¬
and the area of the basin they drain, i.e.
dient.
that the number of streams of a given order
decreases sharply with increasing order,
horn a pyramidal peak in a mountain
and that the total length of a drainage net
range occurring when several cirques are
increases regularly with order. Generally,
formed back to back, thereby leaving a
in most drainage basins the number of
high central mass, an unreduced part of
streams of a given order is about three
the original mountain range, with marked
times the number in the next higher order.
faces and sharp ridges (arete). The term
is common in mountain names, e.g. the Hotelling model a model-2 used by
Matterhorn. Harold Hotelling, economist, to account
for the locations of two firms in com¬
horse latitudes the belts of calms (calm),
petition with each other, based on the
the subtropical belts of high atmospheric
assumptions that these firms are producing
pressure (anticyclone), moving north
identical goods, that their production costs
and south with the sun, lying north and
are the same at all locations, that the price
south of the equator from about 30° to
of the goods covers the cost of transport
35°N and 30° to 35°S (but interrupted by
to the consumer, that the market to be
the land and sea pattern), regions of the
satisfied is linear-2, with customers
descending air which flows towards the
evenly distributed along its length, and
equator and the poles to produce calm,
that the demand for the goods is inelastic.
stable, dry weather conditions with light,
variable winds. The origin of the name is hot rock a deep-seated rock in the earth’s
uncertain. Fig 5. crust which has a temperature higher than
might be expected from the normal
horseyculture the practice of pasturing
GEOTHERMAL GRADIENT. GEOTHERMAL
horses and ponies for riding on relatively
ENERGY.
small plots of land, usually on town out¬
skirts. hot Spot PLUME.

190
 humic acid

hot spring THERMAL SPRING. environment, covering spatial and tem¬

poral distribution, the organization of
Hoyt’s sector model sector model.
society and social processes etc. on a local
huerta (Spanish, derived from Latin to global scale.
hortus, a garden) a highly cultivated, irrig¬
humanism any theory, or doctrine, or
ated area along the eastern coastlands of
movement, which is concerned with the
Spain which may yield several crops a
primacy of human beings and their inter¬
year of vegetables, fruit etc. intensive
ests (as distinct from the primacy of a divine
AGRICULTURE.
being, of nature, of structures-i, or

human agency the capacity of human of systems); or with the human race in

beings to act, in the light of their experi¬ general (as distinct from an individual

ence and creativity, e.g. to improve a soil; member of it), or with the studies of

or to reproduce and reinforce social human culture and creativity, particularly

structures by repeatedly conforming those exemplified by the cultures of clas¬

to the rules, constraints and conventions sical Greece and Rome, the prime concern

of their social system; or to change their of the humanists of the renaissance.

circumstances, or an even wider area of the HUMANISTIC.

social structure, e.g. by coming together

humanistic adj. relating to, characteristic
as a group on the basis of some shared,
of, HUMANISM or of a HUMANIST, e.g.
experience (such as place of residence,
one of the humanists of the renaissance
social class, gender) and as members of that
who were primarily concerned with the
group pursuing an agreed goal.
products of human effort as revealed in

human ecology i. the study of the inter¬ the history, language, literature and the

relationships between human beings and arts of classical Greece and Rome.

the environment (physical and social)

humanistic geography humanist
in which they live. Some authors maintain
geography, an approach in human
that geography is synonymous with
geography which emphasizes the sub¬
human ecology 2. in sociology, the study
jective as distinct from the objective
of the interrelationship between human
in that it stresses the importance of per¬
beings.
ception, creativity (e.g. in literature and

human geography one of the two parts landscape painting), thinking and beliefs

into which geography is often separated, as well as human experience and values

the other being physical geography. in formulating people’s attitudes to their

Human geography is concerned with the environment and in affecting, their rela¬

study of those features and phenomena tionships with it. HUMAN AGENCY, HU¬

in the space accessible to human beings MANISM, HUMANISTIC.

which relate directly to or are due to

Humboldt current a cold current usually
people (as individuals or in groups), then-
rich in plankton and fish, flowing
activities and organization, past or present.
northwards off the Peruvian coast. It is
It concentrates on the interrelationship of
intermittently temporarily replaced by the
people (as individuals or in groups) with
warm el nino.
space, with their physical (‘natural’) envir¬
onment and with their social (societal) humic acid a complex organic acid found
 \ s.

humic gley soil

in soils and resulting from the partial decay hundredweight cwt, a measure ofweight
of organic matter, humus. equal in British measures to 112 lb
(50.802 kg), in US to 100 lb (45.359 kg).
humic gley soil gley soils.
hurricane 1. in the beaufort scale,
humidity the state of the atmosphere-i wind of force 12, with velocity equivalent
with respect to its content of water va¬
at a mean velocity exceeding 34 m/sec or
pour, warm air being able to hold more 121 km (75 mi) per hour 2. a violent
water vapour than cold air. When the air cyclonic storm with torrential ram and
is holding its maximum amount of water
thunderstorms and wind velocity over
vapour it is said to be saturated . abso¬
117 km (73 mi) per hour (often exceeding
lute HUMIDITY, RELATIVE HUMIDITY,
160 km: 100 mi per hour), originating in
SPECIFIC HUMIDITY.
latitudes 50 to 20°N over the west Atlantic,
moving west-northwest over the Carib¬
humid tropicality, humid tropics the
bean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico to
climatic condition relative to a standard
Florida, then northeast at about 30°N
period of time (e.g. a month) in which
along the eastern coast of the USA. cyc¬
the relative humidity exceeds 65 per
lone, TROPICAL REVOLVING STORM,
cent, pressure 20 mb, mean temperature
TYPHOON.
20°C (68°F). To this is sometimes added
rainfall exceeding or equalling evaporation HWMMT, HWONT, HWOST
for the period, approximating to 75 mm
HIGH WATER.
(3 in) per month. The term humid tropics
is applied to tropical areas in which the hydration in the mechanical weath¬

condition of humid tropicality prevails for ering of rocks, the process in which min¬
a minimum of nine months of the year. erals combine with water and expand,
TROPICAL CLIMATE, TROPICS. thereby exerting pressure within the rock
pores (exfoliation). Minerals that have
humification in soil science, the trans¬
undergone hydration are very likely to be
formation of organic material into humus
affected by chemical weathering.
by slow decomposition-i and oxida¬

tion. hydraulic adj. of or pertaining to water

in motion or to the pressure exerted by

humus loosely, organic matter (of veget¬ water when earned through pipes, or to
able or animal origin) in the soil, but the
mechanical devices operated by moving
term is better restricted to decomposed,
fluids. WATER POWER.
amorphous organic matter, humic acid,

LITTER, MODER, MOR, MULL. hydraulic cement a cement-1 capable

of hardening under water, pozzolana.

hundred in England, an old subdivision v
of a county or shire with its own court, hydraulic civilization a rural-urban

still occasionally used. The origin of this agrarian civilization depending on big,

subdivision is obscure: it may originally productive waterworks for irrigation,

have been the area inhabited by 100 flood control and power, as distinct from

families, or equivalent to 100 hides, a rural-urban civilization depending on

but these suppositions are doubtful. rainfall (termed non-hydraulic). fertile

YARDLAND. CRESCENT, HYDRAULIC HYPOTHESIS.

192
 hydrology

hydraulic force the eroding power of solution is used to assess the acidity and

water on rocks, by turbulence, eddying, alkalinity of soils. pH.

wave action. If the water carries a load of

material the process of erosion is termed hydrograph a graph indicating the rate

of flow or the level of water in a stream

ABRASION.
or an aquifer measured at a given point
hydraulic hypothesis the proposition during a selected period of time.
that the problems attached to the develop¬
ment of agriculture in broad, seasonally hydrography the science and art con¬
flooded river valleys could have been cerned with the study of all bodies of water
tackled in prehistoric times only by the on the earth’s surface, and especially with
integrated, collective efforts of many small charting oceans and seas, their beds and
groups, the members of which would have coastlines, and the tides, currents, winds,
built and maintained large scale irrigation with particular regard to safe navigation.
works. This large labour force would have The terms hydrography and hydrology

needed a supervising authority which overlap, and the tendency now in Britain
could ensure a fair distribution of water is to restrict hydrography to cover survey
to the groups over space and time; and and mapping etc. with an emphasis on
that this led to the emergence of ur¬ marine waters, and to apply hydrology to
ban centres, hydraulic civilization, the study of the water of land areas.
URBAN HEARTH.
hydrological cycle the continuous cir¬
hydric adj. having abundant water. culation of water from the earth’s surface
MESIC, XERIC. to the atmosphere-i to the earth’s sur¬
face, brought about by evaporation
hydrocarbon an organic compound,
from the surface water and the land and by
solid, liquid or gaseous, consisting primar¬
evapotranspiration from vegetation,
ily of carbon and hydrogen, e.g. pet¬
giving rise to water vapour in the
roleum, coal, natural gas. acid rain.
atmosphere which condenses (conden¬
hydroelectric power HEP, electric sation), forms clouds, and returns to
power generated in dynamos moved by the earth’s surface as precipitation,
the energy of falling water, electricity, swelling the oceans, seas, lakes and rivers,
WATER POWER. or become ground water, hydro¬

hydrogen the lightest element, gaseous,

sphere. Fig 25.

inflammable, occurring in very many

hydrology 1. the scientific study of the
compounds, but not normally in the
occurrence, movement, properties and
uncombined state on earth, used in many
use of water and ice on or under the
chemical processes, as a component in
earth’s surface, from its precipitation to its
rocket fuel, in producing (by combustion
discharge to the sea or its return to the
with oxygen) high-temperature flames
atmosphere, with a particular emphasis in
and (in liquid form) as a cooling agent.
Britain on inland water, hydrography
HYDROCARBON.
2. specifically, in USA Geological Survey,
hydrogen ion the positive ion of the scientific study of underground water
hydrogen, affecting the properties of resources as distinct from hydrography,
acids. The hydrogen ion activity in a there defined as applying to surface water

193
 \ v

hydrolysis

Evaporation

Condensation in clouds

v \\\\y v\y ■

ilA
\WV TA \ \\\- \ \

Fig 25 The hydrological cycle

supplies and resources, hydrological soil. HYGROPHYTE, MESOPHYTE, TROPO-

cycle. PHYTE, XEROPHYTE.

hydrolysis a chemical reaction of water hydrosphere the water sphere, all the
in which the reagent (i.e. the substances waters (liquid or solid) of the surface of
creating the chemical reaction of the the earth collectively, including soil and
water) is decomposed and hydrogen and ground water, in comparison and contrast
hydroxyl (hydrogen, oxygen) and, com¬ with the lithosphere and the atmo-
monly, other new compounds are added. SPHERE-I. The HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
This process is involved in I. the chemical blurs the distinction between the atmo¬
weathering of rocks, in which the salt sphere and the hydrosphere.
constituents of the rock combine with
water, and an acid and a base-2 are hydrostatic pressure the pressure
formed, corrosion 2. the decomposi¬ exerted by water at rest equally at any
tion of organic compounds by interaction point within that body of water, arte¬

with water. sian well.

hydrophyte an aquatic (water) plant, one hydrothermal adj. 1. relating to hot

growing only in water or a saturated water 2. in geology, applied to the corn-

194
 hypothesis

bined action of heat and water that brings nuclei for the condensation of water
about changes in the earth’s crust, by vapour.
making strong solutions, by altering pro¬
hygroscopic moisture water in the soil
cesses in minerals (kaolinization) and
held by such strong surface tension
by depositing minerals in veins and on
that it is unavailable to plants, capillary
the earth’s surface around geysers 3.
MOISTURE, FIELD CAPACITY.
applied to the rocks (hydrothermal de¬
posits), ore-deposits and springs (hydro- hypabyssal adj. half-abyssal, applied
thermal springs) so produced 4. applied especially to an igneous rock or to an
to vencs in the oceanic crust through igneous intrusion which has risen
which gases and hot water jets rise. towards the surface, but which has
BLACK SMOKER, GEOTHERMAL ENERGY, crystallized below it. They are thus inter¬
HOT ROCK, METAMORPHISM, METASO¬ mediate in physical form between the
MATISM, SINTER. rocks which are deep seated, having
cooled from magma deep in the earth’s
hygrometer an instrument used to de¬
crust (plutonic rock) and those which
termine the humidity or RELATIVE
have been poured out and solidified on
humidity of the atmosphere or a gas,
the surface (volcanic rock). Hypabys¬
some types making use of a human hair
sal rocks are found as dykes, sills, small
(which stretches and contracts), others a
intrusions etc. acid rock, basic rock,
lithium-chloride strip (which has a varying
INTERMEDIATE ROCK, INTRUSIVE ROCK.
resistance to moisture), the very slight
reaction of the moisture-sensitive com¬ hypermarket a very big, self-service store
ponent being enlarged and registered on which is larger than a supermarket, sells
a graded scale. a wide variety of foodstuffs, household
goods etc., has an extensive car park and
hygrophyte a water-loving plant, one is usually situated on the outskirts of a
which thrives in moisture (e.g. a tree of town.
the tropical rain forest) but is not an
aquatic plant. Most of the coniferous forest hypolimnion the non-circulating coldest
trees of the west and southeast of North layer of water, with the least oxygen, in

Amenca, southern Chile, western Europe, a deep lake or ocean, lying below the
thermocline. thermal stratifica¬
parts of China and Japan, southeastern
Australia and New Zealand are hygro- tion.

phytes. hypothesis pi. hypotheses 1. an idea or

proposition that is not the outcome of
hygroscope an instrument that indicates,
experience, but is formulated and used, as
without actually measuring, humidity.
an untested assertion, to explain certain
hygroscopic adj. the quality of having an facts, or the relationships between two or
affinity with water, applied to substances more concepts (alternative hypo¬
which absorb and retain moisture, e.g. salt thesis, null hypothesis) 2. the
particles in the atmosphere, which act as primary assumption of an argument.
I
ice the solid form of water, formed in cloud, formed by very small snow and ice
nature by the freezing of water (as in a crystals falling down below the spreading
river or sea ice), by the condensation of layer, incus cloud.
atmospheric water vapour at temper¬
atures below freezing point direct into ICE iceberg a large mass of land ice, often of
crystals, by the compaction of snow great height, broken off from a glacier

(with or without the movement of a gla¬ or from an ice shelf and floating in the

cier), by the seepage of water into snow sea, at the mercy of winds and currents.
masses and its subsequent freezing. The The ratio of ice below the water to that
density-2 of ice is lower than that of above is some three or four to one. Arctic
water, thus ice floats. icebergs have pinnacles in their superstruc¬
tures; coming from Greenland, they are
ice age any period in the long course carried south by the East Greenland and
of geological time, from Precambrian
Labrador currents to the Atlantic (a few
time onward (geological timescale),
passing through the narrow, shallow
when extensive glaciers covered large
Bering Strait to the Pacific). The super¬
parts of the land surface in the northern
structures of the Antarctic icebergs, which
and southern hemispheres. The greatest
come from the Ross ice shelf, are flat, and
and best known of these ice ages is the last
these icebergs float northwards to about
or Great Ice Age, also known as the Glacial
6o°S in the Pacific.
Epoch, which occurred in the pleisto¬
cene epoch when human beings had ice cap a permanent covering of ice, a
already appeared on the earth’s surface. In dome-shaped glacier, smaller than an
Europe and North America there were at ice sheet, covering a highland area or an
least four fluctuations in the Pleistocene island in high latitudes.
glaciation, periods with extending ice
sheets being interrupted by warmer ice crystal a single ice particle with regular
interglacial episodes. Many local names structure.
have been given to these periods of ice
expansion. In the European Alps four were ice-dam lake, ice-dammed lake a lake
distinguished and named, from the oldest formed by a barrier of ice stretching across

to the youngest: Giinz, Mindel, Riss and a valley mouth.

Wiirm. In North America the four periods

ice field, ice-field, icefield i. generally,
corresponding to those of Europe are,
an extensive area of land ice 2. specif¬
from the oldest, Nebraskan, Kansan, Illi-
ically, a large continuous area of pack ice
noian, Wisconsin, with the Iowan as the
or sea ice, more than 8 km (5 mi) across,
earliest stage of the Wisconsin.
defined as large (over 20 km: 12.5 mi
ice anvil the flattened head of an anvil across), medium (15 to 20 km: 9 to 12.5 mi

196
 idealism

across), or small (io to 15 km: 6 to 9 mi by snow and sometimes by glaciers, which

across). has reached the sea and is floating, although
parts may be aground.
ice-floe any separate piece of floating sea
ice, level or hummocked, thinner than an ice wedge a mass of ice in the ground,
iceberg, termed light (up to 1 m: 3.3 ft shaped like a wedge with a point facing
thick) or heavy (exceeding 1 m: 3.3 ft down, formed when melt-water, pen¬
thick). Floes are described as vast (over etrating cracks in the ground in summer,
10 km: 6.2 mi across), large (between 1 freezes in winter under periglacial con¬
and 10 km: 0.6 to 6.2 mi across), medium ditions. Repeated melting and refreezing
(200 to 1000 m: 655 to 3280 ft across), breaks up the material around the wedge,
small (10 to 200 m: 33 to 655 ft across). thereby increasing its width and pen¬
etration.
ice fog a formation of ice crystals sus¬
pended in the air, so numerous that they
iconic model a simple scaled-down rep¬
restnct visibility at the earth’s surface and
resentation of reality in which the
reflect sunshine to produce optical
phenomena selected are shown in the form
phenomena such as haloes and luminous
in which they exist, reduced to scale, e.g.
pillars. The sun shining above an ice fog
people shown as reduced-to-scale people.
can produce an effect so dazzling that it
ANALOGUE MODEL, SYMBOLIC MODEL.
can be dangerous to the naked eye. steam

fog. iconography the study of the sources and

meanings of images used in the visual arts
Icelandic low the mean atmospheric
and literature and by society, particularly
subpolar low pressure area (low) lying
as applied in historical geography
over the North Atlantic ocean between
and HUMANISTIC GEOGRAPHY. GEO¬
Iceland and Greenland, particularly in
GRAPHICAL IMAGINATION.
winter, comprising swiftly moving areas of
low pressure interspersed with occasional idealism 1. the belief that a system or a
periods of higher pressure. Aleutian
standard conceived as perfect or nearly
low.
perfect (but which is unlikely to exist in
the real world) exists 2. in philosophy,
ice pedestal serac.
one of the various approaches which, in
ice point the melting point of pure ice at general, maintain that ideas are the only
standard pressure, absolute zero. real things, i.e. that the object of external
perception consists (either in itself or as
ice sheet a continuous mass of ice and
perceived) as an idea, a notion, that the
snow of considerable thickness and cover¬
only things which exist in reality are minds
ing a large area of rock or water, e.g. the
or mental states, or both. For example,
ice masses occupying most of the Antarctic
the metaphysical doctrine (metaphysics,
continent and Greenland at the present
ontology) maintains that ultimate real¬
day. An ice sheet of under some 50 000
ity is either mental or spiritual; and the epi¬
sq km (20 000 sq mi) and overlying rock
stemological doctrine (epistemology)
is termed an ice cap. ice age.
holds that either the objects of perception
ice shelf a thick ice sheet of great extent or ideas are the only knowable entities.
and with a level or undulating surface, fed MATERIALISM, REALISM.

197
 \ v

ideology

ideology I. the science of ideas, con¬ which has received material in solution

cerned with their origin and nature, par¬ or suspension from the overlying soil

ticularly those springing from sensory layer(s). argillic horizon, eluvial

stimulation 2. ideal or abstract speculation HORIZON, ELUVIATION, ILLUVIATION.

3. a set of ideas adopted as a whole, held

illuviation the process by which material
implicitly and maintained regardless of the
removed in suspension or solution
course of events, used in support of, jus¬
from the upper part of a soil (the eluvial
tifying, an economic, social or political
horizon) is washed down and deposited
theory, or the conduct of a class or group
in the lower layers or illuvial horizons
4. the way of thinking of an individual
(usually the b horizon), argillic hori¬
class or culture.
zon, HARD PAN.

idiographic approach explanation

ilmenite an oxide of iron and titanium, a
concerned with individual cases or sit¬
black, crystalline ore, occurring in detrital
uations (explanation by case history)
SAND, BASIC IGNEOUS ROCK and META-
rather than with general types or theories
MORPHIC ROCK.
(a law-seeking approach), nomothetic

approach. image 1. a concept, a mental picture.

cognitive map, perception 2. some¬

igneous adj. of, pertaining to, containing,
thing that represents or is taken to rep¬
resembling, or emitting, fire.
resent something else 3. a counterpart, a

igneous rock a rock which has originated copy (solid or optical, or the product of

from the cooling and solidification of remote sensing) of an object, the same

magma from the heated lower layers of size as the object, or diminished or magni¬

the earth’s crust. The chemical com¬ fied, erect or inverted (e.g. in optics a copy

position of igneous rocks depends on the produced by a mirror or lens).

nature of the magma. Arranged in order

IMF International Monetary Fund, an
of their silica content they are classified
agency of the United Nations established
as acid rock (e.g. granite), inter¬
in 1944 to promote international financial
mediate rock (e.g. andesite), basic
cooperation, expand world trade, elimin¬
ROCK (e.g. GABBRO), ULTRABASIC ROCK
ate foreign exchange restrictions. It does
(e.g. peridotite). Their character is also
not advance loans. G7, world bank.
affected by the mode of cooling. When
solidified slowly at depth they are coarsely immature soil a young, imperfectly

crystalline (e.g. granite), and termed developed soil occurring on recently laid

intrusive or Plutonic; when rapidly, deposits or where erosion keeps pace

at the surface, they have fine crystals and with the development of a soil profile.

are termed extrusive (extrusive rock) AZONAL SOIL.

or volcanic (volcanic rock) (e.g.

immigrant 1. a person who voluntarily
andesite, basalt); between the two are
comes from the home country' to settle
hypabyssal. A few igneous rocks (e.g.
in another, especially for the purpose of
tuff) are formed from compacted or
permanent residence 2. a plant or animal
cemented fragments of pre-existing ig¬
which comes from its native habitat into
neous rocks.
another, emigrant, exile, expatriate,

illuvial horizon the soil horizon MIGRANT, MIGRATION, REFUGEE.

198
 inclination-dip

imperialism i. the making of an empire duced goods in order to improve the bal¬
through the extension by one sovereign ance OF PAYMENTS.
state of its authority over other territories,
improved adj. made better in quality,
by military conquest or by political or
more productive, more valuable.
economic means, thereby creating a
relationship in which those territories con¬
improved land frequently used as a tech¬
tribute resources to, and become depend¬
nical term, but not always with the same
ent on, the dominant sovereign state,
meaning. In the Agricultural Statistics of
usually to the economic benefit of the
most countries it refers to farm land where
latter, colonialism is a form ofimperial-
by ploughing, cultivation, manuring, or
ism 2. the policy or the doctrine of such
some form of management, the natural
an extension of authority.
condition of the land has been improved.
In Britain it covers ploughland and grass¬
impermeable adj. not permeable, not
land in fields, but not open moorland;
permitting the passage of fluids, especially
similarly in the USA, land in farms but
of water, impervious rock.
not open range land.
impermeable rock a rock which does
inceptisols in soil classification,
not allow water to soak into and through
US A, an order of young soils with weakly
it because it is impervious or non-porous
developed horizons, occurring in vari¬
(or practically non-porous) or both.
able climates, e.g. brown earths (brown
impervious rock, permeable rock,
forest soil) and tundra soils.
pervious, pervious rock, porosity.

incised meander a meander deeply

impervious adj. not pervious, impen¬
sunk into the general level of the surround¬
etrable, that which cannot be entered or
ing country. This may be the result when
passed through.
a mature river, with extensive meanders,
impervious rock rock through which is rejuvenated by an uplift of the land
water cannot pass freely, e.g. clay and begins to cut down its bed. Most
(porosity), unfissured granite. Some authors use incised and intrenched (or
authors use impervious as synonymous entrenched) as synonymous; but some
with impermeable, but some draw a cer¬ give a narrower meaning to intrenched,
tain distinction, outlined in permeable applying that term to a meander in which
ROCK, PERVIOUS ROCK. (PERMEABILITY the valley sides are roughly of the same
should not be confused with porosity.) slope, and using the term ingrown
meander when they are not of similar
import something brought in, introduced slope.
from a foreign or external source, or from
one use, connexion, or relation, into inclination I. the angle of approach of
another, especially goods or merchandise one line or plane to another 2. a slant,
brought into a country from a foreign a slope, a deviation from the vertical or
source in the course of international trade. horizontal, dip.
BALANCE OF TRADE, EXPORT.
inclination-dip the angle of dip of a
import substitution the replacement of fault, stratum or vein, measured from
previously imported goods by home pro¬ the horizontal, dip slope.

199
 \ v

inclosure

inclosure in England, the legal act, per¬ ter in the USA and the UK. The origin
mitted by an Act of Parliament, either of the term is uncertain.
general or special, whereby open land or
indicator plant, indicator species a
land formerly worked in common (open
plant or species-i which shows by its
field) is cut up into individual fields sur¬
presence in a locality the existence of a
rounded by fences, walls, hedges etc. The
particular environmental factor or certain
spelling of the physical process is usually
environmental conditions, e.g. the olive,
enclosure, and although that of the legal
an indicator of the mediterranean
Act should be inclosure, the two spellings
CLIMATE.
are commonly used interchangeably.
indigenous adj. originating in, native to,
incompetent, incompetence (of
a particular area, not introduced, applied
rocks), incompetent bed com¬
to i. plants, animals, human population
petence.
2. a rock, mineral or ore in its place of

inconsequent drainage a drainage origin, not earned in from somewhere

pattern not conditioned by (not con¬ else.

sequent on) the present structure, being

indirect contact space the part of an
either antecedent or superimposed.
urban area perceived by an individual from
ACCORDANT, DISCORDANT, INSEQUENT
secondhand contact, e.g. from informa¬
DRAINAGE.
tion given by acquaintances, the mass
media (newspapers, radio, television etc.),
incus cloud the anvil cloud spreading
and so on. awareness space.
above a cumulonimbus.

induction i. the drawing of a general

indenture a contract that binds one
conclusion from a number of known facts
person to work for another for a prescribed
2. the conclusion reached in this way.
period of time.
DEDUCTION.

independent variable a variable

induration the hardening of a rock by
which produces or causes (or is thought
heat, pressure or cementation, or of soil
to produce or cause) changes in another
horizons by chemical action (hard
variable (termed the dependent vari¬
pan).
able) and, in an experiment, is manip¬
ulated by the experimenter, regression industrial archaeology the study of past
ANALYSIS. industrial processes and methods, espe¬
cially of the early period of the indus¬
index I. an indicator, a sign 2. in math¬ trial revolution, based primarily on
ematics, a numerical ratio or other number examination of the physical remains, e.g.
deduced from observations and used as ofbuildings (including housing associated
an indicator or measure of a process or with manufacturing), machinery, mines,
condition, e.g. cost of living index. means of transport, and their equipment.

Indian summer a period of calm, dry, industrial city the type of city commonly
mild weather, with cloudless sky but hazy found in industrialized countries today,
atmospheric conditions, occurring fairly broadly conforming to the concentric
regularly in late autumn (fall) or early win¬ zone theory of Burgess, industrial

200
 industrial revolution

SOCIETY, POST-INDUSTRIAL CITY, PRE¬ industry) and by social change, e.g. in

INDUSTRIAL CITY. patterns of consumption, and in migration
of people from rural areas to the growing
industrial complex a large assemblage
urban settlements, aic, cottage in¬
of manufacturing enterprises concentrated
dustry, DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION, NIC,
in a relatively restricted area (thus differing
UNDERDEVELOPMENT.
from an industrial region, where wide¬
spread industry covers an extensive area), industrialized country generally, a
served by good transport, commercial and country in which the contribution of
financial facilities. It usually comprises one manufacturing industry (secondary
or more basic manufacturing industries industry) and the service industry (ter¬
combined with diverse other manufactur¬ tiary industry) to the economy is
ing enterprises, technically and econom¬ greater than that of primary industry,
ically interdependent (thus differing from e.g. of agriculture.
an industrial centre, which is small, with
industrial linkage all the exchanges
less diversified manufacturing enterprises).
between an industrial enterprise and the

industrial crop, commercial crop a factors, material and non-material, influ¬

crop-i grown not for food but as a raw encing its location, including, for example,

material for manufacturing industry, e.g. the exchange of information with other

COTTON. firms engaged in similar work in the

locality.
industrial geography a branch of
industrial momentum the tendency of
economic geography concerned with
an industry or firm in a given locality not
manufacturing industry, particularly its
only to maintain its activity (industrial
location and spatial distribution.
inertia) but also to increase its import¬
industrial inertia the tendency of an ance after the conditions originally influ¬
industry or firm to remain in a location or encing its establishment in that locality
site after the conditions originally influ¬ have appreciably altered, ceased to be
encing the choice of that location or site relevant, or disappeared, geographical
have altered, ceased to be relevant, or dis¬ INERTIA, GEOGRAPHICAL MOMENTUM.
appeared. GEOGRAPLIICAL INERTIA, GEO¬
industrial park a tract of land, in some
GRAPHICAL MOMENTUM, INDUSTRIAL
cases park-like (park-2), planned and
MOMENTUM.
officially designated for the accommoda¬
industrialization I. the process of tion of clean, relatively small industrial
growth of large-scale machine production enterprises, office park, park-6, re¬
(mechanization) and the factory system search AND SCIENCE PARK.
t
2. the process of setting-up such organiza¬
industrial region industrial com¬
tions, especially in the introduction of
plex.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY (SECOND¬
ARY industry) in countries or regions industrial revolution the changes gener¬
where people are engaged mainly in agri¬ ated by the mechanization of manu¬
cultural activities (primary industry). facturing industry, i.e. the change
It is usually accompanied by the estab¬ from domestic industry to the factory
lishment of service industry (tertiary system, which leads to the mass production

201
 V v

industrial society

of goods, with the consequent great influent stream a stream, common in

changes in social, economic and technical chalk and limestone country, that has
structures. The term Industrial Revolu¬ its bed higher than the water table, and
tion is commonly applied to the period in which flows into a cave, etc. The bed is
Britain in the eighteenth and early nine¬ usually impermeable, being lined with
teenth centuries when the mechanization fine silt; but part of the water inevitably
of the textile industry produced such disappears down cracks or joints in the
changes. chalk and limestone.

industrial society post-industrial informal sector unofficial employment,

society. particularly in the service industry, hidden
from the authorities, thus sometimes
industry any work performed for eco¬ termed the black economy.
nomic gain, but popularly applied espe¬
cially to MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY infra-red radiation, infrared radiation
(secondary industry). Industries are electromagnetic waves in the wave¬
vanously described as basic, extract¬ length range of 0.7 to about 200 microns,
ive, footloose, heavy, light, linked, invisible, perceived as heat, with wave¬
PRIMARY, SECONDARY, TERTIARY and lengths just a little longer than those of red
quaternary. See terms qualified by light but less than short microwaves, used
industrial; and industrialization. especially in some cooking devices and
LOCALIZATION OF INDUSTRY, LOCA¬ in photography with infra-red or colour
TION OF INDUSTRY, MARKET ORIENTA¬ infra-red film. Infra-red photographic de¬
TION, RESOURCE ORIENTATION. vices used in remote sensing success¬
fully distinguish features on the surface of
infield-outfield a system of farming the earth through darkness or cloud.
which confines intensive cultivation,
manuring etc. to enclosed fields near the infrastructure the basic structure, the
farm (infield), the outer parts of the farm framework, the system which supports
(outfield) being used for grazing or period¬ the operation of an organization (e.g. the
ically cropped on a shifting cultiva¬ power and water supplies, the transport
tion basis. and communications facilities, the drain¬
age system), which makes economic
infiltration the absorption and down¬ development possible, the basic capital
ward movement of precipitation in the investment of a country or enterprise.
REGOLITH. INFILTRATION CAPACITY.
ingrown meander incised meander.
infiltration capacity, infiltration rate
the maximum rate at which water can be initial advantage the advantage gamed
absorbed and seep downwards through the by a city, region or nation by being the

soil. Infiltration rate is now the preferred first in some respect, e.g. in establishing a

term, field capacity, overland market area, or in adopting a new tech¬

flow. nique. Some authors maintain that urban

centres which are first in establishing
inflation a general increase in prices pro¬ industry or in developing new techniques
duced by an increase in the proportion of build up a self-generatmg lead over other
currency and credit to the goods available. centres in terms of the size of their popu-

202
 inselberg

lation and in the volume and variety of logous to the onward movement of an
their industries. ocean wave.

inland basin a depression-2 entirely inorganic adj. I. of or relating to sub¬

surrounded by higher land, with or with¬ stances not composed of plant or animal
out an outlet to the ocean, basin-8. material, organic 2. in chemistry, of or
pertaining to substances that are not
inland drainage internal drainage. organic, hence inorganic chemistry, the
branch of chemistry concerned with the
inland sea a large, isolated expanse of
scientific study of chemical elements and
water, without a link to the open sea.
their compounds other than the carbon
inlet I. a narrow opening by which the compounds (but including the simpler
water of the sea, of a lake, or river, pen¬ compounds of carbon, e.g. carbon
etrates the land 2. the passage between dioxide).
islands into a lagoon.
input-output analysis a method used
inlier an exposed rock formation entirely in economics to trace the connexions
surrounded by geologically younger between products and services (the out¬
rocks. put) and the resources needed to produce
them (the input). During any period of
inner city an undefined area with a wide time the output of one sector of the pro¬
range of economic and social problems, ductive system may become the input
lying within a long-established, generally of another. The quantities, commonly ex¬
large, urban area. The term may be applied pressed in money values, are displayed
to such an undefined area, usually in eco¬ in a matrix as an input-output table, each
nomic decline, lying between the com¬ sector of the productive system being
mercial centre of the city (central assigned a row (showing the destination
business district) and its suburbs. That of the outputs) and a column (showing
is a zone usually characterized by aged, the provenance of the inputs). Outputs
run-down housing in multiple occupation which are absorbed in the productive
by people with low incomes (especially system are termed intermediate outputs,
new immigrants), people who stay for a those which pass out ofit into final demand
relatively short period of time, and a dwin¬ are final outputs; inputs derived from the
dling number of aged ‘local’ people. system are intermediate inputs, those that
GENTRIFICATION, INDUSTRIAL CITY, come in from outside (e.g. land, labour,
VILLAGE-2. capital) are primary inputs. For each sector
the sum of the output entries (i.e. total
inner lead the calm water lying between
revenue), displayed in the row, equals the
the mainland and the skerries, skerry,
sum of the input entries (i.e. total costs)
SKERRY-GUARD.
displayed in the column. The inter¬
innovation the making of changes, the dependence of different sectors of the pro¬
introduction of practices, processes etc. ductive system is thus revealed and can be
which are new in a particular context. analysed; and the effects of changes in one
sector on those in another traced.
innovation wave a concept of the dif¬
fusion of innovation as being ana¬ inselberg (German) an isolated hill of

203
 insequent drainage

circumdenudation, e.g. a steep-sided, isol¬ islands and some sheltered coastal areas.
ated residual hill, common in semi-arid
integration in society, the process by
and savanna lands, rising from a plain
which a sub-group, e.g. an ethnic
which is, in many cases, monotonously
minority, adapts to, fits into, and parti¬
flat (pediment).
cipates fully in the social and economic
insequent drainage, insequent stream structure in which it finds itself, while
a drainage-2 pattern developed on the keeping its identity, its individuality and
present land surface (especially on hori¬ cultural distinction, accommodation,
zontal strata), bearing no direct relation to ASSIMILATION, PLURAL SOCIETY.
the underlying structure, and seemingly
intensive agriculture a farming system
determined by accident, dendritic
in which large amounts of capital and/or
DRAINAGE, INCONSEQUENT DRAINAGE.
labour are applied to a relatively small area
inshore adj. an imprecise term, moving ofland to achieve high yields per unit area.
towards the shore (e.g. inshore breeze); or ESA, EXTENSIVE AGRICULTURE.
applied loosely to that which is close to
interaction in general, reciprocal action,
the shore; or shorewards of a position in
the action or influence of forces, objects,
contrast to seawards of it.
or persons on each other.
in situ (Latin, in place, in position) adv.
interbedded adj. applied to a layer of rock
associated with the occurrence of a fossil,
deposited in sequence between two other
mineral, rock or soil in its original place of
BEDS-2.
deposition or formation, e.g. a residual
deposit. interface 1. the surface that constitutes the
common boundary between two bodies,
insolation I. exposure to the rays of the
two systems, two spaces, two different
sun 2. solar radiation received,
contiguous parts of the same substance, or
applied especially to that reaching the sur¬
between phases in a heterogeneous system
face of the earth, greatest at the equator
(e.g. the surface formed between a liquid
for the year as a whole, but polewards
and a solid), extended to cover other
decreasing, at first slowly, then more
boundaries, especially if they are lll-
rapidly, then again slowly, the variation
defined 2. the connexion between two
throughout the year being least at the
pieces of equipment, by analogy extended
equator, most at the poles. It is an import¬
to cover the intercommunication between
ant climatic factor and has a (sometimes
different social groups.
disputed) role in atmospheric weathering.
The interrelationship of relief and insola¬ interfluve the tract ofland between two
tion is important in human geography adjacent rivers, regardless of its character.
(adret) 3. the rate at which solar radiation
interglacial adj. of a period of time
reaches a specified area.
between two glacial periods; sometimes
insular adj. of, inhabiting, situated on, used as a noun, referring to an inter¬
forming, characteristic of, an island. glacial period and/or to a deposit
formed in that period.
insular climate a climatic regime with
little range of temperature between sum¬ interglacial period a period of time with
mer and winter, characteristic of many a relatively warm climate, when the ice

204
 international division of labour

sheets retreated, occurring between two period of prolonged rainfall, but which
periods of glacial cold, e.g. as in the ice quickly dries out in even a short-lived
age, which was not a period of unremit¬ DROUGHT.
ting cold.
intermittent spring a spring that flows
interlocking spur one of the series of from time to time, usually depending on
protrusions (spur) of land that, lying the height of the water table (itself
between bends in the winding course of affected by fluctuations in precipitation).
a young river in its V-shaped valley, juts
intermittent stream a stream which does
into a concave bend and interdigitates with
not flow continuously but dries up from
its opposing neighbours lying upstream
time to time, e.g. a bourne.
and downstream. Interlocking spurs thus
obscure the upstream or downstream view intermonate adj. lying between moun¬
of the river. They are caused initially tains, e.g. the intermontane plateaus, the
by the stream’s flowing swiftly round high plateaus, lying between the east and
an obstacle in its course, undercutting west ranges of the Andes.
the bank opposite the obstruction, and
internal migration the movement of
thereby making the concave bend, me¬
people within a country, e.g. in search of
ander.
employment.
intermediate rock an igneous rock
classified chemically as being between acid international airport an airport with
and basic in its composition (acid rock, facilities suitable for handling international

basic rock), that is it has a silica-2 traffic and meeting the needs of inter¬

content lying between 52 and 66 per national airlines.

cent and no free quartz. It may be international date line an imaginary line
plutonic (intrusive) or volcanic (ex¬
agreed internationally which follows the
trusive). EXTRUSIVE ROCK, HYPABYSSAL,
meridian of 18o°, with some deviations to
INTRUSIVE ROCK, LAVA, PLUTONIC accommodate certain land areas. In cross¬
ROCK, VOLCANIC ROCK. ing the line from west to east a day is

intermediate technology a techno¬ repeated; in crossing it from east to west

logy-3 which aims to introduce to small a whole day is lost. Thus an aircraft flying

groups of people in underdeveloped fromjapan to Honolulu arrives at an earlier

lands those parts of advanced scientific time on the same day; an aircraft leaving

knowledge and industrial processes which, Honolulu late on Monday evening would

combined with resources and materials not reach Japan until Wednesday morn¬

readily available locally, will match their ing, although the duration of the flight is

knowledge and skills, meet their needs, only a few hours. Fig 43.

and improve their quality of life on a

international division of labour 1. the
long-term basis, alternative techno¬
separation of employment into parts on
logy, HIGH TECHNOLOGY, LOW TECH¬
an international scale, a feature of the ‘old’
NOLOGY. international division of labour (OIDL)
intermittent saturation zone in soil sci¬ (i.e. before c. 1940) when there was
ence, a layer, lying below the surface soil, specialization on a territorial basis in the

which may hold vadose water in a tasks performed to supply world markets.

205
 \ v
International Monetary Fund

To summarize, broadly, subject territories puter network that by means of a common

of a dominant country provided it with protocol links smaller computer networks
primary products (foodstuffs and other and personal computers throughout the
raw materials) to augment the food world. JANET.
supply of that dominant country and meet
the needs of its manufacturing industry. interquartile range in statistics, a

The principal exports of the dominant measure of dispersion (the spread of values)

country were manufactured goods, sold ofa frequency distribution. A quar-

to the subject territories and to other coun¬ tile is produced by splitting a distribu¬

tries. The subject territories bought these tion into four equal parts, the quartiles

manufactures with earnings from the being those values of the variable below

exports of their primary products. In the which he 25 per cent, 50 per cent and 75

process the most powerful controlling per cent ofthe distribution. The interquar¬

powers became dominant in the inter¬ tile range is the distance between the 75

national organization of production and per cent (upper quartile) and the 25 per

trade, and in world markets 2. in the ‘new’ cent (lower quartile). It thus contains one

international division of labour (NIDL) half of the total frequency and provides a

(i.e. after the mid-i940s) the production simple measure of dispersion, median.

of manufactured goods is widespread Intertropical Convergence Zone

throughout the world (not concentrated, (ITCZ), Intertropical Front (ITF)
as formerly, in the home territories of ITCZ.
dominant countries), countries which
were formerly predominant exporters of intervale (American) a tract of low-lying
primary products having developed their land, especially between hills or bordering
a river.
own (in many cases substantial) manufac¬
turing industry and, benefiting from interval scale in statistics, a measure¬
improved transport and communications ment scale which lacks an absolute zero,
as well as from investment from external but in which the intervals between the
sources, entered international trade as scale points are equal. A variable
exporters of manufactured goods. In many measured on this scale is termed an interval
cases their production costs are lower than variable.
those current in the formerly dominant
countries; their prices are highly compet¬ intervening location effect the effect
itive in world markets; and many of on a place of lying in an intermediate

them specialize in particular products. position on a route which is well served

Such developments have far-reaching so¬ for reasons other than those of benefiting

cial, economic and political effects; and the place itself. The result is that the place

are especially important to the multi¬ enjoys better services than its own charac¬

nationals, with their world-wide inter¬ teristics would justify, accessibility,

ests and ability to finance technical SHADOW EFFECT.

advance, aic, industrialization, nic, intervening opportunity effect of a

UNDERDEVELOPMENT. boundary, the beneficial effect of a

International Monetary Fund imf. boundary on locations close to it, mak¬

ing such locations attractive to people,
internet the global communications com¬ e-g- in giving shoppers from one side of

206
 invisible exports

the boundary access to goods sold at lower INVERSION, INVERSION OF TEMPERA¬

prices on the other, halo effect. TURE.

intrazonal soil a well-developed soil inversion of temperature a phenom¬

with the form and structure reflecting enon in which there is in the air a temper¬
the influence of some local factor of ature increase with increasing height
relief, parent material or age, rather than instead of the normal decrease (lapse
of climate and vegetation, anthropo¬ rate). It can occur at high altitudes (e.g.
morphic SOIL, AZONAL SOIL, SOIL, SOIL when a cold air mass flows under a warm
CLASSIFICATION, ZONAL SOIL. one, as at a cold front, or when a warm
air mass flows over a cold one, as at a
intrenched meander an incised
warm front, or when an occlusion
meander with steep, symmetrical valley
develops); or near the earth’s surface (e.g.
sides, produced by swift, vertical erosion.
in temperate latitudes on a calm, clear
intrusion the forceful entry of a mass of night when radiation of heat from the
molten rock (magma) in the pre-existing ground at night is rapid, or when warm
rocks of the earth’s crust, sometimes con¬ air flows over a cold surface; or in moun¬
cordant as a sheet or sill along bed¬ tainous regions when radiation of heat
ding planes, or as a lens-shaped mass from the upper slopes is rapid, and cold
(laccolith and phacolith), some¬ dense air behaves like cold water and flows
times discordant, i.e. across the beds down the valley), front, radiation
(dyke), hypabyssal, intrusive rock. fog.

intrusive rock Plutonic rock, an invertebrate adj. lacking a backbone.

igneous rock with crystals larger VERTEBRATE.
than those occurring in an extrusive
inverted relief inversion of relief, a land¬
rock, formed from the consolidation of
scape displaying the effects of a long period
molten material (magma) which has
of denudation and erosion, the up-
penetrated or been forced into pre¬
folds in the strata (anticlines) corres¬
existing solid rocks at depth in the earth’s
ponding with low ground and the
crust. EXTRUSION, HYPABYSSAL, INTRU¬
synclines with high ground, the oppo¬
SION, VOLCANIC ROCK.
site of UNINVERTED RELIEF.
invasion and succession in urban land invisible exports the income-earning
use studies, the sequence of changes by
items in the international trade of a
which units of population or of land use
country, representing not the sale or
replace those existing in another area, the
transfer of goods, but payments made by
invading population or land use type foreign countries to that country, for ser¬
eventually achieving numerical superior¬
vices provided (banking, insurance etc.),
ity and controlling the area invaded, e.g. for shipping, air freight, for interest on
as in gentrification. The term is used
investments; and also expenditure by tour¬
particularly to explain the outward growth ists visiting the country (tourism) and
in the CONCENTRIC .ZONE GROWTH
remittances home by migrants. Invisible
THEORY. imports cover similar items, but tor these

inversion the reversal of the normal or payments are made by the country to

expected order of position, geological foreign countries.

207
ion

ion an atom or group of atoms with mafgnetic iron ore which tend to occur in
either an excess (cation, a positive ion) or large masses associated with igneous or
a deficiency (anion, a negative ion) of metamorphic rocks; (b) the bedded
electrons, which is therefore electrically ores of hydrated oxide of iron which
unbalanced and electrically charged. (An include limomte and are usually very
electron is a fundamental particle, negat¬ impure; (c) siderite; (d) sulphide ores of
ively charged, a constituent of the atom, which iron pyrites and copper pyrites are
orbiting in the nucleus.) An ion may be the chief, although neither is an important
formed in a gas or in a solution and carry source of metal, iron pyrites being more
current through either, acid, base, col¬ important as a source of sulphur and cop¬
loid, pH, HYDROGEN ION. per pyrites of copper. The impurities in
the ore are important in processing, e.g.
ionization the production of ions, con¬
phosphoric iron ore needs special treat¬
verting to ions, or being converted to ions,
ment, because phosphorus makes the
by the addition or removal of electrons
iron brittle, pig iron, steel.
from atoms, e.g. by addition to an ioniz¬
ing solvent or by means of high-energy Iron Age the era in human development
radiation, as in the ionosphere. (succeeding the bronze age) when iron
was smelted and used for tools, utensils
ionosphere thermosphere, the outermost
and weapons. It probably began among
zone of the atmosphere-i, above the
the Hittites c. 1400 bc, reaching southern
mesopause, at a height of about 65 km
Europe by c. 1000 bc and Bntain by
(40 mi), the lower level dropping to some
500 BC.
55 km (35 mi) in daylight, rising to some
105 km (65 mi) at night, so named because Iron Curtain a term introduced by Win¬
ultraviolet and x-rays radiatedby the ston Churchill in a speech in 1946 describ¬
sun ionize its gases to a degree determined ing the divide between the then USSR
by the solar cycle, season and time of day. and its associated communist states in east¬
Particles arising from this ionization ern Europe on the one hand and the coun¬
concentrate in distinct layers (distin¬ tries of western Europe on the other. The
guished by the letters D, E, F2, Fi) and USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hun¬
refract radiowaves back to earth, apple- gary, Romania, Bulgaria and East Ger¬
ton LAYER, HEAVISIDE LAYER, SUN¬ many were considered to be within the
SPOT. Fig 4. Iron Curtain, and sometimes Yugoslavia
and Albania were included.
iron a widely occurring heavy, metallic
element-6, the second most widespread iron pan, ironpan hard pan.
mineral-i (aluminium being the first),
irradiance the amount of radiant power
estimated to constitute chemically some 5
(radiant flux) per unit area falling on
per cent of the earth’s crust by weight. It
a surface or object, radiance.
does not occur native-i (adj.) in nature,
rusts readily in moist air (i.e. it combines irrigation the action of artificially supply¬
with the oxygen of the atmosphere to form ing land with water to help the growth
an oxide) and is chemically active, forming and productivity of plants. In addition to
compounds. The chief ores are (a) haem¬ methods long used of bringing water by
atite or red kidney ore and magnetite or karez, by canal-2 from a river or reser-

208
 isomorphic

voir, and by basin irrigation, more seismic (co-seismal) or isoseist phase

up-to-date methods include closed pipes of earthquake wave at the same instant;
(preventing loss by evaporation) and isotherm temperature.
sprinklers producing artificial rain, per¬
isocline, isoclinal folding a fold which
ennial IRRIGATION.
is so intense that the two limbs now incline
isallobar a line drawn on a map to join or dip in the same direction and to an
places undergoing equal change in at¬ equal amount, i.e. at approximately the
mospheric pressure during a given same angle. Where such a fold coincides
period, plotted to indicate the develop¬ with a ridge or valley, the terms isoclinal
ment and progress ofa pressure system. ridge or isoclinal valley may be used.
Fig 24.
isanomal, isanomalous line a line
drawn on a map joining places with equal isolated state term applied by Von
difference from the normal or average of Thiinen to a notional state serving as
any climatic element. the basis for his model (von thunen
model), a state completely cut off from
isarithm any line drawn on a map to link
the rest of the world, dominated by a very
places having the same value or quantity.
large town which serves as the sole market
island a naturally formed piece of land and is situated at the centre of a broad,
entirely surrounded by water, which is featureless, uniform plain (an isotropic
above water at high tide, a small island surface), bounded by an uncultivated
sometimes being termed an isle, very small wilderness which prevents communica¬
an islet. By analogy applied to many other tion between the state and the outside
phenomena that are isolated, as an island, world. The plain has a uniformly fertile
e.g. island site, a building site surrounded soil, is not crossed by a navigable river or
by roads; or a heat island. canal, and the ease of movement over it
is uniform. Production and transport costs
island arc the disposition of an island
on the plain are everywhere the same.
chain in the form of an arc, e.g. as in the
The farmers provide the large town with
Pacific ocean, deep, oceanic trench,
agricultural produce in exchange for the
PLATE TECTONICS. manufactured goods produced in the
iso- (Greek, equal) a prefix (sometimes town. They themselves haul their produce
is- before a vowel) used in very many to market along a close, dense network of
scientific terms, especially in geography, converging roads of equal quality, at a
applying to various lines drawn on a map to cost directly proportional to the distance
link points having similar values or similar covered. All the fanners wish to maximize
quantities, to which the general term their profits, so automatically adjust the

applied is usually isopleth. output of crops to the needs of the central

Some standard isopleths (with the factor market.
of similarity of their points specified) are:
isometric adj. having equal measure.
isobar barometric pressure; isodapane
transport costs; isohel amounts of sun¬ isomorphic adj. in general, and in biology
shine; isohyet amounts of rainfall; iso- I. of the same or an analogous form 2. in

neph amount of cloudiness; isoseismal botany, applied to algae and some fungi

earthquake activity or intensity; iso- that have alternating generations which

209
isomorphism

are vegetatively identical 3. in chemistry, isostatic adj. 1. under equal pressure from
mineralogy, having shape or structure all sides 2. of, relating to, or characterized
similar to that of another, usually due to by, ISOSTASY.
a similarity of composition 4. in math¬
isothermal adj. 1. having the same tem¬
ematics, applied to two data sets, or two
perature 2. without change of temperat¬
theories, which are precisely equivalent in
ure 3. relating to or showing a change
form and in the nature and product of
in pressure or in volume at a constant
their operations, the elements of one cor¬
temperature.
responding with those of the other, gen¬
eral SYSTEMS THEORY, ISOMORPHISM. isotope one of two or more forms of
an element-6, having the same atomic
isomorphism the state or quality ofbeing
number as the other forms but identified
isomorphic, e.g. specifically in biology,
by small differences in atomic weight and,
the apparent similarity of individuals of
usually, by minute differences (due to
different races or species; and in math¬
mass) in chemical and physical properties.
ematics, a one-to-one correspondence
An isorope is named by the mass number
between data sets.
with the name or symbol of the element,

isopleth 1. common use in geography, e.g. carbon 14, or 14C, a radioactive car¬

iso- 2. a graph showing the frequency of bon. In natural radioactivity one iso¬

any phenomenon as the function of two tope changes very slowly but at a known

variables 3. a straight line on a graph join¬ rate into another that is more stable (half-

ing corresponding values of the variables life), thus the proportion of one to the

when one of the variables has a constant other present in a sample (e.g. of organic

value. remains, or in a geological sample) which

is being investigated gives a measure of
isostasy, isostatic theory, isostatic the age ol the material which can be
adjustment isostasy, the condition of expressed in years (radiometric age).
relative equilibrium of the earth’s crust, RADIOCARBON DATING.
accounted for by the theory that the sur¬
isotropic adj. showing physical properties
face features of the earth have a tendency
or actions equal in all directions. If the
to reach a condition of gravitational equi¬
properties or actions shown are unequal,
librium. Isostatic theory maintains that
they are termed anisotropic.
where equilibrium exists on the surface of
the earth, equal mass must underlie equal isotropic surface a notional, un¬
surface area. Thus under an elevated plat¬ bounded, uniformly flat plain on which
eau there would be rocks of low density, population density, purchasing power,
e.g. granite; under ocean basins the transport costs, accessibility in all
rocks would be of high density, e.g. directions, etc. are kept uniform and
> *
basalt. The instability of continental unvarying. Christaller used this plain to
margins where high mountains are found show the theoretical distribution of
close to ocean deeps is explained by under¬ CENTRAL PLACES in CENTRAL PLACE
ground movement of magma to effect the theory, specifying that central goods
necessary adjustment (isostatic adjust¬ should be bought from the nearest central
ment). GLACIO-ISOSTASY, ISOSTATIC, place, all parts of the plain should be served
PLATE TECTONICS. by a central place (thus the complement-

210
 iteration

ary regions should cover the whole of where the tropical maritime air masses
the plain), there should be minimum converge, i.e. where the northeast trade
movement of consumers, and no central winds and the southeast trade winds meet,
place should make excess profits. In order broadly in the region of the equator, but
to fulfil all these specifications the plain moving north and south according to
has to be divided into hexagonal comple¬ season. The air masses may be almost stag¬
mentary regions, urban hinterland. nant, the winds light and variable, hence
the old name of belt of calms or dol¬
isthmus a narrow strip ofland, with water drums. The air is very unstable, a factor
on each side, connecting two larger land in the heavy convection rain of the
masses, e.g. two continental land masses, equatorial belt; and in this area shallow,
or a mainland and a peninsula. slow-moving depressions-3 develop
which may stray from the zone towards the
ITCZ, ITF Intertropical Convergence
poles, intensify and become fast-moving
Zone, Intertropical Front (sometimes
tropical revolving storms (cyclone).
termed the equatorial front or equatorial
trough), a broad trough of low pressure, iteration in mathematics, the repeating
a zone rather than a front, defined more of an operation on the product of the
sharply over land than over the ocean, operation.
 \ s.

J
Janet Joint Academic Network, a com¬ sion and weathering are helped by the

puter network that links together most weak surfaces of well-developed joints,

UK colleges and universities. Superjanet which are also useful to the quarryman in

is the upgraded Janet; both link into the stone extraction.

INTERNET.
jokulhlaup (Icelandic) a glacial outburst,
jet stream a high altitude, fast-moving a sudden, sometimes catastrophic, flood
air current, a few thousand kilometres in of meltwater flowing from the underside
length, a few hundred kilometres wide, of a glacier or ice sheet as a result ofvolcanic
a few kilometres in depth, more or less activity and geothermal heating which
horizontal, flattened, tubular, occurring in melts the ice.
the vicinity of the tropopause, usually
joule j i. the unit of energy and work
blowing more strongly in winter than in
in si, the work done when the point of
summer, polar front jet stream, sub¬
application of a force of one newton
tropical JET STREAM, TROPICAL EAST¬
is displaced in the direction of the force
ERLY JET STREAM, WESTERLIES.
through a distance of one metre 2. a unit

jetty a structure built to project from the of heat, 1000 calories.

shore into a sea, lake or river to break

junction of rivers, accordant junc¬
currents or waves, to shelter a har-
tion. DISCORDANT JUNCTION.
bour-i, or to provide a landing stage.
jungle a word brought home by the
joint a crack or fissure in a rock following
British from India where as jangala (Sans¬
a dominant direction along a line of weak¬
krit) and jangal (Hindi and Marathi) it
ness, usually transverse to the bedding,
meant waste or uncultivated ground as
and produced by tearing apart under ten¬
opposed to cultivated land. Frequently
sion or shearing under compression,
such land was covered with scrub and
but without dislocation (as in a fault).
tangled vegetation, including long grass,
In stratified rocks (stratification) the
and so was the haunt of wild animals. It
joints are usually at right angles to the
therefore has no precise meaning (and is
bedding. If the bedding planes are well
best avoided in scientific literature, espe¬
marked a number of parallel joints will
cially the term ‘jungle-forests’ applied to
divide up the rock bed into more or less
equatorial or hot wet forest).
regular blocks. There may be two or more
sets ofjoints following different directions, Jurassic adj. of or relating to the middle
in which case the most strongly marked geological period of the Mesozoic era
set constitutes the master joints. A joint (geological timescale), when sedi¬
coinciding with a strike is termed a ments of clays and sands and coral

stnke-joint, with a dip a dip-joint, ero¬ reefs were laid down in shallow seas,

212
 juvenile water

dinosaurs were at their peak, birds began juvenile water magmatic water, mtratel-
to appear, and the flora included ferns luric water, water from great depths of the
and conifers. The rocks include clays, earth reaching the earth’s surface for the
LIMESTONES, SANDSTONES. first time, as a result of volcanic activity,
i.e. not the meteoric water which is
juvenile relief a landscape with steep¬
already present in the atmosphere-i and
sided valleys characteristic of the early
hydrosphere.
stages of a cycle of erosion.
 X V

K
Ki. kelvin, the basic Si unit of temper¬ dust particles great distances to settle as
ature 2. usually in italic, the symbol for a LOESS.
constant, e.g. in statistics 3. k-value.
karez term applied in Baluchistan to the
kame an imprecise, unspecific term qanat of Iran and the foggara of north

applied to any ridge or mound of poorly Africa: an almost horizontal underground,

sorted water-laid materials (glacial sands hand-engineered irrigation channel or

and gravels) associated with former ice tunnel dug from the arid plains to tap water

fronts. ESKER, MORAINE. at the foot of a nearby hill range, the water
flowing through by gravity.
kame-and-kettle country an undulat¬
ing landscape consisting of kame moraines
karoo, karroo 1. a plateau in southern
Africa between the Swartberge and Nuwe-
and shallow depressions, kettle.
veldberge, covered with semi-desert ve¬

kame terrace a terrace formed of sand getation of small shrubs 2. the vegetation

and gravel deposited by a stream of in this region, extending into the

meltwater in the depressions between Little Karoo, south of the Swartberge,

a glacier and the sides of its trough. and the Northern Karoo, Upper Karoo,
or Karroid plateau, north of the Nuweveld
kaolin china clay, a fine, white clay range.
occurring especially in pockets in gran¬
karre (German, usually in pi., karren) a
ite masses, resulting from the decom¬
channel or furrow varying in depth from
position of FELDSPARS by HYDROLYSIS
a few millimetres to over a metre, and
and by ascending heated gases (pneu-
separated from others by ridges, caused
matolysis) and vapours (mainly car¬
by solution on limestone surfaces, clint,
bon dioxide and superheated steam)
KARST, LAPIE.
from a deep-seated magma. It is used in
making ceramic ware (china, porcelain), karrenfeld a surface cut with and dom¬
paper, pharmaceuticals, rubber and cos¬ inated by karren (karre).
metics. The term is derived from the name
of the mountain in China (Kaoling) from karst originally the barren limestone
which it seems originally to have been plateau of Istria, between Carmola and

obtained, superheating. the Adriatic, where nearly all the natural

drainage is underground and where there
karaburan black buran, a strong northeast are bare, limestone ndges, caverns, sinks
wind laden with dust and sand blowing in and underground drainage caused by
daytime in the arid Tanm basin in central rainwater which, charged with carbon
Asia, darkening the sky, changing river dioxide from the atmosphere, dissolves
courses by depositing sand, and carrying the calcium carbonate in the porous

214
 Keynesianism

limestone, producing an uneven land¬ Kelvin wave a tidal system in an approx¬

scape. Karst is now applied to any area imately rectangular sea area, the tidal range
of similar limestone or dolomite country. being greater on the right of the direction
COCKPIT-2, DOLOMITE. of a progressive wave, decreasing on
the left, e.g. in the English Channel the
katabatic wind a drainage wind, a cold
tidal range on the south coast of England
wind that blows down a valley or slope,
is less than that on the north coast of
especially at night, when dense cold air,
France, amphidromic point, amphi-
cooled by radiation at higher levels, flows
DROMIC SYSTEM, OSCILLATORY WAVE
downhill by gravity, behaving much like
THEORY OF TIDES.
a stream of water, anabatic, frost
POCKET. kettle, kettle-hole, kettle-lake kettle
seems originally to have been a local term
katafront a cold front in which wann
applied to a pothole in a river, then, as a
air flows down over a wedge of cold air.
‘giant’s kettle’, to a pothole formed by
FRONT.
whirling stones in a stream under a glacier.

kegelkarst (German) the term now Later it came to be applied to a circular

applied internationally to several types of hollow in a stretch of glacial sands, gravels

tropical humid karst, sometimes termed and clays, caused by the former presence

cone karst in translation, cockpit-2. of a great detached block of ice which had
eventually melted. Such hollows became
kelvin K, the basic si unit of temperature, filled with water to form kettle-lakes; and
defined from the triple point of water (the the drifts in which they occurred became
point at which water, ice and water vapour known as kettle-drift or kettle-moraine.
are in equilibrium), valued at 273.16K, ice
point (absolute zero) being 273.15K. kettle-drift a mound or ridge of gravelly
The value of the degree in the kelvin drift-1 formed by water at or beyond

scale is the same as that of the degree in the margin of the ice.

centrigrade. A temperature expressed

kettle-moraine a terminal moraine
in K (the symbol °K and the term degree
pitted with many kettle-holes, kettle.
kelvin have been superseded by K or kel¬
vin) is equal to the temperature in °C less key, kay, cay a low sand and coral island,
273.i5°C (commonly rounded to 273°C); sandbank or reef, lying a little above high
and to express °C in K it is necessary only tide, dry at low tide, a term used especially
to add 273°C to the Centigrade value (e.g. in the West Indies and Florida, sometimes
~3°C = 270K). appearing in place-names, e.g. Key West.

Kelvin (K) scale a temperature scale Keynesianism the economic theory of

with iK (one kelvin) equal to i°C (Cel¬ John Maynard Keynes, 1883 — 1946, in
sius, centigrade) but with an abso¬ part of which he states that a condition
lute zero temperature calculated to be of unemployment may continue for long
-273.i5°c or -459.4°F (Fahrenheit). penods, even indefinitely, unless a govern¬
The advantage of the Kelvin scale is that ment steps in to remedy it by spending
it has no negative quantities. It is thus to supplement a deficient private sector
especially valuable if one is dealing with demand, aggregate demand, monet¬
very low temperatures. arism.

215
key village

key village, king village a minor centre in fhe Kimberley district of South Africa,
with facilities (e.g. a primary school, a termed hardebank at depth, changing near
village hall) to serve even smaller villages the surface to the softer blue ground which
and hamlets, but reliant on major centres oxidizes at the surface to yellow ground.
for other facilities.
kinetic energy the energy of a moving
khamsin a hot, dry, often dust-laden mass associated with its speed and equal
southerly wind known also as ghibli, sa- to half the product of the mass and the
miel or leveche, which blows intermit¬ square of its velocity, thermal con¬

tently for some fifty days in March, April, duction.

May from the deserts of the south across

knickpoint, nickpoint a break of slope,
Egypt and the southeast Mediterranean,
particularly one in the long profile of
commonly after a heat wave, and often
a river valley, occurring when a relative
becoming humid in passing over the
lowering of the sea level (negative
Mediterranean sea. The sirocco is sim¬
movement) compels the river to regrade
ilar, but warmer.
its course to the new sea level. In doing
kibbutz, kibutz a form of collective this the river makes a new curve which, by
or communal rural settlement in modern headward erosion, cuts across an earlier
Israel, with egalitarian communal owner¬ one. The junction is marked by a break
ship of the land and collective economic of slope (the knickpoint, or rejuvenation
and social organization. Originally the head) which, owing to continued erosion,
kibbutzim were devoted solely to farming, moves progressively upstream, rejuvena¬

but many now produce manufactures. tion.

LAND TENURE.
knoll, knowe, know, knowle a more
kidney iron ore haematite. or less rounded small hill.

kilo k, prefix, a thousand, attached to si

knot 1. a unit of speed, one nautical mile
units to denote the unit x io3. centi-,
(standardized at 1.852 km) per hour,

HECTO-, MILLI-.
derived from the original use of pieces
of knotted string fastened to the logline
kilogram, kilogramme kg, the basic si trailed from sailing vessels, the number of
unit of weight, 1000 grams (2.2046 lb), knots being measured against a period of
being defined as the mass of a standard time indicated by a sand-glass. It is tauto¬
piece of platinum-iridium alloy kept in logical to refer to so many ‘knots per hour’.
the Bureau International des Poids et Me- mile 2. a complex of mountains, especially
sures at Sevres, near Paris. one where several ranges meet and the
arrangement is irregular, e.g. the Pamir
kilometre km, an si unit of length, 1000
Knot.
metres (0.62 mile, or 3280.84 feet). In
measures of area one square kilometre kolkhoz (Russian contraction of kollek-
equals 100 hectares each of 10000 tivnoe khoziaistvo) a collective farm in the
square metres. former USSR, collective farming,

sovkhoz.
kimberlite a DiAMOND-bearing ultra-

basic igneous rock containing mica KondratiefF cycle a theory of cyclic

and other silicates, filling volcanic pipes-3 growth, boom, bust, spanning some fifty

216
 kyle

to sixty years and occurring in capitalist months with temperature below io°C)
economies, postulated by KondratiefF (io°C = 50°F; 20°C = 68°F). These major
(Russian economist) in 1925. He identi¬ climatic groups were subdivided to take
fied an innovation in new technology account of refinements of rainfall and
developed in times of depression as a major temperature characteristics, expressed by
trigger for each new cycle, e.g. the first lower case letters, thornthwaite’s

(eighteenth century to 1842) being steam CLIMATIC CLASSIFICATION.

power; the second (1842-97), railways

k.um any of the sandy deserts of central
and Bessemer steel; the third (1898 — 1939),
Asia, equivalent to the Saharan erg.
electricity, chemicals and motor vehicles.
Other economists have added a fourth kurtosis in statistics, a shape character¬

(1946 — 73), air transport, electrical, elec¬ istic of a FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION that

tronic and oil-based industries; and, at pre¬ reflects the pointedness of the peak and

sent, a fifth, microprocessors and genetic the length of the tails, frequency curve.

engineering.
K-value in central place theory, a
value given to a central place, to
Koppen’s climatic classification a
describe its place in, and the nature of, the
classification devised by Vladimir Peter
hierarchy (central place hierarchy).
Koppen, 1846—1940, who based his cli¬
The K-value expresses the total number
matic classification on the climatic needs of
of central places at a certain level in the
certain types of vegetation, and identified
central place hierarchy served by a central
five major groups, A to E, to which he
place at the next highest order in the
added H, the mountain zone. The major
system. The value includes the higher
groups are: A, tropical zone (12 months
order place itself, e.g. in a K-3 hierarchy,
with a temperature exceeding 20°C); B,
the higher order place serves two adjacent
subtropical zone (4 to 11 months with
lower order places (i.e. two places and the
temperature exceeding 20°C, and 1 to 8
place itself), administrative prin¬
months ranging between io°C and 20°C);
ciple, MARKETING PRINCIPLE, TRAFFIC
C, temperate zone (4 to 12 months with
(transportation) PRINCIPLE.
temperature between io°C and 20°C); D,
cold zone (1 to 4 months with temperature kyle (Scottish) a narrow channel or strait
between io°C and 20°C, and 8 to 11 between an island and the mainland, or
months below io°C); E, polar zone (12 between two islands.
 X V

L
labelling a social process by which indi¬ labour theory of value 1. in classical
viduals or groups classify and categorize economic theory, a theory proclaimed
social behaviour in others, e.g. a particular by Adam Smith and David Ricardo, that
group or area may be reputed to have any two products will exchange one with
socially undesirable characteristics (e.g. another in proportion to the amounts of
being charactenzed by criminality) and labour needed to make them, i.e. that
is stigmatized, given a disparaging name. value-1 is the product of the expenditure
People who are not ‘socially undesirable’ of labour. The part played by capital in
but who live in such a stigmatized area production is explained by assuming that
may have difficulty in finding work or the amount of capital used per umt of
obtaining credit. It has been suggested that labour in making every product is con¬
labelling affects the behaviour of the la¬ stant, or by treating capital equipment as
belled, in that people who are labelled stored-up labour. 2. in Marxian eco¬
come to see themselves in terms of the nomics the theory is similar, one of the
label, and behave accordingly. main tenets of Marxism being that value
can be created only by the expenditure of
labour i. workforce 2. in economics,
human labour. Thus the price of a com¬
work as a factor of production, factors
modity should be the amount of labour
OF PRODUCTION.
time needed to produce it under normal
conditions. The labour so required is
labour-extensive adj. needing a very
termed socially necessary labour, con¬
small work force to achieve a very high
stant CAPITAL, LABOUR POWER, VARI¬
output. CAPITAL-INTENSIVE, LABOUR-
INTENSIVE.
ABLE CAPITAL 3. in NEOCLASSICAL

economics it is asserted that capital and

labour-intensive adj. needing the efforts land as well as labour contribute to the
of a large work force for increased production process, so that they also are
productivity or higher earnings, as op¬ entitled to a return and should be reflected
posed to CAPITAL-INTENSIVE. LABOUR- in the price of a commodity.
EXTENSIVE.

laccolith a mass of igneous rock

labour power in Marxism, the ability to 'intruded along the bedding planes of
work, or the commodity that workers sell, SEDIMENTARY ROCKS, like a SILL but
the exchange value being determined by swelling out to form a lens-shaped mass,
the socially necessary labour (labour the flat base being concordant with the
theory of value-2) needed for subsist¬ strata into which it is intruded, the upper
ence, i.e. the cost of production and re¬ surface swelling out in the shape of a dome
production of labour itself, constant causing the overlying strata to arch over
CAPITAL, MEANS OF PRODUCTION. it. Sometimes a laccolith is more complex,

218
 lake

with several masses one above the other, island) or a coral reef 2. the sheet of

a section through the whole looking like a water enclosed in an atoll.

cedar tree with spreading branches; hence

lahar (Indonesia) a flow of mud arising
the term cedar-tree laccolith, phacolith .
from volcanic activity, the fine-grained
Fig 21.
volcanic material being impregnated with
lacustrine adj. of or pertaining to a lake, water derived from heavy rainfall during
hence applied, e.g. to deposits laid down the eruption; or from the sudden emptying
in a lake; or to terraces on lake margins of a crater lake; or from melted snow
left when the area of the lake diminishes. (e.g. during the eruption ofa snow-capped
volcano).
lacustrine delta a delta spreading into

a lake, built by a stream flowing into the laissez-faire, laisser-faire (French, let
lake. act, i.e. let things alone) a term originated
by the physiocrats, the philosophy or the
ladang (Indonesia) shifting cultiva¬ practice of the avoidance of planning, par¬
tion in the Malay archipelago and, par- ticularly, in economic affairs, as expressed
ticulary, in Indonesia. in the avoidance of government control.
The doctrine is based on the theory that
LAFTA Latin American Free Trade
general good and harmony will ensue if
Association, headquarters Montevideo, an
each individual is allowed to work for his
organization of some South American
or her economic advantage in a freely
states, established in February 1961 by
competitive economic system, a the¬
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Para¬
ory supported by Adam Smith, David Ri¬
guay, Peru and Uruguay, with Colombia
cardo and others, classical economic
and Ecuador (October 1961) and Vene¬
THEORY.
zuela (September 1966) associated by
treaty, to promote economic coopera¬ lake a broad, general term applied to an
tion. It has two subgroups: the Andean accumulation of water lying in a
Group, established May 1969, compris¬ depression in the earth’s surface, normally
ing Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador to a sheet of water of considerable size, but
and Peru (Venezuela, expressing interest, sometimes to a small artificial ornamental
has not yet signed); and the River Plate feature, e.g. in a PARK-2,3; if very large,
Association, comprising Argentina, Brazil, natural and saline, the term sea is com¬
Paraguay and Uruguay. monly used (e.g. Caspian Sea, Sea of Aral,
Dead Sea), if very small and natural, pond
lag fault a low-angled fault resulting
or pool are used. An inflowing and/or
from movement in a series of rocks, those
outflowing river may or may not be pres¬
nearer the top moving less than (lagging
ent; and a lake may not necessarily be a
behind) those nearer the bottom of the
permanent body of water (e.g. Lake Eyre,
series.
playa). The classification of lakes

lagoon 1. a shallow area*of salt or brack¬ is usually based on the origin of the
ish coastal water completely or partly depression which they occupy (e.g. bar¬

separated from the open sea by some rier LAKE, CRATER LAKE, GLACIAL LAKE,

more or less effective obstacle, such as a trough lake). The term is also applied
low sandbank (barrier beach, barrier to a fairly large accumulation ol asphalt,

219
lake-dwelling

a viscous substance, lying in a depression scale) that blows at night from the land
in the earth’s surface, ice-dam lake, to the sea in coastal regions (or from the
LACUSTRINE, PATERNOSTER LAKES. land surrounding a large lake to the
lake), due to the differential heating of
lake-dwelling a dwelling built on piles
land and water. At night air cooled relat¬
driven into a marsh or the bed of a shallow
ively quickly by radiation over the land
lake, common in some tropical areas
descends, the atmospheric pressure over
today, and characteristic of certain periods
the land is slightly higher than that over
of neolithic times in Switzerland,
the water, and the air over the land flows
France and central Europe, to which the
away from the land towards the warmer
terms Lacustrine period or Lacustrine
water. Land breezes are particularly likely
civilization are applied.
to occur in equatorial latitudes and in other
lamina pi. laminae, any thin plate, scale areas where temperature changes are regu¬
or layer, lamination. lar in calm, settled weather, sea breeze.

Fig 26.
laminar flow I. non-turbulent flow of a
fluid closely following the streamlined land bridge 1. in geology, a land link
surface of a solid object in the fluid (tur¬ between continents 2. an ancient route
bulence) so that adjoining levels do not used by migrating land animals 3. an over¬
mix. 2. the movement of a glacier along land route lying between and connecting
a slope caused by the thrust of the weight two sea routes.
of solid ice in the upper part, in some cases
land capability the potential usefulness
so powerful that the snout of the glacier
of land for agriculture (including forestry)
moves uphill.
based on environmental factors, e.g. soil
lamination in geology, stratification and climatic factors, land classifica¬
on the finest scale, the usual definition tion.

being that each layer should be under i cm

land classification a systematic classi¬
(0.39 in) in thickness, typically occurring
fication of land, usually devised for a spe¬
in fine-grained sandstones and shales.
cific purpose, e.g. as a basis for land use
land breeze a cool breeze (beaufort planning and the conservation of land

Fig 26 Land and sea breezes

 land rotation

resources, designed in most cases to indi¬ subject to wind erosion (by planting of
cate the quality, the relative fertility of the vegetation cover including shelter belts of
land for different types of farming or for trees); land spoiled by quarrying, mining or
some other land use. In some cases ‘land industrial activity (by filling-in of quarries
capability’ or ‘potential land use’ classes and pits, levelling, planting of spoil tips,
are favoured; but potential is a matter of restoration of soil profile); land impreg¬
judgement and may be radically changed nated with salt or industrial effluent (by
by research findings and technological chemical treatment); land covered with
progress. undesirable trees and/or scrub (by clear¬
ance).
land degradation desertification.
land reform changes in a system of land
landform the shape, form, nature of a
tenure, commonly brought about by
specific physical feature of the earth’s sur¬
government intervention and usually
face (e.g. a hill, a plateau) produced by
aimed at removing what is considered to
the natural processes of denudation and
be unfairness in the system, or at improving
deposition (including weathering,
agricultural efficiency, etc., e.g. by the
glaciation-i etc.) and by tectonic
breaking up of big estates and the redistri¬
processes, geomorphology.
bution of the land as small holdings to
land ice ice formed from fresh water lying farmers who become owner-occupiers; or
inland. by the consolidation of fragmented hold¬
ings (fragmentation-2) to form larger,
landlocked adj. applied to an area (par¬
more efficient, farming units, agrarian
ticularly a state) which lacks a sea coast
REFORM.
and thus does not have direct access to the
sea. land rent the concept of economic rent
landmass a very large area of continental developed by J. H. Von Thunen for his
model (von thunen model). He de¬
crust (plate tectonics) lying above sea-
fined it as that part of the total (gross)
level.
product of land which remains as a surplus
land reclamation a term applied broadly after the deduction of all costs, including
to cover not only the winning back, the interest on invested capital, i.e. the net
recovering, of land that has been spoilt for profit earned by a farmer from his/her
agricultural use, but also the improvement chosen productive system, opportunity
of land so that it can be made useful, costs (economic rent) being ignored.
or more useful, for economic (including The net profit is governed by production
agricultural) or social purposes. Some of costs and market price per unit of product,
the types of land and the techniques transport rate per distance unit for each
employed are: land under water or water¬ product, the yield per unit of land, and
logged (by drainage or by the filling-in of the distance from the point of origin of
a water-filled depression); and land (by the product to the market centre, rent.
irrigation and, if saline, ,by chemical treat¬
ment); unstable slopes and loose soil (by land rotation a regular system of land
planting of vegetation cover); land subject management in which land is cultivated
to water erosion (by planting of vegetation for a few years and then allowed to rest,
cover, by terracing, by embankment); land perhaps for a considerable period, usually

221
 V V

LANDSAT

by simply allowing scrub or bush to grow has'so fallen, environmental hazard,

up over it. In due course it is cleared and MASS MOVEMENT, SLIP-2.
cultivated again, the farms on which, or
settlements from which, cultivation takes land tenure the rules and regulations gov¬
place being fixed. This is a type of shift¬ erning the rights of holding, disposing and

ing cultivation common in Africa. using land, i.e. the conditions on which

Land rotation should not be confused with land is held (tenure), varying with the

the ROTATION OF CROPS. social and economic organization of the

country concerned. In England and Wales
LANDSAT one of the US satellites the one who holds the land in perpetuity
orbiting the earth without a crew, at a is known as the freeholder. The freeholder
height of over 12 km (7.5 mi) and by may or may not lease the land to another,
remote sensing surveying the natural the leaseholder (the tenant) for a certain
resources, land use, environmental con¬ period, usually on payment of rent. The
ditions of the earth (e.g. crop disease, leaseholder may, unless the terms of the
water pollution etc.). LANDSAT 1 was lease prevent it, grant an underlease.
launched in 1972, LANDSAT 2 in In other systems the tenant may, instead
1975, LANDSAT 3 in 1978 followed of paying money rent, pay for the right to
by LANDSAT 4 and 5; LANDSAT 6 use land by providing labour on the land
(launched Oct. 1993) was lost in space. which the owner has kept for personal
LANDSAT was designed to pass round use, or by giving the owner a share of the
the earth in a sun-synchronous, near-polar crop produced on his/her (the tenant’s)
orbit, completing 14 orbits a day, and holding (share cropping). In collectivist
achieving global coverage every 18 days, systems the land is owned by a collect¬
recording images by means of television¬ ive interest, e.g. the state (collective
like cameras and four-channel multi- FARMING, STATE FARMING), or a small
spectral line-scanner devices, each community (kibbutz) etc. In shifting
system operating in various bands of the cultivation an individual farmer or a
green, red and two near-infra-red wave¬ group of farmers establishes a right merely
bands. NASA, SEASAT I, SKYLAB, SPACE by using the land, land reform.
SHUTTLE.
land use, land utilization, land util¬
landscape (Dutch landschap, the rep¬ isation terms commonly applied inter¬
resentation in painting of inland natural changeably to the use made by human
scenery) 1. still used in the Dutch sense, beings of the surface of the land. A land
e.g. a landscape by Constable 2. the scen¬ use survey, though literally surveying and
ery itself 3. an area of the earth’s surface mapping the use of the land surface, usually
characterized by a certain type of scenery, also includes in sparsely populated coun¬
comprising a distinct association of phys¬ tries the natural and semi-natural vege¬
ical and cultural forms. From this came tation.
the separation of natural landscape
from CULTURAL LANDSCAPE. land use planning the demarcation of
land for specific uses, usually (but not
landslide, landslip 1. the sliding down necessarily) over an extensive area, based
under the force of gravity of a mass of land on environmental, social and economic
on a mountain or hillside 2. the part which criteria, which takes into account present

222
 lateral dune

;.and possible future needs, planned it is based on representative samples: 500 in

I ECONOMY, PLANNING, REGIONAL PLAN¬ rural, 500 in urban one-kilometre squares,

NING. plus 600 random squares. The results

became available in 1997.
Land Utilisation Survey of Britain the
lapie (French) an exposed limestone sur¬
first survey, started in 1930, fieldwork
face in a karst region, with etching,
carried out mainly in 1931 - 3, was a volun¬
pitting, grooving, fluting, caused by
tary organization established by L. Dudley
carbonation, mainly, some authors
Stamp with E. C. Willatts as organizing
maintain, from small free-flowing streams;
secretary. With the help of volunteers
equivalent to German karren (karre).
from educational institutions, the use of
There are also very small forms, micro¬
every acre ofland in England, Wales, Scot¬
lap ies, German nllensteme, perhaps best
land, the Isle of Man and the Channel
termed rock-rills, clint.
Islands (Northern Ireland was separately
surveyed later) was recorded on over lapse rate the rate of decrease of air tem¬
15 000 6-inch (1:10 560) field sheets, the perature normally occurring with height
results being reduced to the scale oi 1 in (vertical temperature gradient), but vary¬
to 1 mi and published in 150 sheets for all ing with time and place. The average lapse
of England and Wales and for the more rate in the atmosphere, termed environ¬
populous parts of Scotland. The published mental lapse rate, is o.6°C per 100 in
maps were accompanied by county mono¬ (about 3.5°F per 1000 ft, or sometimes
graphs under the title The Land of Brit¬ stated as i°F per 300 ft). This continues
ain. The whole work is summarized in up to the tropopause unless an inver¬
L. Dudley Stamp, Tire Land oj Britain: Its sion of TEMPERATURE occurs, causing

Use and Misuse, Longman. an increase of temperature with height

Basically the land use was classified in (termed an inverted lapse rate and indic¬
six categories, with some subdivisions: ated by a minus sign), adiabatic lapse
arable (brown), permanent pasture (light RATE, DRY ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE,
green), rough pasture (yellow), woodland ENVIRONMENTAL LAPSE RATE, SATU¬
(dark green, with subdivisions), gardens, RATED ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE.
orchards, nurseries (purple, with subdivi¬
latent heat 1. the amount of heat energy
sions), and land agriculturally unproduc¬
(thermal energy) needed to bring about
tive (red). The picture shows Britain at a
an isothermal chemical or physical change
time of agricultural depression. of a body without making it hotter, e.g.
The Second Land Utilisation Survey of
from a solid to a liquid (the latent heat
Britain, far more detailed than the original
of fljsion) or from a liquid to a gas-i
Survey, was started in i960 under the
(the latent heat of evaporation or
direction of Alice Coleman of King’s Col¬
vaporization) or from a solid to a gaseous
lege, London. The 52 categories identified
state (the latent heat of sublimation)
in the fieldwork were recorded on the
2. the thermal energy released in such a
scale of 1:10000, the results being pub¬
process, sensible temperature.
lished on the scale of 1:25 000.
The third survey (Land Use — UK) was lateral dune a small dune lying beside a
led by Rex Walford for the Geographical major dune within a dune pattern caused
Association. Carried outby schoolchildren by an obstacle in a desert.

223
 V v

lateral erosion

lateral erosion the wearing away of its estate) originally large landed properties
banks by a stream, bank caving, in South America cultivated by peons
MEANDER. (agricultural labourers) for the Spanish
Crown, now applied to the extensively
lateral moraine the rock debris from val¬
farmed large estates or ranches in Spain
ley slopes that lies on the surface of a
and South America in contrast to the
glacier, making a low ndge along each
intensively farmed huertas. In some
side. It may form an embankment along
cases very small holdings on the estate are
the valley wall as the glacier melts.
leased to tenants (land tenure), the rest
MORAINE.
of the land being farmed by the landlord,
laterite a subsoil product of weathering who employs day labourers. The compar¬
in humid tropical areas (humid trop¬ able Italian term is latifondo, but this is
ic ality) where there are alternating wet applied to an agricultural area with extens¬
and dry seasons which lead to the forma¬ ive cereal cultivation and grazing which
tion of a mottled red-yellow and grey includes large estates and peasant holdings.
mass, sufficiently soft to be cut out with a EXTENSIVE AGRICULTURE, FARMING, FA¬

spade but hardening on exposure to the ZENDA, INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE.

atmosphere. In humid tropical conditions

Latin America those countries of the
the soft grey clayey or sandy matter is
new world which were discovered,
leached of silica and alkali-i, leaving
explored, or conquered by the Spaniards
a concentration of sesquioxides of alu¬
(or the Portuguese in the case of Brazil),
minium andiRON. When cutand exposed
i.e. that part of the New World where
to the air a sponge-like red rock is formed,
Spanish is spoken together with Por¬
hard enough to be used for building,
tuguese-speaking Brazil, comprising the
especially as foundations for light struc¬
whole of mainland South America (except
tures, for paths or secondary roads. The
Guyana, French Guiana, Surinam), all the
process of formation is called laterization.
countries of central America (except
Sometimes the rock is sufficiently rich in
Belize), as well as Mexico and the islands
iron to be usable as an iron ore. In other
of the West Indies, Cuba and Dominica,
cases it is rich in alumina and grades into
where Spanish is spoken.
bauxite, the chief ore from which alu¬

minium is extracted. Latin American Free Trade Associ¬

ation LAFTA.
laterite soil, lateritic soil a zonal soil

formed on laterite, porous and leached,

latitude the angular distance of any point
and of little agricultural value.
on the earth’s surface north or south of

latex the milky fluid exuding from tl\e the equator, as measured from the centre of

cut surface of some flowering plants and the earth, in degrees, minutes and seconds.

trees, coagulating on exposure to the air. The equator itself is o°, the north pole

Some of these fluids are commercially use¬ is 90°N, the south pole is 9o°S. Low

ful, providing, e.g., the raw material of latitudes are broadly those between the

rubber from Hevea species, or of chewing tropic of cancer (23°3o'N) and the
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN (23°30'S).
gum (chicle gum) from the sapodilla tree.
Midlatitudes extend from the Tropics to
latifundia (pi. ofLatin latifundium, a large the arctic CIRCLE (66°3o'N) and ANT-

224
 leaching

ARCTIC CIRCLE (66°30'S). High latitudes latosol a soil with thin A0 and A, layers

lie within the Arctic and Antarctic circles, over reddish or red deeply weathered

i.e. from the Arctic circle to the North material which is low in silica and high in

Pole, from the Antarctic circle to the South sesquioxides. A term not widely accepted

Pole. PARALLEL OF LATITUDE. Fig 27. outside the USA. latf.rite.

Laurasia the northern part of the great

Pole
precambrian landmass, pangaea. Cur¬
rent scientific evidence suggests that it
included today’s North America, Europe,
Asia (the Indian subcontinent excluded)
and the Arctic, continental drift,

GONDWANALAND, PLATE TECTONICS,

TETHYS OCEAN.

lava molten rock (magma) that issues

from a volcanic vent or fissure to the
surface of the ground, where it solidifies.
Chemically it is divided into acid (with
excess silica so that some crystallizes out
as quartz), intermediate, basic, ultrabasic
(acid lava, basic lava, intermedi¬

ate rock, ultrabasic rock). Some

B = Latitude lavas cool quickly and are glassy, others
(a) Thus point S is A" East, B° North more slowly, giving crystals of minerals
time to grow, so that they are crystal¬

line. AA, BASALTIC LAVA, PILLOW LAVA,

VOLCANO, VOLCANIC ROCK. Fig 21.

law of superposition the assumption that

in a sequence of stratified or sedimentary
rocks (and in extrusive igneous rocks) the
oldest bed is at the bottom, unless the
sequence has been reversed by intense
folding, faulting or other disturbance.

law of unequal slopes the assumption

that if the opposing slopes of a ridge are
dissimilar, one being steep, the other
gently sloping, the steep one will be eroded
more quickly than the other, so that the
ridge retreats on that side, e.g. as in an
ESCARPMENT.
Fig 27 Latitude and longitude
(a) the basis LDC less developed country, hdc, mdc,
(b) some parallels of latitude, and some NIC, UNDERDEVELOPMENT.
meridians
leaching the process whereby percolating

225
 V V

lead

water removes materials from the upper wind is blowing, thus dangerous to ship¬
layers of a rock, soil or ore, and carries ping. LEE.
them away in solution or suspension.
lee wave, lee-wave a wave formation in
It brings about the secondary enrichment
an air-stream caused by a relief barrier
of ores and porosity in limestone, and
which forces air to rise. In slight wind the
is especially important in the formation of
air closely follows the form of the ground;
soils in that it removes soluble salts from
but if the air speed is greater a standing
the a horizon to the zone of accumula¬
wave forms; and if greater still a lee wave
tion, the B HORIZON.
develops in the stable part of the air-stream
lead a blue-white, tarnishing to dark grey, and clouds frequently form in the cool
soft, dense, metallic element-6, not crest of the lee wave (banner cloud,
occurring native in nature, most being lenticular cloud) under which the air
obtained from an ore in its sulphide form, becomes turbulent, a revolving phenom¬
galena, which often occurs with zinc sul¬ enon termed a rotor.
phide in veins in igneous rocks or as irregu¬
lar masses in some limestones; also in an legend an explanation, a key to, the sym¬
oxidized form, cerussite. It is used in pipe¬ bols used on a map or diagram.

work (a declining use), protective cover¬

Leguminosae a large family of plants,
ings and linings, or as a shield against
many species (e.g. beans, bersim, clover,
radioactivity. Some compounds are used
lubia, peas) being important food plants
in glass making and other manufactures,
for humans and animals. Most bear root
in accumulators; and as pigments.
nodules that contain nitrogen-fixing bac¬
leasehold, leasehold ownership, lease¬ teria, and are thus useful in soil man¬
holder control or ownership of rights to agement. NITROGEN CYCLE, NITROGEN
land or buildings over a certain period. FIXATION.
LAND TENURE.
lenticular cloud a cloud shaped like a
least cost location the siting of industry lens, usually produced by an eddying wind
in a place where the costs of transport in mountains or hills, lee wave.
(assessed on weight and distance) and
less developed country ldc.
labour, and the advantages of industrial
AGGLOMERATION-4 or DEGLOMERA- less favoured land an area of infertile
tion are most favourable in economic land of limited potential, low economic
terms, cost surface, weberian ana¬ performance, and a low, dwindling popu¬
lysis. lation, one of the categories of agricultural
land identified under eec regulations.
least squares method regression ana¬
Most of the hill farming land ofBritain
lysis.
dies in this category.
lee, lee side, leeward the sheltered
levante (Spanish) a usually humid easterly
side, i.e. the side opposite to that against
wind blowing over the western Mediter¬
which the wind blows (windward)
ranean area, taking its name from the
or oncoming ice impinges (stoss end);
direction from which it blows. It is due
but see lee-shore.
to a depression-3 in the region, which
lee-shore the shore towards which the sometimes causes heavy rainfall, and par-

226
 lichenometry

ticularly affects southeast Spain, the Bale¬ land put down to grass and/or clover for
aric islands, Gibraltar and northern Algeria, a period of years, a short ley applying to
especially between July and October. two to four years, a long ley to longer
When moderate it causes a banner periods, even up to twenty years. The
cloud to develop from the summit of character of the ley may be indicated, e.g.
the Rock of Gibraltar, when strong it grass-ley, clover-ley, etc.
produces dangerous currents and eddies
ley farming a system of farming in which
in the sea on the lee side of the Rock.
grass-leys or clover-leys are an essential
When especially stormy it is termed lle-
part of the land management.
vantades. solano is an alternative term.

leveche (Spanish) a hot, dry wind, some¬ liana, liane a climbing woody plant, with
times dust-laden, originating in the Sahara roots in the ground, characteristic of trop¬
and blowing towards Spain, due to the ical forests.
eastward movement ofa depression-3 in
lichen a group of slow-growing dual
the western Mediterranean area, kham¬
organisms formed from the symbiotic
sin, sirocco.
(symbiosis) association ofa fungus and a
levee, levee a natural or artificial embank¬ green or blue-green alga (algae), size
ment of a river which confines the river variable, flat and leaflike or upright and
within its channel and hinders or prevents branched in form. Lichen are primary
flooding, applied especially to those of the colonizers ofbare areas, the dominant flora
lower Mississippi. in mountainous and Arctic regions where
few other organisms can survive; but they
level a nearly horizontal tract of land,
occur also elsewhere on tree trunks, walls,
unbroken by hills and valleys, applied
exposed rock surfaces. A valuable food for
specifically to certain tracts of such land,
animals (e.g. reindeer) in Arctic regions,
e.g. the Bedford Level in Fenland, Eng¬
they are also a source of dyes (e.g. in
land. There, in a famous experiment, three
providing the dye litmus, for litmus paper,
stakes were driven into the ground so as
which is turned red by the application of an
to stand exactly the same height above a
acid or blue by an alkali), lichenometry.
water surface, by which the curvature of
the earth could be seen and measured.
lichenometry an imprecise method of
levelling in surveying, the process of measuring the passage of time (dating),
establishing the difference in height e.g. the length of time a stone has been
between successive pairs of points by lying in situ in a moraine, based on the
means of sighting through various instru¬ rate of growth of lichen (the assumption
ments that incorporate a telescope with being that the diameter of the largest lichen

spirit level, graduated measuring rod, etc. growing on the surface under investigation
is proportional to the length of time that
level of living in welfare geography, the surface has been exposed to coloniza¬
the level of well-being (social well¬
tion and growth). It is not a completely
being) ofa group of people in a particular
satisfactory method because the rate of
place at a particular time, quality of
lichen growth is greatly affected by cli¬
LIFE, STANDARD OF LIVING. matic and other factors, e.g. atmospheric

ley, lay (ley is the usual spelling) arable POLLUTION-1.

227
lido

lido (Italian, a barrier of sand or silt in lightning an electrical discharge seen as a

front of a lagoon) one of the best examples flash occurring within or between clouds,
of such a barrier (barrier beach) is that or between a cloud and the ground, and
protecting the lagoon of Venice. This has giving rise to thunder. The flash is seen
been converted into a bathing beach and before the thunder is heard because light
resort. The term lido came to be applied travels faster than sound. The distance of
to it, and later extended even to a fresh¬ the flash from the observer can be assessed
water or artificial lake beach/resort. The roughly as 1.6 km (1 mi) per 5-second
term is best avoided in its original, Italian, interval between flash and thunder, thun¬
sense. derstorm.

life cycle the progressive series of changes lignite a low-grade coal, generally post-
undergone by an organism from fertil¬ carboniferous in age, intermediate in
ization (the union of gametes, the repro¬ properties between the peats and bitu¬
ductive cells) to death or, in a lineal minous coal. The term is sometimes
succession of organisms, to the death of used as a synonym for brown coal, but
that stage producing the gametes which lignite is darker in colour, the vegetable
begin an identical series of changes. In structure is not so apparent, the carbon
some organisms (e.g. parasitic worms) content is higher, the moisture content
there is a succession of individuals, con¬ lower than that of brown coal. Lignite is
nected by sexual or asexual reproduction, used mainly as a fuel to produce heat in
in the complete cycle. thermal-electric generators.

life expectancy the amount of time, cal¬ limb of a fold the rock strata on one or
culated by actuaries, an individual person the other side of the central line (the axis)

or a class of people is expected to live. of a fold. Fig 24.

lime a caustic, infusible solid consisting

light i„ the wave band of electromag¬
essentially of calcium oxide (quick¬
netic radiation (electromagnetic spec¬
lime), obtained by heating calcium car¬
trum) to which the retina of the eye is
bonate. It is used in agriculture and
sensitive and which is interpreted by the
metallurgy, in building materials, the
brain 2. the part of the electromagnetic
treatment of sewage, and in various
spectrum which includes infra-red, visible
manufacturing processes.
and ultra-violet radiation.

limekiln a chamber, usually of brick, in

light industry i. loosely applied to a sec¬
which chalk or limestone is heated to
ondary industry which cioes not come
a high temperature to produce lime.
under the definition of heavy industry
2. more specifically, a secondary industry limestone a broad, general tenn for a
in which the weight of materials used per sedimentary rock consisting mainly
worker is low, and the finished products of calcium carbonate with varying
have a high value in relation to their weight amounts of other minerals. The many
3. in town planning, any industry which types are distinguished by qualifying ad¬
may be located in a residential area without jectives, which may refer to texture (e.g.
detracting from its amenity, footloose oolitic, pisolitic, crystalline etc., limestone
INDUSTRY. of tiny rounded grains being oolite, of

228
 line squall

larger grains pisolite; crystalline property of being able to be shown as

limestone being marble), to mineral con¬ a straight line on a graph 5. having or
tent (dolomitic), to origin (e.g. organic, involving the property that a change in
coral, sedimentary, precipitated, shelly one quantity corresponds to or is accom¬
etc.), to geological age (carboniferous, panied by a directly proportional change
Jurassic), and to other characteristics. in another quantity.
The popular concept of a limestone is that
linear eruption a fissure eruption.
it is relatively hard, hence such references
as to ‘chalk and limestone’, despite the fact linear growth arithmetic growth, simple
that chalk itself is a limestone, but can be interest, the growth of a value over a period
comparatively soft, calcite, Cambrian, based on a fixed percentage calculated on
lime. the original principal only, so that the sum
added at the end of each successive period
limestone pavement a horizontal or
is constant, arithmetic progression.
slightly inclined bare limestone surface,
broken by grikes and clints, apparently linear model a model-2 in which the
coinciding with the major bedding dependent variable is assumed to be
planes exposed by glacial erosion. Lime¬ related in direct proportion to one or
stone pavements are particularly vulner¬ more independent variables. When
able to erosion by precipitation in the the variables are shown against each other
grikes; and to the activities of people who on a graph, the line of best fit (a line drawn
want to use pieces in their gardens. to come as close as possible to the data
points) can be drawn. The fitting is accom¬
limnology the scientific study of fresh¬
plished by using the least squares method
water lakes, ponds and streams, covering
(regression analysis, including linear
characteristic physical, chemical and bio¬
regression analysis).
logical conditions.
linear scale scale.
limon (French) a superficial fine-grained
deposit widespread in northern France, linear settlement, linear town an
spread like a blanket regardless of minor elongated settlement, especially an elong¬
relief, and providing brown, loamy soils. ated urban settlement, developed along¬
It seems to have been deposited, as wind- side a major routeway on account of either
sorted, wind-borne material, around the the constriction of the terrain (e.g. valley
margins of retreating ice sheets in the Great slopes rising steeply from the routeway)
Ice Age, and in that its origin may be or the advantages of the ease of transport
compared with that of loess. Some provided by the routeway.
authors distinguish the wholly wind-
sorted, wind-borne limon from the wind- line of best fit regression analysis.
sorted, wind-borne limon which may
line squall a phenomenon associated with
have been reworked and redeposited by
the passage of a cold front, in which
later stream action.
violent storms with strong gusts of wind
linear adj. i. of, or in, lines 2. long, and heavy precipitation occur simul¬
narrow and of generally uniform width 3. taneously along a line extending in some
involving one dimension only in a unit of cases from 480 to 650 km (300 to 400 mi).
measure 4. in mathematics, having the squall.

229
 \ V

link

link in a NETWORK-2,3,4, a line, a route, ally well-drained soils with an organic sur¬
an edge (graph) between nodes-2. face layer lying on bedrock or little altered
parent material which underlies the soil
linkage the contact and the flow of in¬
layer at a depth of some 30 cm (12 in).
formation between two individuals, the
connexion between and within different lithosphere 1. the earth’s crust, includ¬
types of activities or different functions. ing the sial and sima layers above the
INDUSTRIAL LINKAGE. MOHOROVICIC DISCONTINUITY 2. the
sial, sima and upper part of the mantle
linked industries secondary indus¬
above the Gutenberg Channel (guten-
tries where the final product, e.g.
BERG DISCONTINUITY). ASTHENOSPHERE,
motor vehicles, depends on many separ¬
ATMOSPHERE-1, BIOGEOSPHERE, GEO¬
ate preparatory processes and matenals.
THERMAL GRADIENT, HYDROSPHERE,
INDUSTRY.
PLATE TECTONICS.

links (Scottish, always pi.) a narrow coastal litter m soil science the layer of leaves,
strip with accumulations of blown sand twigs and other organic remains lying on
giving rise to sand dunes, supporting the soil surface (especially on the forest
coarse grass and low shrubs, so often used floor), which may decompose to form
for the game of golf that the term golf humus (l layer).
links, or links, is now regarded as almost
synonymous with golf course. littoral adj. of, on, or along, the shore,
whether of sea, lake or river.
liquid fluid matter having a definite vol¬
ume but no definite shape, taking on the
littoral current a current in the zone
shape of its container but, unlike a gas-i, of the surf running parallel to the

not expanding to fill the containing vessel, seashore, caused by waves breaking

i.e. it keeps its own volume at any given obliquely to the shore, longshore cur¬

temperature, condensation, fluid, rent.

GAS, SOLID. littoral deposit the sand, shells, shingle,

deposited in the area between the marks
listed building in planning system in Brit¬
of high water and low water. Some
ain since 1945, a building with some par¬
authors include the offshore mud and all
ticular quality (e.g. architectural, artistic,
the shallow water marine deposits.
historical; or an association with techno¬
logical development or famous people) littoral drift the movement of material
that is protected, and may not be altered or in a LITTORAL CURRENT.
demolished without planning permission.
littoral zone variously applied to 1. the
lithification 1. the process of forming aquatic zone between the marks of high
into stone 2. in geology, the result of the' water and low water 2. in biology,
transformation of an accumulation ofloose the upper part of the benthic division,
sediments-2 into a rock mass. from the water surface to a depth of about
200 m (no fathoms: 655 ft) 3. the part
lithomorphic soils one of the seven
of the benthic division favourable to the
groups in the 1973 soil classifica¬
growth of green plants.
tion ofEngland and Wales. They include
rankers and rendzinas, and are gener¬ livestock the domestic animals com-

230
 localization of industry

monly kept on a subsistence or commercial L layer the organic litter lying on the
basis to provide food (e.g. eggs, meat, land surface and not yet incorporated in
milk) and other raw materials (e.g. bone- the SOll. O HORIZONS, SOIL HORIZON.
meal, hides, wool) for people I. in
load of a river, load of a stream all
general, applied to cattle, sheep, pigs to
the solid matter transported by a river
which may be added poultry (chickens,
or stream, by being rolled and bounced
ducks, turkeys) (often); and goats and
(saltation) along its bed (bed load),
horses (sometimes) 2. fao international
or carried in suspension or in solution.
statistics include cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry
COMPETENCE OF A STREAM.
(chickens, ducks, turkeys), buffaloes,
horses, mules, asses, camels (all, except the loam an old term variously applied, now
mules, asses and camels being slaughtered best restricted to a soil having clay and
for meat). FAO also include indigenous coarser materials in such proportion as to
animals as livestock, as providers of meat, form a permeable, friable and easily
i.e. beef and mutton as well as buffalo, worked mixture. This is attained, accord¬
goat and pig meat. But reindeer (important ing to standards in the USA, when clay is
in semi-NOMadism in Lapland), caribou 7 to 27 per cent, silt 28 to 50 per cent
and other deer and antelope, all providing and sand less than 52 per cent (graded
meat, skins etc., are not included, live¬ sediments). Loam is termed clay loam if
stock FARMING. the clay content lies between 27 and 40
per cent and the sand between 20 and 45
livestock farming, stock farming, pas¬ per cent; silty loam if clay is below 30 per
toral farming, pastoralism the farming cent, sand between 20 and 50 per cent,
activity based on the rearing of animals silt between 72 and 80 per cent; sandy
(livestock) for eggs, hides and skins, loam if clay is between 10 and 20 per cent,
meat, milk, wool etc. as distinct from sand between 50 and 70 per cent (soil
crop farming. The methods used and texture). The best agricultural soils are
the size of the enterprise vary greatly, from usually loams, hence tracts with loamy
nomadism to small scale fanning (where, soils, or loam-terrains, have always at¬
for example, a small herd of dairy cattle tracted settlers.
may be kept) to large scale ranching,
local climate a general term applied to
or to the large scale, highly organized,
the climate of a small area, e.g. a valley
scientific reanng of animals under cover
with a particular aspect (thus larger than
in a completely controlled environment
the area of a microclimate), which
(the term pastoral being perhaps an
differs in one or more elements from the
inappropriate description of the last).
climate of nearby areas, those within, say,
BATTERY SYSTEM, FACTORY FARM,
a kilometre or less. The difference(s) may
GRAZING, PASTURE.
be caused by slight variations in slope,
aspect, type of soil or vegetation, or the
llano (Spanish) the extensive plains in the
presence (or absence) of water or tall build¬
basin of the Orinoco in.South America.
ings. MACROCLIMATE, MESOCLIMATE.
These are treeless, and the term came to
be transferred, in international literature, localization of industry the concen¬
to the type of vegetation they supported, tration of an industry in a certain district
i.e. tropical grassland, or savanna. or districts. Various means have been

231
local time

proposed to measure the degree of location quotient LQ, a measure used

concentration, such as a locational to show the degree of concentration of a
(localizational) coefficient. particular activity or characteristic in an
area compared with a specified norm, e.g.
local time local solar time, apparent
the degree to which a particular industry
time, the time expressed with reference
is concentrated in a particular part of
to the meridian of a given place, e.g. it
the country. Using this example, the
is twelve noon local time when the sun’s
location quotient for an area is the ratio
centre crosses that meridian and the
between the area’s share of the national
shadows of vertical objects at the given
total of the activity under consideration
place are at their shortest. It would be
and its (the area’s) share of all activities. For
inconvenient for every place to use its
example, if engineering is the particular
local time, hence the standard time
activity, the location quotient for the
adopted for use in most countries, mean
area is calculated by dividing the percent¬
SOLAR TIME, ROTATION OF THE EARTH.
age of all the engineering workers in the
location i. geographical situation, a part country employed in the area by the per¬
of space-2 or a point or position in space centage of the total employed population
where objects, organisms and fields of working in the area. If the resultant loca¬
force (e.g. magnetic field) may be tion quotient exceeds 1.0 it indicates a
found or events occur 2. the action of ‘surplus’ in the share of a particular activity
placing or the condition of being placed or characteristic, if less than 1.0 a shortfall.
3. the fact or condition of occupying a LOCATIONAL (LOCALIZATIONAL) COEF¬
particular place 4. a local position, or a FICIENT, LOCALIZATION OF INDUSTRY.
position in a series or succession 5. the
action of finding the position of someone loch (Scottish; Gaelic; Irish loch or lough)
or something; or the ability to do this 6. 1. a lake 2. an arm of the sea (a sea loch),
in Australia, a farm or station-3. place, especially if it is narrow and bounded by

POSITION, SITUATION. steep sides, or partly landlocked.

locational (localizational) coefficient lock a stretch of canal or river confined

a statistical measure expressing the relative within gates so that the water level can be
amount of a function or of a population controlled to lift or lower a vessel to allow
present in a part of a large region. In it to pass from one reach of navigable
P. Sargent Florence’s formula the workers water to another at a different level.
are shown region by region as percentages
of the total in all regions, and the lode a mineral vein or systems of veins in
coefficient is the sum (divided by 100) of a rock.

the plus deviations ofthe regional percent¬

lodgement till 1. in general, ground
ages of workers in the particular industry
moraine 2. more precisely, debris de¬
from the corresponding regional percent¬
posited under ice while the ice is moving,
ages of workers in all industry. Uniform
the sticky clay being lodged on the under
dispersal gives a coefficient of o, extreme
surface of the ice and the longer axes of
differentiation a coefficient of 1.
the larger stones being aligned with the
location of industry the areal distri¬ direction of movement of the ice, often
bution of industrial activities. resulting in drumlins. ablation till,

232
 longitudinal coast

till (includes deformation till, deformed of verbal forms of expression for complex
lodgement till). ideas and propositions, helped by formal
logic. Logical positivism differs from pos¬
loess, loss (German dialect losz; spelling
itivism in that it accepts that some state¬
loess is erroneous) originally applied to a
ments are verifiable without recourse to
fine-grained yellowish loam occurring in
experience, falsifiability.
the valley of the Rhine and elsewhere in
Germany, comparable with the limon of Lo-Lo lift-on/lift-off of containers.
France. Internationally the term has come RO-RO.
to be applied to the fme-grained aeolian
deposit, the permeable, wind-sorted longitude the angular distance between
and wind-deposited morainic material, the meridian passing through a given
unconsolidated and unstratified, laid down point and the prime, standard, initial or
away from the margins of the great ice zero meridian (usually considered to be
sheets of pleistocene times, and cover¬ the meridian passing through the old
ing vast areas in central Asia, Europe, Observatory at Greenwich, London,
North America and elsewhere. It ranges England, and numbered o°). This angular
from clay to sand (graded sediments), distance, i.e. longitude, is measured in
is buff or brownish in colour, is usually degrees, minutes and seconds east or west
calcareous and contains concretions of of the Greenwich meridian (o°) to 1800,
calcium carbonate and in some cases the meridian i8o°E thus coinciding with
iron oxide. It has been suggested that i8o°W. All points through which a meri¬
increased rainfall helped to wash the fine¬ dian passes have the same longitude. The
grained material down from the air to the alternative term for meridian is line of
ground; and also that much may have been longitude; and all lines of longitude meet
reworked and redeposited by later stream all PARALLELS OF LATITUDE at right
action. The soils derived from loess are of angles. The actual distance represented by
high quality, being fine in texture, well- i° of longitude becomes less as the meri¬
drained, fertile, deep and easily worked. dians converge towards the poles. Thus at
the equator the distance is roughly 111 km
logical positivism a body of philosoph¬
(69 mi), at latitude 450 it is 78.8 km (nearly
ical thought developed from the late 1920s
49 mi), and at the poles it is zero. Fifteen
under the leadership of Schlick and Carnap
degrees of longitude are equivalent to a
in Vienna, the main aim of which was
difference of one hour in local time.
to create a comprehensive philosophy of
LATITUDE. Fig 27.
science stemming from empiricism and
proceeding by induction. Among its longitudinal adj. 1. of or pertaining to
tenets, logical positivism maintained that longitude 2. of or pertaining to length
traditional metaphysics, consisting of as a dimension 3. running lengthwise, e.g.
propositions that could not be verified by LONGITUDINAL COAST.
empirical observation, was without mean¬
ing (thus religious and moral statements, longitudinal coast a concordant
being metaphysical, were considered by coast, one running broadly parallel to
most logical positivists to be meaningless); the main geological structure or fold lines.
and that philosophy generally consisted of Commonly occurring around the Pacific
an analysis of language, of the discovery ocean, it is also termed a Pacific coast.

233
longitudinal dune

in contrast to a transverse or Atlantic to Its'mouth. RIVER PROFILE, TALWEG.

coast.
long-range weather forecast a weather
longitudinal dune a sand dune with forecast for a period usually longer than
its crest running parallel to the direction of five days, based on the handling by com¬
the prevailing wind, transverse dune.
puter of great quantities of data, and the

longitudinal profile of a river long use of a synoptic analogue (model-2).

profile, RIVER PROFILE.

longshore current a current generated
longitudinal study, longitudinal ana¬ by tides, waves, winds, running generally
lysis a study or analysis in which selected parallel to the coast, littoral current,
variables are studied in the same group or LONGSHORE DRIFT.
groups of subjects at intervals over a period
of time, often over many years, as distinct longshore drift the movement of mater¬
from a cross-sectional study or ial along a beach (not only in the surf zone)
analysis, in which a cross section of the by the action of waves that meet the shore
population is sampled, similar vanables at an angle. The swash of a breaker
being studied at different ages, but on carries the material up the beach at an
different subjects at each age. Thus in a oblique angle, the backwash pulls some
cross-sectional study the subjects are back seawards at right angles, so that there
approached only once, ecological fal¬ is a gradual build-up of material along the
lacy, HISTORICAL FALLACY. beach, reinforced if there is a longshore
CURRENT. GROYNE, LITTORAL DRIFT.
longitudinal valley a valley with a
Fig 28.
trend roughly parallel to the strike of the
rocks or the grain of the country. loop district, the loop originally that
longitudinal wave L-wave, a form of part of the downtown business district

shock wave produced by an earthquake of Chicago, enclosed by a loop of elevated

passing over the land surface and re¬ railways; later, by analogy, applied in other

sponding to the character of the rocks towns to what came to be called the CBD,

encountered, shake wave, transverse or CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT.

WAVE, WAVE.
lopolith a large intrusion of igneous
long profile of a river the profile-3 of rock concordant with the strata, allied
a river bed, from the source of the river to a laccolith or phacolith, but hav-

..... Direction of movement of beach material

yl/LVt/V Path of individual particles^ v

Swash
Backwash Groyne

Fig 28 Longshore drift, showing wave action and the movement of beach materials

234
 lumbering

ing the form of a saucer-shaped basin. on one mile square cells (Lowry’s measure)
GABBRO. on the basis of population poten¬
tial-2; and service employment (e.g.
Lorenz curve a curved line drawn on a
retail activities) are plotted in proportion
graph to show, by its concavity, the extent
to the market or employment potential in
to which a distnbution (e.g. concentration
each cell. The service activities naturally
of population) differs from a uniform dis¬
create further employment opportunities,
tribution. Percentage values are used for
located to take advantage of the market
each axis, the uniform distribution appear¬
potentials. Constraints on land use in the
ing as a straight line drawn across the graph
cells are incorporated in the model (e.g.
at 45°. GINI COEFFICIENT.
the minimum sizes of clusters of services,

low, atmospheric a low pressure system maximum housing densities etc.). By it¬

or depression-3 in the atmosphere, eration more and more residents come

indicated on a weather chart by closed into the cells, until the market potentials

isobars (iso-), the values of which fall are so disturbed that the pattern of retail

towards the centre. If the strength of the activities has to be modified. These activ¬

air flow around the system increases, the ities are reallocated to the limits of the

depression is said to intensify, anticyc¬ land use constraints, so that eventually

lone, CYCLONE. a state of equilibrium is reached, the

final distribution of the population corres¬
low, on a beach swale. ponding to that used initially to compute
potentials.
lowland, lowlands an imprecise term
applied broadly to relatively level land at low technology the application of the
a lower elevation than that of adjoining knowledge of and/or the use of simple
distncts, often used to contrast with high¬ methods, simple equipment and readily
land, and sometimes defined as lying at an available inexpensive materials to a task or
elevation under 180 m (600 ft). an industrial process, or to the solution of
a problem arising from the interaction of
low latitudes latitude.
people with their environment, high
low pressure system low, atmo¬ TECHNOLOGY, INTERMEDIATE TECHNO¬
spheric. LOGY, TECHNOLOGY-3.

Lowry model a computer model-2 de¬ low tide 1. the tide at lowest ebb 2. the
vised by I. S. Lowry to portray the spatial level of the sea or the time of the lowest
organization of human activities in an ebb. EBB TIDE, HIGH TIDE, NEAP TIDE,
urban area, so that the impact of public SPRING TIDE.
decisions on such an area can be evaluated
low water 1. low tide 2. the low level
and changes in urban form predicted in
of water in a lake or river, high water.
view of anticipated changes in key vari¬
ables such as the pattern of employment, lumber (American) timber, especially
the efficiency of the transport system, or that recently felled and roughly sawn into
the growth of population. Using eco¬
logs and planks.
nomic base theory, the distribution of
‘primary’ and manufacturing employment lumbering (American) the act of 1. felling
(basic activities) in the area are plotted and sawing of timber and removing it

235
lumbeijack

from the area 2. felling trees and sawing luhar month the period from one new
them into logs. moon to the next, averaging 29 days 12
hours 44 minutes, moon.
lumberjack (American) one who cuts
lynchet, linchet probably originally
timber and prepares it for the sawmill or
applied either to a strip of green land
market.
between two pieces of ploughed land, or
(as in present use) to a narrow terrace on
lumberman (American) one employed
a hillside, especially in the chalk downlands
in the felling of trees and in preparing
of southern England. In most cases lynch-
them for market, especially as a manager.
ets seem to mark old cultivation strips,
perhaps of iron age or earlier, usually-
lunar adj. of, relating to, similar to, the
lying parallel to the contours to make a
MOON.
level, well-drained strip of land, accident¬
ally or intentionally preventing soil ero¬
lunar day the period of time in which
sion; but sometimes running down the
the earth rotates once in relation to the
hillslope; and sometimes retained by a wall
moon, i.e. 24 hours 50 minutes between
of stones. Their origin is much discussed.
two successive crossings of the same meri¬
TERRACETTE.
dian, despite the fact that the earth rotates
once in 24 hours. The discrepancy is due lysimeter a simple device for measuring
to the orbiting of the moon itself around the percolation of water through the soil,
the centre of gravity of the moon and the and so of determining the soluble constitu¬
earth, causing it to cross each meridian 50 ents removed in soil drainage. A container
minutes later: hence the interval of some holding the material under investigation
12 hours 25 minutes between one high is fitted with instruments that measure the
tide and the next, i.e. high tide on one day quantity or quality of the water that has
is 50 minutes later than the corresponding passed through it, revealing what happens
high tide of the day before. in the field.
M

macadam, macadam road, macad¬ macroclimate the climate of a large

amized a road building method and its region, in contrast to local climate,
material. Early in the nineteenth century MICROCLIMATE.
a Scottish road engineer, John Loudon
macronutrient an element-6 or com¬
McAdam, 1756-1836, discovered that
bination of elements needed in relat¬
certain types of stone, broken into angular
ively large quantities by an organism in
pieces of nearly uniform size, would bind
order to maintain health, in contrast to
together under pressure to form a hard
a micronutrient. The macronutrients
road surface. The use of such stone under
needed in varying amount by plant crops
the pressure of specially designed rollers
are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen (from the
became standard practice in road making.
air), and calcium, nitrogen, potassium,
Macadam is the term applied to the broken
phosphorus, magnesium and sulphur
stone, the roads being termed macadam
(from the soil).
roads or macadamized roads. The binding
of the stone is helped if the pieces are maelstrom (Dutch) a large dangerous
coated with tar, hence tarmacadam (tar¬ whirlpool, a term derived from the name
mac), a later development. of a notorious whirlpool caused by tidal
currents in the Lofoten Islands, off the
macchia (Italian) maquis. west coast of Norway.

machair (Scottish) whitish, shelly sand maestrale (Italian) mistral (French).

forming a low plain along the western
magma extremely hot, viscous, molten
shores of Scotland, and in the Hebrides in
rock material, charged with gas and vol¬
South Uist and Tiree, providing useful
atile matter, lying under great pressure
light arable soils (machair soils). The term
below the surface of the earth. It contains
is also sometimes applied to the calcareous
among a wide range of elements silica
vegetation growing on it.
(acid rock, acid lava) and basic oxides
(basic lava, basic rock). It is believed
mackerel sky rows of cirrocumulus
to have accumulated in magma basins,
cloud or of small altocumulus
from which it may force its way to the
cloud that resemble the pattern on the
surface; but it often solidifies underground
skin of mackerel (a food fish of the North
to form INTRUSIVE PLUTONIC ROCKS.
Atlantic). It occurs particularly in dry
Less frequently it reaches the surface as
warm weather in summer when a thin
lava from which extrusive rocks,
sheet of cloud is broken by convection
*
volcanic rocks, are formed on solidi¬
CURRENTS.
fication; or it stops short of the surface
macro- (Greek) large, as opposed to and solidifies in minor intrusions (e.g.
micro-, small. dykes, dike), laccoliths, sills as

237
 N. V

magmatic water

hypabyssal rock. When solidifying as or allby exhibiting ferromagnetism; or

a plutonic rock (such as granite) in a the magnetized needle of a compass; or
great mass or batholith it heats and alters the soft iron core together with the sur¬
the surrounding rocks by what is known rounding coil through which an electric
as contact metamorphism, convert¬ current is passed, of an electro-magnet.
ing sedimentary and other rocks into
magnetic adj. 1. of or relating to a mag¬
metamorphic rocks through the dis¬
net or to magnetism 2. having the mag¬
tance from the molten mass known as the
netic north pole as a reference, magnetic
metamorphic aureole. The magma
pole 3. producing a magnetic field or
may dissolve and absorb some of the sur¬
being capable of so doing.
rounding rocks (magmatic assimilation),
and in particular penetrate fissures, joints, magnetic anomaly a deviation from the
cracks and replace fragments of the adjoin¬ predicted value of the earth’s magnetic
ing rocks by its own mass (magmatic stop- field, at a particular point on its surface,
ing). In the course of these changes, and due to changes in the internal magnetic
in the slow cooling of the mass of the field (recorded in rocks at the time of
magma, a wide range of different igneous their formation, palaeomagnetism) or
rocks may be formed, originating from to local concentrations or deficiencies
one great magma basin (magmatic differ¬ of magnetic minerals. The symmetry
entiation). The main mass eventually so¬ of the deviations (magnetic reversal)
lidifies as a batholith or boss with revealed by the rocks on each side of an
associated smaller masses such as dykes oceanic ridge supports the theory of
(dike), laccoliths, phacoliths, sea floor spreading and plate tectonics.
sills. There may be a connexion in the
earth’s surface through a fissure or vol¬ magnetic bearing bearing-2.

canic neck.
magnetic compass compass.
magmatic water juvenile water.
magnetic declination, magnetic vari¬
magnesian limestone a limestone ation the angular distance between
containing 5 to 15 per cent magnesium MAGNETIC NORTH and TRUE NORTH,
carbonate (magnesite). As Magnesian Lime¬ expressed in degrees east and west of true
stone (with initial capitals) it is the name (geographical) north, at any point on the
given to the rocks of this character which earth’s surface. It varies with place and
constitute an important part of the Per¬ time owing to irregularities in the earth’s
mian rocks in northeast England. MAGNETIC FIELD. MAGNETIC POLE, TER¬
RESTRIAL MAGNETISM.
magnesium a silver-white metallic ele¬
ment occurring naturally only in combi¬ magnetic field the space through which
nation, especially as the carbonates £ magnetic force, created by an object with
magnesite and dolomite and as the chloride magnetic power at its centre, exists. It is
carnallite, present in seawater, in plants formed by a permanent magnet or by a
(e.g. in chlorophyll) and in animals (in circuit carrying an electric current, ferro¬
bones), pedalfer, pedocal. magnetism, MAGNETIC, TERRESTRIAL
MAGNETISM.
magnet an object producing a magnetic
field, e.g. a piece of iron, cobalt, nickel magnetic meridian any line joining the

238
 malt

north and south magnetic poles along maize a tall, coarse annual cereal, Zea
which the free-swinging magnetic needle mais, bearing large ‘cobs’ on which the
of a compass aligns itself. edible kernels are carried. It is native to
the Americas, where it is known as corn,
magnetic north the direction to which was brought to Europe by Columbus,
the magnetic needle ofa compass, swing¬ taken to Africa by the Portuguese, where
ing freely in a horizontal plane, points in it spread to the areas with sufficient rainfall
its search for the magnetic north pole. (and where, in central and southern Africa,
BEARING-2, MAGNETIC DECLINATION, it is known as mealies). It needs good,
MAGNETIC MERIDIAN, MAGNETIC POLE, deep soil, plenty of moisture, at least 150
TRUE NORTH. frost-free days, and summer warmth. New
hybrid strains with short stalks ripen
magnetic pole either of the two poles
quickly, are pushing the limit of cul¬
(the north or the south) of the earth’s
tivation to cooler areas, and give higher
magnetic field, indicated by the mag¬
yields. The grain does not make good
netic needle ofa compass swinging freely
bread, but maize is the staple grain for
in a horizontal plane. The precise locations
people in many maize-growing countries
vary, partly due to irregularities of the
(especially in South America and Africa).
earth’s magnetic field. The magnetic north
The sweeter varieties grown for use as a
pole moved 150 km (93 mi) northwards
vegetable are termed sweet corn. Maize
between 1984 and 1994. In 1994 the aver¬
gram, when very finely ground, produces
age position lay on the southwestern coast
cornflour, used in baking and confection¬
of Ellef Ringness Island, 1300 km
ery; it also yields corn oil, used in cooking,
(1186 mi) south of true north, situated
and corn syrup, which is sweeter than
in the Arctic ocean, magnetic decli¬
sugar. But in Europe and North America
nation.
the larger part of the crop is fed to animals,
especially to cattle and pigs.
magnetic reversal a 18o° swing round of
direction of the earth’s magnetic field malleable adj. of metals, capable of taking
(magnetic anomaly), causing the mag¬ a permanent change of shape by being
netic poles to change position, so that beaten, pressed, rolled etc., i.e. by the
the north magnetic pole becomes the application ofsTRESS-i. ductile.
south magnetic pole, and vice versa. This
mallee (Australian: aboriginal term) a
phenomenon, revealed by studies in
low, scrubby, evergreen plant, Eucalyp¬
palaeomagnetism, helped to confirm
tus dumosa, growing in arid, subtropical
the theory of sea floor spreading and plate
parts of southern Australia.
tectonics. The time period during
which the reversal occurs is termed the mallee scrub a densely growing, low,
magnetic interval, and the rocks formed evergreen shrub formation of Eucalyptus
at that time are termed a magnetic division. species, growing in the and, subtropical
parts of southern Australia.
magnetosphere the zone of influence of

the earth’s magnetic field, extending malt processed grain, especially of bar¬

in the atmosphere-1 up to and including ley, used in brewing and distilling. The
the exosphere and ionosphere, sun¬ gram is put in water to germinate, then
spot, TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. heated and dried.

239
 V v

Malthusianism

Malthusianism the body of doctrines In 1^45 the United Nations took over
derived from the writings of Thomas such responsibilities as remained, and
Robert Malthus, 1766-1834, a British the territories became trusteeship ter¬
economist and demographer, especially ritories.
from An Essay on the Principle of Population
manganese Mn, a hard, brittle metal
as it affects the Future Improvement of Society.
occurring in nature usually as an oxide,
His thesis was that the human population,
carbonate or silicate, found in a
if unchecked, increases at a geometric rate
great variety of compounds, an essential
(geometric progression) while the
micronutrient for plants, and especially
food and other resources needed for its
important in making certain types of steel.
subsistence increase only at an arithmetic
rate (arithmetic progression); that manganese nodule a manganese ox¬
population always grows to the limits of ide concretion, with some iron, copper,
the means of its subsistence, checked only cobalt and nickel, occurring in some clay
by war, famine, pestilence and the influ¬ rocks and on the floor of the abyssal
ence of miseries derived from a consequent zone of the ocean (red clay).
low standard of living.
mangrove 1. a member of a number of
mammatus cloud a breast-shaped genera and species of low trees and shrubs
cloud (cloud form) usually occur¬ which grow and spread quickly on tidal
ring in the formation of thunderclouds, mud in tropical areas, so that their dense
associated with convection.
root systems (which include adventitious,
aerial roots which stretch out at a distance
managed fallow bush fallowing.
from the main stem, bend towards the
mandate, mandated territory a territ¬ ground, strike, and send up new trunks)
ory designated under Article 22 of the are covered by salt or brackish water at
League of Nations. When the League of each tide and effectively bind the mud.
Nations was created after the First World The roots under the mud have air supplied
War, in 1919, the former colonial pos¬ by aerial roots which rise above the surface
sessions of Germany and Turkey (the los¬ 2. a plant community dominated by such
ing countries) came under the control of trees and shrubs, mangrove swamp.

the League, which allocated the adminis¬

mangrove swamp the association oflow
tration ot these territories (mandated ter¬
trees and shrubs covered by the collective
ritories) to certain powers, notably Great
term mangrove, growing with members
Britain and France (mandatory powers).
of other families in tidal mud in deltas,
The Class A mandates (Iraq, Pales¬
estuaries and along the coasts in trop¬
tine, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon) were
ical regions, swamp.
regarded as likely soon to be ready for \ *

independence and fairly soon became manioc a shrub native to Brazil but widely
independent. Class B (Cameroons, Togo- cultivated as a staple food plant in tropical
land, Tanganyika, Ruanda) were less areas of South America and Africa, the
developed; Class C (South-West Africa, source of cassava and tapioca, produced
New Guinea and certain Pacific islands, by subjecting the poisonous tuberous roots
Samoa) were to be governed as part of of manioc to heat and pressure, then dry¬
the territory of the mandatory power. ing. It is the non-poisonous granular sub-

240
 map projection

stance produced that is known as cassava mantle 1. of the earth, that part of the

or tapioca (according to treatment), high earth’s interior lying between the core

in starch but low in protein, tapioca and the crust, consisting of ultrabasic

starch. rocks, probably solid unless the pressure

of the overlying rocks is relieved, when

man-made fibre synthetic fibre.
they become viscous (magma). The

man-made soils the term applied by mantle is some 2900 km (some 1800 mi)

those who drew up the 1973 soil classi¬ thick, density about 3.0 to 3.4, the lower

fication of England and Wales to one surface forming the gutenberg dis¬

of its major soil groups. Made by human continuity, the upper the mohor-

endeavour, these are good deep soils, over ovicic discontinuity, the uppermost

40 cm (16 in) thick, rich in humus, with layer forming the asthenosphere.

a surface layer which may or may not be Movements in the mantle, presumed to

totally artificial. be convectional, are reflected in the struc¬

ture of the earth’s crust 2. mantle rock,

Mann-Whitney test in statistics, an
the accumulation of loose rock debris,
hypothesis test used to analyse two unre¬
consisting of weathered rock and soil,
lated samples of data in order to com¬
lying on the older solid bedrock and
pare two population medians-2 (i.e. the
covering most of the land of the earth,
samples are drawn from two different
alternatively termed regolith.
populations). The sample data must be
ordinal (ordinal scale) and the sample manufacturing industry secondary

sizes small. It is assumed that both popu¬ industry, the making of articles or

lation distributions have the same shape. materials (now usually on a large or rel¬

atively large scale) by physical labour or

manor the extent of the land held by the
mechanical power, in general terms the
lord of the manor together with, in feudal
processing of raw materials and foodstuffs
times in England (and to some extent in
(or of semi-processed or recycled mater¬
Wales), certain legal and administrative
ials), the working-up of materials into
rights, dues and responsibilities (feudal
a useful form, footloose industry,
system). The lord of the manor, holding
HEAVY INDUSTRY, LIGHT INDUSTRY;
land from the king, owned the soil of the
and PRIMARY, TERTIARY, QUATERNARY
whole, and kept for his own occupation
INDUSTRY, MARKET ORIENTATION,
and use or that of his servants the parts
MATERIAL ORIENTATION.
termed demesne lands. The remainder
was worked by his tenants under vari¬ map a representation of the earth s surface
ous systems of payment (land tenure). or a part of it, or of the heavens, delineated
With inclosure the lord of the manor on a flat sheet of paper or other material.
retained the demesne lands and the owner¬ Generally used loosely, thus diagrammatic
ship of the soil of the common grazing maps are included, cognitive map,
(common), subject to common rights. MENTAL MAP, PLAN, TOPOLOGICAL DIA¬
(The lordship of the manor is now in GRAM (map).
general little more than an archaic, empty
title.) The affairs of the manor were con¬ map projection 1. the method or

trolled by manorial courts from the manor methods and their results of representing

part or the whole of the earth s surface on

house or mansion of the lord.

241
 maquis

a plane surface 2. the orderly arrangement distorted, e.g. Africa appears twice as long
of parallels and meridians which enables as it is wide (in reality Africa east to west
this to be done. It is impossible to map is as long as it is from north to south).
any part of a sphere on a plane, or a flat Good atlases generally discuss in their
sheet, with complete accuracy. It is neces¬ introductory section the projections em¬
sary therefore to choose the properties ployed, and indicate the correction to be
which are desirable for the purpose of applied to distances. Projections fre¬
the proposed map (correct area, shape, quently used for atlas maps are Mercator
bearing, scale). True shape can be obtained (bearings are straight lines and shapes cor¬
for small areas only, and is incompatible rect, but areas in high latitudes are greatly
with correct area. A map which shows exaggerated; also used for navigational
correct areas cannot give true direction. charts); Mollweide (equal area but shapes
No projection can give true distances over greatly distorted on the margins); Bonne
the whole surface. (modified conic, used for great continental
Certain classes, e.g. perspective projec¬ areas); zenithal equidistant (correct direc¬
tions, can be obtained by geometrical con¬ tion and distance from the centre, used
struction: the zenithal or azimuthal (true for polar regions). A number ofproj ections
direction from the centre); the gnomic have transverse and oblique forms, when
(shortest distance between two points in a in place of the equator as the axis, a suitable
straight line); stereographic (preserves cor¬ GREAT CIRCLE is used.
rect shape); and orthographic (produces
effect of a globe). These are useful features maquis, macquis, macchia, matorral
but the modified, or non-perspective, (French maquis; Italian macchia; Spanish
projections are in greater use since the matorral) the low scrub vegetation of
network of meridians and parallels can evergreen shrubs and small trees charac¬
be calculated to meet particular require¬ teristic of siliceous soils in Mediter¬
ments. ranean lands, the result not only of the
Two much-used classes are derived summer aridity of the Mediterranean cli¬
from the so-called developable surfaces, mate in association with the soils, but of
those of the cylinder and the cone (Mer¬ human activities in the felling of the natural
cator’s projection is a modified cylindrical forest cover (including particularly the
and Bonne’s a modified conic). Conven¬ holm oak), of grazing animals (particularly
tional projections include the Mollweide goats) and of fire, garigue.

(giving the whole surface within an ellipse)

marble a naturally occurring calcium
and various interrupted projections. The
CARBONATE, a CRYSTALLINE LIME¬
latter modify the central meridian or
STONE, veined or mottled by the presence
meridians to show conveniently the areas
. of other crystallized minerals, produced
of most interest, with the result that the
by dynamic or thermal metamorphism.
whole surface is not continuous (Goode’s
It lonns a hard rock that takes a high polish.
projection). The Peter’s equal-area pro¬
jection, introduced in 1973 in response to march, marches, marchlands (French
the misleading image of the tropics in marche) a boundary or frontier, the
Mercator’s projection, shows each area of borderland, now generally applied to
the earth at the same scale as any other. the borderland between two states (e.g.
But the shapes of the land areas are greatly the Welsh Marches between Wales and

242
 marketing principle

England), or a zone of land of debatable maritime tropical air mass tropical

ownership between two states. AIR MASS.

market many applications, the most

mare’s tails wispy streaks of cirrus
common in geographical writing being 1.
cloud, indicating strong winds in the
a congregation of sellers and buyers of
upper ATMO SPHERE-1.
goods 2. a public place where goods are
marginal fringe a zone of poor quality displayed and put on sale 3. the demand
land where improved and unimproved for a commodity-1 4. the outlet for a
patches are interspersed and where the area commodity-1 5. the trade, or traffic, in
of the improved land expands or contracts a particular commodity-i 6. the people
according to fluctuations in farm prices. concerned with buying and selling a
Thus neither improved farmland nor nat¬ particular commodity-i 7. the class
ural vegetation is dominant. of persons to whom a particular com¬
modity-i can readily be sold.
marginal land land which is just fertile
enough to yield an average return from market economy, free economy an
economic system which operates accord¬
agricultural use, no more than is sufficient
ing to free market forces, i.e. in which
to cover the costs of production. It goes
there is free enterprise and competition,
in or out of agricultural use according to
most of the production, distribution and
fluctuations in economic conditions.
exchange being in private hands, with
marine adj. I. of, relating to, found in, government intervention kept to the
or produced by, the sea (examples given minimum; and in which goods and ser¬
under raised beach) 2. of or relating to vices are allocated by the price mechanism,
shipping or navigation. prices being determined by the free ex¬
change of commodities for money (sup¬
maritime air mass air mass. ply and demand). Today most countries
with a market economy modify to some
maritime climate a climate similar to an
extent (by state intervention) the
insular or oceanic climate, directly
forces of the free market, subsistence
influenced by the proximity of the sea,
ECONOMY.
which causes a comparatively cool sum¬
mer and a comparatively mild winter on market gardening in Britain, the intens¬
account of the different thermal capacities ive cultivation of vegetable crops, soft fruit
of land and water. There is thus a small or flowers for sale. When organized on a
daily and seasonal range of temperature, large scale, with a marked concentration
much cloud, fairly uniform precipitation, on one or two crops, it becomes compar¬
and humidity higher than that of a con¬ able with TRUCK FARMING in the USA.
tinental climate. This regime may be HORTICULTURE.
experienced on islands and in coastal
marketing principle the main principle
regions in any latitude, but it is particularly
used by W. Christaller to account for the
prevalent in, and typical of, western mid¬
varying levels and distribution of central
latitude coastal areas.
PLACES in a CENTRAL PLACE SYSTEM.

maritime polar air mass polar air According to the marketing principle the

mass. supply of goods and services from a central

243
 \ s.

market orientation

place should be as close as possible to the in cooperative action. It came into force
place supplied. To achieve this a higher in 1948, administered by oeec, terminated
order central place will serve two centres 1952.
of the next lower order (a K-3 hier¬
Marxism a doctrine based on the political,
archy). See ADMINISTRATIVE PRINCIPLE,
social and economic views of Karl Marx,
K-VALUE, TRAFFIC OR TRANSPORTA¬
1818-83 (German economist, sociologist
TION PRINCIPLE. Fig 9(a).
and philosopher), and Friedrich Engels,
market orientation the tendency of a 1820 — 95 (German socialist philosopher),
firm or industry to be located close to both of whom were profoundly influ¬
ItS MARKET-3. MATERIAL ORIENTATION, enced by German philosophers, particu¬
RESOURCE ORIENTATION. larly by G. W. F. Hegel, 1770-1831. Very
broadly, the doctnne’s philosophical bases
market town in Britain, a town with a
are dialectical materialism and his¬
legal right to hold a market-2 on certain
torical MATERIALISM. The MODE OF
days, usually a settlement which developed
production is viewed as the dominant
at the intersection of routes. ‘Market’
factor governing economic and social
commonly occurs in the name, e.g.
interaction in society, the impetus for
Market Harborough.
change in the mode of production being
marl 1. a calcareous clay or mudstone generated by class conflict, until ultimately
with an admixture of calcium carbon¬ the harmonious, classless, communist so¬
ate 2. in agriculture, loosely applied to ciety (communism-2) is to be achieved.
any friable clayey deposits. In economic theory the Marxist view
is especially concerned with the deter¬
marling the old practice of spreading
mination of the value at which a
marl or CLAY on light soil to improve its
commodity-1 can be exchanged for
texture and its capacity to hold water.
another; it broadly accepts David Ricardo’s
marsh a wet area of mainly mineral (i.e. labour theory of value-2. Refer¬
inorganic) soil commonly flooded period¬ ences that help to explain the doctrine
ically or at intervals and covered with will be found elsewhere in the Dictionary,
water-loving vegetation. It differs from a labelled ‘in Marxism’.
swamp (where the summer water level is
massif (French) a compact mass of moun¬
usually above the surface of the soil), a
tain or highland with relatively uniform
BOG (which has a mainly organic, acid
characteristics and well-defined bound¬
peat soil), or a fen (which has a purely
aries, thus similar to the Massif Central of
organic soil, typically alkaline in reaction,
France.
though occasionally neutral or slightly
acid). SALT MARSH. massive adj. applied to a thick stratum
of rock in which stratification, joint¬
Marshall Plan a popular name for the
ing (joint), cleavage, foliation-i
European Recovery Programme pro¬
etc. are almost or completely absent.
posed by G. C. Marshall in the USA on
5 June 1947 that materials and financial mass media the systems or impersonal
aid should be provided for the countries means used for the transmission of in¬
of Europe by the USA on condition that formation and entertainment for the
the European nations took the initiative benefit of a large number of people,

244
 matrix

i.e. newspapers, radio, television, etc. MATERIAL ORIENTATION; less than I

POSTMODERNISM. indicates market orientation, heavy
INDUSTRY, LIGHT INDUSTRY.
mass movement, mass wasting the
spontaneous downward movement by materialism i. in ontology, the theory
gravitation-i of rock material, usually that matter is the basic reality of the uni¬
helped by rainfall or melt-water from verse, that nothing exists except matter,
snow or ice, classified as: slow, creeping, that consciousness and will can be shown
usually imperceptible except through to be the products of material agencies,
extended observation (creep, gelifluc- and thus that they too are derived ulti¬
TION, ROCK CREEP, SOIL CREEP, SOLI- mately from matter. The possibility of dis¬
fluction); rapid (debris avalanche, embodied minds and mental states is
earthflow, mudflow); and landslides, therefore excluded unless they are identi¬
which are perceptible and involve rela¬ fied with states of the brain and the nervous
tively dry masses of earth debris (block system. The dialectical materialism
SLUMPING, DEBRIS FALL, DEBRIS SLIDE, of Marx and Engels introduces an element
ROCK FALL, ROTATIONAL SLIP, SLIP-2, of evolution to that standard theory of
SLUMPING, SUBSIDENCE-2). COLLU¬ materialism: it maintains that mind,
VIUM, SCREE. while originating in matter, is distinct in
nature from it. historical material¬
mass production the making of one
ism, idealism, realism 2. the belief that
article, or type of goods, in large numbers
material things are more valuable than spir¬
by a standardized process.
itual things.
matched samples in statistics, a pair or
material orientation the tendency of a
set ofs amples-3 in which each member of
manufacturing industry to be located close
one sample is matched by a corresponding
to sources of the materials used in its pro¬
member in every other sample by refer¬
cesses. MARKET ORIENTATION.
ence to qualities other than those being
immediately investigated. The object of mathematical model a model-2 which
matching is to obtain better estimates of expresses relationships between variables
differences by eliminating the possible in terms of numerical values (e.g. regres¬
effects of other vanables. Assessments of sion model), symbolic model.
significance may prove difficult if the
matrix (late Latin, womb; pi. matrices)
members of the second sample have to be
I. a place or medium within which some¬
selected purposively in order to match
thing is bred, formed, developed, pro¬
those of the first, instead of being chosen
duced; a place or point of origin and
at random, pairing, random sample.
growth 2. the material on which a lichen
material index a measure of materials grows 3. the fine-grained material of
used in manufacturing industry, calculated a rock within which something (e.g.
by the total weight of localized materials coarser particles, fossils, metals etc.)
used per product divided by the weight of is embedded (gangue) or to which some¬
the finished product. Most manufacturing thing adheres. In sedimentary rocks
industries have an index greater than the matrix is usually the cementing (ce-
i.o and are described as ‘weight-losing’. ment-2) material, in igneous rocks it
A material index exceeding i suggests is the ground-mass of crystalline or

245
mature

glassy minerals 4. the impression left which is completely full expands, exerting
in a rock after a fossil etc. has been re¬ pressure on the column of mercury, which
moved 5. in mathematics, an ordered accordingly rises on the other side of the
array of mathematical elements con¬ U (i.e. the side with the space in it), push¬
veniently arranged for the carrying out of ing up the needle, which sticks to the
various operations on it, e.g. in a square tube to register the maximum temperature
or rectangular arrangement of rows and reached. When the temperature drops, the
columns of quantities or symbols. liquid in the full side contracts, the mer¬
cury rises under the weight of the liquid
mature adj. having reached a stage of full
in the side with the space, the needle in
natural development, applied to I.
the full side rises and sticks to the tube
a landscape exhibiting the features result¬
to register the minimum temperature
ing from a long cycle of erosion when
reached. As the mercury swings up and
dissection of the original surface is com¬
down, the needles stay in the ultimate
plete, little trace of it remaining; such a
positions to which they were pushed.
landscape may be maturely dissected by
They have to be reunited with the mercury
rivers which are still young 2. a river
by a magnet operated by hand or by a
characteristic of such a landscape, in which
push-button device.
erosion is at a minimum because the stream
has acquired a normal fall in its bed 3. a
maximum sustainable yield the highest
shoreline in a condition of approximate
yield obtainable within a specified period
equilibrium between erosion, weathering
from a renewable natural resource
and transportation 4. a soil with well-
without jeopardizing the future pro¬
developed characteristics produced by the
ductivity of that resource, sustainable
processes of soil fonnation, and in equilib¬
DEVELOPMENT.
rium with its environment, or a soil with
well-developed horizons, old age, sen¬
maximum thermometer a thermo¬
ile RIVER, SOIL HORIZON, YOUTH.
meter used to register the highest ambient
maximum-minimum thermometer air temperature reached over a selected
a thermometer used to register the period of time. There are many types in
maximum and the minimum ambient air use. One consists of a sealed glass, gradu¬
temperatures reached over a selected ated tube containing mercury; on the
period of time. A common type consists top of the column of mercury lies a metal
of a column of mercury housed in and needle. As the temperature rises the mer¬
partly filling a graduated, U-shaped tube, cury expands and pushes the needle
the rest of each side of the tube being upwards; but the needle is arranged in such
topped-up with a transparent liquid. One a way that it cannot fall with the mercury
side of the U is completely filled; but a when the temperature falls and the mer¬
small space is left at the top of the other cury contracts. It is left standing, stuck to
side. Small metal needles rest on top of the sides ol the tube, and the lower end of
each end of the mercury, inside the tube; it (i.e. the end which touched the mercury)
they are mobile but stick to the tube sides registers the highest temperature reached.
when not being actively pushed by the The needle remains set in this position
column of mercury. When the temperat¬ until reunited (usually manually, with a
ure rises, the liquid on the side of the U magnet) with the column of mercury.

246
 meander scar

MAXIMUM-MINIMUM THERMOMETER, MEANDER, POOL AND RIFFLE; and the

MINIMUM THERMOMETER. terms below relating to meander.

mayen (Switzerland: German) an inter¬ meander bar point bar.

mediate shelf, between alp-i and valley

meander belt the part of the flat floor
floor, where cattle stay for a while on
of a valley across which a stream and its
their upward journey in May and their
channel wind, i.e. the area between the
downward trek in September, trans-
outer banks of successive meanders.
HUMANCE, VORALP.
meander core the piece of land in the
MDC i. moderately developed country centre of an incised meander nearly
2. more developed country, as defined by encircled by the river, or completely so if
United Nations, 1980, with reference to the river has broken through the
the USSR, Japan, Australia, New Zealand meander neck. It is usually the remnant
and all the countries in North America of the spur that helped to cause the
and Europe, hdc, ldc, underdevel¬ meander. Fig 29.
opment.

meadow 1. a piece of land, of any size,

permanently covered with grass which is
mown for hay 2. any piece of enclosed
grassland but especially one low-lying
or close to a river, grazing, pasture,

WATER MEADOW.

mean 1. something occupying (or, as adj.,

applied to something occupying) a posi¬
tion midway between two extremes in
number, quantity, degree, kind, value etc.
2. an average, arithmetic mean.

meander a loop-like bend, a pronounced

bend or loop in the course of a sluggish Fig 29 Meanders
river or of a valley (meandering val¬

ley). The river itself develops the curve meandering valley a winding valley with
of a meander by lateral erosion, the large, sweeping curves that cut into the
bank on the concave side (the outside) of solid rocks that contain it. It has extensive
the curve being eroded by the current deposits of alluvium on the floor over
(river-cliff), while deposition is taking which existing streams have created
place on the convex side (the inside) (slip- meanders smaller than those of the valley
off slope). Eventually the meander be¬ as a whole, meander, misfit rivfr.

comes so well-developed that it is nearly

meander neck the strip ofland separating
circular. At this stage the river may break
the stream on each side of a well-
across the stnp of land (the neck) separat¬
developed MEANDER. OXBOW.
ing the stream, a cut-off (oxbow) may
be formed, and the river flows on a straight meander scar a discernible depression,
course, divagating meander, incised infilled with deposits and vegetation,

247
 V.

meander scroll

marking the channel of a cut-off meander mean solar time an average or mean
(oxbow). solar day of 24 hours, a useful measure
because the period of time between two
meander scroll point bar.
successive daily returns of the real sun to

meander terrace a terrace formed on the meridian (local time) is not always

one bank of a river as it meanders in its the same, apparent time, rotation of
THE EARTH.
valley and at the same time (due to reju¬

venation) erodes the valley floor. In measurement 1. the magnitude, length,

flowing across the valley the current on degree etc. of something in terms of a
the outside of the curve of the meander selected unit 2. in statistics, at its simplest,
cuts down into the former level of the the classification of individuals, groups
river’s floodplain, so that part of that or other units and the placing of them
higher level is left as a terrace. in previously defined categories-4
(termed categorical or qualitative measure¬
mean diurnal range the mean difference
ment; if a number can be applied mean¬
between the highest and lowest rainfall,
ingfully to each category it is termed a
or temperatures, etc. recorded at a place
quantitative measurement). Four scales
for each day of a selected period (usu¬
or levels of measurement are usually
ally four weeks) over a number of years.
employed, each with its particular proper¬
RANGE-4.
ties, a particular series of statistical tech¬
mean sea-level MSL, the average level niques being applied at each level. The
of the surface of the sea (which varies scales are the nominal scale, ordinal
slightly from place to place), calculated SCALE, INTERVAL SCALE, RATIO SCALE
from a series of continuous records of tidal (from the simplest to the most precise).
oscillation over a long period, the stand¬ CLASS-5, CLASS INTERVAL, VARIABLE-3.
ard level from which all heights are calcu¬
mechanical weathering the disinteg¬
lated. The British standard is calculated at
ration of rock by the agents of weather¬
Newlyn, Cornwall, and forms the Ord¬
ing (e.g. EXFOLIATION, FREEZE-THAW,
nance Datum (od) from which heights on
GRANULAR DISINTEGRATION, SPALLING
British maps are measured.
etc.) which cause internal and external

means of production in Marxism, stresses without chemical alteration of the

materials and machinery. The materials rock, as opposed to chemical weathering

are seen as the object of labour (either (corrosion), hydration, organic

natural raw materials such as minerals, to WEATHERING, WEATHERING.

which labour is to be applied; or objects mechanization the introduction and use

such as manufactured components, or har¬ vof machines in an industrial process in
vested crops, on which some labour has order to enhance, lighten, or replace
already been used). The machinery (i.e. a human power, an integral part of in¬
scythe as well as a complicated machine) dustrialization. INDUSTRIAL REVO¬
is seen as the means or tools of labour, LUTION.
used to transform the materials, con¬

stant CAPITAL, MODE OF PRODUCTION. medial moraine, median moraine the

debus lying centrally in a line along the
mean solar day solar day. surface of a glacier, occurring when

248
 melt-water channel

the lateral moraines oftwo confluent for coldest month usually over 6°C: 43°F)
glaciers meet. and hot dry summers (warmest month
usually over 2i°C: 70°F) with a high
median i. something situated in the amount of sunshine. Some of the most
middle 2. in statistics, the centrally occur¬ marked variations, especially in precip¬
ring value in a data set which is arranged itation and temperature, occur in the Me¬
in rank order, i.e. the value above and diterranean area itself. The regime is due
below which lie 50 per cent of the observa¬ to the dominance of sub tropical high pres¬
tions in a distribution. If there is an even sure systems (anticyclone) in summer,
number of observations, the median lies and the passage of depressions-3 associ¬
midway between the two centrally occur¬ ated with moist winds from the oceans in
ring values. The upper quartile covers the winter.
highest 25 per cent of the values, the lower
quartile the lowest 25 per cent; and the megalith a large stone used as a monu¬
interquartile range is the difference ment or in construction. Some cultures

between the lowest number in the up¬ have been marked by the use of such stones

per quartile and the highest number in (e.g. Stonehenge in England).

the lower, arithmetic mean, central megalithic adj. applied to the large
TENDENCY, MODE. monumental constructions termed mega¬
liths, to the people who put them up,
medical geography the study of the geo¬
and to the period in which they were
graphical aspects of health and the pro¬
constructed (Megalithic Age), i.e. the cul¬
vision of health care. It covers the study
tures ofNEOLITHIC to BRONZE AGE times.
of the spatial distribution of human disease
and causes of death, together with the megalopolis a very large and spreading
factors of the environment conducive to urban complex, with some open land,
human health and sickness. It includes formed when built-up areas, widespread
deaths from disease (mortality), illness over an extensive area, enlarge to such an
not necessarily fatal (morbidity), the dis¬ extent that they become linked together,
eases permanently located in certain areas as in the northeastern seaboard of the
(endemic disease), and the wider spread USA, or along the northern shore of the
(pandemic) or sudden outbreak (epi¬ Inland Sea ofjapan. ecumenopolis.
demic) of disease. It is thus concerned
melting point the temperature at which
with aetiology (etiology) and epidemi¬
a solid becomes liquid under normal
ology.
pressure.
Mediterranean climate the western
melt-water, meltwater water derived
margin warm temperate climate (one of
from the melting (melting point) of
koppen’s C climates), occurring on the
snow and ice, e.g. from the snout of a
coastal lands round the western Mediter¬
GLACIER.
ranean and on the narrow western coastal
margins of continents in latitudes 30° to melt-water channel a channel in the
40° (California, central Chile, South Af¬ solid rock or in drift deposits in a once-
rica, Australia). It is a climate with wide glaciated area, unrelated to the trend of
variations, but is generally characterized the present drainage pattern, and in some
by mild wet winters (average temperature cases cutting across it. drainage-2.

249
 \ -v

mental map

mental map cognitive map. used especially in place-names in Cheshire

and Shropshire in England, relating not
Mercalli scale, modified a scale formerly
only to water-filled kettle holes but
used in measuring earthquake intens¬
also to subsidence hollows resulting from
ity, based on the observed effects on build¬
the removal of subterranean salt.
ings, etc., ranging from I (detectable only
by seismograph reaction) to XII (cata¬ meridian terrestrial, one of the lines of
strophic, i.e. the total destruction of longitude which link the North Pole
buildings). It superseded the rossi-forel to the South Pole and cut the equator at
scale, and has now in turn been super¬
right angles, i.e. half of one of the great
seded by the richter scale.
circles, the other half being termed the

mercantile adj. pertaining to, concerned antimeridian. The prime, standard, initial

with, engaged in, trade and commerce. or zero meridian, o°, is usually considered
to be the meridian passing through Green¬
mercantile model, mercantilist wich, and meridians are numbered from
model an approach to the study of urban it to 18o° east or west ofit. meridional-2.
systems suggested in 1970 by J. E. Vance,
American geographer, as an alternative to meridian adj. pertaining to noon, espe¬
central place theory. To summarize, cially to the position of the sun at noon.
it views wholesaling as the key urban func¬
tion, and explains the development of an meridional adj. 1. of, pertaining to,

urban system-i in terms of trading. His characteristic of the south, especially of

study was particularly related to the the inhabitants of the south, particularly

evolution of the mercantile cities of of southern Europe 2. of or pertaining to

the USA Atlantic seaboard. a MERIDIAN.

mercantilism 1. trade and commerce 2. meridional flow an atmospheric circu¬

a theory popular among European nations lation in which the dominant flow of air
during the sixteenth and seventeenth cen¬ is from north to south, or from south to
turies that the economic and political north, across the parallels of latit¬
strength of a country lay in its acquir¬ ude, in contrast to zonal flow.
ing large quantities of gold and silver,
merino a Spanish breed of sheep with
to be achieved by restricting imports,
very fine white wool (botany wool),
developing production for exports, and
extensively crossbred with other breeds of
prohibiting the export of gold and silver.
sheep to improve fleeces.
mercury Hg, a silver-coloured, pois¬
onous, metallic element-6, liquid at mesa (Spanish, table) a high, extensive
temperatures above -38.8°C (—37.8°F), tableland or an isolated flat-topped hill
boiling at 356.9°C (674.4°F) under nor¬ (broader than a butte), the remnant of
mal pressure. It is used in industrial pro¬ a plateau that has been subjected to de¬
cesses and in barometers and ther¬ nudation in a semi-arid region. It con¬
mometers. sists of horizontal strata capped by a more
resistant stratum, and one or all sides
mere a large pond or shallow lake, occu¬
slope steeply or form cliffs, meseta.
pying a hollow in glacial drift, especially
in till or boulder clay. The term is meseta (Spanish) 1. the high tableland

250
 metamorphism

of the heart of Spain 2. an alternative to metal 1. an element-6 of high specific

MESA. gravity, with atoms structured in such a
way that they easily lose electrons to form
mesic adj. applied to conditions in which
positively charged ions, an element that
MESOPHYTES flourish. HYDRIC, XERIC.
is usually ductile, malleable, and a
mesoclimate the climate of a local area good conductor of heat and electricity 2.
marked by its deviation from the norms a compound or alloy of such an element.
of the macroclimate in which it lies. PRECIOUS METAL, ROAD METAL.
In area it is larger than a local climate
metamorphic adj. pertaining to, charac¬
or a MICROCLIMATE.
terized by, formed by metamorphism,
Mesolithic adj. of or pertaining to the applied especially to rocks and rock for¬
culture period midway in the stone age mations.
between the palaeolithic and the neo¬
lithic, from about 8000 to 6000 bc in metamorphic aureole the zone of
Europe, when the bow and arrow came country rock surrounding an igneous
into use, the dog was domesticated, pot¬ intrusion in which the country rock
tery came to be made, England was cut is metamorphosed by heat and migrating
off from continental Europe by the rising fluids (thermal or contact meta¬
sea, and there was marked climatic change. morphism) from the intrusion, batho-
ATLANTIC STAGE. LITH, MAGMA. Fig 7.

mesopause the layer in the atmo- metamorphic rock a well-defined, new

sphere-i some 80 km (50 mi) above the type of rock derived from pre-existing
earth’s surface, the boundary between the rock by mineralogical, chemical and struc¬
mesosphere and the thermosphere, tural changes in the pre-existing rock
and the layer with the lowest temperature. brought about by its contact with a great
Fig 4- heated mass of magma (thermal or
contact metamorphism) orbyfolding
mesophyte a plant growing under
and pressure (dynamic metamorph¬
medium conditions of moisture, where
ism). METASOMATISM.
there is neither an excess nor a deficiency
of water. Mesophytes are typical of the
metamorphism a change of form, ap¬
coniferous forest growing in high lat¬
plied in geology to the process of the
itudes (taiga) and high altitudes, and
transformation of pre-existing rock into a
include pme species, fir, spruce, larch.
new, well-defined type of rock by endo-
HYDROPHYTE, HYGROPHYTE, TROPO-
genetic processes, i.e. by the action
PHYTE, XEROPHYTE.
of heat (thermal or contact meta¬
mesosphere the zone in the atmo- morphism, METAMORPHIC AUREOLE)
sphere-i extending from the strato- or by severe compressional earth move¬
pause to the mesopause, between some ments (dynamic metamorphism, re¬
50 to 80 km (30 to 50 mi) above the earth’s gional metamorphism) or by both,
surface, in which the temperature, having which modifies or changes the texture,
reached its maximum in the stratopause, composition, physical or chemical struc¬
decreases with height to the mesopause, ture of the pre-existing rock, auto¬
where it is at its lowest. Fig 4. metamorphism, FOLIATION, HYDRO-

251
 Si

metaphysics

THERMAL, MAGMA, METAMORPHIC, sphEre-i derived from disintegrating

METASOMATISM, PNEUMATOLYSIS. meteors and trapped in the earth’s grav¬
itational field, a component of the dust
metaphysics (Greek, the words of Aris¬
present everywhere in the universe.
totle that come after the Physics in the
sequence of his work) i. the branch of meteoric water water on the earth’s
philosophy concerned with the first prin¬ surface which is derived from precip¬
ciples of things, with what really exists in itation, as distinct from connate
the world (e.g. the concepts of time, space, WATER, JUVENILE WATER.
being, substance). The investigation is
meteorite a solid extra-terrestrial body
usually conducted by rational argument,
which reaches the earth’s surface, typically
not by mystical intuition, and may be
formed of metals (iron-nickel), or sil¬
described as transcendent (regarding real¬
icates or a combination ofboth described
ity as being above and beyond normal
as stony, stony-iron or iron according to
experience, e.g. as in the view of the uni¬
composition, a fragment of a broken
verse supplied by supernatural religion) or
asteroid. Meteorites vary in size, from as
immanent (regarding reality as consisting
small as a dust particle to the exceptionally
only of objects of experience), cos¬
large io km (6 mi) diameter example that
mology, EPISTEMOLOGY, IDEALISM-2,
fell at the Gulf of Mexico some 65 million
ontology 2. with ‘of’, the theoretical
years ago. Most meteorites reaching the
principles or philosophical explanation of
earth’s surface weigh about one kg (2.2 lb).
a particular branch of knowledge.
meteorological screen stevenson
metasomatism the change in a pre¬
screen, a white painted wooden box on
existing rock brought about by a solution
legs, about 1 m (3 ft) above the ground,
from external sources which percolates
designed to shelter meteorological instru¬
through the rock and (introducing
ments from strong wind and solar and
material from other series of rocks) causes
terrestrial radiation. The roof is usually
chemical reactions by which one min¬
insulated, the sides are louvred (one usually
eral in the pre-existing rock is partly oT
hinged to act as a door), so that air can flow
wholly altered into other minerals, or is
through freely; and the thermometers
replaced by another mineral of different
within (usually dry and wet bulb, max¬
composition, without a change in tex¬
imum and minimum thermometers) are
ture. pneumatolysis is not involved.
supported on a frame, standing free from
HYDROTHERMAL, PETRIFICATION.
the roof, floor and sides, so that they give
meteor a solid body moving rapidly in shade readings as accurately as possible.
space glowing when it enters the earth’s Some types also house a hygrograph,
atmosphere-i on account of the heat recording changes in relative humid-
generated by friction with the atmosphere, 'itY and a thermograph, a self-recording
and appearing as a ‘shooting star’ or ‘falling thermometer.
star’. The friction causes most meteors to
meteorology the scientific study of the
disintegrate to dust (meteoric dust), but
processes and physical phenomena oper¬
some solid remnants may reach the earth’s
ating in the earth’s atmosphere-i in the
surface as meteorites.
short term, as distinct from climat¬
meteoric dust the dust in the atmo¬ ology, which is concerned with the long

252
 micrometeorology

term. Weather forecasting depends on micro- (Greek) small, as opposed to

meteorological studies, and on the whole macro-, large, e.g. microclimate.
meteorologists confine their attention to
microclimate the climate of a very
the layers of the earth’s atmosphere where
small area, the modification of the general
the weather that affects the earth’s surface
climate produced by conditions in the
is generated, i.e. to the troposphere and
immediate environment of a subject, e.g.
STRATOSPHERE. MICROMETEOROLOGY.
of a cereal crop, of a building. The area
metre m, the basic si unit of length, involved is smaller than that of local
defined in i960 from a wavelength in the climate and is confined to the very shal¬
spectrum of krypton, equivalent to about low layer of the atmosphere close to the
39.37 in. A metre is divided into 10 deci¬ ground, macroclimate, microcli¬
metres (rarely used) or 100 centimetres matology, MICROMETEOROLOGY.
(cm) or 1000 millimetres (mm). In meas¬
microclimatology the scientific study
ures of area 1 square metre (10.8 sq ft)
of MICROCLIMATES. MICROMETEOR¬
equals 10 000 square centimetres or 1 mil¬
OLOGY.
lion square millimetres. In measures of
volume 1 cubic metre (35.315 cu ft) equals microfinance, microcredit a financial
1 million cubic centimetres. service inaugurated by Bangladeshi
economist, Professor Muhammad Yunus,
metropolis 1. the mother city of a colony
through the Grameen Bank, 1976, de¬
or settlement, hence the capital or chief
signed to help impoverished individuals
city of a country, serving as the seat of
and small groups in Third World coun¬
government or of ecclesiastical authority,
tries. Very small personal loans, with min¬
or as the main commercial centre 2. the
imal rate of interest, are advanced to
largest town or agglomeration of people
encourage income-generating activities,
in an extensive area, ecumenopolis.
to give support in times of stress (e.g.
metropolitan adj. of, pertaining to, chara¬ drought, hoLise repairs), to protect bor¬
cteristic of, or constituting, a metro¬ rowers from extortionate interest on loans
polis in the limited senses defined under from other providers, to finance weddings
(1), but also as applied to those large urban and funerals. Advances range from as little
centres etc. specified under (2). as fifteen to hundreds of dollars, depending
on need and local rates of exchange. Sav¬
mica a group of transparent silicate
ings are protected, accumulated capital
minerals, common in acid igneous
used for further loans. Capital is initially
rocks, in metamorphic rocks, and in
provided by various small banks, ngos
derived sediments, which, having perfect
(e.g. Oxfam, Action Aid), care insti¬
cleavage-i, can easily be split into very
tutions, international agencies (e.g. Euro¬
thin, tough, pliable, lustrous plates, used as
pean Union, British Overseas Develop¬
an electrical insulator and as a heat-resistant
ment Administration, UN Conference on
substitute for glass. The main micas are
Trade and Industry etc.) and the world
the dark biotite; the light-brown, green
* bank.
or red muscovite (both occurring in
gneiss and schist); and the yellow micrometeorology the detailed scien¬
phlogopite (rich in magnesium and pres¬ tific study of the layer of the atmo¬
ent in marble and peridotite). sphere- 1 nearest to the earth’s surface,

253
 N. v

micronutrient

i.e. from ground level up to about 1.2 m

'migration 1. the act or process of moving
(4 ft), important in the study of micro¬
from one place to another with the intent
climates. MICROCLIMATOLOGY.
of staying at the destination permanently
or for a relatively long period of time
micronutrient an element-6 or com¬
2. of humans, such a movement from
bination of elements needed by an organ¬
one area (usually the home area) to work
ism in order to maintain health, but only in
or settle in another, emigrant, exile,
very small quantities. The micronutrients
needed by plants in varying amount are EXPATRIATE, IMMIGRANT, PUSEI-PULL

boron, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, THEORY, REFUGEE 3. ofammals, e.g. birds,
the seasonal movement from one region
molybdenum, zinc, macronutrient,
TRACE ELEMENT. to another 4. of plants, the movement to
extend habitat.
microorganism any organism too small
to be seen by the unaided eye, being of mile (Latin mille passus or passuum, a
microscopic or even smaller size (e.g. a thousand paces) mi, a British unit of linear
bacterium). measurement 1. statute mile, 1760 yards or
5280 feet (1609.35 metres) 2. geographical
Middle East part of the earth’s surface mile, one minute of arc measured along
east of Europe, now usually taken to the equator, 6087.2 ft, rounded to 6080 ft
include parts of southwest Asia and (1852 m) 3. nautical mile, one minute of
northeast Africa, stretching from Turkey arc or irfeb a GREAT CIRCLE, stand¬
through Iran, Iraq and the countries of ardized in Britain as one minute of arc at
Arabia to Sudan and Egypt and including 48°N, 6080 ft, equivalent to 1.1516 statute
the countries bordering the eastern shores mile (1853.25 m) 4. international nautical
of the Mediterranean, far east, near mile (used by the USA and other coun¬
EAST.
tries) 6076.1033 ft, approximately 1.15
statute mile (18 5 2 m). k n o t 5. in measures
midlatitude adj. applied to the latitudinal
of area, 1 square mile (2.59 square kilo¬
zone lying between 23°3o' and 66°3o' in
metres) equals 640 acres each of 4840
the northern and southern hemispheres.
square yards or 43 560 square feet.
TEMPERATE.

millet any of several small-grained cultiv¬

midlatitudes latitude.
ated cereals, the most widely grown food
midnight sun the sun-2 still to be seen grains in tropical regions, being drought-
shining above the horizon at midnight resistant, tolerant of poor soils, storing
in latitudes greater than 63°3o' north or well, some having a higher mineral con¬
south, in the northern hemisphere be¬ tent than that of other cereals, e.g. bul¬
tween mid-May and the end of July, and rush MILLET, FINGER MILLET. Locally
in the southern between mid-November important in Africa are Job’s tears, hungry
and the end ofjanuary. solstice. rice and teff. sorghum is sometimes
classified as a millet. The most import¬
mid-ocean ridge oceanic ridge.
ant millets of temperate regions are com¬

migrant one who migrates, emigrant, mon millet, little millet, foxtail millet,
Japanese millet.
EXILE, EXPATRIATE, IMMIGRANT, MI¬
GRATION, REFUGEE.
milK- m, prefix, one thousandth, attached

254
 minimax location

to si units to denote the unit x io-3, e.g. within certain limits); hence the distinc¬
millimetre (mm), one thousandth part of tion from a rock, which is commonly
a METRE. CENTI-, HECTO-, KILO-. (apart from rock salt) a mixture of minerals.
On this definition water (ice) is a mineral,
millibar mb, a unit of atmospheric pres¬
but (being of organic origin) petroleum
sure indicated by a barometer, equal
and natural gas are not, although they are
to iooo dynes per square centimetre of
commonly described as such, as are some
mercury; iooo mb equals i BAR-3. The
organically-derived limestones and sili¬
formula for conversion is not universally
ceous rocks 2. loosely applied to any min¬
applicable, but at o°C (32°F) at latitude
eral deposit won by mining, e.g. metallic
450, 29 in mercury = 982 mb; 30 in =
ore, coal.
1016 mb; 31 in = 1049 mb; and 1000 mb =
750.1 mm (29.531 in). Millibars are com¬ mineral horizons one of the two major
monly used in drawing weather charts, classes of soil horizon, the other class
isobars (iso-) being drawn at 2 or 4 millibar being the o horizons. The mineral hori¬
intervals. zons consist mainly of inorganic matter.
MINERAL SOIL.
million city a city with a resident popu¬
lation of one million people or more. mineralization 1. the process whereby
gases and water from the heated lower
Millstone Grit a hard, coarse-grained,
layers of the earth’s crust by passing
sandstone occumng in Britain in the
through fissures, cracks etc. cause changes
central Pennines and in Northumberland,
in the rocks, and the deposition of minerals
under the Coal Measures at the base of the
of economic importance, metasoma¬
Upper carboniferous. It was probably a
tism 2. the replacement of the organic
delta-deposit laid down in a shallow sea.
parts of a plant or animal by minerals-1
Minamata disease a disease of the central during decomposition or fossilization.
nervous system caused by mercury FOSSIL.
poisoning. The name is derived from a
mineral oil any oil of so-called min-
bay and town in Japan where many people
eral-i origin, notably petroleum.
were poisoned in 1959 by eating fish and
shellfish which had ingested dimethyl mineral soil a soil low in humus, con¬
mercury, present in the sediments of the sisting mainly of material of mineral-i
bay as a result of effluent discharged by a origin, mineral horizons, organic
nearby factory, pollution. soil.

mine an excavation deep in the ground, mineral spring a spring-2 containing

made for the purpose of extracting min¬ a high proportion of mineral salts in
erals, together with its shaft and associ¬ solution.
ated buildings, mining, oil well, open¬
cast MINING, PIT, QUARRY. minifundio (Spanish) 1. a very small farm
in Latin America 2. a very small plot of
mineral 1. a naturally octumng inorganic land cultivated by a Spanish settler for
homogeneous-2 substance, usually
personal use in return for military service
crystalline with a definite chemical
to the Spanish crown, latifundia.
composition (capable of being expressed
by a chemical formula, or varying only minimax location the site for a firm

255
minimum thermometer

selected by an entrepreneur looking for mirage an optical phenomenon in which

the minimum cost and the likelihood of distant objects may be seen inverted, as if
maximum profit for the enterprise, loca¬ mirrored in water, or suspended in mid¬
tion theory. air. This is due to the unusual distribution
of density in the atmosphere-i. For
minimum thermometer a thermo¬
example, when the air near the ground is
meter used to register the lowest ambient
greatly heated by conduction and becomes
air temperature reached at a particular
less dense, rays of light from above (ap¬
place over a selected period of time. One
proaching at a slight angle) are refracted
type commonly used consists of a horizon¬
towards the observer, i.e. they are bent
tal glass tube filled with alcohol with a
upwards so that the sky appears as a glisten¬
dumb-bell shaped metal marker held at
ing sheet of water on, for example, a road
one end of the alcohol by surface tension.
surface. In high latitudes, when a warm
As the temperature falls the alcohol con¬
layer of air rests on a cold layer, the light
tracts and the marker is drawn to the level
rays may be bent down from a warm layer,
of the lowest temperature registered,
so that an inverted or even double image
where, even if the temperature rises, it
of a distant object appears.
sticks until reunited with the alcohol in its
original position (by the use of a magnet). misfit river, misfit stream, underfit
MAXIMUM THERMOMETER, MAXIMUM- river a river that appears now to be too
MINIMUM THERMOMETER. small for its valley, due to beheading by
another stream, or a change of climate, or
mining i. deep excavating in the earth
the valley’s being enlarged and broadened
in order, by underground workings, to
by glaciation, or because the volume of
extract minerals-i, metals, metallic
water has been reduced by seepage
ores. A distinction is sometimes made
through the thick alluvium of the flood-
between mining (also termed deep
plain. MEANDERING VALLEY.
mining) by underground workings and
quarrying (also termed surface mining), mist obscurity in the lower layers of the
conducted at the surface (pit, quarry), atmosphere-i caused by particles of
opencast mining is associated with condensed moisture held in suspension,
extensive surface workings, whereas quar¬ limiting vision (officially) to between one
rying is more limited in extent 2. the and two kilometres (about 1000 to 2000
extraction of non-renewable natural yards), fog, haze.
resources.
mist forest, cloud forest hygrophilous
minor intrusion in geology, an igneous forest (hygrophyte) occurring on
intrusion that is small when compared mountain slopes in tropical regions, where
with a large, deep-seated plutonic intru¬ mist or cloud is constant or frequent.
x *
sion. Examples include dykes, sills,
mistral (French) a powerful, cold, dry
small laccoliths and veins.
northwesterly or northerly wind, blowing
minute a unit of measurement applied to from the high Massif Central towards the
i. time, one-sixtieth of an hour 2. an relatively warm Golfe du Fion, particularly
angle, one-sixtieth of an (angular) degree; affecting the Rhone delta and the north
one-sixtieth of a degree of latitude or coast of the Mediterranean. It is particu¬
longitude. larly common in winter when the cold air

256
 mode of production

from the winter high pressure system lying mobile, e.g. of people moving readily
over central Europe is channelled through from one place to another and from job
the lower Rhone valley to the low pressure to job, in search of employment or higher
area lying over the western Mediterran¬ incomes; or of individuals in relation to
ean. BORA. the degree to which each one has access
to travel facilities (personal mobility); or
mixed cultivation the growing of two
ofindividuals and households in being able
or more crops intermingled on the same
to move between social classes and income
field or plot, especially a mixture of tree
groups (social mobility).
and ground crops.
mode in statistics, the value of the variable
mixed economy an economic system in
occurring most frequently in a set of obser¬
which some parts operate according to
vations. ARITHMETIC MEAN, CENTRAL
the forces of the free market (production,
TENDENCY, MEDIAN.
distribution and exchange being in private
hands), while other parts are in the hands model 1. a three-dimensional represen¬
of the government (i.e. there is more tation, more or less to scale, of something
state intervention in a mixed eco¬ that exists or is to be constructed, e.g. of
nomy than there is in a true market a building, which may be to scale in every
economy), centrally planned eco¬ dimension and detail; or of a landscape,
nomy, PLANNED ECONOMY, STATE CAP¬ with ground measurements to scale but
ITALISM. the vertical scale exaggerated to show

mixed farming agriculture in which altitude-3; or a working scale model,

both crops and livestock are produced on such as one representing tides, which

an individual farm (not to be confused includes processes 2. a representation of

with mixed cultivation), arable some aspects of reality, selected and

LAND, CROP FARMING, FARMING, LIVE¬ brought together to show certain of its
properties, and providing a working
STOCK FARMING.
hypothesis against which reality can be
MNC, MNE MULTINATIONAL COM¬ tested. On a range of abstraction these are,
PANY, CORPORATION OR ENTERPRISE. at the first level, the iconic model, the most

mobile adj. I. capable of moving or being realistic, a scaled-down representation of

moved from place to place 2. moving or reality (e.g. with real phenomena shown

moved with ease, fluid 3. of organisms, in their characteristic form, but scaled-
down). At the second level is the analogue
having the power of moving from one
model in which real phenomena are rep¬
place to another.
resented by different but analogous phe¬
mobile dune a coastal dune partially nomena (e.g. clusters of people shown
fixed by vegetation but still liable to by clusters of points). The final level of
deflation-i and blow-outs-i, a type abstraction, the furthest from reality, is
transitional between a fore-dune and a reached by the symbolic model, in which
STABILIZED DUNE. real phenomena are represented by math¬

mobile industry footloose indus¬ ematical expressions.

try.
mode of production (one of the central
mobility the state or quality of being concepts in Marxism) the economic base of

257
 Si V

moder

a society, the way in which the productive late 193os, and gradually merging into
activities in the society are organized, and postmodernism. To select some ele¬
thereby affect the social as well as the eco¬ ments from the socio-economic-political
nomic relations in that society. Marx iden¬ background that appear in geographical
tified the historical succession of modes as studies, this was a period influenced by
primitive communal, slave, feudal, capital¬ positivism and logical positivism, a
ist, state capitalist, socialist, communist, the time of mass production (fordism); the
changes of mode being brought about by consolidation of the power of European
class conflict, e.g. between landlord and countries in their African colonies; the
peasant, capitalist (bourgeoisie-2) and destruction and aftermath of the First
workers (proletariat-2) as each class World War; high unemployment in
tries to gain control of the means of pro¬ Europe; the rise of communism-2 and
duction, asserting that the other class is fascism; the emergence of the USA as
inept at providing society with an accept¬ a leading world power; keynesianism;
able level of subsistence. Marx maintained rapid progress in scientific, technological,
that the proletariat would eventually over¬ psychological and sociological research
come the capitalist ruling class (dialect¬ etc. To generalize, the promoters and fol¬
ical materialism) and that a class¬ lowers of Modernism rejected traditional,
less communist society would emerge. representational and romantic art in
CAPITALISM, COMMUNISM, FEUDAL¬ favour, for example, of impressionism,
ISM, HISTORICAL MATERIALISM, POST¬ cubism, surrealism and abstract art in the
INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, SOCIALISM. visual arts; jazz and atonality in music;
functionalism and unomamented,
moder in soil science, a humus layer
pure geometrical forms (in concrete) in
intermediate in composition between
architecture that came to be insti¬
mor and mull-3, occurring where de¬
tutionalized as the International Style, and
composition is greater than in mor, but
high-tech glass and steel structures; among
has not advanced so much as in mull, but
other styles in writing, the stream-of-
where there is some mixing with particles
consciousness style is associated with
from the underlying mineral soil, due
Modernism, humanistic geography.
to the presence of soil fauna.

moderately developed country mdc. modernity 1. the state or quality of being

modern 2. the unique forms of social
modern aaj. of the present day, up-to-
system, activities, technology, attitudes
date, contemporary, differentiated in
and values that characterize a modern
thought from the past, particularly the
society, expressed particularly in the visual
recent past, modernism, modernity,
arts, architecture, literature and music
postmodernism.
of the time: e.g. in eighteenth-century
modernism. Modernism 1. the mental Europe, expressed by the promoters and
acceptance of modernity-2, of being followers ot the Enlightenment (similar,
modern 2. Modernism, the culture of in part, to the humanists of the renais¬
innovation and technological change that sance), with its rejection of religious
emerged in Europe and spread inter¬ beliefs and prejudices and emphasis on
nationally in the latter part of the nine¬ democratic, rational, scientific and materi¬
teenth century, beginning to fade in the alistic approaches, at a time when great

258
 mollisols

advances in science and technology gave term was originally local to Cuba, where
rise to industrialization, rapid popu¬ it referred to residual hills of folded lime¬
lation increase and urban growth, changes stone, but it is now applied internationally
in land use patterns and land management, to karst residual hills in tropical regions.
and an anthropocentric attitude that
Mohorovicic Discontinuity, Moho
viewed the natural environment as a
the boundary surface between the mantle
source of commodities. These elements
of the earth and the rocks of the earth’s sur¬
combined to promote international trade
face, lying at a depth ofsome 40 km (25 mi)
and the spread of capitalism with its
under the continents but only some 6 to
cumulative economic power. The writ¬
10 km (4 to 6 mi) under the ocean. In the
ings of Newton, Locke and Hume were
Discontinuity, owing to the different
influential in England; Voltaire, Descartes,
densities of the crust and the mantle,
Diderot (and the Encyclopedists) in
there is a very sharp change in the rate
France. The Classical music of the time
of travel of earthquake waves (push
gradually evolved from the Baroque; in
wave, shake wave): they accelerate.
architecture there was a revival of classical
forms; in the visual arts David expressed Moh’s scale hardness of minerals.
the high moral tone of the movement,
moisture index thornthwaite’s cli¬
Hogarth portrayed the decadence ol the
matic CLASSIFICATION.
affluent urban society of the time. Twen¬
tieth-century examples of modern¬ molecular adj. pertaining to, involving,
ity-2 are modernism and postmod¬ or consisting of, molecules.
ernism. CLASSICAL ECONOMIC THEORY,
HUMANISTIC GEOGRAPHY, UTILITARI¬ molecular attraction the attraction of
ANISM. molecules for each other, especially, in
hydrology, the attraction of the mo¬
modernization i. in general, the process lecules of the surfaces of solid rocks for
or act of making up-to-date, of changing the molecules of water, and of the water
something from the past so that it becomes molecules for each other, the means by
in harmony with current taste, thinking, which some ground water is held in
technology 2. in society, a process of social fine-grained rocks, capillarity.
change which commonly accompanies or
follows industrialization and may in¬ molecule two or more atoms linked
clude an increase in social mobility, the by chemical bonding and constituting the
blurring of boundaries between social smallest group of combined atoms of an
classes, the advancement of education, the element-6 or of a compound which can

development of social services, and the exist freely (free-2) while retaining the
adoption of procedures in government characteristic properties of the substance.

more effective than those previously pre¬

mollisols in soil classification,
vailing.
USA, an order of soils characteristic of
mogote (Cuba: Spanish) a karst insel- grassland, with a thick, organically-rich
berg, a steep-sided limestone residual hill surface layer. It includes soils with widely
in karst, rising from a nearly flat alluvi¬ varied profiles, all structurally well devel¬
ated plain, formerly termed a haystack hill oped, e.g. BRUNIZEM, CHERNOZEM,
in some areas, e.g. in Puerto Rico. The RENDZINA.

259
 Si V

monadnock

v
monadnock a residual hill, a remnant of the northeast, six months from the south¬
erosion, left standing above the general west. Now generally applied to those and
level ofa denuded plain (peneplain). The some other winds that blow with consider¬
term is derived from the name of a moun¬ able regularity at definite seasons ofthe year
tain of this character in New Hampshire, due to the seasonal reversal ofpressure over
USA. land masses and their neighbouring oceans,
combined with the influence of jet
monetarism the economic theory which
streams. In the typical area of the Indian
asserts that the level of activity of an eco¬
subcontinent and southeast Asia it is the
nomy can be controlled by controlling
seasonal inflowing moist winds that bring
the money supply, keynesianism.
rain, hence the monsoon season is termed

monocline I. (British) a fold-2 in which the rains, and the term monsoon is applied

the bend is in only one direction (i.e. a fold to the rains without reference to the winds.

with one limb, a single bend in horizontal monsoon forest the forest-i of the
beds), the rock stratum, through tension tropical monsoon lands where the annual
in the earth’s crust, changing its dip by rainfall is between 1000 and 2000 mm (40
increasing the steepness of inclination, and and 80 in) and there is a marked dry season.
then levelling out again or resuming its It consists of BROADLEAVED TREES that
original dip. It is termed a monocline be¬ lose their leaves in the hot dry season
cause only one fold, or one half of a fold, is (February to May in the Indian subcon¬
presented instead of the two occurring in tinent and Burma). The trees, mainly
an arch or trough 2. (American) a synonym hardwood, do not grow so closely
forHOMOCLiNE (British usage), i.e. a struc¬ together as those in equatorial forest,
ture of several beds dipping evenly in one and the number of species is low.
direction. Fig 24.
montane adj. of or pertaining to moun¬
monoculture cultivation in which a tain regions, applied particularly to the
single crop predominates and is planted vegetation growing on high land below
successively on the same land, in contrast the TREE LINE.
to a ROTATION OF CROPS.
montane forest the forest-i of the
monopoly 1. the exclusive control of the cool uplands in the zones of tropical and
supply ofa product or service in a particular equatorial climates, mossy forest.
market by a single supplier, who thus
moon 1. a natural satellite of any planet
dominates the market 2. an exclusive right
2. the earth’s only natural satellite, appear¬
to conduct a particular business or provide
ing to move in the celestial sphere, in
a particular service, granted by a ruler,
relation to the stars, from west to east,
government, etc. 3. a commodity-i
responsible with the sun for tidal action
under exclusive, single control 4. a single
on the earth. It revolves round the earth
supplier who has exclusive control, duo¬
in a slightly elliptical orbit, the distance
poly, OLIGOPOLY, PERFECT COMPETI¬
from the earth varying from 348 285 km
TION.
(216420 mi) surface to surface perigee

monsoon (Arabic mausim, season) ori¬ to 398 587 km (247 67ml) apogee. The
ginally applied to the regular winds of the diameter is about one-quarter of that of
Arabian sea, blowing for six months from the earth, its mass 1/81 ofthe earth. It has

260
 mosaic

no atmosphere, no water, and shines by plants, hence cotton grass moor, heather
reflecting light emitted by the sun. It moor, etc.
revolves round the earth every 27 days
mor in soil science, raw humus, low
7 hours 43 minutes 15 seconds (sidereal
in animal life, acidic and crumbly, un¬
month), and one revolution related to the
mixed with and sharply demarcated from
sun on average 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes
the underlying mineral soil, moder,
(lunar or synodic month, i.e. from one
MULL-2,3.
‘new’ moon to the next); the lunar day
is about 24 hours 50 minutes. Because moraine (French) an accumulation of
it rotates on its own axis once in each unstratified (stratified) debris, espe¬
revolution of its orbit (i.e. the period of cially boulders and coarse material, carried
rotation is the same as the period of re¬ down and deposited by a glacier or
volution), the same face is always seen ice sheet. Some of the debris falls from
from the earth. The changes in aspect seen above, from the mountain slopes, on to a
from the earth are due to changes in the glacier (superglacial), some is plucked
relative position of the earth, moon and (plucking, subglacial) from the floor
sun, and are termed phases, the sequence beneath a glacier or ice sheet by ice action.
being: new moon, invisible to faintly vis¬ On the surface ofa valley glacier there
ible, the moon lying between the earth and are usually lateral moraines on each
the sun (conjunction) so that viewed side, and a medial moraine if two valley
from earth it is not illuminated by the sun’s glaciers have joined, englacial moraines
light, although it may reflect a faint glow are those enclosed in the ice. The debris
of light from the earth; the first quarter may be deposited as ground moraine
(quadrature), when the moon has when the ice melts, or as a terminal or
moved through about one-quarter of its end moraine. The term applies both to
orbit round the earth, and appears as a the material and to the feature produced.
semicircle, having ‘grown’ from a cres¬ push moraine, recessional moraine,
cent, bow facing west; gibbous moon, the SUBGLACIAL MORAINE. Fig 20.
phase reached when the moon has passed
morbidity the incidence of disease in a
through another eighth of its orbit, so that
population.
three-quarters of its face as seen from earth
is illuminated by the sun; full moon, when more developed country mdc. under¬
the earth lies between the moon and the development.
sun (opposition) so that viewed from
earth the whole face of the moon is illum¬ morphology the scientific study of the
inated by light from the sun. From new form, structure, origin and development

moon to full moon the moon is said to be of organisms; or of the external structure

waxing; from full moon to new moon it of rocks in relation to form; or of land-

is waning, syzygy, tide. forms or topographic features resulting

from erosion, geomorphology.

moor, moorland open, unenclosed land,

mortality 1. the number of deaths in a
generally elevated, with acid peaty soil,
particular period or place 2. the death-rate
which is not good pasture though used to
(birth-rate), morbidity.
some extent as rough grazing. Differ¬
ent types are distinguished by dominant mosaic 1. in aerial photography, a com-

261
moss

posite photographic representation of an to an elevation exceeding 600 m (2000 ft),

area obtained by joining together indi¬ the term hill being applied to a lower
vidual photographic prints 2. in ecology, elevation; but mountain may be applied
a vegetation pattern in which community to an elevation even under 300 m (1000 ft)
types are interspersed. if it rises sufficiently abruptly from the
surrounding level.
moss i. a class of primitive land plants
distributed throughout the world, grow¬ mountain building orogenesis.
ing on rocks, walls, trees, heaths, damp
ground 2. a term applied to a bog or mountain chain a complex series of
swamp, especially in northern England roughly parallel mountain ranges
and parts of Scotland, dominated by bog (range-2) forming a connected system,
moss (sphagnum); and also to summit 1. e. consisting of more than one mountain
plateaus of the southern Pennines where range, chain.
the moorland is dominated by cotton grass
mountain wind anabatic, fohn,
(.Eriophorum vaginatum) and some Sphag¬
KATABATIC.
num; and to coastal marshes with fen pe at ,

e.g. Solway Moss.

mud 1. an unconsolidated rock of clay
mossy forest forest-i in which the liv¬ and/or silt grades (graded sediments)
ing and dead trees and ground surface with much water, e.g. as commonly
support a strong growth of mosses-i, deposited in estuaries, lakes, lagoons and
occurring particularly on uplands support¬ at depths under the ocean. It may be partly
ing montane forest, e.g. in the humid consolidated in certain geological for¬
cloudy conditions of the windward side of mations to form mudstone, resembling
a high oceanic island in the tropics. a soft shale, but non-plastic, mud flat
2. a manufactured slurry-1 used in the
mother-of-pearl cloud nacreous cloud,
process of sinking bores-2.
a rare, iridescent, usually lenticular

cloud, occurring in the upper layers of mud flat an expanse of fine clay or silt
the stratosphere when atmospheric (graded sediments) deposited by
pressure and temperature are low. flocculation-2 in estuaries and
sheltered coastal areas (e.g. behind a
mottled adj. marked with blotches, with
sand-spit), covered by water at high tide
patches of differing colours, e.g. in a gley
and sometimes colonized by hygrophil-
soil.
ous plants, such as mangrove in tropical
moulin (French, a mill) glacier mill, a areas, various grasses in cooler regions.
steep shaft or vertical circular hole carved HYGROPHYTE.
through the ice of a glacier or ice sheet

by a stream of melt-water as it swirls, laden 'mudflow a moving mass of soil made

with rock debris, down a fissure in the ice. fluid by rain or melting snow, i.e. a mud
avalanche, avalanche, earthflow,
mountain any natural elevation of the MASS MOVEMENT.
earth’s surface with a summit small in pro¬
portion to its base, rising more or less mudstone a general term applied to an
abruptly from the surrounding level. In unlaminated, non-plastic, indurated sedi¬
Britain the term is commonly restricted mentary rock, consisting ofcLAY min-

262
 multiplier effect

erals and other clay-grade constituents. business enterprise which has subsidiary
GRADED SEDIMENTS, INDURATION. companies, branches, offices, factories etc.
in very many countries, and commonly
mud-volcano i. a cone ofmud associated
ranges world-wide, that is controlled from
with escaping gases in the earth’s surface,
headquarters in the country of origin, as
formed when gases, trying to escape
distinct from a transnational corporation
through a stratum of wet clay, whisk the
(TNC) which operates mjusttwo or more
clay to a soft slurry which is ejected at the
countries, and locates any of its functions
surface with hisses and bubbles, though
(including its headquarters) in the most
usually quite cold, to build a cone 2. an
advantageous location.
ejection of hot mud from the volcanic
vent, building a small ephemeral cone. multinational adj. of, pertaining to, or
VOLCANO. consisting of, many nationalities or eth¬

mulga (Australia: aboriginal term) a nic-2 groups. MULTINATIONAL.

scrubby tree or spiny shrub. Acacia aneura,

multiple deprivation a state in which
dominant over large areas of arid Australia,
people (especially a family) who are disad¬
hence the term mulga scrub, brigalow,
vantaged in one respect are also likely
MALLEE, MALLEE SCRUB.
to be disadvantaged in others, e.g. those
mull i. (Scottish, from Gaelic) a promon¬ disadvantaged by poverty and hence a low
tory or headland in Scotland 2. (Swedish) income, are likely to have poor housing,
in soil science, mild humus derived poor health etc. deprivation, poverty
mainly from leaf-mould, occurring as a CYCLE.
surface layer in deciduous forests 3. in
multiple land use the use in common of
soil science, a loose, crumbly humus layer
mixed with the underlying mineral soil, a tract of land for two or more purposes,
one of which is in many cases recreational
occurring where decay is rapid in the pres¬
(recreation), e.g. as in national
ence of a plentiful soil fauna, including
parks in Britain, parallel land use.
especially earthworms, moder, mor.

multiband spectral photography pho¬ multiplier effect the way in which an

tography which makes use of a combina¬ increase or decrease in activity acts as a
tion of selected narrow spectral bands in stimulus to the initial effect of that activity,
the visible light and the near-infra¬ and thereby multiples its effect, e.g. the
red wavelengths to give simultaneously opening of a new factory will give rise to
two or more images of the same area. employment additional to that in the fact¬
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM, REMOTE ory itself by stimulating employment in
SENSING. firms providing goods and services to the
factory, and in the local services and shops
multifinality the end state, one of dissim¬
which meet the needs of those working in
ilarity, achieved by systems founded on
the factory. All this additional employment
similar initial conditions and undergoing
increases purchasing power, which gives
change, equifinality. *
rise to further employment in a wide range
multinational, multinational com¬ of other firms, and so on. Reverse effects
pany/ Corporation (MNC), multi¬ are generated by the closure of a factory,
national enterprise (MNE) a very large resulting in an increase in unemployment.

263
multiracial
V

multiracial adj. of, pertaining to, or con¬ mutation a changing or being changed,
sisting of, people of several ethnic-2 or especially a sudden change in the chro¬
cultural groups, coexisting amicably and mosomes of a cell, the changes in the
cooperatively together, each group having dna of individual genes (gene-mutation)
equal rights and opportunities. being the most common. Mutations
occurring in the gametes (reproductive
multispectral adj. applied in remote
cells) or their precursors can produce an
sensing to a device that makes use of
inherited change in the characteristics of
several wavebands in recording images.
the organisms that develop from them;
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM.
thus mutation is a potent force in
multispectral scanner in remote sens¬ evolution.
ing, a scanning device that operates
simultaneously in various wavebands
mutualism I. broadly, any association of
one organism with another of a different
in recording images, electromagnetic
species 2. symbiosis, pure, but also modi¬
SPECTRUM, LANDSAT, PIXEL.
fied to the extent that neither partner is
multispectral sensing in remote sens¬ vitally important or totally beneficial to
ing, the recording of images by one or the life of the other 3. commensalism
more sensors operating in several wave¬ 4. the concept that mutual dependence is
bands. ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM. an essential, basic factor if social well-being
is to be achieved.
multivariate analysis I. a statistical
analysis of data in which more than one
mutually exclusive categories in stat¬
type of measurement or observation is
istics, two categories characterized by
involved, the number ofvariables being
the fact that an observation may fall in
greater than two 2. in regression
either one of them, but not in both.
analysis, an explanation of variance
in terms of several variables, taking into mycorrhiza the association of a fungus
account not only the relationship of inde¬ with the root of a higher plant. There are
pendent to dependent variables, but two main types: endotrophic, in which
also the interrelationship of independent the vegetative part of the fungus (i.e. the
variables, factor analysis. mycelium) is within the cortex cells of

municipal adj. of, relating to, or carried the root; and ectotrophic, in which the

out by, local self-government, especially mycelium is external, covering the smaller

of a town or city. roots completely. The association is not

always mutually beneficial; but in some
muskeg (Canada: Algonquian origin) an cases it seems to be helpful, or even vital,
undrained basin in subarctic or transition 'to -the host, e.g. mycorrhizal fungus is
forest region in Canada, filled in with peat essential to the growth of seedling pine
and bog moss (sphagnum). There are trees, mutualism-i, mycotrophic.
dense stands of tamarack and black spruce
around the margins, the trees declining in mycotrophic adj. applied to a plant
height towards the centre of the bog. involved in mycorrhiza.
N

nadir i. the lowest point 2. the point on narrow gauge of railway, a gauge less
the celestial sphere directly opposite than 143 cm (4 ft 7 in), railway gauge.
to the zenith 3. in remote sensing, the
narrows a constricted passageway in a
point on the ground vertically underneath
strait, in part of a river, in a valley, or
the centre of the sensor.
in a pass.

NAFTA North American Free Trade

NASA National Aeronautics and Space
Area, a trading union comprising USA,
Administration, the civilian agency con¬
Canada and Mexico.
cerned with the space exploration pro¬
gramme of the USA, established by act of
nala (Indian subcontinent: Urdu-Hindi)
Congress, 1958. landsat.
a dry river bed, or one with an intermittent
stream; commonly anglicized as nullah. nation the largest sociETY-1,2,3 of
ARROYO, NULLAH, WADI. people, generally linked by common
descent, historical, ethnic and possibly lin¬
nanoplankton, nannoplankton the ex¬
guistic ties, having common interests of
tremely small microscopic organisms, both
place and land, and usually recognized as
PHYTOPLANKTON and ZOOPLANKTON,
a separate, political entity. It is sometimes
occurring in bodies of fresh or salt water.
defined as an independent political unit,
Fossil nanoplankton are common in pel¬
but a nation does not necessarily enjoy
agic sediments, diatom, diatom ooze,
statehood (state-2) or political auto¬
PLANKTON.
nomy: it may exist as an historical com¬
munity or be identified by its cultural ties.
nappe (French, a tablecloth) 1. a very
NATION STATE.
large overfold in the earth’s crust, an
overthrust mass of rock in a near hori¬ national a member of a nation.
zontal fold that has moved forward for
many kilometres from its ‘roots’, covering national adj. of or pertaining to a nation.
the formations beneath (as a cloth over a
National Aeronautics and Space
table). It may be either the hanging wall
Administration nasa.
of a low-angled thrust fault or a
recumbent fold in which the reversed national grid 1. on Ordnance Survey
middle limb has been sheared out by great maps in Britain at present, the metric
pressure. As a result of later denudation grid-i based on the transverse Mercator
a piece of nappe may be left isolated as a projection. The axes are 2°W and 49°N,
nappe outlier (German klippe) 2. applied and from their intersection at true
less precisely, especially in France, to origin the false origin is transferred
any overlying sheet of rock, e.g. a lava 400 km W and 100 km N. Drawn on the
flow, equivalent to the German decke. metric system, with 500, 100 and 1 km

265
nationalism

squares, one reference system covers the without compensation. The term expro¬
whole of Britain, the grid lines corres¬ priation is applied to nationalization with¬
ponding with sheet lines 2. a network of out compensation, privatization.
transmission lines linking the main gener¬
national park an extensive area of
ating stations to distribution centres in a
countryside officially designated by gov¬
country or region in order to maintain
ernment in order to protect and conserve
a constant supply (e.g. of electricity, of
its special natural features (scenic beauty,
water) to the consumer. Fig 30.
native flora and fauna, display of geological
Transverse Mercator projection phenomena, etc.) and in some cases its
False origin : 400 km W & 100 km N of
historical associations, for public enjoy¬
true origin : 2°W 49° N
ment and for scientific purposes. The con¬
cept originated with the Yellowstone
National Park, USA, in 1871; and national
parks, varying in type, are now to be found
in most countries, country park, na¬
tional PARKS.

National Parks in Britain (England and

Wales). Ten National Parks (Lake District,
Y orkshire Dales, North Y ork Moors, Peak
District, Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons,
Exmoor, Dartmoor, Cheviots, Pem¬
brokeshire Coast) were designated in 1965
under the National Parks and Access to
the Countryside Act 1949. They are areas
of natural beauty but for the most part the
land is farmed or otherwise used, villages
and other settlements lie within their
boundanes, and normal country life and
their use for recreation continues (mul¬
Fig 30 The national grid of the British Ord¬ tiple land use). Building develop¬
nance Survey ment is controlled. The same Act set up
the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
nationalism i. the devotion to one’s (aonb). honeypot.
nation 2. national aspiration 3. the advo¬
national separatism the aspiration of a
cacy of national unity or independence 4.
nation to form its own independent
the process whereby a nation has been
> sovereign state. Some writers attribute
established as an independent political
the impetus to uneven development.
unit.
nation state a sovereign state most
nationalization the act of putting pri¬
of the members of which constitute a
vately controlled or owned property (e.g.
NATION.
an activity, industry, land) under public
control or ownership, i.e. under the con¬ native 1. a person bom in a given place
trol or ownership of the state, with or or country 2. one of the original inhab-

266
 natural resources

itants of a country 3. a plant or animal tracting the number of deaths from the
originating in an area. number ofbirths.

native adj. 1. applied to metals occurring naturalization 1. the admittance of a

in nature or in a pure state 2. inherent, foreigner to the citizenship of a country

belonging to a person or thing by nature 2. the introduction of an animal or plant

3. belonging to someone by birth, e.g. to a habitat in which it is not native, but

native land 4. of or relating to a native-1 where it can flourish and reproduce.

of a particular place 5. of or belonging to natural landscape the landscape as

a plant or animal originating in an area. unaffected by human activities, i.e. the
physical landscape (including relief and
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organiza¬
natural vegetation) as opposed to
tion, an alliance for mutual defence, the
the cultural landscape. But human
treaty being signed on 4 April 1949 by
activities have been so widespread that
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Ice¬
little ‘natural landscape’ thus defined still
land, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
exists, and it can be said that nearly all
Norway, Portugal, the UK, the USA.
landscape is now cultural; thus it is perhaps
Greece and Turkey were effectively
preferable to refer to the natural and cul¬
admitted in February 1952, the Federal
tural elements in the landscape.
Republic of Germany in May 1965, Spain
1982. Headquarters in Brussels. Warsaw natural region 1. a part of the earth’s
pact. surface characterized by a comparatively
high degree of uniformity of structure,
natural adj. 1. pertaining to, existing in, or
surface form and climate within it 2. a part
formed by nature-i, i.e. not artificial
of the earth’s surface possessing a unity
or supernatural (inexplicable in terms of
based on any significant geographical char¬
the known laws governing the material
acteristics, whether physical, biological or
universe) 2. in chemistry, found in the
human, or any combination of these,
earth’s crust.
in contrast to an area demarcated by a

natural change the net change in the boundary imposed for political or admin¬

total population of an area arising from the istrative purposes, regardless of any geo¬

balance ofbirths and deaths, birth-rate. graphical unity, region-i.

natural resources the wealth supplied

natural gas a mixture of combustible
by nature, available for human use, and
gaseous hydrocarbons and non¬
deemed to be useful, including energy,
hydrocarbons occurring, frequently with
mineral deposits, soil fertility, timber,
petroleum, in the rocks of the earth’s
water power, fish, wildlife and natural
crust, a source of energy, used as a fuel or
scenery etc., the list being indeterminate
as a raw material in the petrochemical
because the assessment of what constitutes
industry. It is transported by pipeline; or
a resource-1,2 is constantly changing.
in liquid form (LNG, liquefied natural
Natural resources are now commonly clas¬
gas) in carriers at a temperature of-i6o°C
sified as: flow (those that are renewable,
(-26o°F). gas.
being always available but open to human
natural increase of population the rate modification in that they may be depleted,
of population growth shown by sub¬ sustained or increased by human activity,

267
natural selection

e.g. amenity landscape, soils, forests); stock managed for the protection and conser¬
(non-renewable, e.g. minerals); and con¬ vation of its animal and plant life and its
tinuous (always available and independent physical features.
of human action, e.g. solar and tidal
nautical mile knot, mile.
energy), alternative technology,
CONSERVATION, RESOURCE MANAGE¬ naze, nose, ness, nore a headland or
MENT. promontory, ness.

natural selection the mechanism of neap tide a tide in which the difference
evolutionary change suggested by between high water and low water
Charles Darwin in his theory of evolu¬ is small, the high tide being lower and the
tion (evolution-2) and also by the Eng¬ low tide being higher than usual (tidal
lish naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace, range). It occurs twice a month, about
1823-1913 (Wallace’s line), i.e. that the time of the first and last quarters of the
of the many variant offspring produced moon, when the earth, sun and moon he at
by a generation of organisms only those
right angles to each other (quadr ature),
most fitted to their environmental condi¬
with the effect that the gravitational pull
tions will survive and breed, transmitting
ofthe sun opposes that of the moon instead
their advantageous characteristics to their
of reinforcing it. moon, spring tide,
offspring, the weaker, less well adapted SUN.
variants failing in competition with them,
and thus not perpetuating their disadvant¬ Near East east-2 of western Europe, a
ageous characteristics. term formerly applied to the territory of
the Ottoman Empire in the eastern Medi¬
natural vegetation the plant-association
terranean region and to the Balkan states,
which is primarily due to nature rather
or to Palestine and the adjacent lands facing
than to human activity. But little of the
the Mediterranean, a term now usually
world’s vegetation is entirely unmodified
superseded by middle east.
by human activities, which include the
burning of plant cover, the introduction nearest-neighbour analysis a statistical
of alien species (e.g. rabbits), or the grazing technique used to describe a point pattern,
of livestock. Thus a large part of the involving measuring the distance between
so-called natural vegetation is at best only each point and one or more of its neigh¬
semi-natural. The term is therefore bours. The observed point pattern is then
now usually applied to all vegetation not compared with a theoretical random pat¬
deliberately managed or controlled in tern, which allows the non-randomness
farming activities, i.e. it includes the ‘nat¬ ofthe observed point pattern to be judged.
ural’ as well as the ‘semi-natural’, suc¬ The average ofthe distances between each
cession-2. observed point and its nearest neighbour
is divided by the expected random spacing,
nature 1. the physical universe, including
to give the statistic Rn, with values varying
the laws and forces ruling changes within
(not in linear progression) from o, indicat¬
it, excluding objects made by human
ing maximum clustering, through 1 (ran¬
beings 2. the essential, fundamental
dom distribution) to 2.15, indicating
character of something or someone.
that all points are uniformly distributed
nature reserve an area of land or water throughout the area. Problems arise over

268
 neoclassical economic theory

the spacing, shape and size of areas. It neighbourhood a small district inhabited
is always important to be consistent in by people, in which there are close, every¬
defining the area to be analysed in com¬ day social contacts and within which the
parative studies, and in some cases it may individual feels secure, ‘at home’, i.e. the
be necessary to measure not only the prox¬ home territory. The boundaries are inde¬
imity of the nearest neighbour to each terminate and more readily discernible by
observation but also the distance to the those outside than by those inside the
second, third, or nth nearest neighbour. district.
For example, if observations occur in
neighbourhood effect 1. the influence
widely scattered pairs over the specified
of the local residential area on the decisions
area, measurement of the distance to the
and behaviour of a person living in it. 2.
second nearest neighbour will be needed.
the effect of proximity in the diffusion-i
The technique was originally used by bot¬
ofiNNOVATiON,new adopters being most
anists, and later applied to the study of
likely to be near to existing users, the
geographical problems.
likelihood of adoption of innovation de¬
nebula a cloud of gas and/or dust, lumin¬ creasing with increased distance.
ous in many cases, occurring in the inter¬
neighbourhood unit in town planning,
stellar medium of a galaxy.
a physical and social unit within a large
neck I. of land, isthmus or promontory, town, the unit being self-contained in the
a narrow stretch of land with water on sense of having its local shops (selling par¬
each side 2. a narrow stretch of woodland ticularly convenience goods), bank¬
or of ice 3. a high level pass, especially the ing, postal and other service facilities and
narrowest part, volcanic neck. social amenities, but depending on the
main centre of the town for other than
negative area a term sometimes used to
daily needs. A neighbourhood unit may
suggest a range of environmental factors
arise naturally from the absorption of a
which render an area unfit for human
village within an expanding town.
habitation, i.e. anecumene as opposed
tO ECUMENE. nekton, necton a collective term for an¬
negative movement of sea level, the imals that live at various depths in the

lowering of the sea level in relation to the ocean or in lakes, i.e. in the pelagic
zone, and swim actively, in contrast to
land caused by 1. a global lowenng of
ocean level (eustatism); or 2. a local plankton which float, and benthos

vertical movement such as warping, which live on the bottom.

tilting or isostatic recovery (isostasy) nematoda a phylum (classification

of the land, knickpoint, positive
of organisms) of unsegmented worms,
movement of sea level, rejuvenation.
some free-living in soil, water and other

negentropy a measure of order or organ¬ liquids, many being parasites of animals

ization in a SYSTEM-1,2,3, entropy. and plants (e.g. hookworm in human be¬
* ings, eelworm in root crops), and import¬
nehrung (German) a long sandspit separ¬ ant as decomposing agents in humus.
ating a haff or lagoon from the sea,
DECOMPOSITION-I.
common along the south coast of the Baltic
sea. lido. neoclassical economic theory a body of

269
neoclassical theory of regional development

economic theory introduced in the latter matically adjust to changes and always tend
part of the nineteenth century (e.g. by to move towards equilibrium at a price
W. S. Jevons) and forming the dominant which balances supply and demand. Thus
economic analysis used (usually with neoclassical economics focuses on indi¬
modifications) in capitalist societies today vidual decisions and the aggregates of those
(market economy). Outlined briefly, in decisions, generally ignoring social costs
general it accepts classical economic and benefits, and concentrating on the
theory (apart from Ricardo’s labour analysis of cost, profit, revenue and utility.
theory of value), but refines and ex¬
neoclassical theory of regional devel¬
tends it. For example, neoclassical eco¬
opment the theory that imbalance in
nomic theory, related to a free-enter¬
growth and well-being between regions
prise, capitalist system (capitalism-i), is
or between cities is temporary and will be
founded on the idea that the maximization
resolved eventually by the effect of market
of profit-2 and utility by a large
forces alone. It assumes perfect price
number of small producers and consumers
flexibility, and perfect mobility of labour
who do not have power to influence to any
and capital.
great extent the operation of the market
in which they act (perfect competition) neo-colonialism, neocolonialism i.
benefits the entire community. It assumes the situation in which a foreign power
that the whole economic system is regu¬ intervenes in the economic, and some¬
lated by the interaction of supply and times the political, affairs of another
demand in the market place. Business country, in some cases to the resentment
decisions are made primarily on the basis and annoyance of some nationals of that
of consideration of production processes country. The intervention does not neces¬
to be used and the scale of output, not of sarily stem from a former colonial relation¬
the location of plant. Business buys or ship 2. the transfer of power from external
hires land, labour and capital (factors colonial control to internal control accom¬
of production) and uses them in pro¬ panied by the preservation of the trade and
duction processes in a way designed to investment (sometimes also of military,
maximize profits. The prices of pro¬ fiscal and political) relations existing be¬
duction factors and of the finished goods fore independence was gained from the
sold are beyond the control of business. dominant, external colonial power, col¬
The public offers for sale (to business) onialism.
labour, land, capital goods; and the inter¬
neolith (Greek, new stone) a polished
action of supply and demand for these
stone tool of the last period of the stone
determines prices paid as wages, rent,
age.
interest (i.e. the distribution of income).
The public uses income to buy goods and Neolithic adj. of or pertaining to the last
services chosen to maximize personal satis¬ period of the stone age (succeeding the
faction or utility; and this all-powerful palaeolithic and the mesolithic)
consumer demand, interacting with the from about 6000 to 3000 bc in Europe
costs at which business can supply goods, and western Asia, when neoliths came
determines the prices of those goods and into use as well as implements of polished
services. The theory also assumes that bone and horn, animals came to be
markets are self-regulating, that they auto- domesticated, crops cultivated, weaving

270
 neutrality

undertaken, and the wheel used. The long in some way, e.g. an information network
barrows and megaliths of Britain 4. a chain of radio or television stations

are associated with this cultural period. etc. GRAPH-2, INTERNET, NETWORK
BRONZE AGE. CONNECTIVITY, NETWORK DENSITY,
NETWORK SOCIETY, TOPOLOGICAL
neritic adj. associated with shallow water,
DIAGRAM.
especially with shallow coastal water.
OCEANIC. network connectivity the extent to
which movement is possible between
neritic province, neritic zone one of
different parts of a network-2,3 and, if
the zones of the aquatic environment
movement occurs, the extent to which it
based on depth ofwater, variously defined,
is direct. Directness is expressed as the ratio
but commonly applied to the littoral
between route distance and geodetic
and sublittoral marine zones between
distance (a ratio termed the route fac¬
low water mark and depths of 180 to
tor, or index of circuity). Fig 31. alpha
365 m (100 to 200 fathoms: 590 to 1200 ft),
INDEX, BETA INDEX.
or the edge of the continental shelf.
PELAGIC.
network density the length of links,
ness (Scotland and eastern England, also routes, edges (graph-2) of a
naze, nore, nose) a headland or cape, a NETWORK-2,3,4 per unit area.
spur of a mountain ridge; used especially
network society a phenomenon of the
in place-names, apparently where Scan¬
POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, in which
dinavian influence was strong.
individuals anywhere in the world who
nesting the enclosing of objects by a suc¬ have access to the appropriate technology
cession of similar, ever-larger ones, e.g. can communicate with each other, with
in central place theory, the pattern institutions and with information services,
displayed when low order trade areas he transcending time, space, national, eco¬
within the boundaries of high order trade nomic and social boundaries, global¬
areas. ization, INTERNET.

net NETWORK.
neutrality 1. the quality or state of not
net primary production in ecology, taking the side of or assisting either of two
PRIMARY PRODUCTION. opposing sides in a dispute, controversy,
war etc. 2. the quality or state of having
net radiation a measure of the differ¬
no distinctive colour or other quality 3.
ence between incoming and outgoing
in chemistry, the state of being neither
RADIATION.
alkaline nor acid (pH) 4. in inter¬
network 1. the actual structure that forms national law, the status of a state (or a
a net, i.e. the knotted yarn of a fishing net, nation) which has a declared policy
or the veins of a leaf etc. 2. any set of of nonparticipation. The state may have
interlinking lines (links o reroutes) that cross adopted this policy of neutrality from
or meet one another (at nodes, junctions, choice (e.g. Sweden, Switzerland in the
terminals) in the manner of those in a Second World War); or it may be imposed
net, e.g. a railway network, a grid-3 3. a on the state by others (e.g. Austria, follow¬
system with its unit members interlinked ing the Second World War).

271
neutral stability

(a) 3 branching network, with only one route between two places

(b) a circuit network, with more than one route between at least two places

Fig 31 Examples of networks

neutral stability, indifferent equilib¬ radiation at night, partly by the cooling of

rium the state of a parcel of air in bal¬ air on contact with ice and snow, kata¬
ance with its surroundings, i.e. when a batic.
saturated parcel has an environmental
neve, neve (French) glaciologists prefer
lapse rate equal to the saturated
the term firn . The correct spelling is neve.
adiabatic lapse rate or when an un¬
saturated parcel has an environmental newly industrializing country/eco¬
lapse rate equal to the dry adiabatic nomy nic/nie.
LAPSE RATE.
New Red Sandstone the red sand¬
nevados (Ecuador: Spanish) a cold wind stone deposited in the Permian and Tri-
blowing regularly down the valleys of the assic periods (geological timescale)
high Andes in Ecuador, caused partly by in Europe, old red sandstone.

272
 nitrification

newton n, the unit of force in the si haphazard layout of small medieval

system, defined as the force needed to settlements).
accelerate a mass of i kg by i m per second
New World a term commonly applied
per second, i newton = io5 dynes, io n —
to the continents of North and South
i bar; i n per square m = 1.4504 x io4 lb
America and the Caribbean islands, the
per sq in; 1 lb per sq in = 6894.8 n per
western hemisphere.
square m.
NGO non-governmental organization,
New Town, new town a town desig¬ a voluntary body, usually with interna¬
nated in Britain under the New Towns tional membership, recognized officially
Act 1946, planned as a well-balanced, self- by United Nations, so that it may give
contained unit to include housing, evidence, act as consultant, and attend
employment, educational facilities, social meetings of UN committees.
amenities etc. pnmarily to relieve popu¬
NIC new industrializing country, aic,
lation pressure in overcrowded cities
INDUSTRIALIZATION, LDC, NIE, UNDER¬
and conurbations. In practice these
DEVELOPMENT.
New Towns have tended to become major
urban centres, growth centres, pro¬ niche 1. in ecology, the specific part of a
viding employment, shopping facilities habitat occupied by an organism, where
and other services for people living outside it can exist and develop, range-7 2. the
the designated area of the town. The term role played by an organism in the eco¬
new town (without initial capital letters) system 3. in geology, a small recess or
is sometimes more generally applied to shelf in a rock face.
planned, self-contained towns in Britain
niche glacier a small cirque glacier,
and elsewhere, which (like the New
lying in a funnel-shaped hollow high on
Towns) have not evolved slowly but start
a steep mountain slope. Alternative terms
life in a mature state, being built specific¬
are cascade glacier, cliff glacier, wall-sided
ally for a particular purpose, e.g. to bring
glacier.
to life a hitherto sparsely-settled, stagnant
region by acting as a development centre; nickpoint knickpoint.
for political considerations, to form a new
administrative centre (e.g. Brasilia, Can¬ NIE newly industrializing economy, n 1 c.
berra); for research and scientific purposes night the time during which the sun is
to act as a centre for those engaged in below the horizon, the opposite of day.
research and development in a particular
field of study (the ‘academic’ towns of the nimbostratus a low, thick, dark grey mass
former USSR); or to cater for tourists. of cloud from which continuous rain
Such planned towns are not recent phe¬ or snow usually falls. It is commonly as¬
nomena: many small examples were built sociated with the warm front of a
in western Europe between the twelfth depression-3, having thickened from

and fourteenth centuries (e.g. the bas- ALTOSTRATUS.

*

tides in southern France); most were

nimbus cloud, cloud forms.
defended by a wall, ditch, occasionally by
a castle; most had a rectilinear street pattern nitrification the process by which
centred on a market square (unlike the aerobic soil bacteria convert organic

273
nitrogen

compounds of nitrogen (which cannot bacteria living in the soil. Some of these
be absorbed by green plants) into nitrates bacteria live independently in the soil,
(which can be absorbed by green plants). others symbiotically (symbiosis) with
DENITRIFICATION, NITROGEN CYCLE. leguminous plants (leguminosae) in
nodules-2 on their roots, absorbing
nitrogen a colourless, odourless gaseous atmospheric nitrogen and from it forming
element-6, the main constituent (some
organic nitrogenous compounds which
78 per cent by volume) of the atmo-
enrich the soil, nitrogen cycle 2. the
sphere-i , an essential constituent oflivmg
industrial conversion of atmospheric
organisms, an essential macronutrient
nitrogen into useful compounds (e.g.
for plants. Atmospheric nitrogen is the
ammonia and ammonium compounds)
mam raw material used in the manufacture
used in fertilizer, explosives.
of fertilizers, nitric acid and ammonia; and
naturally occurring potassium nitrate (salt¬ nivation 1. a general term for the effects
petre) is used as fertilizer, acid rain, produced by snow and neve (firn) in
NITROGEN CYCLE, NITROGEN FIXATION. the weathenng and sculpture of rocks in
contrast to those produced by glacier ice
nitrogen cycle the circulation of nitro¬ 2. the rotting and disintegration of rocks
gen atoms through ecosystems brought underlying and round the edges of a patch
about by natural processes in which living of snow lying in a hollow (nivation hollow
organisms play the major part. Inorganic or nivation niche) brought about by
nitrogen compounds (nitrates) are con¬ FREEZE-THAW and CHEMICAL WEATH¬
verted into organic nitrogen compounds ERING (sometimes termed snow patch
by autotrophic plants which either die, erosion). This enlarging of the hollow
decay or are eaten by animals. These may lead to the formation of a cirque
organic nitrogen compounds then pass, (nivation cirque).
through the excreta or by the death and
decay of the animals or plants, to the soil noble metal a metal resistant to oxi¬
or water, where they are converted back dation or corrosion, i.e. gold and

to inorganic nitrogen compounds by nitri¬ PLATINUM.

fying bacteria (nitrification), again be¬
noctilucent cloud a luminous blue-silver
coming a necessary nutnent for green
cloud occurring mainly in midlatitudes
plants. But some of the atmospheric nitro¬
and high latitudes in the stratosphere,
gen is processed by nitrogen-fixing bac¬
thought to consist of ice crystals or
teria and blue-green algae (nitrogen
METEORIC DUST.
fixation) to form organic nitrogen com¬
pounds; and some nitrogen passes to the nocturnal adj. of or relating to night; in
atmosphere by means of denitrifying bac¬ zoology, active mainly at night.
teria (denitrification) which convert
nodal adj. of, like, or situated at a node
some of the nitrates to atmospheric nitro¬
or nodes.
gen. LEGUMINOSAE. Fig 32.
node 1. a central point in any system or
nitrogen fixation 1. the process by which
complex. 2. in a network-2,3, the point
atmospheric nitrogen is converted into
at which routes (edges, links) meet.
organic nitrogen compounds by some
blue-green algae and by nitrogen-fixing nodule 1, a small rounded mass, e.g. a

274
Fig 32 The nitrogen cycle
nomadism

discrete rounded concretion of minerals meets needs within that city or urban area,
in a sedimentary rock 2. a root nodule, resulting in an internal exchange of rev¬
such as a mass on the root of a leguminous enue. It is sometimes termed ‘second¬
plant (leguminosae). ary’ basic industry in contrast with the
‘primary’ basic industry (basic activ¬
nomadism a type of human life style,
ity). BASIC-NON-BASIC RATIO, ECO¬
now rare, based essentially on constant
NOMIC BASE THEORY, URBAN ECO¬
movement in search of sustenance, espe¬
NOMIC BASE.
cially for grazing animals. Most nomads
wander within defined areas, often using non-governmental organization
regular routes. The term semi-nomadism NGO.
is sometimes applied to the life style of
non-hydraulic civilization hy¬
nomads who use fixed quarters in the wet
draulic CIVILIZATION.
season but migrate in the dry season to
find pasture. nonnull hypothesis I. in general, an
hypothesis alternative to the one under
nominal scale in statistics, a system of
test, i.e. to the null hypothesis-i 2. an
categorization, and the simplest form of
hypothesis under test where the effect is
measurement. It has a low level of differ¬
not equal to zero (null hypothesis-2).
entiation, the observations being put into
convenient, mutually exclusive and nonparametric test a statistical test
exhaustive classes according to a particular which does not need an estimate of a
attribute, without any particular order or population parameter or, generally,
preference, bar graph, categorical any assumptions as to the distribution of
DATA ANALYSIS, MEASUREMENT-2. the scores, distribution-4, para¬

nominal variable a variable, some¬ metric TEST.

times termed an attribute, which may be

non-renewable resources any of the
placed only on a nominal scale.
natural resources classified as stock,
nomothetic approach a law-seeking assessed to be finite and which, once used,
approach, concerned with the search for could be replaced only after a considerable
general laws or theories, not with particu¬ span of geological time, e.g. fossil fuels,
lar cases or situations (in contrast to the MINERALS.
idiographic approach). The method
Norfolk rotation a four-year crop rota¬
used can be either deductive or inductive.
tion (rotation of crops) originating
DEDUCTION, INDUCTION.
in East Anglia in eastern England in the
nonaligned adj. applied to a nation state eighteenth century, comprising wheat
that does not support the policies of either ' (which needs much nitrogen), a root crop,
of two opposed groups of powers (e.g. barley, and a leguminous crop (legum¬
historically, of nato or of the Warsaw inosae) which replenishes the nitrogen
pact countries), neutrality. in the soil.

non-basic activity, non-basic func¬ norm 1. that which is usual, expected, av¬
tion, non-basic industry in urban erage, conforming to an accepted standard,
development, a manufactunng or service measure or pattern. The adj. is normal
activity within a city or urban area which 2. a standard or ideal to which people think

276
 norther

behaviour ought to conform or which is norm-2, thus concerned with rules,

laid down by a legislating authority, adj. regulations, proposals 2. establishing a
NORMATIVE. NORM-2.

normal i. the usual or average state, level normative approach an approach which
etc. 2. in mathematics, a line drawn at concentrates on what ought to occur in
right angles to the tangent line at a point certain circumstances rather than on what
on a curve. actually occurs.

normal adj. i. standard, regular, con¬ normative explanation explanation

forming to a norm-i 2. in mathematics, based on the assumption that the norm-2
forming a right angle 3. approximating to rules behaviour, and from that deducing
an average or statistical norm-i. spatial consequences.

normal distribution normal probability norte (Mexico and Central America:

distribution, in statistics, a continuous Spanish) 1. a cold northerly winter wind,
FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION of infinite sometimes strong, blowing in Mexico and
range, represented on a graph by a sym¬ Central America especially over the coast
metrical curve (frequency curve) lands (a continuation of the norther),
shaped like a bell, and termed a normal causing a sudden, often great, drop in tem¬
curve, most of the values being grouped perature 2. applied by some authors to
around the mean, with a generally regular a similar wind blowing in eastern Spain
fall in the numbers of values away from during winter, papagayo.
the mean as distance increases in both
directions. The normal distribution is
north 1. one of the four cardinal
points of the compass, directly opposite
important in probability theory, and
the south, lying on the left side of a person
is used to estimate the closeness of the re¬
facing due east 2. towards or facing the
sults of a sample to the true figure of the
north, the northern part, especially of a
population-4.
country, brandt report.
normal fault a fault caused by tension
in which the inclination of the fault north adj. of, pertaining to, belonging
plane is at an angle of between 450 and to, situated towards, coming from, the

the vertical and the direction of the north, e.g. of winds blowing from the

downthrow is the same, i.e. the beds north.

abutting the fault of its upper face (hang¬ North American Free Trade Area
ing wall) are displaced downwards
NAFTA.
relative to those against the lower face
(footwall). This is not, as the use of North Atlantic Treaty Organization
‘normal’ might imply, the most usual, the NATO.
most common type of fault. Fig 22.
northeast trades trade wind.
normal watershed a watershed in a
norther a cold, northerly winter wind,
mountainous region which runs along the
blowing in the rear of a depression-3
crest of the highest range of a mountain
over the southern USA, especially Texas
chain, anomalous watershed.
and the Gulf of Mexico, sometimes viol¬
normative adj. 1. of or relating to a ent, in some parts dry' and dusty, in others

277
northern hemisphere

accompanied by thunderstorms and hail, ENERGY, NUCLEAR FUSION, NUCLEAR

bringing a sudden great fall in temperature REACTOR.

that devastates fruit crops, norte, papa-

nuclear fusion the combination of light
GAYO.
atomic nuclei to form heavier ones under
northern hemisphere the half of the very high temperatures and pressure, the
earth north of the equator. loss of mass occurring in the process releas¬
ing a great amount of energy as radi¬
Northern Lights aurora.
ation, e.g. as in a hydrogen bomb.
northing I. the second part of a grid NUCLEAR ENERGY, NUCLEAR FISSION.

reference (grid-i), i.e. the distance north

nuclear reactor the equipment in which
on a map as measured from a point fixed
nuclear fission is initiated, carried out
in its southwest comer, easting 2. naut¬
and controlled.
ical, a sailing northwards, or the distance
so travelled since the last reckoning point. nuclear winter a climatic anomaly which
it is thought might occur if sufficient nuc¬
north magnetic pole magnetic pole.
lear explosions on earth created enough
North Pole the geographical North Pole, dust in the atmosphere-i to cut off the
the northern extremity of the earth’s axis. sun’s radiation (solar radiation) from
MAGNETIC NORTH, MAGNETIC POLE, the earth’s surface. Severe wintry con¬
POLE, TRUE NORTH. ditions would eventually prevail, with
catastrophic effects on ecosystems.
North-South brandt report.
nucleated settlement a rural settlement
northwester, nor’wester a strong wind
comprising I. a cluster of dwellings, in
or gale blowing from the northwest, e.g.
contrast with a dispersed settlement
in South Island, New Zealand, where it
2. a cluster of dwellings with an organ¬
is a FOHN-type wind (hot and dry).
izational centre.
nosology (Greek nosos, disease) a scien¬
nuee ardente (French) a dense mass of
tific or systematic classification of diseases.
exceedingly hot, gas-charged and gas-
nuclear energy the energy released by emitting fragmental lava, with particles
the fission or fusion of atomic nuclei, a very separated by compressed gas, usually
important power source, electricity, incandescent but sometimes dark, emitted
NUCLEAR FISSION, NUCLEAR FUSION. from some volcanic eruptions, and rolling
downwards at high speed in explosive,
nuclear family a family-i unit com¬
devastating blasts, e.g. the town of
prising husband, wife and children.
St Pierre, Martinique, was destroyed by
EXTENDED FAMILY.
such phenomena in 1902 when Mount
nuclear fission the act or process of split¬ Pelee erupted (pelean).
ting an atomic nucleus into smaller nuclei.
nugget a small lump of a native precious
It is usually achieved by the bombardment
metal, especially of gold.
of the large nucleus with high energy par¬
ticles, which releases a great amount of nullah (Anglo-Indian corruption of nala)
energy, available for industrial or scientific 1. the dry bed of an intermittent stream
purposes, or for a war weapon, nuclear 2. in Hong Kong, an artificial water

278
 nutnent

supply channel or a drainage channel, covered. All hypotheses to be tested

constructed of concrete (presumably so- statistically are stated in this form. A null
named because either channel may be hypothesis rejected on the grounds that a
periodically dry). difference or correlation does exist pro¬
vides evidence of an alternative hypo¬
null hypothesis I. in general, an thesis. STATISTICAL TEST.
hypothesis under test, as distinct from
nunatak, nunataq (Inuit; Swedish pi.
alternative hypotheses that are under con¬
nunatakker) an island of rock or a moun¬
sideration. NONNULL HYPOTHESIS 2. an
tain peak rising above a glacier or land ice.
hypothesis about to be tested statistically
which states that no difference between nutrient a substance that serves as a food, a
the groups being tested or that no relation¬ term applied especially to such a substance
ships between the variables will be dis¬ used by a plant.
o
OAS Organization of American States, lands. Oats existed in Europe in the
a group of American nation states, the bronze age. They grow under con¬
members ofwhich on 3 o April 1948 signed ditions similar to those needed by barley

the Charter of the Organization of Amer¬ and wheat, but need less heat and more
ican States, aiming to achieve an order moisture. Oats are fed to livestock as gram,
of peace and justice, promote American processed pellets, hay, or in green stage;
solidarity, strengthen collaboration among the grain is used for human food (oatmeal,
the member states and defend their sover¬ rolled oats). Oat flour is an antioxidant,
eignty, territorial integrity and inde¬ used as a preservative in the preparation
pendence. The aims were extended on of some foods (e.g. some margarines).
14 April 1967: to promote Latin Amer¬
OAU Organization of African Unity, an
ican economic integration and foreign
organization founded by 30 African coun¬
trade, to raise agricultural productivity and
tries in May 1963 to which all independent
living standards, and to expand other so¬
African nation states now belong, aiming
cial development programmes. The mem¬
to advance the unity and solidarity of Af¬
ber countries are Argentina, Barbados,
rican countries, to coordinate political,
Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa
economic, cultural, health, scientific and
Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
defence policies, and to eliminate colo¬
El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti,
nialism.
Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Trini¬ objective adj. 1. not influenced by
dad and Tobago, USA, Uruguay, Ven¬ personal feelings 2. having a real
ezuela. existence external to an observer, or

oasis 1. an area in a hot desert where the pertaining to an object or event inde¬

presence of water at a suitable level permits pendent of the feelings or imagination of

sustained plant growth. Such oases vary in an observer, humanistic geography,

SUBJECTIVE.
extent from a very small area supporting
a few palm trees (typical of the Sahara) to
oblate adj. of a spheroid, flattened at the
a tract of hundreds of square kilometres
poles. EARTH-1, GEOID.
supporting a large settled agricultural
population (e.g. those near the rivers Nile oblique fault a fault in which the
and Euphrates) 2. a patch of ice-free land strike lies at an oblique angle to the strike
in an icebound landscape. of the bed it traverses.

oat, oats (pi. is common use) Avena sativa, obsequent fault-line scarp a fault¬

a cultivated grass, and one of the main line scarp which has ‘turned around’ so
cereal-1 crops of temperate regions, that it is now facing in the reverse direction
absent from Mediterranean and tropical to that produced by the initial earth move-

280
 oceanic climate

ment. It occurs when prolonged denuda¬

tion takes away the resistant strata from
the higher side of the fault-line scarp to
expose the underlying less resistant strata;
in comparison with this the strata on the
downthrow side may be more resistant,
so that it persists (as the surface is generally
lowered) along the line of the original fault
but facing in the opposite direction to that
of the original fault-line scarp, resequent
FAULT-LINE SCARP.

obsequent stream, obsequent river,

obsequent drainage a natural water
flow, a stream, or a river that flows in
the direction opposite to that of the
dip of the rock strata. An obsequent
Fig 33 An occlusion: section and plan
stream flows in an obsequent valley.
CONSEQUENT STREAM, SUBSEQUENT
STREAM. Fig 42. which some would add the Southern or
Antarctic south of 50°S. Sometimes the
Occident, the originally Europe as
Atlantic and the Pacific are divided into
opposed to Asia (the orient). Now
North and South, the equator forming the
extended to those parts of the world
conventional limit between the North and
peopled by Europeans or by those of
South Atlantic and the North and South
European descent, orientalism.
Pacific. In the South Pacific the ocean
occlusion, occluded front an atmo¬ extends to within 490 km (305 mi) of
spheric phenomenon occurring when the South Pole at the snout of the Scott
an advancing cold front overtakes a Glacier.
warm front, thereby raising the warm
ocean current current-3. Fig 34.
sector of the depression and cutting it
off (occluding it) from the earth’s surface, ocean floor all the bed of the ocean be¬
to form an occluded front, reduced at the low low water mark.
earth’s surface to a line, termed the line of
ocean floor spreading, sea floor
the occlusion. The cold air continues to
spreading oceanic ridge, plate
advance and meets the cold air ahead of
TECTONICS.
the warm front. If the overtaking cold air
is colder than this cold air ahead, it forms oceanic adj. I. of, pertaining to, or occur¬
a cold occlusion; ifit is not so cold, a warm ring in, the ocean 2. associated with the
occlusion; if there is very little difference, deep sea as opposed to neritic.
a neutral occlusion. Fig 33.
oceanic basin the great depression occu¬
ocean 1. the body of salt water which
pied by an ocean-2 but excluding the
covers 70.78 per cent of the earth’s surface
CONTINENTAL SHELF.
2. one of the main areas of the whole, i.e.
the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, to oceanic climate a climate that is equable

281
oceanic crust

Fig 34 The ocean currents of the world in January

owing to the moderating influence of sur¬ boundary between it and the neritic

rounding waters, i.e. with a moderate province.

range of temperature in summer and win¬

ter. CONTINENTAL CLIMATE, INSULAR oceanic ridge a mid-ocean ridge, broadly

CLIMATE, MARITIME CLIMATE. the symmetrical ridge formed on the
OCEAN floor where, according to the
oceanic crust that part of the crust of the theory of plate tectonics, lithospheric
earth which lies under the floor of the plates drift apart (ocean floor spreading,
OCEAN BASINS. PLATE TECTONICS. sea floor spreading), the edges of the plates
lift to form the ridge and hot magma

oceanic island an island in the ocean, far surges through the weakened crust, cool¬
away from any continent, as opposed to a ing quickly to make new oceanic crust,

CONTINENTAL ISLAND. each plate being enlarged by an identical

amount, the boundary between them be¬
oceanic mud the bathyal deposits on ing termed constructive. Not all oceanic
the continental slope consisting of ridges are now active. Studies in the
Blue, Coral, Green and Red Muds derived palaeomagnetism of rocks on each side
from clay particles eroded from the land, of the ridge show that the pattern of the
which are larger than those of the ooze direction of magnetism fossilized in the
of the ocean floor. rocks is exactly the same on each side of
the ndge, i.e. on the margin of each plate,
oceanic province the part of the the youngest rocks (the outcome of the
PELAGIC DIVISION, PELAGIC ZONE most recent outpouring of magma) being
constituting the deep sea, the edge of nearest to the crest of the ridge. Reversals
the continental shelf forming the in the direction of the earth’s magnetic

282
 offshore

field have been recorded, and by checking aims of furthering economic, cultural and
the magnetic pattern of the rocks against social cooperation among the members,
this timetable the spreading of the ocean i.e. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and
floor, and thus of plate movements, can Nicaragua, joined by Costa Rica in 1962.
be calculated. The evidence provided by Of the Central American countries only
mid-ocean ridges thus strongly supports Panama has not joined.
the theory of plate tectonics, magnetic
OECD Organization for Economic Co¬
ANOMALY.
operation and Development. In 1961 the

oceanic trench, ocean trench in the oeec (Organization for European Eco¬
theory ofPLATE tectonics, asubduction nomic Cooperation) which had existed

zone, a long narrow depression in the since 1947 gave place to OECD, head¬
ocean floor (trench-i) where, as litho¬ quarters in Paris. The members, Australia,
spheric plates converge under the ocean, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the
one dives under the other, the edge of then Federal Republic of Germany,
the descending plate going steeply and Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Irish
deeply into the mantle where it is Republic, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the
absorbed (benioff zone). Friction arising Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
from the grinding together of the two Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
plates leads to earthquakes. The sedi¬ Turkey, UK, USA (Yugoslavia, with
mentary rocks of the diving plate are special status, took part in activities), aim
scraped off, the rocks of the oceanic to develop each other’s economic growth
crust descend into the mantle, but not and social welfare, coordinate policies, and
so deeply as does the plate: they are less work together in helping developing
dense than the rocks of the mantle and, countries.
deformed by heat, they rise, molten, to
OEEC Organization for European Eco¬
the ocean floor, where they erupt as lava
nomic Cooperation, an organization
and combine with the scraped-off sedi¬
established in 1947 — 8 by sixteen Euro¬
ments to form an island arc, an arc of
pean countries with the aim of assisting
volcanic islands near the weakened margin
in the distribution and administration of
of the overriding plate, e.g. the Aleutian
resources sent to Europe under the mar¬
and the Japanese islands, andesite, col¬
shall plan, and of coordinating their
lision zone.
economic activities. It was superseded in
1961 by the oecd.
OD, Ordnance Datum the mean sea-
level at Newlyn, Cornwall, calculated office park, business park a tract of
from hourly observation of the tide in the land, in some cases park-like in character
period 1915 to 1921, from which heights (park-2), with good transport facilities
shown on British maps are measured. and communications, planned and in some
BENCH MARK. cases officially designated for groups of
modern office buildings, industrial
ODECA Orgamzaciom de los Estados
PARK, PARK-6, RESEARCH AND SCIENCE
Centroamericanos (Organization of Cen¬
PARK.
tral American States), Central American
Common Market (CACM), an organiz¬ offshore adj. applied to 1. movement
ation set up in December i960 with the away from the shore towards the sea 2.

283
offshore bar

located at a point or in an area relatively oilfield an area containing one or more

near to the shore, e.g. offshore island, off¬ subterranean pools of petroleum (oil-

shore fishing zone 3. the zone to seaward pool) associated with one geological phe¬
of the foreshore and the backshore. nomenon, a term applied especially when
the petroleum is being exploited.
offshore bar bar.
oil palm a tree native to western tropical
O horizons organic horizons, one of the Africa, now cultivated there and elsewhere
two major classes of soil horizon used by in tropical Africa and in similar climatic
some soil scientists in their soil classi¬ conditions in Asia (e.g. Malaysia, Indo¬
fication, the other class being the min¬ nesia), the largest producer of vegetable
eral horizons. O horizons correspond, oil measured in yield per ha (per acre),
broadly, to the A00 and A0 honzons. They hence valuable commercially. The oil is
are formed of accumulated material de¬ obtained from the fibrous pulp of the fruit
rived from plants and animals and lie over and from the kernel (palm kernel oil, the
the predominantly mineral or inorganic more valuable), and is used in the making
honzons. The organic material in the of industrial products (e.g. soap) and food
uppermost layer, Ol5 is easily recognizable products (e.g. margarine, for which palm
to the unaided eye; but in the layer below, kernel oil is preferred).
02, it has decomposed, is not so easily
identifiable, and is termed humus. Some oil-pool a separate reservoir of petro¬

soil scientists identify the O layer as: L (the leum or natural gas occurring, with
litter); F (partly decomposed litter); H water, in the pores and fissures of sedi¬

(decomposed litter). Below the O hori¬ mentary rocks.

zons lie the Ap and Ah horizons (soil

oil-sand, tar-sand porous sandstone or
horizon), soil layers roughly corres¬
sand at or near the surface of the land,
ponding to Aj, and profile grading to A2.
impregnated with viscous hydrocar¬

oil crude oil, mineral oil, petroleum.

bons (bitumen-2), occurring particu¬
larly in Canada (Athabasca valley). The
oil cake a general term for the crushed Athabasca tar-sands are estimated to con¬
and pressed seeds remaining after the oil stitute one of the largest oil reserves in the
has been expressed from any of the oil¬ world, but they are expensive to exploit
seeds (vegetable oils), the ‘cake’ being commercially.
used as cattle food and occasionally as fert¬
oilseed any of the plant seeds that yield
ilizer.
useful oil. DRYING OIL, VEGETABLE OILS.

oil crops plants that yield oils used either

oil-shale bituminous shale, i.e. black,
for food products (e.g. margarine) or for
> brown or green shale containing hydro¬
industrial purposes (e.g. soap-making).
carbons from which oil and gas can be
DRYING OIL, OIL CAKE, VEGETABLE
distilled at very high temperatures.
OILS.

oil well a shaft sunk into the ground, in

oil dome an underground, roughly hemi¬
many cases to a great depth, for the purpose
spherical structure in gently flexed sedi¬
of extracting petroleum.
mentary strata containing an accumulation

of PETROLEUM. old age senility, the final and declining

284
 oolith

stage of development in theories of ultrabasic rocks , and probably a major

growth, e.g. of a river, youth. component of the sima. ferromagne-
SIAN MINERAL, PERIDOTITE.
Old Red Sandstone a series of
DEVONIAN (GEOLOGICAL TIMESCALE) omnivore an animal, sometimes termed
sandstones, red, brown, white, a diversivore, that eats plants and an¬
With CONGLOMERATES, LIMESTONE, imals, as opposed to a carnivore or
marls-i, shale, thought to have been herbivore, food chain.
deposited in large lakes, new red
SANDSTONE. onion weathering exfoliation,
SPHEROIDAL WEATHERING.
Old World the eastern hemisphere,
especially Africa (with Madagascar), Eur¬ onset and lee in glaciology, the result of
ope, and (eastwards) Asia as far as the Malay the action of a glacier on a rock mass
archipelago. over which it has passed, the rock being
smoothed by abrasion on the part facing
oligopoly in economics, the control of a
upstream (the onset part) and marked by
market ly a few producers, none being
the effect of plucking on the down¬
dominant, duopoly, monopoly, per¬
stream (the lee) side, roceie moutonnee.
fect COMPETITION.
ontology the branch of metaphysics
oligotrophic adj. applied to a freshwater
concerned with the essence of things, the
body in which the plant nutrients are low
science or study of being, the theory of
and the oxygen content is high, especially
existence, or, more precisely, the theory
at lower levels in the summer, and which
concerned with what really does exist as
can therefore support only a few organ¬
distinct from that which seems to (but
isms. Most oligotrophic lakes are deep,
does not) exist or from that which can be
with steep sides, the water being clear and
correctly said to exist but only if it can be
poor in dissolved minerals, eutrophic.
thought of as a whole composed entirely
olive Olea europaea, a small, slow- of elements-i that really do exist, cos¬
growing, long-lived, evergreen tree mology, IDEALISM, MATERIALISM.
with oval leaves thickly covered with silky
hairs to prevent loss of moisture. Native to oolite (Greekoos, egg; lithos, stone) asedi-
the Mediterranean region, it is cultivated mentary rock, usually calcareous, e.g.

there and in other warm temperate and limestone, with very small concretions

subtropical areas for the sake of its edible (oolith) resembling the roe offish, hence

nutritious fruit, yielding oil, used for cu¬ the name. Oolite (with capital initial letter)

linary, medicinal and cosmetic purposes, is the formation name applied to the upper

the inferior grades being used as lubricants part of the Jurassic (geological time-

and in soap-making. The olive is some¬ scale) in England, on account of the

times used as an indicator plant for oolitic texture of its limestones.

the true Mediterranean climate.

oolith a small rounded grain of rock
olivine a group of rock-forming silicate (smaller than a pisolith) ranging in dia¬
minerals (silica-2), usually dark green, meter from some 0.25 to 2 mm, consist¬
consisting of silicates of magnesium ing of a particle of shell or mineral (e.g.
and iron, occurring in basic and quartz) enclosed by concentnc layers of

285
oolitic limestone

other material, and resembling a fish-egg. oryTurnace with a cup-shaped hearth for
OOLITE. melting and refining pig iron, iron ore
and scrap iron, the air employed to remove
oolitic limestone oolite.
the carbon being played over the molten
ooze a deposit on the floor of the deep metal (instead of being blown through it
ocean far from land, classified as biogenic as in the Bessemer process). Neither the
or non-biogenic according to its origin. open hearth nor the Bessemer process
The biogenic oozes consist mainly of removes any phosphorus present in the
minute organic remains (e.g. diatoms, pig iron (phosphorus makes steel brittle).
globigerina, pteropods, radiolara, that
give the ooze a specific name); at an even open system a SYSTEM-1,2,3 charac¬
lower level lie the non-biogenic oozes terized by the supply and escape of energy

(red clay), consisting of wind-blown and material across its boundaries (unlike a

volcanic ash that has settled on the closed system). Such a system regulates

ocean surface and sunk, meteoric dust, itself and may eventually reach a steady

and material carried by icebergs etc. STATE (e.g. a CENTRAL PLACE). ECO¬
SYSTEM.
OPEC Organization of Petroleum Ex¬
porting Countries, an organization estab¬ opisometer a small instrument used in
lished in i960 by what were then the chief measuring distances on a map. A calibrated
oil-producing countries, with the aim of dial is attached to and records the revolu¬
formulating a common policy in respect tions of a toothed wheel which is small
of dues paid to them by the oil companies, enough to be pushed along and negotiate
and of their share in the capitalization of any bends on the specified course (of a
the oil companies, cartel. river, road, etc.).

opencast mining (American, open-cut opportunity cost in economics, cost

mining or strip mining) the form of ex¬ expressed in terms of the best of the
cavation used when extensive mineral alternative opportunities foregone, a
deposits, e.g. of coal, brown coal or iron measure of the loss or sacrifice involved
ore, lie near the earth’s surface, the mineral in using a resource or a location for one
strata being exposed by the removal of particular purpose rather than for another.
the overlying strata (the overburden) and ECONOMIC RENT.
worked mechanically on a large scale (a
quarry being more limited in extent). opposition the position of a heavenly
MINE, MINING, PIT. body when it is directly opposite another
one, e.g. when three celestial bodies share
open field common field, a large field
a common line, the two outer bodies are
which, before the inclosure of the vil¬
x in opposition to each other and to the
lage lands of England (mainly in the sev¬
central body. Thus, when viewed from
enteenth and eighteenth centuries), was
the earth, the position of a heavenly body
worked by the villagers in common. Each
when its direction is opposite to that of
village usually had two or three open fields.
the sun. Full moon and spring tides
FIELD SYSTEM.
occur when the sun and moon are in
open hearth process a process for steel opposition to the earth, conjunction,

production. It incorporates a reverberat- QUADRATURE, SYZYGY.

286
 order of goods

optical stimulated luminescence osl. area, overpopulation, underpopu¬

lation.
optimization model any model-2 con¬
cerned with making the best possible orbit the closed course ofa heavenly body,
choice from a set of alternatives, optim¬ especially the closed path of a planet
izer concept. around the sun or of a satellite (natural or
artificial) around another heavenly body.
optimizer concept the theory that
people arrange themselves in space in orbit of the earth the counterclockwise
order to make the most favourable use of closed elliptical path of the earth-1
available resources and demands. around the sun, taking 365.26 days to
complete. The velocity of the earth is not
optimum, optimal adj. the most fav¬ constant, it varies in some sections of the
ourable or the best possible in the given orbit, the average speed being 106 000 km
circumstances (e.g. in constraining con¬ (66 000 mi) per hour. The aphelion
ditions) or for a particular purpose. occurs about 4 July when the earth is some
152 mn km (94.5 mn mi) distant from
optimum city size a city of a size above
the sun, the perihelion about 3 January,
which the benefits (the advantages of
when the distance is 147 mn km (91.5 mn
further growth) would be outweighed by
mi). Fig 18.
the costs (the disadvantage ofsuch growth).
The criteria used may be economic, social, order 1. sequence, systematic ranking,
psychological or political, and may refer arrangement, the way in which one thing
to the city itself or to the city in relation follows another 2. in biology, one of
to a region or to the country in which it the groups in the classification of
lies. ORGANISMS. STREAM ORDER.

optimum location the site for a firm ordered attribute synonym for or¬
which is central, minimizes the costs of dinal VARIABLE. ATTRIBUTE.
the necessary spatial relations and (if selling
order of goods in central place
pnces for the product vary) maximizes the
theory, Christaller’s ranking (according
differences between costs and revenues
to their scarcity in a central place
(the classical theory of firm location for¬
system) of the retail and service facilities
mulated by A. Weber in 1909). bid price
(to which he applied the term goods)
curve.
carried by a central place. High order
optimum population 1. the number of goods are specialized and scarce, middle
individuals that can be accommodated in order goods less specialized, low order
an area to the maximum advantage of goods generally available everywhere.
each individual 2. the number of human Thus the order of goods is linked to cen¬
inhabitants considered to be the most fav¬ tral place hierarchy, higher order
ourable for the full use of all the resources goods being available in higher order
available in an area, so that the standard centres with larger complementary
of living achieved is adequate or as high regions, lower order goods (e.g. a
as possible 3. the number of human inhab¬ convenience good) being available
itants who would produce the highest total in lower order centres with a smaller com¬
production or real income per head in an plementary region. RANGE-9.

287
 V S.

ordinal

ordinal adj. of a number, showing po¬ chefnistry, applied to compounds that

sition or order in a series, arrangement contain, or are derived from, carbon
according to order or rank, interval, (excluding the simpler compounds such
NOMINAL. as carbon dioxide), the naturally occurring
constituents of animals and plants; hence
ordinal scale in statistics, a measure¬
organic chemistry, the branch of chemistry
ment scale which allows individuals in a
concerned with the scientific study of
data set to be placed in correct relative
organic substances, i.e. with the com¬
order even if absolute values are unknown;
pounds of carbon (excluding the oxides
thus the distance between categories or
of carbon, carbonic acid and the carbon¬
ranks is unspecified. A variable meas¬
ates) 4. arising from the natural processes
ured on this scale is termed an ordinal
of or the substances produced by plants
variable or ordered attribute, bar graph.
and animals, inorganic.
ordinal variable in statistics, an ordered
organic acids acids produced during
attribute, a variable measured on the
the first stage of the decomposition of
ORDINAL SCALE. ATTRIBUTE.
organisms, before humification. They
ordinate in mathematics, the vertical or include acetic, lactic and oxalic acids.
x-coordinate in a plane coordinate system.
organic carbon carbon present in soils
ABSCISSA.
derived from organic material rather than
Ordnance Datum od. from minerals.

Ordnance Survey os. organic deposit a sediment formed by

and consisting of the remains of organisms.
Ordovician adj. of the second oldest
period of the palaeozoic era, and of organic farming agriculture practised
the system of rocks formed at that time. without the use of‘artificial’ (i.e. chemical)
GEOLOGICAL TIMESCALE. fertilizers or pesticides, only organic-4
manure being added to the soil (and, in
ore an indefinite term applied to any solid
some cases, only pesticides such as pyr-
naturally-occurring mineral aggregate of
ethrum being used).
economic interest from which one or
more valuable constituents (especially me¬ organic horizons o horizons.
tallic minerals) may be obtained by treat¬
organic soil a soil consisting mainly of
ment.
organic-4 material, as distinct from a
organ in biology, a unit which is both MINERAL SOIL. MINERAL HORIZONS, O
structural and functional, is adapted for HORIZONS.
some specific and essential function, and
organic weathering the disintegration
forms part of an animal or plant, e.g. a
of rocks brought about mechanically by
heart, a leaf.
the penetration of plant roots, or chem¬
organic adj. i. of or pertaining to an ically by the organic acids and humic
ORGAN of an animal or plant 2. having acid created by plants such as mosses
the characteristics of, being related to, which, growing in crevices and hol¬
belonging to, or derived from living an¬ lows, steadily enlarge their niches as
imals and plants and their remains 3. in the acids they produce rot the rock. Bur-

288
 oscillatory wave theory of tides

rowing and grazing animals also con¬ orogenesis, orogeny tectonic activity
tribute to these processes, chemical and mountain building. Orogenesis is usu¬
WEATHERING, MECHANICAL WEATHER¬ ally applied to the process; orogeny to
ING, WEATHERING. the great periods of mountain building,
e.g. the ALPINE, ALTAIDES, ARMORICAN,
Organization (Organisation) for Eco¬
CALEDONIAN, HERCYNIAN, VARISCAN
nomic Cooperation and Develop¬
periods, epeirogenetic.
ment OECD.
orographic precipitation, orographic
Organization for European Eco¬
rain relief rainfall, precipitation caused by
nomic Cooperation oeec. oecd.
the cooling of moisture-laden air as it rises

Organization of African Unity oau. over a high relief barrier, occurring par¬
ticularly on the high ground and wind¬
Organization of American States oas. ward slopes that face a wind blowing
steadily from a warm ocean. It leads to
Organization of Central American
rainshadow on the lee side of the bar¬
States (Spanish) Organizacion de los
rier; but the orographic factor may be just
Estados Centroamericanos. odeca.
additional to other rain-inducing factors,
Organization of Petroleum Export¬ e.g. a high reliefbarrier may slow down the
ing Countries opec. progress of a depression-3, lengthening
the duration of the cyclonic (frontal)
Orient, the (to orient, to cause to face
RAIN. THUNDERSTORM.
eastwards, especially to build a church with
its altar at the eastern end) the countries orography i. a branch of physical geo¬
lying to the east of Europe, especially the graphy concerned with the knowledge
FAR EAST, the opposite of OCCIDENT. and description of the surface relief of
the earth 2. more specifically, the scien¬
orientalism a fanciful concept held in tific study of the relief of mountains and
the imagination of some people of the mountain systems. A term now rarely
Occident that romanticizes and fears the used. BATHYOROGRAPHICAL.
peoples and cultures of the orient.
OS Ordnance Survey, the official British
orientation (French orienter, to place map-making authority. It publishes the
facing east; medieval maps have east at the largest range of maps in Britain, from
top) the positioning of, or the position of, detailed maps on the scale of 1:1250 for
someone or something in relation to the urban areas to a world map at 1:40 million
points of the compass, especially the posi¬ scale, with 1:2500; 1:10000; 1:25000;
tioning of a map or of a surveying instru¬ 1:50 000 and 1:250 000 maps in between
ment in the field so that a north-south line in the main series. Survey information is
on the map lies parallel to the north-south held on computer. It seems likely that
line on the ground. maps-on-demand to meet the needs of the
individual user should soon be possible.
origin i. the point in time or in space at
*

which the existence of something begins. oscillatory wave theory of tides oscilla¬
FALSE ORIGIN, SEISMIC FOCUS, TRUE tion wave theory of tides, the hypothesis
origin 2. the source, the cause, or the that the surface of the ocean can be divided
beginning of something. into tidal units (amphidromic systems)

289
 S. s.

OSL

each with a centre (a node), termed an the ‘areas remote from the main settle¬
amphidromic point. Within each unit ments.
the water oscillates in response to its
outcrop in geology, the part of a rock
depth, the relative positions of the earth,
body, stratum or vein which reaches
moon, sun (conjunction, opposition,
the earth’s surface and is exposed, or
syzygy) and the gyratory movement re¬
covered (e.g. by superficial soil, vegeta¬
sulting from the earth’s rotation (coriolis
tion or buildings), exposure-2.
force). At the nodes the water stays al¬
most level, rotating in an anticlockwise outflow cave an effluent cave, a cave-i
direction in the northern hemisphere, from out of which a stream flows, or
clockwise in the southern; but from formerly flowed.
the nodes co-tidat tines radiate out¬
outlier i. a mass of rock (not necessarily
wards and the height of the tidal rise
elevated above the surrounding country)
grows (standing wave). In the English
normally of stratified sediments, com¬
channel a kelvin wave results, the theor¬
pletely surrounded by older rocks, usually
etical amphidromic point, the degenerate
as a result of circumdenudation. By ana¬
amphidromic point, being in Wiltshire.
logy applied to other units separated from

OSL optical stimulated luminescence, a the mam mass, e.g. to a hill or hills separ¬

dating technique using instruments that ated from a mam highland even if the

reveal when a buried surface (e.g. of a soil, feature is not an outlier in the geological

of an artifact) was last exposed to sunlight. sense 2. an outlying area in which a

particular culture-i is dominant but
osmosis the process whereby the solvent which lies as an island in an extens¬
(e.g. water) from a weak (dilute) sotu- ive area of another culture/other cul¬
tion (termed the hypotonic solution) tures. The outlier is linked to its distant
separated by a semi-permeable membrane core area by long-distance routes, do¬
from a stronger (i.e. more concentrated) main-2, sphere-5.
solution (termed the hypertonic solution)
outport a port situated nearer the sea and
passes through the membrane so that the
consequently more accessible to vessels
two solutions reach a state of equilibrium
(especially those of greater size and
in concentration (solutions of equal con¬
draught) than the main port to which it is
centration being termed isotonic). Sim¬
subordinate. It may eventually supplant
ilarly a pure fluid (e.g. water) will pass
the older mam port if the latter cannot be
through the membrane to a solution (e.g.
modified to meet changing needs in size
a sugar solution). If pressure is applied to
and port facilities.
the stronger solution the process stops.
This pressure is termed osmotic pressure output a product or PRODUCTION
and the more concentrated the solution which can be measured.
the greater is the pressure needed to stop
outwash apron, fan, plain, frontal
the process. The movement of water in
apron, valley train material (clay, sand,
living organisms occurs, in the main,
gravel) washed out by melt-water flow¬
through osmosis, most cell membranes
ing from gtaciers and ice sheets and
being semi-permeable to some extent.
deposited, beyond the ice, sometimes over
outback in Australia, back country, i.e. wide areas (ftuvio-glaciat). Sorting

290
 overspill

and re-sorting takes place in this process, aged, sometimes beyond recovery, over¬
the coarser material being deposited near cropping.
to the ice, the finer being carried farther
overland flow surface runoff, the unham¬
before settling. Fig 20.
pered, unchannelled, downslope move¬
overbank stage in river flow, the stage ment of a broad expanse of shallow water
when a river overflows the banks of its produced by sudden, heavy precipita¬
normal channel and spreads in flood on to tion, often leading to soil erosion. If
the floodplain, usually carrying mater¬ the flow is due to the fact that the rate
ial which is deposited there and termed and amount of rainfall exceeds the rate at
overbank deposit, bankfull stage, which the soil can absorb it (infiltration
FLOOD STAGE, STREAM STAGE. CAPACITY, INFILTRATION RATE) it is
termed infiltration-excess overland flow;
overburden the overlying soil and rock
but ifit is due to the saturation ofthe soil
which has to be removed in opencast
over which it flows, it is termed saturation
mining or strip mining before the seam
overland flow. Fig 41.
of coal or bed of ore is exposed.
overlay a transparent sheet laid over a
overcast adj. cloudy, sometimes applied
map, photograph, diagram etc. It may bear
as a noun to total cloud cover.
information to be used in conjunction

overcropping the overplanting and tak¬ with that shown on the map, photograph,

ing of too many harvests from the soil or diagram, or on another overlay; or it

without restoring its fertility, thus leading may be used for rough work or for cor¬

to the creation of poor soils which lack recting the material beneath, synoptic

sufficient plant nutrients, overgrazing, map.

OVERSTOCKING. overpopulation too many people, usu¬

ally applied to the population in an area
overcrowding the cramming into a given
where the available resources are inad¬
space of more people, more organisms or
equate for the support ofthe great number
more things than there is room for, or
of people living there, i.e. when the
than is allowed or desirable. The term is
number exceeds that of the optimum
applied especially to an excessive number
population, with the result that the
of people living in a specific dwelling,
standard of living declines and economic
usually measured by the number ofpersons
and social aspirations cannot be realized.
per room, a matter of judgement varying
Some authors relate the term to produc¬
in one social context to another (e.g. a
tion as well as to available resources, distin¬
dwelling in London, a dwelling in Hong
guishing absolute overpopulation (where
Kong). OVERPOPULATION.
the absolute limit of production has been
overfold an overturned asymmetrical reached, but living standards stay low)
anticline or an anticline of which one from relative overpopulation (where
limb is inverted and lies beneath the other. present production does not support
RECUMBENT FOLD. the population but greater production is
feasible), birth control, underpopu¬
overgrazing, overstocking the putting
lation.
of so many animals on land that the
pasture or other vegetation cover is dam¬ overspill of population, people in excess

291
overthrust

of the number that can be properly housed oxygen a colourless, odourless, invisible
and se wed in an area, and who accordingly gaseous element-6, the most abundant
have to be accommodated elsewhere, e.g. in the earth’s crust, forming about eight-
in new towns, or, in Britain, in ex¬ ninths by weight of water, nearly one-half
panded towns. by weight of all the rocks of the earth’s
crust, and about 20 per cent of the earth’s
overthrust in geology, the thrust of the
atmosphere-i . It is essential to plant and
rocks of the upper limb of a fold along
animal life, combines easily with other
a horizontal or near honzontal plane over
elements, forming oxides. In industry it
the lower limb of the fold, caused by fold¬
is used in cutting, welding, in producing
ing so intense that the rocks may fracture.
flames ofhigh temperature in steel making,
NAPPE.
and in the manufacture of nitric acid from
oxbow, oxbow lake a cut-off or mort- ammonia, etc. free oxygen.
lake, a crescent-shaped lake formed when
ozone an allotropic form of oxygen, 03,
a river breaks across the neck of a well-
i.e. oxygen with molecules consisting
developed MEANDER. Fig 29.
of three atoms instead of the usual two. It
oxidation the process of combining with, has a strong smell and is present in very
or being combined with, oxygen. In the small quantity in the atmosphere-i of
chemical weathering of rocks (cor¬ the earth, the main concentration occur¬
rosion) oxidation occurs particularly in ring between heights of 30 and 80 km (20
rocks containing iron because iron takes and 50 mi) above the earth’s surface. Its
up oxygen very readily, thus the ferrous presence there is vital to atmospheric pro¬
state changes to the oxidized ferric state cesses and to the existence of life on earth,
with a yellowish-brown, crumbly crust. because it absorbs harmful short-wave
ultraviolet radi ation while allowing
oxide a compound of oxygen with
the beneficial longer ultraviolet radiation
another element, oxidation.
from the sun to pass to the earth’s surface.
oxisols in soil classification, USA, Its own existence results from the absorp¬
an order of soils occurring in tropical and tion by oxygen of the short-wave ultra¬
subtropical areas, well-weathered and violet radiation from the sun, a process
including most bauxite and lateritic soils. leading to the rise in temperature that
LATERITE. occurs at the stratopause. Fig 4.
p

Pacific suite a petrographic prov¬ the whole population and matched in

ince distinguished by the pacific type pairs, each pair being characterized by the
of coast, intense folding, and rocks rich same quality or qualities. This gives rise
in calcium, andesite line, Atlantic to paired, matched or linked data (linked
SUITE, SPILITIC SUITE. data is the term applied to data from two
batches of data where each value in one
Pacific type of coast concordant
batch is naturally linked with a unique
COAST.
value in the other), matched samples.
pack animal an animal (usually an ass
palaeo- (Greek palaios, ancient) as prefix,
or mule) that carries goods, fodder etc.,
ancient.
usually loaded on a pack saddle (pannier).
Palaeocene, Paleocene adj. of the earli¬
pack ice any area of sea ice, whatever est of the epochs or of the series of rocks
the form, however distributed, other than of the tertiary period. GEOLOGICAL
fast ice. A collection of pack ice with
TIMESCALE.
visible limits is termed a patch. A long
strip, from a few kilometres to more than palaeoecology the scientific reconstruc¬
about ioo km (60 mi), is termed a belt. tion of past environmental conditions as
revealed by fossil records, palaeonto¬
paddy padi. logy.

padi (Malay; commonly anglicized as palaeolith, paleolith an unpolished,

paddy) I. rice as a plant 2. the grain in chipped stone implement used in the
the seed-head of the plant 3. the unhusked second period of the stone age.
grain (hence paddy field, paddy cultiva¬
Palaeolithic, Paleolithic adj. of or
tion, paddy harvest etc.). The term ‘rough
pertaining to the second period of the
rice’ was formerly used internationally
stone age, preceded by the eolithic
for unhusked rice. FAO now applies padi
age and followed by the mesolithic
to unhusked rice to distinguish it from
age, ending some 8000 years ago, coincid¬
milled rice (rice grain from which the husk
ing in the main with the pleistocene
has been removed).
glacial epoch (geological timescale).
pahoehoe (Hawaiian) a newly consol¬ It is the period when, it can be confidently
idated lava flow with a smooth, glassy or stated, human beings began to shape tools.
ropy surface. Its chemical composition is in
palaeomagnetism, paleomagnetism
many cases identical to that of a a. pillow
sometimes termed archaeomagnetism,
LAVA, ROPY LAVA.
the fossil magnetism evident today in
pairing in statistics, a method of control igneous rocks. When cooled, igneous
whereby people or things are selected from rocks (containing iron oxides) retain the

293
 V s.

palaeontology

magnetism present in them at the time of being largely arid and covered with semi-
their cooling. This indicates the direction desert grassy vegetation, the eastern part
of the earth’s magnetic field at that (humid pampa) having a higher rainfall
time and provides an historical record of and covered with tall, coarse grass (pampa).
the shifting position of the magnetic Some of the dry pampa and much of the
POLES. MAGNETIC ANOMALY, MAGNETIC humid pampa has now been ploughed and
REVERSAL, OCEANIC RIDGE, PLATE TEC¬ planted with European grasses or wheat
TONICS, TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM. and other crops, and extensive areas are
used for cattle rearing, grassland-i.
palaeontology, paleontology the
scientific study of fossil remains of past pampero (South America: Spanish) a
geological periods. The study of fossil strong southwest wind associated with the

plants is now usually designated palaeo- cold front in the rear of a low pressure

botany, of fossil animals, palaeozoology. system moving eastwards, blowing in the

pampas area, particularly in Argentina and
Palaeozoic, Paleozoic adj. of or per¬ Uruguay, and on the adjoining coasts,
taining to the first geological era follow¬ sometimes accompanied by rain, thunder,
ing the PRECAMBRIAN (GEOLOGICAL lightning, taking the form of a line
timescale), when seed-bearing plants, squall, sweeping up dust from the pam¬
fish, reptiles, amphibians appeared, and pas and causing a great fall in temperature
invertebrates began to develop (some as the storm passes. It occurs most fre¬
becoming extinct towards the end of quently in summer, and results from the
the era). northward advance of a polar air mass.

paisa (Swedish pals, from Finnish paisa, pan 1. in soil science, hard pan 2. (Afri¬
elliptical) a dome-like peat hillock, con¬ kaans, pi. panne) any shallow, generally
taining several lenses of ice, varying in rounded hollow occurring in arid and
form and size, up to 3 m (10 ft) or more semi-arid regions which may in some cases
in height, often surrounded by open water, hold water only in the rainy season, but
occurring in northern Sweden and in the in others throughout the year 3. more
tundra elsewhere. The term should not specifically, the flat central part of such
be equated with pingo. a depression which may be briefly or
seasonally flooded, playa 4. a container
palynology the study and analysis of pol¬
in which gold-bearing sand or gravel is
len grains preserved in soil or peat and
washed in order to separate the valuable
of fossil pollen and other microfossils
gold from the other alluvial deposits.
highly resistant to acids found in sedi¬
mentary rocks of all ages, the findings pro¬ pandemic adj. applied to a disease so
viding valuable environmental indicators widespread that it affects the whole world
and aids to stratigraphic correlation, stra¬ ' or a whole continent or a whole country.
tigraphy. ENDEMIC, EPIDEMIC.

pampa, pampas (South America: Pangaea the name given by A. Wegener

Spanish) the midlatitude or temperate in his theory of continental drift to
grassy plains stretching from southern a great land mass, the supercontinent of
Brazil through Uruguay into the heart of precambrian times, probably split in two
Argentina, the western part (dry pampa) parts, gondwanaland m the south

294
 parallel of latitude

being separated by a vast ocean, tethys, group of leading scholars as being of par¬
from laurasia in the north. It is thought ticular importance, and used by them and
that Pangaea started to break up some others for a while in their field of study.
190 mn years ago, perhaps first in what is It points to the kinds of phenomena which
now the Gulf of Mexico, plate tec¬ should be investigated and to the best
tonics. means of carrying out the investigations,
and it owes its pre-eminence to its per¬
panhandle a narrow protruding strip of
ceived ability to be more successful than
land, especially a narrow strip of the ter¬
its competitors in solving some problems
ritory of a state protruding into that of
regarded as acute at a particular time.
another state, or between the territory
PARADIGM SHIFT.
of another state and the sea, e.g. Alaska
Panhandle (US territory) lying between paradigm shift a significant change of
Canada and the Pacific ocean. approach in a field of study occurring
when a prevailing paradigm-2 fails to
pantograph an instrument used in the
meet the needs of changing thought or
mechanical copying of a drawing or map
new theories, falls from favour, and a new
on any scale selected, consisting of hinged
paradigm emerges which is, by consensus,
rods arranged to form a parallelogram and
accepted.
rotating about a fixed point.
parallel drainage a drainage-2 pattern
papagayo (Mexico: Spanish) a dry, strong in which the channels of streams and their
and cold northerly to northeasterly wind tributaries are almost parallel to one
blowing over the plateau of Mexico in another, due to the control of the trend
winter, causing the temperature to fall sud¬ of the underlying structure, or to a uniform
denly to a low level. A continuation of slope gradient. Fig 17.
the norther of the USA, it is due to the
movement of air from the high Mexican parallel land use a type of multiple
plateau to the low pressure area lying over land use in which the tract of land is

the Gulf ofMexico and the Caribbean sea. not used in common for two or more

NORTE.
purposes, but in which the uses are kept
spatially separate, e.g. a limited re¬
parabolic dune a crescent-shaped sand creational strip bordering the highway
dune that faces the wind, i.e. the curve through a commercial forest-i.
is convex, with a steep face downwind,
parallel of latitude a line drawn on a
the ‘horns’ pointing into the wind, i.e.
map to link all points on the earth’s surface
in the opposite direction to those of a
with the same angular distance north or
barchan. Parabolic dunes are found par¬
south of the equator (latitude), termed
ticularly on sandy shores and plateaus
a parallel because each is a line encircling
inland where sudden wind eddies and
the earth parallel to the equator. Because
blowouts whisk away the central part
the earth is a spheroid the circles become
of the dune and carry it downwind.
smaller from the equator towards the poles.
paradigm 1. in general, an accepted Thus each is a small circle, but the
example or pattern 2. specifically, an equator (o° latitude) is a great circle.
approach, a school of thought with its Parallels oflatitude are marked off in ninety
associated methodology, accepted by a divisions, i.e. ninety degrees, from the

295
 S. V

parallel retreat of slope

equator to each of the poles, each degree the detriment of the host, ectoparasite,
being subdivided into 60 minutes, each ENDOPARASITE, EPIPHYTE.

minute into 60 seconds; and the parallels

parasitic cone adventive cone.
of latitude meet meridians (lines of
longitude), which are not parallel to parent material in soil science, the little
one another, at right angles. Fig 27(b). altered but weathered bedrock, or the
transported glacial or alluvial material, or
parallel retreat of slope a progressive
an earlier soil, on which soil-forming pro¬
backward movement of a slope with very
cesses work to make the soil layers, soil,
little change of gradient, the result of
SOIL HORIZON.
weathering and erosion. The theory that
the form of a slope may alter little despite park 1. in medieval England, a piece of
a long penod of erosion is favoured by land held by the lord of the manor by royal
many slope authorities, repose slope. grant for keeping animals (e.g. deer), for
a source of food, for hunting, differing
parameter in mathematics 1. a quantity
from a chase or forest-2 in being
which is constant in the case under con¬
enclosed (and also differing from a forest
sideration but which may vary from case
in not being subject to Forest Laws); later
to case 2. an unknown quantity which
applied to 2. a large, enclosed piece of
may vary over a certain set of values 3. a
ground, usually landscaped, comprising
variable of which other variables are
grassland and widely planted trees, used
taken to be functions-3 4. a descript¬
for private recreation and the grazing of
ive summary of some characteristic of a
deer, cattle etc. and attached to a large
POPULATION-4, e.g. MEAN, MEDIAN,
house and later to 3. a public park, an
standard deviation 5. any of the
enclosed recreational area in or near a
factors in a whole that helps to define
town, laid out with flowerbeds, paths,
main characteristics or limits. In statistics
lawns, perhaps a small ornamental lake etc.
the term parameter commonly occurs in
4. in the concept of a national park,
expressions defining frequency distri¬
an extensive area of countryside to be
bution (e.g. POPULATION parameter)
protected and conserved for public
or in models describing a stochastic
benefit, originating in the Yellowstone
situation (e.g. regression parameter).
National Park, USA, in 1871 5. in the
parametric test a statistical test which mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, USA,
involves the estimation of a population a high, enclosed valley with a flat, grassy
parameter and also some assumptions floor, frequently with a ranch 6. a tract
about the data, i.e. that the data are of land, in some cases park-like (park-2)
measured on an interval scale and that in character, set aside and officially desig¬
the populations-4 from which the nated (e.g. by planning authorities) for a
samples are drawn have a normal dis¬ ' particular purpose, e.g. a country park,
tribution and equal variances, non- INDUSTRIAL PARK, OFFICE (BUSINESS)

PARAMETRIC TEST. PARK, RESEARCH AND SCIENCE PARK 7.

in Scotland and Ireland, a paddock or held,
parasite an organism which lives on a
a small enclosed area of land usually used
living organism of a different species (the
for pasture, sometimes for crops.
host) from which it draws most or all of
its food sometimes, but not always, to parkland 1. see applications park-1,2 2.

296
 patterned ground

by analogy with a typical English park passive glacier a glacier with a low
(consisting of grassland with scattered rate of accumulation (alimentation)
trees, park-2), the tropical savanna and ablation because it receives only
lands of grassland with scattered trees, light snowfall and undergoes little melt¬
especially in Africa (also termed park ing in summer. It flows very slowly and
savanna). transports little ice and debris, active
GLACIER.
paroxysmal volcanic eruption a sud¬
den violent eruption of a volcano, usu¬ pastoral adj. of, pertaining to, or charac¬
ally of one that has been dormant for a terized by, the care of grazing animals.
long period, plinian eruption. GRAZING, LIVESTOCK FARMING.

partial drought in Britain, a period of pastoralism livestock farming.

29 consecutive days on some of which
pasture land covered with growing grass
slight rain may fall, but during which the
and/or other herbs-i on which live¬
daily average does not exceed 0.25 mm
stock can feed, as distinct from a
(0.01 in). DROUGHT.
meadow-i where the vegetation is
particle 1. a very small piece of matter 2. mown for hay or silage, grazing, live¬
in physics, a piece of matter assumed to stock FARMING, ROUGH GRAZING.
have mass but to be so small that it does
patch cutting the forestry practice of
not have dimensions, i.e. it has finite mass
felling trees in a defined area within a
but is of infinitesimal size, graded
forest-1 so that the tree cover may regen¬
SEDIMENTS.
erate naturally, inward towards the centre
particulate adj. 1. existing as a very small, of the cleared area from the surrounding
separate particle 2. of or relating to such forest. The aim is to conserve the forest
a very small, separate particle. Particulate as a flow resource and to maintain
matter in smoke emissions, fumes, dust a sustained yield (sustained yield
etc. is an agent of pollution. forestry), conservation, resource
CONSERVATION, RESOURCE MANAGE¬
part-time farmer a farmer who has
MENT.
a regular occupation, other than that of
farming, to provide an income. The two paternoster lakes a chain of lakes in a
main types are the hobby farmer, who glaciated valley caused by the damming
farms primarily for pleasure, not for a liv¬ action of morainic ridges or rock bars,
ing; and the worker-farmer, whose main so-named because the chain resembles the
occupation is in the town but who relies string of beads that constitute a rosary.
on the output of a small holding, worked Such lakes occur especially where the
in any spare time, for a food supply and downward slope of the valley floor takes
an important auxiliary source of income. the form of a series of steps.

pascal pa, the unit of pressure in si, equal pathetic fallacy the attribution of human
to one newton per sq metre. characteristics or emotions to natural phe¬
nomena, e.g. an angry sea.
pass a narrow gap or col in a mountain
range providing a passageway through the patterned ground ground that is em¬
barrier. bellished with circles, polygons, nets,
pays

stripes etc., varying in size and occurring cultural worker, usually (but not always)
in (but not wholly confined to) regions of farming at or near subsistence level and
present or former permafrost. The rock either holding a proprietary right over
fragments may or may not be sorted, e.g. in the land farmed or being an employed la¬
a polygonal pattern the smaller fragments bourer. Some specialists in land tenure
may appear near the centre and increase restrict the term to the farmer holding a
in size outwards, or the pattern may be proprietary right, peasant farming,
outlined by vegetation, no sorting of frag¬ subsistence agriculture.
ments having taken place; and on a slope
peasant farming a farming activity
there may be step-like forms, or stupes
carried on by a small family unit at or near
consisting of lines of stones, graded as the
subsistence level on a small area of land,
slope flattens. It has been suggested that
e.g. as distinct from that on a large farm
the processes of freeze-thaw and soli-
with employed labour, organized primar¬
fluction, moisture conditions and the
ily for commerce. In peasant farming the
extent (or non-existence) of vegetation
family provides the labour. Production is
cover contribute to the development of
primarily for the benefit of the family but
the patterns, piprake.
in most cases (particularly if the land is
pays (French) asmall natural region in leased from a landlord) surplus products
France, of no administrative significance, are sold in the market (in order to pay the
demarcated by the unity of some physical rent). If the land is leased from a landlord
feature or features (e.g. of geology, relief, the tenancy is usually held by the family
land use) and/or of social or cultural fea¬ group, rather than by an individual. If the
tures. A term used by geographers writing land is owned by the peasant the right
in English who wish to avoid the problem of ownership is usually vested in the
of defining ‘natural’. family group, not in an individual, farm¬
ing, LAND TENURE, PEASANT, PLANTA¬
pea a climbing or bushy leguminous an¬
TION-2, SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE.
nual plant (leguminosae), probably
(but not certainly) native to western Asia,
peat a dense deposit of dead vegetable
now wid dy grown for the sake of its pods,
matter only partially decomposed (de¬
containing seeds also termed peas, used as composition) mainly because it has
human food since ancient times, the whole
accumulated in water or in very damp
plant also being used for animal feed and
conditions where oxygen is deficient
for green manure.
(anaerobic). Dark brown or black, par¬

peak I. a pointed top or projection 2. the tially converted to carbon, it forms the

highest point, the maximum 3. the more first stage in the development of lignite,

or less pointed prominent summit of a brown coal and coal; and may be
mountain, often used in place-names; but neutral or alkaline (fen peat) or acid (bog

this does not apply to The Peak of Derby¬ peat). It is burnt as fuel, or applied to the
shire, England, which is a high, flat-topped soil to improve the texture or raise its
plateau ofM ill stone grit, an area sched¬ water-retaining property.
uled as a national park 4. a high isolated
pebble a small stone, naturally rounded
mountain.
by the action of water or wind, diameter
peasant very loosely applied to an agri¬ between that of gravel and cobble.

298
 pediplain

There is some confusion over precise size, lumnar mass of weak rock capped with a
but a pebble is commonly defined as harder rock. Opinions differ as to whether
having a diameter lying approximately it is formed by differential weathering
between io and 50 mm (0.4 to 2 in); on helped by rainwash, or by wind abra¬
the wentworth scale it lies between sion.

2 to 64 mm (0.08 to 2.5 in). The term is

sometimes wrongly applied (as ‘angular pediment an eroded rock platform, cut
pebbles’) to the fragments in a breccia. into the bedrock, usually slightly con¬
cave and triangular in shape, bare or carry¬
ped a naturally-formed aggregate of soil
ing a very small quantity of rock debris,
particles, crumb.
extending over a considerable area at the

pedalfer in soil science, a soil from which foot of an abrupt mountain slope or face,

the base compounds calcium carbon¬ the lower edge doping gently away. Pedi¬

ate and magnesium carbonate have been ments form basal slopes of transport over

leached, and which contains accumula¬ which occasional rainstorms carry weath¬

tions of aluminium, and iron com¬ ered material derived from the steeper

pounds. Such soils occur especially in a slope above, and are characteristic of arid

humid climate with annual precipitation and semi-arid lands. A pediment should

over 610 mm (24 in), and include brown not be confused with a bajada, formed

earths and podzols. Pedalfer is applied by deposition. Fig 35.

to one of the two types of zonal soil,

the other being pedocal. soil classi¬

pediplain, pediplane a gently undulat¬
fication.
ing or level surface, either exposed or
lightly covered with a thin layer of allu¬
pedestal, pedestal rock a residual, co¬ vium, possibly formed by the merging

Mountain 1
front 1 !◄-Pediplain-—►

1
c
1 <D

c 1 E
CD 1
E 1 (D
Q.
•0 t
Cl) <D
CL 1 CL
1

Piedmont angle
exposed

Sub-alluvial bench

Fig 35 A pediment

299
 \ v

pedocal

of several pediments in the course of commonly mottled layer below the

erosion. Fig 35. surface.

pedocal in soil science, a soil, only slightly peneplain, peneplane almost a plain, an
leached (leaching), containing an accu¬ almost featureless, gently undulating land
mulation of CALCIUM CARBONATE and surface, the penultimate stage before the.
magnesium carbonate, and occurring stage of the plain without relief in a c y c l e
mainly in climates with an annual precipi¬ of erosion or denudation.
tation below 610 mm (24 in), insufficient to
peneplanation the process of forming a
remove the soluble constituents. Pedocal is
peneplain. The spelling peneplaination
applied to one of the two types of zonal
is, by general agreement, incorrect, cycle
soil, the other being pedalfer. soil
OF EROSION.
classification.

pedogenic adj. 1. of or pertaining to soil peninsula almost an island, a tract of land,

large or small, projecting into a body of
formation 2. of or pertaining to the effect
water, nearly surrounded by water or hav¬
caused by soil factors, edaphic.
ing water on at least three sides, so that the
pedology the scientific study of the greater part of the boundary is coastline.
morphology, composition and spatial ISTHMUS.
distribution of soils, including their classi¬
fication and, in a general way, their uses. peninsular adj. of, pertaining to, belong¬
ing to, a peninsula.
pelagic adj. of, pertaining to, occurring
in, living in, the mass of open water of the perception in general, sensory experi¬
ocean or a lake, i.e. away from the land ence which has acquired meaning or sig¬
and the floor of the ocean or lake. nificance, i.e. a process in which the
individual, having gained information by
pelagic division, pelagic zone one of any or all of the senses (sight, hearing,
the two chief divisions of the aquatic touch, smell, taste), organizes it and inter¬
environment based on depth of water (the prets it in the light of his/her attitudes
other being the benthic division), con¬ and experiences, cognition stresses the
sisting of the whole mass of open water. mental processes of understanding and
interpretation.
Pelean adj. of or pertaining to a type
of volcanic eruption characterized by the
perched block erratic, erratic
extrusion of a very acid, very viscous lava
block.
which tends to consolidate as a solid plug
and by the violent emission of nuee ar- perched water table ground water
dente, causing widespread devastation. (often isolated) separated from an under¬
HAWAIIAN, STROMBOLIAN, VULCANIAN lying body of ground water (the water
Or VESUVIAN ERUPTION. table proper) by unsaturated rock, form¬
ing part of a zone of saturation (vadose)
pelosols one of the seven major groups
different from that occupied by the water
in the 1973 soil classification ofEng-
table proper.
land and Wales, clay soils which are argillic
(argillaceous), calcareous or non- percolation the downward seeping of
calcareous, with a brown, grey or red and water through pores, joints and other

300
 permafrost

interstices in soil and rock, sometimes influence prices, duopoly, marginal

accompanied by leaching. UTILITY, MARKET ECONOMY, MONO¬
POLY, OLIGOPOLY.
percoline a soil horizon along which
water seeps laterally, throughflow. pericline a small anticline in which the
strata are arched up into a dome so that
perennial adj. applied particularly to
the beds dip away on all sides from a central
plants that continue in growth from year
point. CENTROCLINE.
to year. The aerial parts of perennial her¬
baceous plants (herb-i) die down after peridotite a group of coarse-grained
seed production and are replaced by new ULTRABASIC IGNEOUS ROCKS, usually
shoots in the following year. The new dark green, consisting mainly of oliv¬
shoots of woody perennials start from the ine with or without ferromagnesian
permanent woody stems above ground, minerals, and without feldspar.
hence the great size of some woody peren¬
nials, e.g. TREES, SHRUBS. ANNUAL, BIEN¬
perigean tide the tidal condition charac¬
teristic of a period when the moon is at
NIAL, EPHEMERAL.
its perigee, so that its gravitational pull is
perennial irrigation a system of ir¬ great, resulting in a high tide that is higher,
rigation in which water is artificially a low tide that is lower, and a tidal range
made available to plants, not seasonally, as greater, than usual, apogean tide.
in basin irrigation, but throughout
the year. The methods used to maintain a perigee the point in the orbit of any of
regular water supply range from the simple the earth’s planets or satellites when it is

lifting of stream water by Archimedes’ nearest to the earth, applied particularly

screw, saqia, shaduf or water pump, to the orbit of the moon around the earth.
APOGEE, APSIS.
by sinking of wells and by the creation of
ponds (tank) to the building of dams and
periglacial adj. applied to areas adjacent
barrages on rivers to hold back enough
to an ice sheet or glacier of the past
water to last from one flood period to the
or of the present, and to all phenomena
next, thus providing a constant supply for
associated with such a situation.
the canals and channels by which the water
is led on to the dry land. perihelion the point nearest to the sun
in the orbit of a comet or planet around
perennial stream a stream that flows
it. The earth arrives at its perihelion about
continuously throughout the year, in con¬
3 January, when it is some 147.3 mn km
trast to an INTERMITTENT STREAM.
(91.5 mn mi) from the sun. aphelion,

perfect competition a theoretical mar¬ apsis.

ket condition in which there are many

period in geology, a division of geological
independent buyers and sellers, each of
time, part of an era. The rocks laid down
the sellers holding only part of the goods
in a period constitute a system, geolo¬
involved, all resources being perfectly
gical TIMESCALE.
divisible and mobile. The sellers are not
allowed to collude. Buyers and sellers are permafrost permanently (i.e. for a
fully informed of prices throughout the continuous period of at least two years)
market, and none of them individually can frozen soil, subsoil and, some authors add.

301
permafrost table

bedrock (active layer), patterned than the normal or expected length of

GROUND, PIPRAKE. time, e.g. a persistent high pressure system

(high).
permafrost table the surface between
the upper limit of the permafrost and pervious rock some authors use this term
the lower limit of the overlying active as synonymous with permeable rock,

LAYER. but others restrict it to a rock that allows

the free passage of water through it owing
permeability the quality or state of being
to the presence in it of joints, cracks, fis¬
PERMEABLE.
sures etc., e.g. chalk, carboniferous lime¬

permeable adj. capable of being wholly stone. IMPERMEABLE ROCK, IMPERVIOUS

penetrated by a fluid, of allowing the ROCK, POROSITY.

passage of a fluid, of being saturated.
pest an insect or other animal considered
The opposite condition is termed imper¬
by human beings to be harmful to them
meable.
and their activities, e.g. to the growing of
permeable rock a rock that allows the crops, food storage etc.
free passage of water through it owing
pesticide a chemical substance used in
to its porosity, e.g. sandstone, oolitic
killing insects or other animals regarded
limestone. Some writers include also rock
by human beings as being harmful to them
with joints, bedding planes, cracks, fissures
and their activities.
etc. that allow the free passage of water,
defining the porous rock as being of petrification the turning of organic
primary permeability, the rock with joints material into stone or into a substance
etc. of secondary permeability. Other nearly as hard as stone, the original organic
authors distinguish the secondary group tissue being very slowly replaced by
as being pervious (pervious rock), im¬ deposits of minerals such as silica, agate
permeable ROCK, IMPERVIOUS ROCK. or calcium carbonate carried in solution.

Permian adj. of the latest period (of time) FOSSIL.

or system (of rocks) of the palaeozoic

petrochemical a chemical derived from
era, when amphibians declined, reptiles
petroleum or natural gas or from a
developed, sandstone strata were depos¬
derivative of either, extensively used in¬
ited. GEOLOGICAL TIMESCALE.
dustrially in the production ofplastics, syn¬

Persian wheel saqia. thetic fibres, drugs, detergents, fertilizers,

fungicides, insecticides, pesticides etc.
persistent adj. lasting, enduring des¬
pite opposition or difficulties, repeatedly petrographic province a region in
occurring, applied to I. leaves which, ' which the various igneous rocks are so
though withered, stay on a plant 2. an related by marked specific peculiarities as
organism which continues to occupy an to differentiate them from other assem¬
area in which conditions are now generally blages of igneous rocks of other regions
hostile to the species to which it belongs 3. or cycles. The term ‘suite’ has been applied
chemicals which, because of their stability, to rocks showing such affinities with each
do not readily decompose 4. meteorolo¬ other, and three suites are usually identi¬
gical conditions which continue for more fied: ATLANTIC, PACIFIC, SPILITIC.

302
 phosphorus

petroleum crude oil, mineral oil, a mix¬ keel (the trough) of a syncline, differing
ture of hydrocarbons in a solid (bitu¬ from a laccolith in that it is shallower
men), liquid or gaseous state (natural and the laccolith has a flat base.
gas), occurring in porous sedimentary
rocks interbedded with shales and
phenomenal environment the en¬
vironment seen as including not only
other rocks. It originates from the alter¬
natural phenomena (phenomenon-i)
ation of vegetable and animal remains
but also the effects of human activity, i.e.
entombed in the sediments when these
the biotic and physical environment
were deposited, especially under brackish
combined with the environments altered
water conditions. The term is usually
by, and in some cases almost entirely
applied specifically to the liquid form,
created by, human beings: the ‘real’ world
commonly trapped, with natural gas, at the
as distinct from the ‘perceived’ world
top of the arch (dome) of an anticline
represented by the behavioural en¬
between impervious beds. This pet¬
vironment.
roleum, obtained by drilling into the OIL
dome, is subsequently distilled in a re¬ phenomenalism in philosophy, the the¬
finery, yielding fractions making petrol, ory that phenomena (phenomenon-3)
paraffin oil, diesel fuel, fuel oil, lubricat¬ are the only things that can be known,
ing oils and heavy fuel oils; asphalt that everything else is either non-exist¬
and paraffin wax are obtained from ent or inaccessible to the human mind.
the residue. The hydrocarbons in the METAPHYSICS.
heavier fractions are further ‘cracked’ to
make them suitable for, and to increase the phenomenon pi. phenomena 1. a fact or
amount of fuel for, internal combustion event that can be described and explained
engines, oil field, oil pool, oil-sand, scientifically 2. a person, fact, thing, or
OIL-SHALE, OIL WELL. event that is extraordinary 3. in philo¬
sophy, something known by (sensed) per¬
pH potential hydrogen, the standard
ception, i.e. not by thought or intuition.
measure of acidity or alkalinity (base-2)
of a substance, based on the activity of phosphate any of the substances obtained
hydrogen ions in a litre ofa solution (or naturally from the weathering of rock rich
of a pure liquid), expressed in gram equiva¬ in phosphorus (phosphate rock) or from
lent per litre. The pH values range from o GUANO, or industrially by processing
to 14.0, neutrality-3 being 7.0 (the pH phosphate rock or basic slag from blast
of pure water at 25°C: 77°F). Numbers furnaces. Phosphates, an important source
lower than neutrality signify increasing of phosphorus, are used as a soil fertil¬
acidity, the higher numbers increasing izer and in industrial processes, super¬
basicity (alkalinity). Knowledge of the pH phosphate.
of the soil under cultivation is most impor¬
phosphorus a nonmetallic f.lement-6
tant in agriculture and horticulture, acid
existing in several structural forms, in
RAIN, ACID SOIL, ALKALI SOIL, ALKALINE
*
nature only in combined state, chiefly in
SOIL.
phosphate rock. All living cells contain
phacolith, phacolite a lens-shaped in¬ organic compounds of phosphorus (it is
trusion of igneous rock occupying the an essential macronutrient), the in¬
saddle (the crest) of an anticline or the organic compounds being important

303
phosphorus cycle

constituents of minerals, soil, bones, teeth. hydrates from carbon dioxide and
It is used in making fertilizer , detergents water, using energy absorbed from
and matches, phosphate. sunlight by chlorophyll, and releas¬
ing OXYGEN (AUTOTROPHIC, PHOTO-
phosphorus cycle the circulation of
trophic). The products of photosyn¬
atoms of phosphorus brought about by
thesis directly or indirectly supply nearly
natural processes, the major part being
all plants and animals with the energy they
played by living organisms which contain
need for metabolism; thus, with a few
organic compounds of phosphorus. On
minor exceptions, all other forms of life
their death their tissues decompose, the
depend for their existence on the photo¬
phosphorus returns to the soil in a form
synthesis carried out by green plants (food
suitable to sustain plants, and the plants
CHAIN, PRIMARY PRODUCTION). The
provide food rich in phosphorus for
notable exceptions are bacteria (bac¬
animals.
terium) in the oceanic crust which
photic region, photic zone (Greek seem to draw energy from methane and
phos, light) the layer of water of a lake or minerals in the crust.
of the ocean indicated by the penetration
of light and the distribution of plants. It
phototrophic adj. applied to an organism
that obtains energy from sunlight, auto¬
includes the disphotic zone and the
EUPHOTIC ZONE. PELAGIC. trophic, CHEMOTROPHIC, HETERO-
TROPHIC, PHOTOSYNTHESIS.
photochemical adj. of or relating to the
action of light on chemical properties or phreatic surface ground water table.
reactions, photosynthesis, smog-2. PHREATIC WATER.

photogrammetry i. the technique of phreatic water ground water below

using photographs to obtain measure¬ the phreatic surface, i.e. water in the
ments of the subject of the photograph 2. zone of saturation. If several wells were
the science or art of making a topograph¬ sunk and the water levels in them linked
ical map from air photographs. by a flat or undulating surface, the ground
water table, i.e. the phreatic surface, would
photoperiod the duration of daylight
be the result.
(when direct solar radiation reaches
the earth’s surface). The relative length of
physical geography one of the two main
dark and light periods affects the behaviour
divisions of geography (the other being
and growth of animals and plants, day-
human geography), concerned with
length.
the study over time of the characters, pro¬
photoperiodism the responses of organ¬ cesses and distribution of the ‘natural’
isms tO DAYLENGTH. phenomena in the space accessible to
human beings and their instruments, i.e.
photosynthesis the synthesis-i by liv¬ in the ATMOSPHERE-I, BIOSPHERE, HY¬
ing cells of complex organic compounds DROSPHERE, LITHOSPHERE.
from simple inorganic compounds, with
the aid of light energy, the process by physical weathering mechanical weath¬
which the living cells of green algae and ering, the disintegration of rocks caused
higher green plants manufacture carbo¬ by the weather (e.g. frost and temperature

304
 pmgo

change) without any chemical change articulated vehicle is used only the trailer
taking place, erosion, weathering. may be carried by train, to be reconnected
to a tractor at the station at the end of the
phytoplankton minute plants, many
rail leg.
microscopic, mostly algae (e.g. diatoms),
which float in bodies of fresh or salt water, pig iron cast iron, impure iron with high
which are basic in the food chain, and combined carbon content, sometimes also
on which nearly all animal life in the open with sulphur and phosphorus, the product
sea depends, plankton, zooplankton. of a BLAST FURNACE. The molten metal
from the blast furnace is run into channels
pidgin a spoken language that incorpor¬
or lateral moulds known as pigs, hence the
ates the vocabulary of two or more
name (in the large modern integrated steel
languages and an extremely modified
grammar of one. works the molten metal is fed directly to
the steel converter). The high content of
pie diagram, pie graph divided carbon and phosphorus make pig iron (cast
CIRCLE DIAGRAM. iron) very brittle. These impurities are
removed by puddling, a process in which
piedmont at the foot of a mountain, term
the cast iron is re-melted and stirred when
used as a noun and applied to the gentle
molten, so that the carbon escapes, to be
sloping ground lying between the steep
burnt in the heated air of the furnace, the
slope of a mountain and the plain below,
product being termed wrought or mal¬
including the pediment and the bajad a;
leable iron. Wrought iron is tolerably hard,
or, very widely, as an adj., e.g. piedmont
but not flexible, elastic or hard enough to
alluvial plain, piedmont depressions etc.
be used in making machinery, construc¬
Fig 35-
tion equipment, cutlery and so on: for
piedmont glacier an extensive sheet of those purposes it must be converted into
ice covering low ground at the foot of a STEEL.

mountain range, formed by the merging

pillow lava lava which has consolidated
ofa number of parallel valley glaciers.
so as to resemble ajumbled mass of pillows
EXPANDED-FOOT GLACIER.
due to the fact that magma (especially
piezometric level, piezometric sur¬ basaltic magma) was extruded under
face the level to which water from a con¬ water on a sea floor, or flowed into the
fined aquifer will rise under its own water before consolidation, so that the
pressure in a borehole, the underground water cooled the outer skin quickly and
level to which water will rise under its full the lava formed a rounded mass which
head in an aquifer. partly collapsed, aa, pahoehoe.

Piggyback transport a road-rail trans¬ pingo (Inuit, a conical hill) an isolated,

port system in which goods are carried by more or less conical mound of unconsol¬
road vehicle from the factory to a railway idated gravel or earth, varying greatly in
station, where the road vehicle is hoisted height between 6 and 90 m (20 to 300 ft),
on to a goods train, transported for the generally with a core of clear ice, occurring
major leg of the journey, off-loaded at a in tundra lands in Alaska, Arctic Canada,
convenient station, to continue itsjourney Greenland, Siberia when water under the
to its ultimate destination by road. If an surface freezes in autumn. The ensuing ice

305
pinnate

core expands and raises the surface to form just below the surface, where layers of
a dome. The top of the pingo may later needles may be separated by a thin min¬
collapse, forming a crater which may be¬ eral soil layer. They contribute to frost
come partially filled with water. Some heaving and the making of patterned
authors distinguish a closed-system pingo GROUND.
(formed from the freezing of an isolated
pisciculture the breeding and rearing of
body of water) from an open system pingo
fish for commercial purposes, aquacul¬
(formed from the freezing of ground water
ture, FARM, FARMER, FISH FARM.
at its pressure head), pals a.
pisolite, pisolith pea stone, a type of
pinnate adj. resembling a feather.
limestone made up of rounded bodies
pinnate drainage a distinctive dend¬ the shape and size of a pea, diameter 2 to
ritic pattern of drainage-2 that re¬ 10 mm (0.08 to 0.40 in), i.e. larger than
sembles a feather in that the tributaries to the ooliths of an oolite. Jurassic pea
the mam stream are closely spaced and gnt is typical; and other rocks may show
meet the main stream at acute angles. It is pisolitic structure, e.g. some laterites
likely to occur if the slopes on which the and iron ores.
tributaries develop are unusually steep.
pit 1. a surface working, a deep hole in
Fig 17.
the ground from which minerals or other
pioneer community in ecology, suc¬ matenals are extracted, e.g. clay, gravel
cession-2. 2. a coal mine, including the associated
pithead buildings and the shaft, mine,
pipe 1. in a volcano, the vent opening
mining.
into the crater 2. in chalk country, a
vertical joint made wider by carbon- pitch 1. any of the several dark, sticky,
ation-solution and filled with sand resinous substances, solid at low temper¬
and gravel 3. a mass of mineral ore or atures, plastic at high, which are a residue
diamond-rich rock, e.g. kimberlite, formed in the distillation ofTARS, turpen¬
shaped like a column, in some cases tine etc., but especially the naturally oc¬
formed by fluidization 4. a tunnel curring nearly black substance termed
in the soil, commonly in the interface asphalt. When an oil-sand has been
between horizons (soil horizon), re¬ exposed by natural erosion the oil gradu¬
sulting from THROUGHFLOW. ally evaporates, leaving such natural pitch
as a residue (as in the pitch lake of Trini¬
pipeline a long stretch of linked pipes
dad). bitumen-2 2. a resin derived from
with pumps at intervals, used to carry gases,
certain coniferous trees, e.g. pitch pine
liquids, or solid material in the fonn of
3. pitch of a fold, the direction in which
SLURRY-2.
.the axis of a fold dips.
piprake (Swedish) the layer or layers of
pitchblende a mineral, a complex ox¬
perpendicular ice needles (very small thin,
ide of uranium with small quantities of
sharp-pointed pieces of ice), varying in
other elements from which uranium
length from 1 or 2 mm to nearly 0.5 m,
is extracted.
formed in periglacial conditions on the
surface of the ground, i.e. the limit surface pixel picture element, in remote sens¬
between the soil and free atmosphere, or ing, using MULTISPECTRAL SENSING, the

306
 planetary winds

very small basic unit from which a satellite resulting in the formation of a plagio¬
image may be constructed. The area it can climax rather than a climax.
represent ranges from 5 m2 to 10 km2 (6
sq yd to 4 sq mi), the smaller the area plain a term with wide variations in use,
especially in compound terms, but gener¬
the better the resolution-i,2 at ground
level. ally applied to an unbroken flat or gently
rolling land surface, lacking prominent
place 1. a particular part of space, an area elevations and depressions, especially one
or volume of space-2, unoccupied or of low elevation. Some authors restrict
occupied, e.g. by a person, object or the application to such a feature with a
organism 2. a particular area in space, e.g. horizontal structure, high plains.
town, village, district etc., real or as per¬
plan 1. a map of a small area on a large scale
ceived (mental map), where people and
on which everything is drawn precisely to
environment interact over time to give it
scale 2. a large scale detailed chart 3. a
characteristics distinct from those of sur¬
drawing to scale representing a horizontal
rounding places 3. position in a hier¬
section of a solid object 4. a formulated
archy, scale, orderly arrangement, or in
scheme of action, or the way in which it
space. LOCATION, SITUATION.
is proposed or intended to carry out some
placer an alluvial deposit of sand or gravel proceeding or course of action to achieve
with particles of valuable minerals, espe¬ some goal, e.g. in connexion with eco¬
cially of gold, weathered from rocks or nomic and social development, land
veins and washed down by a stream. USE PLANNING, PLANNING, PLANNING

REGION, REGIONAL PLANNING.

place utility 1. the measure of approval
accorded by an individual to a location planalto (Brazil: Portuguese) a high plain
in his/her action space. Dissatisfaction or plateau, especially the great Brazilian
with place utility, expressed by a low plateau.

measure, may result in migration-2 2.

planet 1. a heavenly body that is not a
the VALUE-1,3 of a place-1,2 brought
meteor, comet, or artificial satellite, which
about by efficient transport facilities.
revolves around a star by which it is illum¬
inated 2. specifically, such a body revolv¬
plagioclase feldspar a feldspar with an
oblique cleavage, containing sodium and ing about and illuminated by the sun in

CALCIUM.
the earth’s solar system, asteroid,
EARTH.

plagioclimax (Greek plagios, oblique)

plane table, plane-table a small drawing
the stage reached by a plant community
board mounted on a tripod and used in the
that is stable and in equilibrium with the
field with an alidade in topographical
existing conditions of its environment but
survey.
which has been deflected or drawn back
by the influence of biotic factors from planetary adj. of or pertaining to a planet
what would have been its natural climax. or to the planets, specifically to the earth
as a planet.
plagiosere a plant succession-2 which
has been deflected by biotic factors planetary winds the major latitudinal
from its normal course of development, winds (trade winds, westerlies etc.)

307
plankton

in the atmospheric circulation in carbon dioxide and water) which, with

contrast to local winds (land breezes, the aid of chlorophyll functioning in
SEA BREEZES etc.). light, the organism builds up into sugars
and other complex materials (food
plankton the collective term for all forms
chain, photosynthesis); but many
of minute plant and animal life (espe¬
plants, e.g. fungus, do not exhibit those
cially of the many microscopic organisms
characteristics and some microscopic
freely floating in the ocean or in fresh
organisms, e.g. some bacteria, seem to
water). It does not include the larger
be as much animal-i as plant, ecology,
plants, e.g. floating seaweed. All plank¬
parasite, vegetation 2. in industry,
ton are of great ecological and economic
the buildings, machinery and other equip¬
importance, in that they are the essen¬
ment used in the manufacture of goods or
tial food for fish, marine mammals, sea
the production of power.
birds etc. (food chain), aeroplank-
TON, DIATOM, NANOPLANKTON, PHYTO¬ plantation 1. something that is planted,
PLANKTON, POTAMOPLANKTON, ZOO¬ hence applied particularly to a group of
PLANKTON. growing trees which has been planted to
provide timber and wood pulp, and/or
planned economy an economic system
to function as part of a land reclamation
in which the central government controls
scheme 2. a farm or estate, especially one
capital, labour, production, distribution
in the tropics, with large scale planting of
of goods etc. to meet the needs of a com¬
cash crops, especially on a monocultural
prehensive economic plan, instead of al¬
basis (monoculture) under scientific
lowing free play of market forces (supply
management, often with a large labour
and demand), mixed economy, pri¬
force, sometimes with facilities and plant
vate sector.
to process the crop, e.g. as on tea or rubber

planning I. a method for outlining plantations. The term plantation agricul¬

or defining goals and ways of achieving ture or plantation system implies rather

them 2. the drawing-up and imple¬ more: the use of a large labour force (in

mentation of a PLAN-4. BLIGHT, LAND many cases formerly of slave labour) to

USE PLANNING, PLANNING REGION, produce one or two commercial crops

REGIONAL PLANNING. on a large scale, in contrast to peasant

farming 3. historically, a colony or settle¬
planning region a specific unit area for ment in a new or conquered country.
which there is a PLAN-4 for economic and
social development, land use plan¬ planter 1. one who manages a plan¬
ning, REGIONAL PLANNING. tation-2 2. historically, a colonist.
PLANT ATION-3.
plant 1. any member of the kingdom
Plantae (classification of organ¬ plant indicator indicator plant.
isms), the typical plant being a living
plant succession succession-2.
organism lacking means of independent
locomotion, having no central nervous plastic adj. of or pertaining to any sub¬
system, the cell walls consisting of cellu¬ stance which changes shape under pressure
lose, nutrition depending on simple gas¬ and keeps the new shape when the pressure
eous or liquid substances (principally is eased, elastic.

308
 Plinian eruption

plateau (French) a markedly elevated tract (oceanic ridge), destructive (colli¬

of comparatively flat or level land, a table¬ sion ZONE, OCEANIC TRENCH, SUBDUC-
land, usually bounded on one or more tion zone), conservative (transform
sides by steep slopes which drop to lower fault), earthquakes being associated
land, or by steep slopes rising to a moun¬ with the destructive and conservative.
tain ridge. Some large plateaus consist of BENIOFF ZONE, PLUME. Figs 36, 37.
lavas, especially of basalts, poured out
through fissures, hence the term plat¬ platinum a silvery-white metallic
eau lava (plateau basalt). Originally element-6, heavy, ductile, malleable,
French, with plural plateaux, the term is highly resistant to acids, corrosion, and
regarded as having been absorbed into heat, a good conductor of electricity, used
the English language, the plural becom¬ in the manufacture of chemical and elec¬
ing plateaus, intermontane, plateau trical apparatus, jewellery and, in the form
GRAVEL, WATERFALL. of black powder (platinum black), as a
catalyst especially in hydrogenation or
plateau basalt basic lava, very fluid at
oxygenation, e.g. in petroleum refining.
high temperatures, that reaches the surface
through fissures in the earth’s crust (fis¬ playa (Spanish, shore) 1. a flat basin in an
sure eruption) and spreads evenly over and land which may become covered with
an extensive area. It builds up a lava water periodically, so that a shallow, usu¬
plateau, especially if there are successive ally salt, lake forms amidst flats of saline
eruptions, flood basalt. and alkaline mud 2. the fluctuating lake
so formed.
plateau gravel gravel (small stones, sand,
grit) occurring either as an extensive sheet
Pleistocene adj. with several applications
on the surface of a plateau or as a capping
1. the most common and now generally
on hills which represent the dissected
accepted, of or pertaining to the earlier
remains of former plateaus. Such gravel
epoch (time) or series (rocks) of the qua¬
deposits provide important evidence in the
ternary period or system, geological
study of the chronology of denudation
timescale 2. of the last I to 2 mn years
and of geomorphological history.
(or of the last 600 000 years), including
plateau lava plateau basalt. the holocene, i.e. coinciding with the
appearance of human beings on the earth
plate tectonics the theory that the
3. of the last 1 to 2 mn years (or the last
earth’s crust (the lithospftere) con¬
600 000 years) excluding the Holocene,
sists of several large and some small, rigid,
i.e. characterized by the formation of gla¬
irregularly-shaped plates (lithospheric
ciers, coinciding with the most recent
geotectomc plates) which carry the con¬
GREAT ICE AGE.
tinents (continental crust) and the ocean
floor (oceanic crust) and float on the Plinian eruption a paroxysmal vol¬
asthenosphere, moving very slowly, canic eruption, the name derived from
the movement probably resulting from Pliny the Younger (c. 62 to c. 114 ad),
currents in the asthenosphere. The theoiy a Roman author and administrator,
is supported by evidence from studies who saw and recorded such an eruption
in palaeomagnetism. Boundaries be¬ of Vesuvius in 79 ad. vulcanian
tween plates are termed constructive ERUPTION.

309
 CD
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Illill
0
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jo 0-70
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0
40
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0
a

_lz
m

8 3
T3

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Fig 36 Plate tectonics: tectonic plates, their probable boundaries and their direction of movement
 plume

Fold mountains
at collision
of two plates

Continental
crust

Volcanic Oceanic
island arc trench

Oceanic
crust

(b)

Fig 37 Plate tectonics: converging plates

(a) plates carrying continental crust, colliding and making fold mountains
(b) plates carrying oceanic crust, converging to form an oceanic trench and a volcanic island
arc as one plate dives under the other, the crust being consumed in the mantle

plinth the lower and outer portion of it moves along 2. applied sometimes to
a sand dune, beyond the slip-face quarrying-2, one of the erosion pro¬
boundaries, which has never been sub¬ cesses carried out by a stream.
jected to sand avalanches.
plug a roughly cylindrical mass of volcanic
Pliocene adj. of or pertaining to the most rock marking the neck (volcanic neck)
recent epoch (time) or series (rocks) of the of an ancient volcano, sometimes left
tertiary period or system, geological isolated, exposed by denudation of the
TIMESCALE. rest of the cone.

plucking i. one of the main erosion pro¬ plume i. in plate tectonics, the
cesses carried out by a glacier, effecting upward movement of magma in a convec¬
the removal of rocks frorp its valley floor. tion current caused by a locally very hot
Water enters cracks in the rocks of the area lying between the core and the
floor, freezes and detaches rock fragments mantle of the earth which melts the rocks
which become frozen to, and carried away of the mantle and results in a localized
by, the under surface of the glacier as swelling on the earth’s surface, followed

311
plunge pool

by a cracking open of rocks. There are identity, its beliefs, traditions etc. All soci¬
certain localities (termed hot spots) on the eties except the very simplest are pluralist
earth’s surface where this volcanic activity to some extent, but if in a nation state the
is relatively frequent, e.g. Hawaii 2. a demand of a group to retain its separate
stream of effluent consisting of gases or identity becomes very strong a delicately
gases and particulates emitted by a chim¬ poised unity may break down under the
ney, or a larger ribbon-like cloud of sim¬ strain of warring factions, especially if that
ilarly polluted air produced by an industrial group demands separate, independent
complex, city etc., drifting downwind statehood. Such a demand for separ¬
from its source, the form varying, shaped ate territorial and political sovereignty
by turbulence in the atmosphere, pol¬ is termed separatism. See accul¬

lution. turation, CULTURE CONTACT, DUAL¬

ISM, PLURALISM, PLURALISTIC INTEG¬

plunge pool the deep pool at the base
RATION.
of a waterfall into which the water
plunges, cut out by the whirling round plutonic adj. of or pertaining to any pro¬
of boulders and stones to form a large cess associated with great heat deep in the
pothole-2. If the stream later deserts its earth’s crust.
course the plunge pool remains as a nearly
plutonic rock (Greek Pluto, god of the
circular lake, cut in the bedrock and often
underworld) an intrusive igneous
very deep.
rock which, having cooled and solidi¬
pluralism I. the institutional arrange¬ fied slowly at great depth in the earth’s
ments for the distribution of political crust, is usually coarse in texture, with
power 2. an approach to the study of large crystals, extrusion, extrusive

political systems which argues that power ROCK, GABBRO, GRANITE, INTRUSION,

should be diffused in a political system, that VOLCANIC ROCK.

the system should be open and accessible to

pluvial, pluviose adj. of, pertaining to,
all its members, and that it is possible by
due to, or characterized by, rain. Fre¬
democratic processes to reach compro¬
quently used in connexion with postglacial
mise agreements when disagreement and
climatic fluctuations (a pluvial period
conflicts arise in society 3. the existence
being a long period when rainfall was dis¬
or the toleration of different attitudes and
tinctly heavier than that in those relatively
beliefs within a group or an institution
dry stages that preceded and followed it),
etc., or of these as well as different ethnic or
the term came to be used as a noun, i.e.
cultural groups within a society, dualism.
a pluvial period became a pluvial.
pluralistic integration integration in
pneumatolysis the process in which
society in which distinct groups coexist
chemical changes are brought about in
within a common framework of political,
rocks by the action of heated gases and
and legal rights.
vapours from the earth’s interior, usually
plural society a society within which in the later stages of a cycle of igneous

there are two or more elements, social activity, affecting both the igneous

orders or cultural groups which, in many rock itself and the surrounding coun¬

areas of social behaviour, do not mix try rOck, and usually resulting in the
because each group wishes to retain its formation of new minerals, including me-

312
 Poisson distribution

talliferous ores, autometamorphism, waterlogging, typically mottled in the

HYDROTHERMAL, METASOMATISM. gleyed grey horizon, with an overlying
dark brown to black A horizon which may
podzol, podsol (Russian podzol, ash)
or may not have the bleached horizon
podzol is now the preferred spelling, a
and/or organic layer of the true podzol),
zonal soil developed under cool moist
and stagnopodzols (soils with the typical
coniferous forest climatic conditions (in
thin peaty surface layer of the true podzol,
which precipitation is fairly low but the
overlying an intermittently waterlogged
evaporation rate is also low) especially
gleyed bleached horizon, below which lies
from sandy parent rock, e.g. in the
a thin iron pan layer, rich in iron oxide
heathlands of western Europe and the
and/or a more crumbly layer), hard pan,
coniferous forest region of northern
LEACHING, WATERLOGGED.
Europe and Canada. Downward leaching
produces an acid a horizon with three podzolization 1. a general term applied
layers, a top thin surface layer of black to the process or processes by which soils
organic matter, below which lies a partly are depleted of bases-2, become acid,
leached layer and under that a heavily and come to have developed eluvial a
leached, ash-coloured layer (hence the horizons and illuvial b horizons,
name) devoid of iron compounds and eluviation, illuviation 2. specific¬
lime. The two layers of the b horizon ally, the process by which a podzol
consist of an upper layer ofpartly cemented is developed, including the more rapid
leached material and a lower layer rich removal of iron and alumina than of
in iron oxide, clay and humus. The c silica from the surface horizons; but also
horizon below is of little altered parent applied to similar processes at work in the
rock. Podzols are not generally good agri¬ formation of certain other soils of humid
cultural soils, but they can be upgraded regions.
by the application of lime and fertilizers.
GREY-BROWN PODZOL, LEACHING, point bar the deposit of sand or gravel
PODZOLIC SOILS, RED-YELLOW POD¬ developing on the inside of a meander
ZOLIC SOIL, SOIL, SOIL ASSOCIATION, bend, growing by the accretions which
SOIL HORIZON, SPODOSOLS. accompany the migration of the meander.
It is sometimes termed a meander bar,
podzolic soils soils characterized by a
meander scroll or scroll meander, but point
dark b horizon rich in aluminium and/
bar is now usually preferred. Fig 29.
or iron oxide and humus. The overlying
leached a horizon and the organic sur¬ Poisson distribution a theoretical dis¬
face layer typical ofa podzol may be absent. continuous FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION
They range from well drained to badly which is positively skewed and truncated
drained and cover true podzols as well (normal distribution) and in which,
as brown podzolic soils (well drained if perfect, the mean and the variance
loamy or sandy soils, lacking an organic are equal, i.e. the square root of the stan¬
or bleached A horizon, pH 5 to 6, dard deviation is equal to the square
developed in humid temperate climates, root of the variance. The Poisson distri¬
transitional between brown earths and bution is most likely to be produced by a
podzols), gley podzols (poorly drained random process in which there is only a
soils developed on land with intermittent small probability of an event occurring,

3D
 x v

polar

i.e. the probability of the event occurring is ing‘from the north or south polar-i

very small indeed in comparison with the region.

probability that it will not occur.

polder (Dutch) low-lying land, usually
BINOMIAL DISTRIBUTION.
below sea-level, reclaimed from the sea,
polar adj. of or pertaining to those parts lake, or floodplain of a river by embanking
of the earth, or of the celestial sphere, close (dikes-i) and draining, often supported
to the poles-4 2. of or pertaining to the by continued pumping. The work of
pole-3 of a MAGNET. creating polders is termed empoldenng,
and occasionally the tract enclosed is
polar air mass an air mass with cool
termed an empolder.
temperatures, symbol P, originating in
midlatitudes (40° to 6o°) over the ocean pole 1. one of two extremes 2. a point of

(polar maritime air mass, Pm) or over the attraction 3. one of the two points at the

continental interior (polar continental, ends of a magnet where its power of

Pc). The term was introduced originally pulling iron towards itself is greatest 4.
to stress the difference in temperature with either end of the axis of a sphere, e.g. the

a tropical air mass. It should not be northern or southern extremity of the axis

confused with the arctic air mass, sym¬ of rotation of the earth, i.e. the north

bol A, or the antarctic air mass, sym¬ pole, south pole, the earth's geograph¬

bol A A, air masses which originate near ical poles. MAGNETIC POLE, TRUE NORTH,

the poles. TRUE SOUTH.

polar front the front or frontal zone Pole Star the bright star in the constel¬
where the polar maritime and tropical lation Ursa Minor, seen in the zenith at
maritime (polar air mass, tropical the north pole. It is used to find true

air mass) meet, over the North Pacific north from any point in the northern

and North Atlantic oceans. Disturbances hemisphere, the height of the Pole Star
along this front, which shifts over a broad above the horizon seen from that given
zone, play a major part in determining point being equal to the latitude.

north European weather, arctic front, SOUTHERN CROSS.

ATLANTIC POLAR FRONT, POLAR FRONT

polje (Slavic, field or cultivated area) 1.
JET STREAM.
in karst, a large or very large (e.g. with
polar front jet stream a jet stream an area of some 400 sq km: 155 sq mi)
formed along the polar front. Fig 5. closed depression in limestone, usually
elliptical, with a flat floor either of bare
polar high a persistent area of high
limestone or covered by alluvium, some¬
atmospheric pressure (anticyclone,
times marshy, sometimes with an intermit¬
high) located over the polar region
tent lake, generally surrounded by steep
of ANTARCTICA. Fig 5.
limestone walls 2. in the former Yugo¬
polar low a persistent area of low slavia, any enclosed or nearly-enclosed
atmospheric pressure (low) located in the valley.
upper atmosphere over high latitudes.
pollarded adj. applied to 1. a living tree
Rg 5-
cut back to the main trunk so that the

polar wind a very cold wind blow¬ new growth forms a thick head of many

314
 ponor

branches, not to be confused with cop¬ pollution haven a location that lacks

piced (coppice) 2. an animal from which stringent anti-pollution legislation, pol¬

the horns have been removed. lution.

pollen th e very fine powder (microspores) polygon 1. a plane figure enclosed by five
carrying the male element of seed- or more straight lines 2. in soil, a polygonal
producing plants, each gram of pollen pattern varying in diameter from a few
(i.e. each microspore) containing a (much millimetres to tens of metres, usually with
reduced) male gametophyte. The pollen a slightly concave or convex surface,
grains are carried by wind, insects, birds visible on the soil surface in areas of
or water to the female parts of the plant, permafrost or of very cold winters (pat¬
where pollen tubes containing the male terned ground), but also in other areas
nuclei develop and eventually penetrate where contraction has taken place, e.g. in
the embryo sac. playas, in arid areas, in deserts.

pollen analysis palynology.

polynya (Russian poluinya) a large area
pollen count a measure of the pollen of open water surrounded by sea ice,
in the atmosphere in a given volume of sometimes bounded on one side by the
air during 24 hours. coast, and occurring annually in the same
region, notably off the mouths of big
pollution 1. the direct or indirect process
rivers.
by which any part of the environment

is affected in such a way that it is made pond an area of still water, smaller than a

potentially or actually unhealthy, unsafe, lake, lying in a natural hollow (pond verb)
impure or hazardous to the welfare of the or in a depression formed by digging or

organisms which live in it, i.e. the results by embanking a natural hollow (and

are harmful (teratogenic pollution). specifically named according to use, e.g.

The term is sometimes also applied, fish-pond).

loosely, to such processes if they give rise

pond verb to dam a stream, to check a
to results which are merely objectionable
flow, to form a pond, e.g. when the normal
2. the state of being so harmfully affected.
flow of a stream is interrupted (e.g. by an
Pollution usually occurs as a result of the
uplift of part of the stream bed or by an
presence of too much of some substance,
obstruction which may include a strong
or the excessive occurrence of a process
flow of water from a side valley), the water
or action, in an inappropriate place at
of the main stream is said to be ponded
an unsuitable time, such as oil spillage,
back, forming a lake or large pond.
sewage outfall, or industrial effluent in a
river, lake or sea, e.g. mercury in the sea
ponente a westerly wind, usually cool,
(minamata disease); sulphates etc. in
usually bringing dry weather, blowing on
the atmosphere (acid rain); soil nutrients
the coasts of Corsica and Mediterranean
causing eutrophication; industrial heat
France.
causing thermal pollution; noise of
flying aircraft in residential areas near air¬ ponor (Slavic, pi. ponore) an aven, a
ports at night; obnoxious fumes from an vertical or steeply inclined shaft in
industrial process in a residential area limestone country, leading from a swal¬

(PLUME-2). low-hole or from the ground surface to

315
 \ N.

pool

an underground cave, and through which population potential 1. the number of

water may pass. people who might be able to live in a
certain area at a standard of living that
pool i. a small body of standing water,
is reasonable in relation to the resources
artificially impounded or occurring
available in that area, carrying capa¬
naturally, specifically named to accord
city-3,5 2. a measure of the accessibil¬
with use or formation, e.g. swimming-
ity of a particular mass of people to a
pool, whirlpool 2. a still, usually deep,
point.
area in a stream or river.

pool and riffle a pattern developed on the population pyramid a bar graph in
bed of a stream by a sequence of alternating the form of a pyramid drawn to express

scoured pools and shallow gravel bars the age and sex composition of a human

termed riffles, even if the channel is population-i. The age groups are

straight and the bed uniform. The distance shown on the vertical scale, commonly

between the pools depends on the width graduated into ten-year intervals, young¬

of the stream (commonly the distance is 5 est at the base, and the number or percent¬

to 7 times the width of the stream). If the age of males and females within each of

bed is easily eroded the channel begins to the age groups on the horizontal scale, the

wind, pools develop on the outer (con¬ males lying traditionally to the left, females

cave) bank, riffles grow on the inner side to the right of a line drawn perpendicular

to become point bars, the beginning of to the horizontal axis, and expressing zero

MEANDERS. (percentages or numbers increasing to the

left for males, to the right for females).
population 1. the total number or a speci¬ The result is shaped more or less like a
fied group of people or of animals or ol pyramid, but is rarely symmetrical. If the
plants living in an area at a particular time pyramid has a wide base and tapers to a
2. the process of providing an area with pointed top, it is termed expansive (denot¬
inhabitants, depopulation 3. a group of ing an expanding population, with many
individuals regarded without consider¬ children and a declining death rate); it its
ation of the interrelationships within the shape resembles a tall dome rather than a
group 4. in statistics, a term synonymous pyramid, it is termed stationary (denoting
with aggregate-i, any finite or infinite a stable, slowly growing population, with
collection of individuals under consider¬ a decline in mortality and a low birth rate);
ation (not necessarily a collection of living if the shape is broadly oval with a pointed
organisms) of which the qualities may be top, the base cutting the oval below its
estimated by sampling. widest part, it is said to be constrictive
(denoting a declining population, with a
population density the number of indi¬
birth rate lower than the death rate). In
viduals occupying a particular unit area. x
addition to birth and death rates, migration
DENSITY-I.
and the tendency of females to outlive
population explosion a great, rapid, males affect the shape of population pyr¬
increase in population-i,3 in a specific amids. BIRTH RATE. Fig 38.
area, or in the world, e.g. as experienced
in the human population in the twentieth pore water pressure the pressure on rock
century. and soil particles produced by water con-

316
Age group MALE FEMALE

70* 1 1, . —
60-69 1,
50-59 T Each age group
40-49 v 1 moves upwards
30-39 r as time passes
1 ,
20-29 1
10-19 j I .
0-9 f
New births
(a) High death rate

70 ♦
60-69
50-59
40-49
30-39
20-29
10-19
0-9

(b) Effect of reduction in death rate

(d) Effect of reduction in birth rate (after 40 years)

Fig 38 Population pyramids, showing the effects of reductions in birth and death rates

317
 S v

porosity

tained in the interstices between the par¬ person or object 2. rank in a hierarchy.
ticles. LOCATION, SITUATION.

porosity the quality of being porous, full positive movement of sea level, the rais¬
or abounding in pores. The porosity of ing of the sea level in relation to the land
rocks, i.e. the ratio or percentage of the caused by a global raising of the ocean
total volume of the pore spaces (minute level (eustatism) or by the subsidence
interstices through which liquids or gases of the land resulting from earth move¬
can pass) in relation to the total volume ments or isostatic processes, isostasy,
of the rock, is measured by a porosimeter. negative movement.
Sand, gravel, sandstones, with open tex¬
tures and coarse grains, are typical porous positivism a philosophy developed ori¬
rocks. Porosity is quite different from per¬ ginally in the nineteenth century to dis¬
viousness (pervious rock, permeable tinguish science from metaphysics and
rock). Dry clay, for example, is highly religion. It is based on the assumption
porous and will hold much water in its that all true knowledge is scientific, is
pores, but when saturated the small spaces grounded on facts or experience, and
between the grains become blocked with completely represented by observable
water held by surface tension, pre¬ phenomena and scientifically verified
venting the passage of water. To be an facts, their objective relations and the
aquifer or source of water a rock must laws that determine them, logical
be both porous and pervious. Porosity may POSITIVISM, RELEVANCE, SCIENTIFIC
be increased by leaching or decreased LAW.
by COMPACTION. IMPERMEABLE.
possibilism a philosophical concept
porphyry a hypabyssal rock with large which, while accepting that every en¬
crystals in a crystalline or glassy ground- vironment has its limits which restrict
mass (matrix-3) of finer grain. The hard human activity, argues that within those
Egyptian porphyry composed of red or limits there is a set of opportunities which
white feldspar crystals embedded in a offer human beings freedom of choice
red or purple glassy base was much used of action in contrast to determinism or
by the Romans as a decorative material ENVIRONMENTALISM. PROBABILISM.
for buildings, vessels, ornaments, acidic
rock. post-Fordism a term connoting the
system of manufacturing processes and
port a term loosely applied to a place
practices that developed in western in¬
where ships may anchor to load or unload
dustrialized countries in the mid-1970s
cargo, or to the harbour itself, or to
(fordism). Its keynote is its flexib¬
the harbour and adjoining settlement,
ility, in machinery and work practices.
quays, handling facilities for cargo, »
Highly skilled, versatile workers operate
warehouses, transport termini etc. aban¬
advanced, automated machinery, making
doned doorstep, entrepot, fishing
individually tailored products for niche
PORT, FREE PORT, OUTPORT, RIVER PORT,
markets; component parts may be pro¬
TREATY PORT.
vided by specialist companies able to
position i. the place-i occupied by a deliver just in time (at the time the parts
person or an object in relation to another are required). Management (incorporat-

318
 postmodernism

ing the financial structure), research and PRIMARY INDUSTRY). NETWORK SOCI¬
development, production and marketing ETY, POST-INDUSTRIAL CITY, POST¬
interact with labour. MODERNISM.

postglacial adj. occurring after a glacial

postmodernism the swiftly changing
period, generally applied to all time suc¬
modernity-2 that emerged from mod¬
ceeding the glacial epoch (pleistocene)
ernism about the 1960s and 1970s. To
intheQUATERNARY period, geological
select some elements from the socio-
TIMESCALE.
economic-political background that ap¬
pear in geographical studies, this was the
post-industrial city a city (a large town)
time of the decline of communism-2 and
which it is thought will become typical
the dissolution of the USSR; the inde¬
of the POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY. It IS
pendence of former European colonies;
presumed that employment will be mainly
rising nationalism; the spread of market
in the tertiary and especially in the
economies, multinationals and the
QUATERNARY INDUSTRIES, population
growing strength of far eastern eco¬
density will be low, differences in living
nomies; re-structuring of industry (post¬
standards and social status low, re¬
fordism); the NEW INTERNATIONAL DI¬
creational facilities abundant, personal
VISION of labour; rapid progress in
(rather than public) transport the norm.
high technology and information
It is suggested that Canberra, Australia,
technology (internet); in space research
is a prototype, industrial city, pre¬
(remote sensing) and in biotechno¬
industrial city.
logy, including genetic engineering;
post-industrial society a form of society the institution of the welfare state; the
which some authors see as evolving in the spread of the feminist movement (fem¬
industrialized societies of western Europe, inist geography); globalization; the
Japan and North America in the latter part growing power of special interest groups;
of the twentieth century as a result of mass consumerism influenced by the visual
changes in shape, pattern, and framework images of the mass media; and concern
of their societies. This new form is vari¬ for the future of the global natural
ously seen to involve a pronounced shift environment evidenced by interest in
in employment from manufacturing to BIODIVERSITY, CONSERVATION, POL¬
service industries (secondary indus¬ LUTION, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT,
try, TERTIARY INDUSTRY, QUATERN¬ respect for ecosystems and endan¬
ARY industry); the rise to pre-eminence gered species (cites). Postmodernism
of professional and technically qualified expresses these swift changes by experi¬
people; or the rejection by some young mental, individualistic and ephemeral
people of materialism; or the decline of visual art; minimalism in music; and archi¬
the role of the wage-earners as the agent tecture that tends to renounce that of
of change, resulting from technological modernism in favour of broken or
progress. In this concept, the stage pre¬ gentler outlines, some ornamentation and,
ceding the post-industrial is termed the in some cases, a vernacular style, earth
industrial (employment mainly in sec¬ SUMMIT, RIO, ECOTOURISM, HABITAT I
ondary industry) and, preceding that, and II, HUMANISTIC GEOGRAPHY, POST¬
the pre-industrial (employment mainly in INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY.

319
potamobenthos

potamobenthos organisms living on the cohditionally unstable (conditional

bed of a river, benthos. instability) as a result of being lifted
over a reliefbarrier or over a mass of cooler
potamoplankton minute living organ¬
air at a front.
isms floating in sluggish rivers and streams.
PLANKTON, POTAMOBENTHOS. pothole I. applied loosely, to any deep
hole, vertical cave system, or underground
potash i. loosely applied to any potas¬
cave-i, in limestone country, hence
sium salt or compound 2. specifically a
the term potholing for caving or exploring
potassium carbonate, K2C03, especially
underground caverns etc. 2. in studies of
an impure form, fertilizer.
erosion, a hole, more or less circular, worn
potassium a silvery-white, soft metallic in rocks by whirhng stones, as in the bed¬
element-6, rapidly oxidizing in air, rock of the channel of an eddying swift
occurring in plants and animals, and in stream.
combined form in minerals. An essential
poultry chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys
plant nutrient, it is used in the com¬
and other domesticated birds raised for
pound potash in mineral fertilizers; its
food, i.e. for the eggs they produce as
salts are extensively used in medicine and
well as for their flesh, battery system,
industry. The rate of radioactive decay
livestock.
(radioactivity) in potassium-argon is
sometimes measured in dating, espe¬ poverty i. a deficiency in, a lack of, or
cially in dating rocks, feldspar. an inadequate supply of, something 2. of
soil, unproductive 3. the state or quality
potato Solarium tuberosum, a descendant
of being poor, a relative term without
of the perennial herb native to South
precise meaning. At subsistence level, only
America, now cultivated in most areas
those with insufficient food and shelter for
except the arctic and equatorial regions,
survival may be said to be in a state of
one of the most extensively grown and
poverty; but poverty is usually defined in
important food crops of the world, yield¬
sociology as a concept of relative depriva¬
ing higher food value per area cultivated
tion, i.e. the absence or inadequacy in the
than any cereal crop. The potato has
lives of the poverty-stricken of the diets,
fibrous roots and many underground stems
amenities, standards, services and activities
culminating in swollen tips that make the
which are common or customary in the
edible tubers rich in carbohydrates with
society in which they are living. Official
some protein and potash. The shoots that
definitions of poverty are customanly
develop from the ‘eyes’ of these tubers
given in social welfare schemes: such
generate new growth.
definitions are often governed by political
potential evapotranspiration the high¬ considerations.
est amount of water that could be evapor-'
poverty cycle the recurrent transmission
ated or transpired from plants from a given
of poverty-3 and deprivation from
area if the plants had an unlimited water
one generation to the next. This has been
supply. EVAPOTRANSPIRATION, THORN-
explained in terms of the assumed pass-
thwaite’s climatic classification.
tng-on from parents to children ot negat¬
potential instability the original con¬ ive attitudes towards work, education and
dition of an air mass before it becomes the law, as a consequence ot which the

320
 precious metal

children lack adequate equipment to com¬ and cultivated. It is very similar to cher¬
pete for jobs. The assumption is that chil¬ nozem, but is dark brown and slightly
dren of poor parents start school at a acidic on the surface; some leaching has
disadvantage, may not be encouraged and occurred but there is no great accumula¬
supported by their parents while at school, tion of calcium carbonate in the b hori¬
achieve little, leave school with few or zon 2. a general term for all dark soils of
no qualifications, can find only low-paid treeless plains, mollisols.
work, if at all, and stay poor, their children
Pre-Boreal, Preboreal a climatic phase,
in turn inheriting their disadvantages.
with cold, dry conditions favourable to
MULTIPLE DEPRIVATION.
the growth of birch-pine forest in Eng¬
power in physics, the rate at which work land, pine forest in Scotland, following the
is done (as distinct from energy, the quaternary glacial epoch (geolo¬
capacity for doing work), the transfer of gical timescale), lasting in eastern
energy, geothermal energy, hydro¬ England until about 7500 bc. The sea
carbon, HYDROELECTRIC POWER, NUC¬ level was more than 60 m (195 ft) below
LEAR FISSION, NUCLEAR FUSION, SOLAR the present level, thus the British Isles
BATTERY, TIDAL POWER STATION, were part of continental Europe, bor¬
WATER POWER, WIND POWER. eal, MESOLITHIC, SUB-ATLANTIC, SUB-
BOREAL.
pozzolana, pozzuolana (Italian Poz-
zuoli, a town near Naples) fine volcanic Precambrian, Pre-Cambrian adj. of
ash used in hydraulic cement and or pertaining to all geological time
some mortars. and rocks before the Cambrian period
(time) or system (rocks) (geological
prairie an extensive area of unbroken
timescale), a period spanning probably
grassland, generally without trees, occur¬
more than 4000 million years. The rocks
ring in midlatitudes in North America and
have been subjected to much upheaval
considered by some authors to be equi¬
and change, but a few fossils-i have been
valent to the steppe of Europe, the
found in some of the unmetamorphosed
pampa of South America, the veld of
rocks; and some Precambrian rocks are
southern Africa. Prairie occurs where sum¬
visible in northwest Scotland and in Wales.
mer rains are light (total annual rainfall 250
to 500 mm: 10 to 20 in, with some local precession of the equinoxes the gradual
drought) and summer temperatures are change in the annual occurrence of the
high, conditions well suited to grain crops. equinoxes, due to the relative change of
Thus little remains of the original prairie, position of the ecliptic and the
most having been ploughed and sown to equator as the axis of the earth’s rotation
cereals or grasses finer than the indigenous. describes a cone-shaped rotation (similar
Some authors distinguish long grass prairie to the movement of a gyroscope). The
from short grass prairie, equating the latter conical rotation is caused by gravitational
with steppe. forces between the earth and the sun, the
earth and the moon. It is calculated that
prairie soil 1. brunizem, a zonal soil
the equinoxes swing round the ecliptic
developed in midlatitude subhumid tem¬
once in 25 800 terrestrial years.
perate areas that were formerly under
prairie grasses but which are now sown precious metal a metal-i, especially

321
 \ s.

precipitation

gold, platinum, silver, prized for its ence, preventing ruin and decay. The
high value. term usually implies the maintenance of
something in its present form (or as
precipitation i. in meteorology, the
close to that form as is possible), with¬
deposition of moisture on the surface of
out change; whereas the work of con¬
the earth from atmospheric sources (met¬
servation, aware of present and future
eoric water), including dew, hail,
needs, is more positive, forward-looking
rain, sleet, snow 2. in chemistry, the
and flexible, and does not rule out neces¬
formation, the settling out, of solid par¬
sary change.
ticles in a solution.
pressure 1. the action of exerting a
precipitation-day a period of 24 hours,
steady force on something, of trying to
commencing normally at 0900 hours, on
force or persuade, pressure group 2.
which rainfall exceeds 0.25 mm (0.01 in)
in climatology, meteorology, atmo¬
or snowfall 0.25 cm (0.1 in). It is a more
spheric pressure.
appropriate and precise term than rain-
day, especially when applied to areas with pressure gradient barometric gradi¬
much snowfall, and is generally now the ent.
preferred term, wet-day.
pressure group a group of people united
pre-industrial city a city-i of the past by shared attitudes and goals who try to
or present serving a population of which obtain decisions favourable to their inter¬
most are engaged in agriculture. It has ests by gaining access to and influencing
characteristics markedly different from the governmental process.
those of an industrial city typical of
pressure release the outward force of
the highly developed industrialized coun¬
pressure set free from inside a rock mass
tries of today. For example, the pre¬
when the overlying strata is removed by
industrial city is usually identified by the
denudation. This commonly occurs in
non-existence of a central business
massive, unjointed rock, e.g. in granite.
district; in some cases one may exist
but if it does it is not dominant. Usually pressure system a distinct atmospheric
there is no specialization of land use, the circulation system of high or low pressure.
urban layout is relatively un-ordered, the ANTICYCLONE, COL, DEPRESSION, RIDGE
street markets, shops, workshops and OF HIGH PRESSURE, SECONDARY DE¬
homes being mixed together (although a PRESSION, WEDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE.
particular craft may be concentrated in a
particular district). The poorest live on the pressure wave push wave.
periphery, not in the inner city zone. prevailing wind a wind blowing most
There is a marketing economy based on frequently from a specific direction in a
crafts, little specialization of labour in the' particular area, dominant wind.
large population, and in most cases family
ties and relationships that ensure rigid primary adj. of the first in order of time
social, ethnic, and tribal segregation, often of origin or precedence.
on occupational lines, post-industrial
primary industry, primary activity,
city.
primary sector an activity concerned
preservation the act of keeping in exist¬ with the collecting or making available of

322
 probability

material provided by nature, i.e. agricul¬ a fruit or vegetable cultivated in such a

ture, fishing, forestry, hunting, mining way that it is ready for market before, or
and quarrying, industry, secondary very early in, its normal season.
INDUSTRY, TERTIARY INDUSTRY, QUAT¬
prisere primary sere, a natural plant suc¬
ERNARY INDUSTRY.
cession-2, originating on a bare area and
primary labour market employment in progressing to a climax.
well-paid, secure and pensionable work, as
prismatic compass a magnetic compass
distinct from the secondary labour market,
used in surveying, in which a prism is
with poorly-paid, insecure and, in some
incorporated so that an image of the angle
cases, part-time work.
of the bearing can be read by the operator
primary production in ecology, the while using sights through a telescope.
total quantity of organic matter as it is
private sector one of the two major di¬
newly formed by photosynthesis. It is
visions of a national economy, the other
estimated that only some one-tenth of one
being the public sector. The private sec¬
per cent of the solar energy reaching the
tor covers consumer expenditure for goods
earth is fixed in plants by photosynthesis.
and services and business expenditure for
The matter remaining after the energy
plant and equipment, and thus includes the
needs of the plants have been met is termed
economic activities of private persons,
the net primary production, food chain,
industrial and commercial companies,
PHOTOSYNTHESIS, PRODUCTION, SEC¬
institutions (insurance companies, build¬
ONDARY PRODUCTION.
ing societies, finance houses), trade unions,
primary wave of earthquakes, push charities and churches etc. mixed eco¬
wave. nomy, PLANNED ECONOMY, PUBLIC
SECTOR.
primate city a city-i which is first in
the rank of city sizes in a country, being privatization denationalization, the re¬
larger than any other, its great size giving verse of nationalization, i.e. the
it an impetus to become even larger, so removal of state control or ownership of
that the gap between its population total an activity or property in order to allow
and that of the city or cities of the second it to pass into private hands.
rank is exceptionally wide. According to
probabilism I. in philosophy, the doc¬
the rank-size rule, the primate city will
trine that no knowledge is absolutely
be more than twice the size of the second
certain and that probability provides
largest city; according to central place
sufficient grounds for action 2. in geo¬
theory it will be three times the size of
graphy, a modification of possibilism,
the second rank city. Some authors regard
that everywhere there are possibilities
the primate city as being equivalent to a
but some are more probable than others.
METROPOLIS. GATEWAY CITY.
probability I. generally, loosely applied
prime meridian, initial meridian the
to the degree of belief that an event may
meridian from which -longitude is
occur 2. in statistics, the likelihood of
measured, i.e. o°, the longitude of
an event occurring, expressed as a ratio
Greenwich.
between the number of the actual occur¬
primeur (French, anything new or early) rences of the event and the average number

323
 N. V

produce

of cases that would favour its occurrence, potential productivity, the hypothetical
taken over an infinite series of these cases. yield under stated conditions, especially
The probability of an event occurring lies under the best conditions possible (land
within the range o to I, zero indicating potential is the term sometimes used in
absolute impossibility, i indicating abso¬ this sense, land classification).
lute certainty, the probability ofthe occur¬
profile I. the shape of something, viewed
rence of most events lying between the
from the side 2. a short, concise descriptive
two.
written sketch 3. a side elevation or sec¬
produce agricultural or horticultural tion, e.g. the shape shown in outline where
products. the plane of a section cuts vertically the
surface of the ground, i.e. producing the
producer goods, producers’ goods
surface outline alone, as in a river pro¬
goods such as tools and raw materials
file. SOIL PROFILE.
needed by a manufacturer to make other
goods. Thus producer goods do not satisfy profit 1. an excess of income over expend¬
the needs or desires of the individual iture, especially in a particular transaction
person directly (consumer goods), over a period of time 2. the surplus money
but only indirectly, in the production of produced by industry after deductions
other, final products, capital goods, have been made for the cost of wages, raw
CONSUMER DURABLES, CONSUMER materials, rents, charges.
GOODS.
proglacial adj. before, in advance of, to
product something grown, manufac¬ the front of, a glacier, applied to time
tured or created, the end result of a pro¬ or position, proglacial lake.
cess. OUTPUT.
proglacial lake a stretch of water ponded
production i. that which results from during a glacial period between an ice
a process, effort, action, product 2. front and rising ground, e.g. a morainic
the total output, especially of some¬ ridge, the sediments in the lake consisting
thing grown or manufactured, measured of FLUVIOGLACIAL deposits. FLUVIO-
in absolute terms, food chain, prim¬ GLACIAL DEPOSITION.
ary PRODUCTION, SECONDARY PRO¬
DUCTION. progradation a process in which the
shore is extended seaward by the action
production rate in ecology, the number of waves on a seashore, continuing so
of organisms formed in an area in a given long as the current builds up the sea
penod of time. Gross production rate is the bottom offshore, aggradation, beach
rate of assimilation shown by organisms of
RIDGES.
a given trophic level-i. Net produc¬
tion rate is the gross production rate' progressive wave applied to ocean
less loss of matter brought about by respira¬ waves, a wave propagated in a channel
tion, decomposition and predation, food of (theoretically) infinite length, its wave
CHAIN, PRIMARY PRODUCTION, PRO¬ length being the distance between two
DUCTION-2, SECONDARY PRODUCTION. successive crests, and its period the time
taken to move one wave length.
productivity of land i. actual pro¬
ductivity, the equivalent of yield-i 2. proletariat 1. the lowest class-3 in

324
 public utility

ancient Rome 2. the lowest social be taken into account together with the
class in a modem society, particularly lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and
(in Marxist theory) the wage earners biosphere in environmental studies, tech¬
possessing neither property nor capital nosphere.
and living by the sale of their labour.
public goods social goods, goods that
BOURGEOISIE, MODE OF PRODUCTION,
cannot be subdivided for distribution and
POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY.
sale to individuals, e.g. national defence,
promontory a headland, a cliff, usually fire services, hospital services, street light¬
rocky, projecting into the sea, often associ¬ ing etc. In Britain (apart from national
ated with offshore rocks and stacks. defence) they are usually subject to public
control via local government; and what
property I. possessions, a thing or things
is included/excluded is often a political
owned 2. real estate (i.e. immovable
decision.
property, e.g. land or buildings as distinct
from personal possessions) or a piece of public housing social housing, housing
real estate (especially a building such as a units financed directly by government
house) 3. an attribute, a characteristic, a agencies or local authonties and rented to
quality. tenants.

protalus rampart an accumulation of public participation participation by the

coarse angular rock debris, resembling a public in political decision-making,
moraine, consisting of material that has especially in relation to policies which
slipped down from perennial banks of have a direct effect, e.g. land use planning
snow, and lying parallel to the slope that policy.
produced it. talus.
public sector, government sector one
proton a positively charged, fundamental of the two major divisions of a national
particle present in all atoms. economy, the other being the private
sector. The public sector covers the
proven reserves reserves of which the
official economic activity of central and
existence and the location are known and
local government, the nationalized indus¬
the quantity can be estimated, but which
tries and any corporations partly financed
may be exploited only if the demand is
by the government, but excludes the
great enough to make it economically feas¬
consumer expenditure of government
ible to do SO. RESOURCES.
employees. In a mixed economy it usu¬
psychic income factors which, reflecting ally represents some 25 per cent of all
personal psychological and mental atti¬ economic activity; in countries with a
tudes, give the decision-maker the greatest CENTRALLY PLANNED ECONOMY it usu¬
comfort, happiness, pleasure, satisfaction ally represents 100 per cent.
in living and/or working in a particular
public utility a business concern which
location.
provides and administers a public service,
psychosphere the humah mind, human e.g. by providing gas, electricity, water,
thought and culture (as studied by psycho¬ telephones, railways etc., which requires
logists, anthropologists and other social special wayleaves or other rights or com¬
scientists) as an environmental factor, to pulsory powers over the use of land.

325
 \ v

pulse

pulse a leguminous food plant (leg- attracted to another area by what are per¬
uminosae), e.g. butter bean, chick pea, ceived as favourable conditions (e.g. the
black and green grams, lablab, lentil, pea, likelihood of a better job, higher wages,
or its edible seeds. freedom of movement) in another area.
STRENGTH THEORY, WAGE DIFFEREN¬
pumice solidified froth on the surface of
TIAL THEORY.
an acid lava flow, formed by the escape
of gases and vapours from the cooling lava, push wave P-wave, a primary wave, a
to give a very light, fme-grained, cellular pressure or compressional wave, a shock
acid rock, capable of floating in water and wave produced by an earthquake, a
used as an abrasive in smoothing, cleaning compressional vibration resembling a
and polishing. Pumice dust forms one of sound wave, which passes through solids,
the components of red clay-i on the liquids and gases. It is termed push wave
deep ocean floor. because each particle is displaced by the
wave along the direction of its move¬
punctuated equilibrium the term
ment through the earth’s crust, mantle
popularly applied to the theory of allo-
and core, gutenberg discontinuity,
patric speciation which suggests that the
LONGITUDINAL WAVE, MOHOROVICIC
evolution of species occurs not as a steady,
DISCONTINUITY, SHAKE WAVE, TRANS¬
continuous process as proposed by Darwin
VERSE WAVE, WAVE.
but by a process of sudden leaps forward,
followed by a calm period with little puszta (Hungarian, waste) Hungarian
change; that new species develop rapidly steppe region, the open treeless plains of
from a small subpopulation of ancestors, temperate grassland in the heart of Hun¬
often in an isolated area at the limit of gary, also termed alfold.
the ancestral range, thereby splitting the
puy (French) a small hill, the cone of an
lineage, cladistics.
extinct volcano, rising from a plateau in
push moraine, push-moraine (less fre¬ the Auvergne, France. The term does not
quently push-ridge moraine, or shoved have a precise definition: the puy may be
moraine) mounds of sand and gravel composed of ash or cinder, of acid lava in
pushed into broad, smooth, massive, paral¬ the shape of a dome, or it may have a
lel ridges, frequently arc-shaped, on the double cone; and there may be evidence
margin of ice as it advanced over glacial of PELEAN or STROMBOLIAN volcanic
drift from an earlier glaciation. It may be activity. The term is applied elsewhere to
composed of superglacial and engla- similar hills.
cial material dumped in front of the ice
P-wave push wave.
(dump moraine); or of local glacial and
non-glacial debris which the advancing pyramid peak, pyramidal peak a
ice piled up in its path, moraine. HORN.

push-pull theory of migration-i,2, a pyroclast fragmental material, derived

theory which suggests that people are from magma as well as from the wall of
pushed by adverse conditions (e.g. over¬ the vent of a volcano, ejected by the
population, poverty, political repression, explosion of rapidly freed gases in an
war, dislike of a development scheme) to explosive volcanic eruption. It consists of
leave an area, and are at the same time ash, bombs, cinders, dust, lapilli, fragments

326
 pyroclastic

of older rocks etc. clast, clastic, pum¬ pyroclastic adj. applied to a rock formed

ice, scoria, tephra, and entries under from the debris of an explosive volcanic

VOLCANIC. eruption, clast, clastic, pyroclast.

Q
qanat foggara, karez. qualitative adj. relating to, concerned
with, or involving, quality.
quadrat one of the equal-sized sample
areas (usually a square) used in quadrat qualitative variable in statistics, usually,
analysis. In plant ecology a quadrat of a variable-2 which may be measured
one metre square is commonly used for on nominal or ordinal scales, commonly
sampling in order to gam an accurate stat¬ termed an attribute-2. Some statis¬
istical record of the composition of low ticians however apply the term qualitative
plant cover, but for tree cover the quadrat variable to a variable measured on the
has to be much larger. nominal scale only, maintaining that the
use of ordinal, interval or ratio meas¬
quadrat analysis a statistical technique
urement (measurement-2) to display
derived from one used in plant ecology
increasing quantities of an attribute in¬
(quadrat). The area covered by a point
volves quantification. Thus a quant¬
pattern is divided into equal-sized sample
itative variable may refer to a variable
areas, and the number of points occurring
measured on ordinal, interval or ratio
within each is counted. The observed dis¬
scales, or a variable measured on interval
tribution can then be tested against a theor¬
or ratio scale only. This difference in
etical pattern of distribution.
approach arises from the fact that all vari¬
quadrature I. in astronomy, the position ables can be represented by numbers.
when a celestial body lies at 90° or 270°
to another, e.g. when the sun, earth and quality 1. grade, degree of goodness,
moon form a right angle, the earth being worth 2. an attribute, trait, characteristic.

the apex. This occurs twice each lunar

quality of life the degree of goodness of
month with the result that the tide-
the conditions of life and of the life-style
producing effects of the moon and sun are
of a person. Objectively it may be possible
in opposition, producing tides of low
to assess the degree of goodness by the
range, neap tides 2. one of the two points
extent to which social well-being is
on the orbit of a celestial body midway
achieved. But ‘one person’s meat is
between the syzygies (syzygy). con¬
another’s poison’, and judgement as to
junction, MOON.
what should be included among the factors
quagmire in general applied to any soft, contributing to social well-being (apart
wet ground, but specifically a quaking bog, from the basic sufficiencies ofshelter, food,
an area of soft, wet ground so soft that it water, clothing etc.), let alone the evalu¬
quakes or trembles when trodden on.BOG. ation of the importance of each factor,
can only be subjective, varying from one
quake an earthquake.
individual to another, from one society
quaking bog quagmire. to another, from one time to another.

328
 Quaternary

Perhaps the term quality of life may there¬ when compared with opencast mining
fore best be interpreted as people’s sub¬ 2. the eroding of its channel by a young
jective feelings of satisfaction with their stream by the lifting effect of water as it
living conditions and life-style. penetrates cracks in rocks, termed pluck-
in g-2 by some authors.
quango a quasi-autonomous non¬
government organization, a government quartile one of the four equal parts
appointed body or agency in the UK of a data distribution, interquartile
which is financed by, but is not part of, a RANGE, MEDIAN.
government department.
quartz silicon dioxide, one of the com¬
quantifiable adj. measurable in terms of monest minerals in nature. It is character¬
quantity, conceivable or treatable as a istic of acid igneous rocks, is resistant
QUANTITY. to chemical weathering, is abundant
in SEDIMENTARY and METAMORPHIC
quantification the action of measuring
rocks, often fills joints, veins and cav¬
quantity, the expression of a property
ities, sometimes mixed with other min¬
or quality in numerical terms.
erals, as well as ores, so stable that it
quantitative adj. relating to, concerned usually constitutes the majority of sand
with, quantity or with the measurement grains in a sand or sandstone. When
of QUANTITY. pure (rock crystal) it is like clear glass,
but much harder (no 7 on the hardness
quantitative revolution a movement in
scale), and occurs in hexagonal crystals
approach to geographical studies in the
and massive form, usually colourless and
1950s and 1960s concerned with the use
transparent, but also in coloured (ameth¬
of statistical and mathematical methods
yst), translucent and opaque forms. Rigid,
and techniques to analyse associations in
it does not easily expand and is therefore
the attempt to produce objective systems
used in making heat-resistant apparatus.
of classification and theories of spatial
It is also used in radio-transmitters and
organization.
astronomical clocks because the oppos¬
quantitative variable qualitative ing faces of the crystals are able, under
VARIABLE. pressure, to take up opposite electrical
charges; conversely there is a change
quantity 1. an amount, sum or number
of volume if an electromotive force is
2. a great deal, very many 3. the property
applied.
of things that can be measured 4. in math¬
ematics, anything which is measurable, or Quaternary adj. 1. of the most recent
a figure or symbol used to represent this. period (time) or system (rocks) of the
Cainozoic era, i.e. following the plio¬
quarry an open excavation on the surface
cene of the tertiary period or system
of the earth, worked usually for the extrac¬
(geological timescale), and including
tion of rocks and certain non-metallic
the pleistocene and holocene, the
minerals, mine, mining, opencast min¬
time when human beings appeared on
ing, pit.
earth 2. applied by some geologists to the
quarrying 1. the extracting activity con¬ fourth era in the sequence of geological
ducted in a quarry, limited in extent time, i.e. post-Cainozoic, post-PLioCENE,

329
quaternary industry

commencing about the time of the onset sectors, industry, primary industry,
of the most recent ice age. SECONDARY INDUSTRY.

quaternary industry, quaternary act¬

ivity, quaternary sector the activities quicksand a thick mass of unstable, fine
in the tertiary industry which are loose sand, sometimes mixed with mud,
concerned with research, with the supersaturated with water, occurring on
assembly, processing and transmission of some coasts and near river mouths, liable
information, and with administration, to suck down any heavy object that comes
including the control of other industrial to rest on it. supersaturation.
R
race i. classificatory term, in broad terms Ranging, a device for determining the
equivalent to a sub-species, but some¬ presence, distance or speed of movement
times specifically and unscientifically of an object by means of transmitting
applied to a distinct group of the single microwaves at it and measuring by elec¬
species Homo sapiens (from which all tronic devices the speed of the micro-
persons living today are descended). Such waves’ return after reflection from the
a group is identified as possessing well- object. It is used especially in air and sea
developed and primarily heritable physical navigation, in tracking satellites and mis¬
characteristics which differ from those of siles and in automatic guidance; in land
other groups (e.g. head shape, hair charac¬ use and geological studies, and in measur¬
ter, skin colour, facial features etc.), a bio¬ ing and locating atmospheric phenomena
logical concept oflittle value when applied (thus of great benefit to weather fore¬
to the world population of today, there casters). REMOTE SENSING, SONAR.
having been much migration and inter¬
Radburn layout in town planning and
breeding since the time of the appearance
urban studies, a planned urban layout,
of Homo sapiens on earth, racism 2. swiftly
developed by Clarence Stein, applied in
flowing water in a narrow channel, natural
Radburn, New Jersey, USA, in 1928,
(as in a river) or artificial, controlled to
which separates pedestrians from vehicles
provide power, as in the channel leading
by arranging that ‘superblocks’ of housing,
river water to the wheel of a watermill
shops, offices, schools etc. enclose a central
(head-race) or from the mill (tail-race) 3.
green or pedestrian space. Each superblock
tidal race, a rush of seawater through a
has its peripheral ring roads, off which
restricted channel occurring where there
come service cul-de-sacs. The central
are considerable differences in the tides at
green or pedestrian space has pedestrian
each end of it 4. an offshore current flow¬
access only, by underground passages or
ing strongly round a headland.
surface walks.
racism 1. the assumption that the abilities
radial drainage a pattern of drainage
and characteristics of a person are deter¬
produced when streams flow down and
mined by race-i, and that biologically
outward from a central dome or cone-
one race is inherently superior to another.
shaped upland, occurring especially in
‘Race’ in this context is often arbitrar¬
mountainous areas or on volcanic cones.
ily extended to include religious sects, as
Fig 17.
well as national, linguistic and cultural
groups, ethnocentrism 2. a political radiance in remote sensing, the spatial
programme or social system based on distribution of radiant power density.
such assumptions.
radiant in physics, a point from which
radar acronym of Radio Detection and radiant energy is emitted, radiation.

331
radiant

radiant adj. emitting energy in the form densed. Such fog usually disappears when
of ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES. ENERGY, the sun rises, but it may persist if the layer
RADIATION. is thick and it lies under a layer of temper¬
ature inversion (inversion of temper¬
radiant energy the energy originating
ature). It may also lead to smog.
from the sun.
radioactivity, radioactive decay the
radiant exitance in remote sensing, property possessed by some natural ele¬
the measure of radiant energy (en¬
ments, and many synthetic elements, of
ergy) per unit area leaving the surface or
spontaneously decaying and in the process
object which is undergoing sensing.
emitting charged particles from the nuclei

radiant flux, radiant power in remote of their atoms accompanied by electro¬

sensing, the time-rate of the flow of magnetic radiation, usually at a constant

known rate (half-life) to form more
radiant energy (energy) measured in
stable isotopes, dating, potassium,
watts. IRRADIANCE, RADIANCE, RADI¬
ANT EXITANCE. RADIOCARBON DATING, RADIOMETRIC
AGE.
radiation the act or process of radiating,
radiocarbon dating a method of radio-
i.e. of propagating or transmitting energy
metric dating used to determine the age
in the form of particles or electromagnetic
of organic remains, such as wood, bone,
waves, e.g. an electric light bulb emits
shells etc. (effective for material up to 3000
radiation in the visible and infra-red
years in age, some would say fairly accurate
regions of the electromagnetic spec¬
up to 20 000 years, the accuracy dimin¬
trum; radiant energy is emitted by the
ishing beyond 30 000years). Very broadly,
sun (insolation, solar constant,
the method is based on the assumption
solar radiation); and there is loss of
that carbon 14, a rare radioactive isotope of
heat from the surface of the earth by
carbon incorporated in organic matter,
ground radiation, i.e. long-wave radiation
diminishes at a known rate after the death
emitted by land or water surfaces and pass¬
of the organism. Carbon 14, with a half-
ing up into the atmosphere (terres¬
life of about 5600 years, is formed in the
trial radiation), especially on a clear
upper atmosphere by the bombardment
night. ATMOSPHERIC WINDOW, CON¬
of nitrogen by sub-atomic particles, oxid¬
VECTION, GREENHOUSE EFFECT, THER¬
izes to carbon dioxide, enters the carbon
MAL CONDUCTION.
cycle on earth and is absorbed by all living
radiation fog, ground fog a layer of organisms. The proportion of carbon 14
white fog occurring particularly in low- to carbon 12 is constant in the atmosphere
lying areas when the weather is settled, and in living organisms. But when an
the sky is clear, the air near the earth’s ' organism dies it ceases to absorb carbon
surface is calm and moist and there is little dioxide and the proportion of carbon 14
wind, e.g. in Britain, in spring and autumn. to carbon 12 decreases with the decay of
In such conditions the ground surface the unstable radioactive isotope. With the
cools quickly at night by radiation, knowledge of the half-life of carbon 14
cooling the overlying moist air, which and the ratio of carbon 14 to carbon 12 in
flows downward by gravity to the hollows a sample, it is thus theoretically possible
where, cooled to dew point, it is con- to calculate the age of the sample at the

332
 rainfall

time of death. But recent research suggests 1650 mm (5 ft 6 in) are used in Spain,
that the production of carbon 14 is not Portugal, the former USSR, parts of the
constant through time, and that to reach Indian subcontinent, Australia and South
a more satisfactory measure radiocarbon America. Narrower gauges, especially
years should be compared with known 1066 mm (3 ft 6 in) or less, are used in
tree ring dates, thus giving ‘real years’. South Africa and parts of Australia; and
DENDROCHRONOLOGY. the metre gauge (3 ft 3% in) in many parts
of the world, including the Indian subcon¬
radiometer in remote sensing, any
tinent.
device that measures/records radiance
from, or irradiance on to, a surface. rain drops of water, large enough to fall
under the influence of gravity from
radiometric age the age of a substance, clouds to the earth’s surface, formed
e.g. rocks, measured in years before the by the coalescence of water droplets
present as revealed by the time taken for produced by condensation of water
a particular ratio of daughter atoms to vapour in the atmosphere, convec¬
parent atoms to be formed by natural tion AL RAIN, CYCLONIC RAIN, DRIZZLE,
radioactive decay of the parent atom MIST, OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION,
(radioactivity). The half-life of a PRECIPITATION-I, RAINS.
particular natural radioactive element
(commonly uranium 238 or 235, or rainbow an arc of concentric bands of
potassium) is used in the calculation, light in the colours of the spectrum seen

which is based on the assumption that the in the sky when the sun is behind and

system is a closed one (closed system) rain is in front of an observer, caused by

and that none of the daughter atoms the reflection and refraction of sunlight in

existed in the original material, radio¬ the water drops. The larger the drops, the

carbon DATING. brighter the colours.

rain-day, rainy day, day of rain in UK,

radium a strongly radioactive white me¬
a period of 24 hours, commencing nor¬
tallic element which disintegrates into ra¬
mally at 0900 hours, on which 0.25 mm
don (a radioactive gaseous element). First
(0.01 in) or more of rain is recorded.
isolated by Pierre and Marie Curie, it is
PRECIPITATION-DAY.
used in radiography and radiotherapy, and
in luminous paints, radioactivity. raindrop rain.

radon radium. raindrop erosion soil erosion caused by

large raindrops falling on bare earth,
rail (railway) gauge the width in the
occurring especially in tropical and semi-
clear between the top flanges of the rails,
arid areas. The raindrops dislodge soil
the parallel metal lines on which trains
particles, or cause soil compaction-2,
run. The standard gauge used through
which leads to increased si rface runoff.
Europe (except Spain, Portugal, the
former USSR and certain European rainfall the quantity of rain falling in a
countries linked to the former USSR) as certain time within a given area, usually
well as throughout North America and expressed in millimetres (mm) or inches
parts of Australia is 1435 mm (4 ft 814 in). (in). Unless otherwise stated in statistics,
Broad gauges of 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) and snow and hail (converted to water equi-

333
 s. V

rain forest

valent) are included. For calculation of rainshadow an area with a relatively small
averages a period of 3 5 years is commonly average rainfall occurring on the lee side
used, though many records are based on of a high land barrier, e.g. a moun¬
a shorter period, drought, precipita- tain barrier. The high land gives rise to
TION-I, RAIN-DAY, RAIN SPELL. OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION on the
windward slopes, thereby reducing the
rain forest, rain-forest forest-i com¬ moisture content of the air-stream on the
posed mainly of evergreen hygrophil-
leeward, which is warmed and dried
ous trees (hygrophyte). If the term is
further as it descends. Chinook, fohn.
strictly applied it should be restricted to
such a forest growing in moist tropical rain spell in Bntain, a period of at least
lowlands only in non-seasonal tropical fifteen consecutive rain-days on each
climates, i.e. with evenly distributed rain¬ of which at least 0.25 mm (0.01 in) of rain
fall (equatorial forest), e.g. of the falls.
Amazon and the Congo (Zaire) basins, the
islands of Borneo and New Guinea. But rain-wash, rainwash hill wash, hill-wash
if more generally applied, it may include 1. the surface creep of soil and weathered
the somewhat less luxuriant evergreen rock down a slope under the influence of
forest with some deciduous species gravity aided by rainwater, mass move¬

growing at low altitudes on tropical ment 2. material which originates in this

mountains, or the evergreen forests of way.
oceanic subtropical climates in south¬
raised beach 1. a former beach of a sea
western China, southern Africa, eastern
(or lake), sometimes with a cliff at the rear
extratropical Australia, and New Zealand.
and a wave-cut platform in front, covered
CANOPY, CLOUD FOREST, TROPICAL
with ancient beach deposits, now situated
FOREST.
above the present sea (or lake) level as a
rain gauge an instrument used in measur¬ result of negative movement of sea
ing rainfall, consisting of a funnel with the level or of isostasy. If it lies 40 to 45 m
diameter of the mouth 12.5 cm (5 in) or (130 to 150 ft) above the present sea level, it
20 cm (8 in), the rim ideally 30 cm (12 in) is usually termed a manne erosion surface,
from the ground, fitting closely into a marine platform, marine terrace. The term
collecting container, the water collected raised beach does not apply to a beach
being periodically measured in a vessel abandoned by a lake which is drying up or
graduated to the area of the mouth of the being drained 2. the ancient beach deposits
funnel. It should be positioned at a distance themselves. Fig 39.
from the nearest building, ideally at a dis¬
raised bog a deep, lens-shaped bog
tance equal to twice the height of that
Occurring in a shallow basin having
building.
grown above the water table and
rains, the the rainy season or wet season, therefore dependent on the precipita¬
also termed the monsoon season in India tion-evaporation rate. The growth
and other monsoon countries. In India the thickens towards the centre, e.g. as in
rains ‘break’ between early June and early central Ireland. It may provide peat
July, especially about 15 June, and last until for fuel, used domestically and formerly
September— October. in power stations, blanket bog.

334
 random sampling

New cliff forming Raised beach Old cliff line

Fig 39 Section through a raised beach

rake (Scottish) I. a well-defined group of science parks or universities, high

patches of different types of vegetation TECHNOLOGY.
over which hill sheep move in a fairly
regular daily pattern 2. a sloping terrace randkluft bergschrund.
on a mountain side or rock face.
random adj. applied in mathematics to
numbers as likely to come up as any others
ranch a farm where cattle, horses or
in a set.
sheep are bred and reared, especially on
a large scale in areas once covered with
random error in statistics, a deviation
grassland in southern and western USA,
from observed true value, occurring as
southwest central Canada, Argentina,
if it had been chosen at random from a
Uruguay. The animals used to roam to
probability-2 distribution of such er¬
find food on the open range-3, but now
rors. Over a large number of cases random
they are mainly confined to enclosures and
errors balance out because, unlike sys¬
fed on fodder crops grown on the farm.
tematic errors, they do not occur
DUDE RANCH.
predominantly in one direction.

ranching the activity of breeding and random numbers sets of numbers drawn
rearing animals on a large scale on a purely by chance, e.g. by rolling a dice.
RANCH. RANDOM SAMPLING.

R and D research and development, random sample a probability sample, a

activities that together are essential to sample-3 which has been selected by a
the continuing progress and success of method of random selection (random
an industrial enterprise. Research is con¬ sampling).
cerned with the investigation of the com¬
mercial use of new materials and processes, random sampling, random selection
development with the feasibility of using probability sampling, probability selec¬
the findings of that research, or with new tion, a method of selecting sample units
ways of exploiting existing materials and/ based on the theory of probability, so
or processes (innovation). Most large that each sample unit has a fixed and
industrial firms have R and D departments known chance of selection. Random
as part of their structure, but some use the selection is usually carried out by reference
expertise emanating from other sources, to tables of random numbers which are
e.g. from researchers in research and generated by a computer in such a way that

335
 V s.

random sampling error

all the numbers appear an equal number of godd, in CENTRAL PLACE THEORY, the
times in the overall table. See p. 456. maximum distance consumers are willing
to travel to obtain a good or service, order
random sampling error the sampling of GOODS.
error occurring in cases where the
sample-3 has been drawn by random rank i. position in a hierarchy, ranking,
selection (random sampling), termed rank-size rule 2. the stage reached by

sampling error where it is assumed or coal in the progress ofits change in phys¬

understood that random selection has ical composition, from lignite (with the

been used. lowest carbon content) to anthracite

(with the highest).
randstad (Dutch) in the Netherlands, a
rank correlation correlation, spear-
ring-city, a circular conurbation con¬
mann’s rank correlation coeffi-
sisting of Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden,
IENT.
’s-Gravenhage, Rotterdam and Utrecht,
interspersed with agricultural land devoted ranker in soil science, soils with an
mainly to market gardening and glasshouse AC horizon developed on silicate (sil¬
cultivation and containing within the cen¬ ica) rocks or sediments, the content of
tral area agricultural land cultivated to the organic matter in the a horizon be¬
meet the food needs of the urban ring. ing much higher than in the A horizon
of non-calcareous soils, soil, soil asso¬
range 1. a row or line of things 2. a single
ciation, SOIL HORIZON.
line of mountains forming a connected
system, chain, mountain chain 3. a ranking the action of arranging, assigning
natural or semi-natural grazing area, usu¬ rank, thus the arrangement of numerical
ally unenclosed, over which animals may data in sequence, in rank order, according
roam in search of food, ranch 4. the to a specific quality, without making any
difference between the least and the great¬ assumptions about the intervals between
est of a series of numerical values, e.g. the ranks.
of pressure, elevation, temperature, the
rank-size rule a rule describing the distri¬
difference made clear by the context, e.g.
bution of town or city sizes in an area. It
the difference between average day tem¬
states that if a set of towns in an area
peratures and average night temperat¬
is ranked in descending order of size of
ures (the daily range), or the difference
population, the population of any given
between average winter and summer
town will be inversely proportional to its
temperatures (annual range), absolute
rank in the list, i.e. the population of any
RANGE, MEAN DIURNAL RANGE 5. the
given town tends to be equal to the popu¬
maximum attainable distance, e.g. of a
lation of the largest town in the set divided
missile 6. the maximum distance a vehicle
by the rank of the given town; e.g. if the
can travel without refuelling 7. in ecology,
population of the largest town numbers
the limited area within which an organism
100 000, the population of the fifth lar¬
is distributed, i.e. the limit of its habitat
gest town will be 20 000 (100 000 divided
which affords it an appropriate niche; or
by 5). PRIMATE CITY.
the period within which it occurred, e.g.
in palaeontology 8. in mining, a min¬ rape Brassica napus, an annual herb, on-
eral belt, e.g. the Mesabi range 9. of a gin uncertain, grown widely in Europe,

336
 recreation

North America and Asia for cattle feed, ther product before being used. The term
for spring ‘greens’ for cooking, in seedling is sometimes loosely applied to include
form for salad; or dug in as a green the source of energy employed, e.g. coal,
manure. The seeds are pressed for their petroleum.
oil, used in cooking and as a lubricant, the
reach an uninterrupted stretch of water,
residue being pressed to form nutritious
e.g. in a straight section of a river, espe¬
cattle cake (oil cake).
cially if navigable, between two bends,
rapids (rarely rapid) part of a stream where or between locks on a canal.
the water is relatively shallow and the rate
reafforestation reforestation.
of flow is accelerated by continuous and
unbroken increased slope of the stream realism 1. an attitude based on facts and
bed or by a gently dipping outcrop of hard reality, as opposed to one founded in
rocks, causing the flow of water to become imagining and emotions etc. 2. in philo¬
swift, turbulent and broken, cascade, sophy, as opposed to idealism, the doc¬
WATERFALL. trine which maintains that material things,
the object of sense perception, have a real
ratio the relation between two quantities
existence, i.e. that they exist outside the
of the same kind, indicated by a colon
mind; or the doctrine which holds that
(e.g. 3:2), and expressed by dividing the
ideas, or universal (a general proposi¬
magnitude of one by that of the other.
tion, concept or idea), have an absolute ex¬
Thus 3:2 where the division is implied but
istence outside the mind, materialism-1.
not carried out, or as 3/2 = 1.5, indicating
that for each unit in the denominator there Reaumur scale a temperature scale, now
are 1.5 in the numerator. obsolete, introduced by Rene-Antoine
Ferchault de Reaumur, French physicist,
ratio scale in statistics, a measurement
1683 — 1757, in which the ice point, the
scale which is the same as, but more precise
freezing point, of water at one atmosphere
than, the interval scale, because it has
is o° and the steam point, the boiling point,
a true, fixed zero point. Thus equal pro¬
is 8o°; thus i°C = 33-8°F = o.8°R.
portional variations in the data correspond
to equal absolute variations on the scale. recessional moraine stadial moraine,
A variable measured on this scale is one of a succession of terminal mo¬
termed a ratio variable. raines which mark the temporary limit
of an ice sheet, formed as it pauses in
ravine a small, narrow valley with steep
retreat, or sometimes as it slightly re¬
sides, larger than a gully, smaller than a
advances and again retreats, moraine.
CANYON.
recharge a process in which water in an
raw data data.
aquifer, e.g. m an artesian basin,
raw material(s) the basic commodity or is replenished by the sinking of precip¬
commodities, natural (e.g. a plant product itation into the land surface, artificial
such as cotton, or a mineral) or partially RECHARGE.
processed, i.e. the product of another act¬
reclamation the act of reclaiming, win¬
ivity (e.g. wood pulp, wheat flour), which
ning back. LAND RECLAMATION.
are to be transformed by some industrial
or manufacturing process into some fur¬ recreation a leisure-time activity under-

337
rectangular drainage

taken for the sake of refreshment or enter¬ high humidity and high temperatures in a
tainment (e.g. in tourism), in many cases region with a markedly seasonal rainfall.
away from home, and in the countryside It can be 15 m (50 ft) in thickness. The
bringing about multiple land use. term should not be used as a translation of
TERRA ROSSA. LATERITE.
rectangular drainage a drainage-2
pattern formed usually under the influence redevelopment in urban areas, urban
of a rectilinear joint pattern, the tributaries RENEWAL.
meeting larger streams mainly at right
red-line district in an urban area, origin¬
angles, and all streams having sections of
ally an area delimited on a map by a red
approximately the same length between
boundary line and regarded by mortgage
junctions. Fig 17.
controllers as being in decline, unstable in
recumbent fold an overfold, nappe. social and economic terms, a poor security
Fig 24. risk, in which property is therefore con¬
sidered to be unacceptable as a loan secur¬
recycling the long-established practice of
ity. The practice of such delimiting is
collecting and purifying waste materials
termed redlining, gatekeepers.
and converting them to new and useful
products, e.g. as in the making and use red rain rain coloured by red dust carried
of shoddy, the reconstitution of glass by high-level winds from an and to a
bottles, the recovery of metals from scrap, more humid area, e.g. from the Sahara to
the re-use of waste paper and rags in paper southern Europe.
making.
red snow 1. snow coloured red by the
red clay 1. a fine-grained, soft deposit, presence of various organisms, found in
mainly of hydrated silicate of alumina, snowfields throughout the world 2.
rich in iron oxides, occurring on the floor specifically, snow coloured by the pres¬
of the deepest parts of the ocean (abyssal ence ofthe red algae which occurs in acidic
zone, ooze) where the water is so deep alpine and arctic environments.
that the calcareous shells of microscopic
organisms and even siliceous shells are dis¬ red-yellow podzolic soil a soil with an
solved before they reach the bottom. Thus ABC horizon (soil horizon) sequence.
the red clay, in which manganese nod¬ The profile has an A2 honzon unless it has
ules occur, is derived mainly from vol¬ been removed by erosion. The clayey b
canic (pumice) and meteoric dust, horizon is ‘blocky’ in structure, pod¬
material carried by icebergs, and insoluble zol, SOIL, SOIL ASSOCIATION, SOIL
remains of marine life (e.g. sharks’ teeth) 2. CLASSIFICATION.
applied loosely to any red-coloured clay.
reefi. a mass of rock or coral, sometimes
red earth a term loosely and unscien¬ of shingle or sand, occumng in the sea,
tifically applied to a red-coloured zonal usually covered at high tide, but often
soil with clay, quartz and iron com¬ partly exposed at low tide, atoll, bar¬
pounds, occurring in tropical areas (e.g. rier reef, coral reef (includes fringing
in Brazil, Guyana, eastern Africa, southern reef), stack 2. a bed or vein of metal
Deccan in India, Sri Lanka), resulting from ore or metal, particularly of gold-bearing
chemical weathering in conditions of QUARTZ.

338
 regionalism

reflection the process by which a beam to a place where pressure is less, where it
of particles or a wave (e.g. visible light), again freezes.
in collision with an opaque surface, may
regime i. the seasonal fluctuation in
be deviated or reversed in direction.
respect of precipitation, or of the volume
Reflection is regular from a smooth
of a glacier, or of the volume of water in
(especially a polished) surface, diffuse
a river 2. recurring seasonal pattern of
(not coherent) from a rough surface. The
climatic changes.
proportion of radiant energy incident
upon a surface which is reflected or region i. an area of the earth’s surface
scattered by it is termed reflectance. with one or more features or characteristics
(natural or the result of human activity)
reforestation, reafforestation the plant¬ which give it a measure of unity and make
ing of trees on land previously forested it differ from the areas surrounding it.
but from which the trees have been re¬ According to the criteria used in the
moved by natural causes or by cutting, differentiation, a region may be termed
burning or other means, afforestation. cultural, economic, morphological, nat¬
ural, physiographic, political etc.; and a
refraction the change in direction of
region may be identified by single, mul¬
the path of a ray occurring when elec¬
tiple or ‘total’ attributes, complemen¬
tromagnetic waves (e.g. visible
tary REGION, NATURAL REGION 2. the
light) or other energy-bearing waves,
area or space surrounding a specific place,
pass obliquely from a less dense to a
e.g. the London region 3. an area which
denser medium, reflection.
is a unit of administration, e.g. a planning
region, chorography, chorology.
refugee a person who, owing to reli¬
gious persecution or political troubles, regional development the economic
seeks shelter or protection from danger and cultural growth in a region-3, large
in a foreign country, emigrant, exile, or small, especially in one suffering ser¬
EXPATRIATE, IMMIGRANT, MIGRANT, ious economic problems, usually stimu¬
MIGRATION. lated and organized, sometimes directed,
sometimes financed, by direct or in¬
reg a stony desert, a desert plain covered
direct government action, regional
with tightly packed, wind-scoured gravel,
PLANNING.
e.g. as in Algeria. The gravel may be
cemented by salts drawn to the surface in regionalism 1. the local feeling of group
solution by capillarity and precipitated consciousness associated with a particu¬
by evaporation, thereby forming a desert lar geographical area, e.g. the South, the
PAVEMENT. ERG, HAMADA. West, the Middle West 2. the French
movement of the late nineteenth century
regelation the re-freezing of ice which directed to the revival of regional iden¬
has melted under pressure, the re-freezing tities and feelings, sometimes associated
taking place as pressure is released (the with political overtones 3. the movement
melting point of ice is lowered by pressure, to decentralize central government, pla¬
but it rises when pressure is released). The cing it at a level intermediate between that
process is a contributory factor to the flow of the state and the small local government
of a glacier: the melt-water flows down units 4. in economic and social planning

339
 V 'v

regional metamorphism

(plan-3), the selection of a region-3 to thevmean value of a random variable and

serve as the basic area for future develop¬ the corresponding values of one or more
ment. REGIONAL PLANNING. other variables, regression analysis.

regional metamorphism the alteration regression analysis a statistical technique

of pre-existing rocks by a combination which aims to explain the variation in an
of pressure (dynamic metamorphism) observed quantity in terms of the depend¬
and heat (thermal metamorphism) ence of one variable (the dependent
over a very extensive area, associated with variable) on one or more other variables
an orogeny, and leading to the formation (the INDEPENDENT VARIABLES).
of a wide range of new rocks and minerals. In LiNEAR-4 regression analysis the data
are plotted on a graph, the dependent vari¬
regional planning 1. comprehensive
able on the vertical axis, the independent
planning (i.e. concerned with socio¬
variable(s) on the horizontal axis, the trend
economic and political affairs) on a spatial
of the points on the graph indicating the
basis, the area concerned ranging from a
relationship between dependent and inde¬
city-1 and its surrounding rural hinter¬
pendent variables. A straight line is fitted
land-2 or several cities and their overlap¬
as close to the data points as possible to
ping hinterlands, as distinct from town
give the best description of the trend
planning, which is localized, concerned
(termed the regression line, or the line of
with small areas 2. such comprehensive
best fit, the distances between the points
planning within such an area by cen¬
and the line being termed regression
tral government with the aim of re¬
residuals). The line is placed so that the
ducing inequalities between regions-3
sum of the squares of the deviations of the
in a nation state 3. sometimes applied
points from the line is the smallest possible
as equivalent to economic planning in
(termed the least squares method). The
regional development, although the
line can then be used to predict expected
economic region may differ in design and
values of one variable given the value of
size from the region identified or specified
the second variable. SLOPE-3. Fig 40.
by the city regional planners, land use
PLANNING. Reilly’s law of retail gravitation a law

regolith a general term applied to the postulated by W. J. Reilly, New York, in

mantle of loose material (soil, sediments, 1931, that two cities attract retail trade
from an intermediate city or town in the
broken rock, volcanic ash, wind-blown
material etc., i.e. the soil and weathered vicinity of the breaking point, approx¬
imately in direct proportion to the popu¬
rock) overlying the solid bedrock.
MANTLE-2, weathering. lations of the two cities and in inverse
proportion to the square of the distances
regression 1. in general, the act ofmoving (distance via most direct improved auto¬
back, the tendency to move back 2. in mobile highway) from these two cities to
astronomy, the movement of a heavenly the intermediate town, gravity model.
body, e.g. a planet, in a direction opposite
to the normal, e.g. as in the precession rejuvenation becoming again youthful;
of the equinoxes 3. in biology, the in geology and geomorphology, the
return to an earlier or less complex form development of younger surface forms,
4. in statistics, the relationship between appropriate to the earlier stages of the

340
 relevance

Fig 40 Linear model: linear regression relating the length of streams to drainage areas

cycle of erosion, occurring when a lation of the highest and lowest points in
comparatively well-advanced cycle is a land area, the difference between the
interrupted by an increase in the rate of two extremes being termed the amplitude
erosion, especially erosion by a river, of relative relief, available relief,
due to causes defined as dynamic, eustatic RELIEF.
(diastrophic eustatism, glacio-
relaxation time the lapse of time during
eustatism) or static, resulting in such
which a physical system-1,2,3, having
river features as alluvial terraces,
been upset by changes in the factors con¬
INCISED MEANDERS, KNICKPOINTS,
trolling or influencing it, readjusts to those
TERRACES-2.
changes and reaches a new state of equi¬
relative humidity RH, the ratio be¬ librium.
tween the actual amount of moisture in
relevance 1. the quality of being con¬
the air and that which would be present
nected with, pertinent to, the subject 2.
if the air were saturated at the same tem¬
specifically, the degree to which some¬
perature, expressed as a percentage. Air
thing known or being discussed or studied
with an RH of 60 may be considered
has a bearing, particularly a practical bear¬
as approximately separating dry from
ing, on some current issue in society, e.g.
‘moist’ atmosphere, absolute humid¬
the contribution geographers may make
ity, DRY-BULB THERMOMETER, HUMID¬
in helping to find practical solutions to
ITY, HYGROMETER, SPECIFIC HUMIDITY,
current environmental or social problems.
WATER VAPOUR, WET-BULB THERMO¬
The consideration of relevance gained
METER.
favour in 1970s study as a reaction to
relative relief relative altitude, the re¬ the scientific approach of positivism,

34i
 V V

relic

deemed to be inappropriate in social configuration of an area, e.g. a contour

studies. map. Other types include photo-relief

maps, which are either photographs of a
relic, relict i. the material evidence of a
model or diagrammatic maps simulating a
thing that no longer exists 2. in ecology,
photograph.
an organism, population or community
the remnants of which still exist but which relief model a three-dimensional
was at an earlier time common in, or model-i depicting the surface relief of
characteristic of, an area. an area, but not necessarily true to scale.
Usually the vertical scale is exaggerated in
relic distribution the range-7 of a
companson with the horizontal so as to
relic-2 population of plants and/or an¬
accentuate mountains and plateaus.
imals surviving in an area, being the re¬
mains of a much wider range of an earlier relief rainfall orographic precipita¬
time. If such a population occupies an tion, rainfall resulting from the relief-i
area throughout its range it may be termed of the land. Hills and mountains cause air
an absolute relic; if only an isolated part to rise, resulting in cooling, condensa¬
of the area, a local relic; if restricted to tion of moisture, and rain.
a single region, an endemic relic; if its area
has been restricted by human activity, an remote sensing the examination of, the
anthropogenic relic; and it it establishes obtaining of information about, an object
a secondary distribution by occupying a or phenomenon at a distance from it, with¬
suitable habitat it is termed a migrant relic. out physical contact with it, particularly by
devices based on the ground, by sensors
relict boundary a boundary that can
carried aboard ships or aircraft, or by space¬
still be discerned in the cultural land¬
craft or satellites orbiting the earth, which
scape despite the fact that it has been
gather data in digital form at a distance
abandoned and no longer serves a political
from their source. The data collected by
purpose.
such equipment may be based on measure¬
relict sediments sediments deposited ments of variations in electromagnetic
under conditions different from those of radiation, in acoustic energy, or in grav¬
the present. itational or magnetic force fields. Com¬
puters are commonly used in the retrieval
relief i. the physical shape of the surface
and storage processes. The information
of the earth, its mountains and valleys,
obtained from remote sensors orbiting the
plains and plateaus, the physical landscape
earth in this way has greatly advanced
2. often applied loosely to indicate
the understanding and knowledge of the
inequalities or variations in shapes and
earth’s surface, its geological structure and
forms of the earth’s surface. The use of
mineral resources, the circulation of the
the terms ‘high relief’ and ‘low relief’ is
ocean, and atmospheric phenomena, aer¬
best restricted to areas which respectively
ial PHOTOGRAPH, ELECTROMAGNETIC
show a great or little variation in altitude.
SPECTRUM, GROUND INFORMATION, EN¬
topography should not be confused
HANCEMENT, FALSE COLOUR, IMAGE,
with relief, available relief, relative
INFRA-RED RADIATION, MULTISPEC-
RELIEF.
TRAL SENSING, PIXEL, RADAR, RADIO¬
relief map a map depicting the surface METER, reflection (reflectance), res-

342
 reproduction rate

OLUTION-1,2, SIGNATURE, SURVEY-4, repose slope a slope, usually steep, with

SONAR, SYNOPTIC IMAGE, THERMAL its steepness governed by the angle of
INFRA-RED SENSING. repose of the superficial layer of debris,
which maintains its angle in its retreat.
Renaissance, Renascence the artistic
PARALLEL RETREAT OF SLOPE.
and literary revival which began in Italy
in the fourteenth century and profoundly representative fraction RF, the fraction
affected thought and the arts in Europe for expressing the ratio between the distance
some two centuries thereafter. Broadly, measured between two points on a map
it was characterized by the spread of and the corresponding distance measured
humanism, a return to classical values on the ground, the usual way of expressing
(which weakened the grip of the medieval the scale of a map. The numerator is one
church), realism in the visual arts, an archi¬ (indicating one unit, such as an inch or
tecture radically different from that typical centimetre), the denominator is the num¬
of the preceding centuries, a spirit of ber of units on the ground which this
objective scientific enquiry, the birth of represents. Thus an RF of 1/1000000
printing, and the founding of centres of (often written 1:1000000, or 1:1 mn)
learning. It opened the way for the devel¬ means that 1 in or 1 cm on the map rep¬
opment of the modern world, humanist, resents one million in or cm on the ground.
HUMANISTIC, MODERNITY-2. Since a mile is 63 360 in, this is approx¬
imately 16 miles, and a map of 1:1 000 000
rendzina, rendsina in soil science, a
is roughly 16 miles to one inch.
group ofiNTRAZONAL soils, shallow and
calcareous, with an AC horizon, usually reproduction rate any of the calculations
with a brown or black friable surface, used to indicate trends in numbers of
humus content MULL-2,3, underlain by human population. They vary from simple
light grey or yellow calcareous material, and crude to complex and refined. The
calcium carbonate being distributed simplest is the gross reproduction rate,
throughout the profile. It develops from calculated by the number of all females of
relatively soft parent rock, under grass and reproductive age (15 to 50 years) expressed
forest vegetation in humid and semi-arid as a ratio of the actual number of females
regions. It is well developed in England born; or by the number of daughters a
on Chalk, but it also occurs on harder woman would produce if throughout her
limestones, mollisols. life she gave birth in accord with current
(age-specific) fertility rates (fertility-3).
renewal in urban areas, urban re¬
Net reproduction rate involves a more
newal, REDEVELOPMENT.
refined calculation, the factors modifying
rent 1. an item of income or payment to the calculated gross reproduction rate
any factor of production which is limited being taken into account, e.g. deaths of
in supply 2. any surplus earned on account females before and dtiring reproductive
of superior quality or ability 3. popularly, age, infertility, un-mated state, numbers
the price paid for the use of any durable of reproductive males. If continued over
good (usually of land or buildings) at a period of time a net reproduction rate
certain specified or customary times, or ofless than one leads to population decline;
for a certain period of time, economic of one, to a stationary population (stable
RENT, LAND RENT, LAND TENURE. population); and if more than one, to

343
 N. \.

research and science park

an increasing population, birth-rate, artificial lake, the water of which is

NATURAL INCREASE. used in irrigation, in producing hydro¬
electricity, in manufacturing processes
research and science park a tract ofland,
and for domestic purposes 3. a highly por¬
commonly park-like (park-2,6), planned
ous (porosity) permeable rock mass
and officially designated for the accommo¬
which is able to transmit as well as to hold
dation of individuals and organizations
a fluid 4. a reserve supply of something,
engaged in research, development and
e.g. a relict species, relic.
scientific production. In some cases these
activities (especially the last) overlap with residual deposit an accumulation of rock
those found in an industrial park, so waste, from clays to boulders in grain-size,
the difference between these two types of caused by the weathering, the disinteg¬
park is not everywhere distinct. R and d. ration, of rocks in situ, residual soil.

resequent, re-consequent drainage a residual soil a sedentary soil, a soil

drainage-2 pattern in which streams lie resting on the material from which it was
approximately along the line of former formed, secondary soil.
consequent streams, after long-term
resistant rock a rock with physical and
denudation of a folded area. They thus
chemical properties which make it able to
appear to be consequent but, due to some
withstand the processes of erosion and
agency such as river capture, they have
WEATHERING.
in fact developed (with synclinal valleys
and anticlinal ridges) from a subsequent resolution in remote sensing i. the
drainage pattern. ability of a sensor to make a distinction
between objects which have similar tem¬
resequent fault-line scarp a fault¬
peratures, or between objects which have
line scarp facing in the original direction
similar spectral characters 2. the minimum
of the downthrow, produced by ero¬
distance (linear or angular) between two
sion along the obsequent fault-line
objects at which they continue to ap¬
scarp.
pear distinct and separate on an image
reserve i. something held back, kept or photograph.
in store for future use. reserves, re¬
resource, resources 1. a source of supply
sources 2. reservation, an area of land
or support, the means (or collective means)
demarcated for a special use, e.g. to protect
of meeting a need or deficiency, especially
the habitat of rare species, a nature reserve.
an economic or social need or deficiency
reserves part of a resource considered 2. a stock (or stocks) which can be used
to be unstable in current conditions of if necessary, the total stock consisting
technical skill and economic and social of the total amount of a substance, i.e.
needs. The existence and location of some the accessible, the inaccessible, and the
reserves is known (proven reserves), unusable, at the current stage of tech¬
but of others it may be hypothetical nology. NATURAL RESOURCES, RESERVE,
(undiscovered reserves). RESERVES, RESOURCE CONSERVATION,
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, SUSTAINABLE
reservoir i. a container or receptacle,
DEVELOPMENT.
natural or artificial, in which a liquid or
gas collects and is stored 2. a natural or resource conservation the careful

344
 na

management and maintenance of nat¬ piration, ANAEROBIC RESPIRATION,

ural RESOURCES. CONSERVATION, RE¬ PHOTOSYNTHESIS.
SOURCE, RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.
resurgence the emergence of an under¬
resource development the bringing of ground stream (disappearing stream)
a resource-2 into production, the real¬ from a cave, commonly occurring near
ization of its potential. the point where an impermeable layer
underlying the permeable layer through
resource management the skilful con¬ which the stream has passed intersects the
trol of a resource-1,2 by those who surface.
ensure that it is used economically and
retrogressive method a method of ap¬
with forethought, who determine the pre¬
proaching an understanding of the past that
sent need for and the value of such a
begins by a careful, detailed analysis of the
use, balance benefits and costs, take into
identifiable factors which have created the
account environmental constraints, social,
present (particularly applied to past land¬
economic and political implications, tech¬
scapes). retrospective method.
nological inventiveness, national policy;
and possible future needs, technology retrospective method a method of ap¬
and uses. A decision not to develop a proaching an understanding of the present
resource at a particular time is also part of based on a study of the past which, it is
management, conservation, natural maintained, illuminates present condi¬
RESOURCES, RESOURCE CONSERVATION, tions. historical geography has been
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, SUSTAIN¬ described as retrospective geography.
ABLE DEVELOPMENT. RETROGRESSIVE METHOD.

resource orientation the tendency of a reverse(d) fault a thrust fault, a fault

firm or a particular industry to be located in which the fault plane dips to the

close to the source of its raw material(s) upthrow side (throw of fault), the

when the source of the raw materials result of older beds on one side of the fault
is localized, not widespread like that of plane being compressed and thrust over

UBIQUITOUS MATERIALS. MARKET ORI¬ younger beds on the other side. Fig 22.
ENTATION.
RF REPRESENTATIVE FRACTION.

respiration any of the processes by which RH RELATIVE HUMIDITY.

an organism takes in air or dissolved gases,
rhyolite a fine-grained to glassy, acidic
uses one or more of them in chemical
extruded igneous rock of quartz and
reactions which produce energy, and
alkali feldspars, with ferromagne-
expels the unused parts of the air or gases
sian minerals, corresponding in chem¬
together with the by-products of the
ical composition to Plutonic granite.
chemical changes. Plants and animals take
The banding in some cases indicates the
in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide
flow of the rhyolite as molten magma
produced by the oxidation of carbon
which, even at very high temperatures, is
compounds (e.g. glucose) in the system.
much less fluid than basic lavas (basalt),
In daylight green plants use carbon dioxide
tending to consolidate in masses.
from the air to form starch and expel
oxygen as a by-product, aerobic res¬ ria a funnel-shaped indentation on a coast,

345
 S v

ribbon development

narrowing inland, increasing in depth sea¬ mqn, and in many parts of the monsoon
ward, a drowned river valley, occurring lands rice as the summer crop can be grown
particularly along coasts of the Atlantic on the same land as wheat or barley as
type as a result of a rise in sea level (eu- winter crops. With intensive cultivation
statism). A ria differs from a fjord in under these methods yields may be very
being shorter and lacking the irregularities high; but very high yields are also obtained
of depth characteristic of the fjord. The from rice grown under mechanized con¬
stream that made the original valley, and ditions in California, Spain and northern
which flows into the head of the ria, is Italy. Poorer qualities of rice are used for
clearly too narrow in relation to the making starch; the hulls are fed to cattle,

present size of the inlet. as are the stalks, which are also used in
making paper, thatching, footwear; fer¬
ribbon development the building of
mented nee kernels provide alcoholic
houses etc. along each side of the mam
beverages.
roads extending outwards from a built-up
area, typical in Britain between 1920 and Richter scale a scale, in Arabic numerals
from o to over 8, used in measunng the
1939-
magnitude of earthquakes, based on
rice Oryza sativa, a cereal-i, native to
instrumental recordings ofa standard seis¬
Asia, cultivated in wet tropical areas
mograph 100 km (62 mi) from the epi¬
(especially in monsoon Asia) and in some
centre, the larger numbers being applied
subtropical areas for its seed (padi), used
to the larger disturbances, 7 being a major
for human food, the staple cereal in the
earthquake. The Richter scale superseded
growing countries. There are many dif¬
the mercalli scale and the rossi-
ferent varieties in cultivation, the high-
FOREL SCALE.
yielding strains produced by hybridization
playing an important part in the green ridge a term loosely applied to any long,
revolution. Uplandorhillrice (dry rice) narrow, steep-sided rise in the land, some¬
is grown without irrigation on tropical times to a small feature in a mountain
hillslopes; but most rice is grown in flat range-2, but infrequently to the range
fields which can be flooded, either itself and never to a mountain chain.
through heavy rainfall or by irrigation OCEANIC RIDGE.
water. In Asian countries the seed is usually
ridge and furrow a method of working
germinated in a nursery field from which
heavy soils, attributed to the Anglo-Saxons
the young plants are transplanted to larger
in England, but continuing after inclos¬
fields when they are some 15 to 25 cm (6
ure, to promote surface drainage. The
to 10 in) m height (other crops may be
land was ploughed so as to form broad
growing in the larger fields whilst the seeds
ridges separated by furrows which served
are germinating in the nurseries). Trans¬
as drams to draw off water. Where such
planting, by hand, is usually done into the'
land is now in grass, the ridge and furrow
mud of the flooded fields. As the plants
can, in many cases, still be seen.
grow, rapidly, the water is absorbed and
by harvest time the fields are almost dry. ridge and valley a form of relief in which
Reaping is still mainly by hand. In some ridges and valleys lie close together and
parts of the tropics three, or even more almost parallel, e.g. the ridge and valley
crops a year are obtained, two are com- region of the Appalachians, where the

346
 risk

resistant rocks (sandstones, quartzites igneous intrusion . The vertical and out¬
and conglomerates) form the ridges and ward pressure of the magma forming the
the valleys have been carved through the intrusion causes fractures in the country
more easily eroded shales and limestones. rock-i, into which the magma flows and
solidifies, forming ring-dykes if the frac¬
ridge of high pressure a long, narrow
tures are vertical.
region of high atmospheric pressure,
broader than a wedge, lying between two ring road a road encircling a built-up
low pressure areas, and responsible for a area, used as a bypass or as a service road
brief period of fine weather in a generally for the area.
rainy period, atmospheric pressure.
rip a disturbance and turbulence, rough
riffle I. a rocky obstruction in a river bed,
water, sometimes in a river, more com¬
or the riffled water resulting from such an
monly in the sea, occurring when two tidal
obstruction 2. a shallow gravel bar over
streams flowing from different directions
which water flows rapidly with a ruffled
meet; or a strong outflowing surface or
surface, formed in a stream with a gravel
near-surface current meets the incoming
bed which, with intervening pools, gives
surf; or when a tidal stream suddenly flows
rise to a pool and riffle pattern.
into shallow water; or when a tidal or
rift valley a long, narrow section of the river current flows over an irregular
earth’s crust let down between two parallel floor, especially one with abrupt changes
series of faults with throws in opposite in depth.
directions, thus appearing as a long, flat-
riparian adj. of, pertaining to, situated on,
floored valley with steep sides, as in the
or associated with, a river bank, applied
rift valleys of east Africa, or in the Midland
especially in legal temis, e.g. riparian
Valley of Scotland.
rights, riparian land, riparian states, riv¬
rill i. a small natural stream-i of water erine, RIVERSIDE.
2. in soil erosion, a small erosion channel.
ripple, ripple-mark, sand ripple a series
rill erosion the removal of soil by rills of small more or less parallel ridges, pro¬
which, if persistent, may enlarge the rill duced especially on sand by the wind, the
channels so much that they unite to form current of a stream, or by waves on a shore.
gullies, leading to gully erosion, soil
erosion. rise, swell on the deep sea floor, a gently
sloping, long, broad elevation rising from
rime an accumulation of white, opaque,
the deep sea floor, its summit far below
granular ice tufts formed on the windward
the surface of the water.
side of objects with a temperature below
that of freezing point when supercooled risk i. the chance of danger, injury, loss
droplets (e.g. in cloud or freezing fog) are etc. 2. a situation in which there is the
blown against them. It resembles hoar possibility of several possible outcomes
frost, supercooling. occurring as a consequence of a decision
*
or action taken when the probabilities of
ring-city randstad.
the possible outcomes are known and can
ring-dyke a dyke (dike) in the area be calculated for each individual outcome
surrounding a circular or dome-shaped (e.g. as in insurance risk), uncertainty.

347
river

river a general term applied to a natural shortening of the course of a river is

stream-i of water flowing regularly or autopiracy. River capture may give rise to

intermittently over a bed, usually in a MISFIT STREAMS and WIND GAPS.

definite channel, towards the sea, a lake,
river cliff in a meander of a river in
or an inland depression in a desert basin,
a young river valley, the steep, concave
or a marsh or another nver. Stages of
(outer) curve cut by the stream current,
development may be recognized, in youth
facing the gentle slip-off slope of the
with swift streams actively eroding steep¬
spur opposite.
sided V-shaped valleys; maturity, middle
age, with broad open valleys with gentler riverine, riverain adj. I. of, pertaining

slopes and the beginning of meanders; to, situated on, living on, the banks of a
and old age (senile river) with broad river 2. of or relating to a nver or its

valleys and a sluggish flow of water. Not vicinity. The application is less restricted

all rivers fit this ideal model, e.g. the flow than that of riparian.
may be sluggish but the stream not old
river port a port situated on a river,
(cycle of erosion). The point or points
usually at the point farthest from the
of origin are termed the source of a
mouth where the water is deep enough
river, the path it follows is its course,
for navigation by trading vessels.
the part where it enters a sea or lake its
mouth. Most rivers have an upper moun¬ river profile a section of a river valley,
tain course, a middle or plains course, either longitudinal (along the course of
and a lower or estuarine-delta course. the nver, showing the slope from source
Rivers are especially active as eroding to mouth, river) or transverse (cross
agents in rejuvenation, particularly in profile of a valley, i.e. across the valley
STATIC REJUVENATION. See BED LOAD, at right angles to the stream). The long
DELTA, DISSOLVED LOAD, DRAINAGE-2, profile-3 (‘long’ is prefened to ‘longit¬
STREAM-I, STREAM ORDER, SUSPENDED udinal’) usually takes in the actual length
load and entries qualified by river. of the centre of the stream, and the height
of the surface at mean level, measurements
river bank the rising land bordering a
being adjusted for minor variations of
river. level. The height of the floodplain (espe¬
river basin all the area of land drained by cially useful in comparing the present

a river and its tributaries. profile with reconstructed profiles) is

sometimes prefened; in this case minor
river bed, riverbed the channel in which
windings are ignored because such features
a river flows or once flowed. cannot be reconstructed for past phases
river capture, river piracy the action by of the river at higher levels, talweg.
which a river, by rapid headward erosion,
riverside a general, imprecise term, the
captures and diverts to itself the headwaters
land alongside a river, riparian,
of another stream, thereby enlarging its
riverine.
own drainage area and diminishing that
of the other. The stream of which the river terrace a part of the former
headwaters have been captured is said to be floodplain of a river, left on the side of a
beheaded; the point at which the capture river valley as the stream cut down its
occurs is the elbow of capture; self- bed and now appearing as a generally flat,

348
 rock salt

step-like strip on the side of the valley, at roche moutonnee (French) a rock mass
a level higher than that of the present forming a hillock, resulting from ice
channel. Such a terrace is usually built action, seen in most glaciated valleys. The
up of gravel, coarse sand and alluvium upstream side is smoothed and rounded
deposited by the river when it was flowing owing to the effect of abrasion and com¬
at the level of the terrace. Thus the terrace monly shows glacial striation (striae); the
represents a part of the valley floor at that downstream side is steeper and rougher,
time, and may not be perfectly flat. The owing to PLUCKING. ONSET AND LEE.
term is applied to a rock bench as well
rock i. in general use, a large, hard, con¬
as to a gravel-covered terrace, alluvial
TERRACE. solidated, compact part of the earth’s crust,
also a large piece of this material protruding
Riviera I. the coastal strip with its numer¬ from the land or sea 2. in geology, any
ous resorts, bordering the Mediterranean naturally formed aggregate of mineral par¬
from Marseille in southern France to ticles, whether it is hard, relatively soft,
Genova in Italy 2. by analogy, applied unconsolidated or incompact, which con¬
to resort coasts elsewhere, e.g. Cornish stitutes an integral part of the lithosphere
Riviera, the southern coast of Cornwall, (thus includes mud, clay, sand, coral
England. etc.). Rocks are classified by the manner
of formation (igneous, metamorphic,
road metal not metal, but broken, tough, sedimentary) or by age (geological
hard stone which breaks into angular TIMESCALE, STRATIGRAPHY). COUNTRY
pieces without splintering or making ROCK.
much dust, used for surfacing roads.
MACADAM. rock creep the slow movement of rock
blocks down a slope under the influence
Roaring Forties the latitudes between of gravity, mass movement.
40° and 50°S where the westerly winds
rock fall a free fall of individual boulders
are not obstructed by land as they blow
or blocks of bedrock down any steep
strongly and regularly over the ocean,
slope under the force of gravity, mass
bringing gales, rough seas and ram associ¬
MOVEMENT, ROCK SLIDE.
ated with the regular procession of de¬
pressions^ moving from west to east. rock flour, rock-flour very finely pow¬
The term is occasionally applied to the dered rock material produced by the
winds. WESTERLIES. grinding action of a glacier when, with
rocks frozen into its mass, it abrades its
robber economy the working of
bed. The process is mechanical, there is
resources-2, especially of stock re¬
little or no chemical action, hence rock
sources which, once used up, are not
flour has the same mineralogical com¬
renewed, in contrast to the develop¬
position as that of the rocks from which
ment of renewable resources (natural
it is formed. It is a major constituent of
resources). Sometimes also applied to
BOULDER CLAY. ABRASION.
the needless destruction of resources for
the sake of quick profits, especially if it is rock salt sodium chloride, a mineral
unlikely that the resource will recover in occurring in a clear or white to brownish
the future. crystalline mass and forming, with brine.

349
 N, v

rock slide

the source of salt-2 used in commerce Ro^si-Forel scale a scale formerly used

and industry. in the measuring of the intensity of

earthquake shocks, superseded by the
rock slide, rock-slide the sliding of an
modified mercalli scale c. 193 T now
individual rock mass down a gentle gradi¬
superseded by the richter scale.
ent, e.g. down a bedding joint or fault
surface, under the force of gravity, mass Rostow model a linear model devised
MOVEMENT, ROCK FALL. by W. W. Rostow, American economic
historian, to identify stages of growth in a
roller a term popularly applied to the
capitalist economy, based on growth in
ocean swell which even in calm weather
Europe, North America and Japan. His
gives rise to very large breakers along
stages are (1) traditional society, mainly
coasts, due to the length of the fetch.
agricultural, little science or technology;
root crop a term applied particularly to (2) extractive industries develop, agricul¬
plants with a root system incorporating ture and transport improve; (3) manufac¬
swollen fleshy parts which serve as a store turing develops; (4) economic growth
of food for animals, grown especially for spreads; (5) high production and mass con¬
the feeding of animals and, because they sumption of goods.
can be stored, much used for winter feed
rotational slip the downward movement
for cattle and sheep, e.g. in midlatitudes,
of a mass of rock or ice on a slip-plane, in
turnips, Swedish turnips or swedes and
which the solid mass appears to rotate on
mangolds (formerly called mangelwur-
a pivot as it descends (an action which
zels). In midlatitudes root crops feature
may, in the case of ice, contribute to the
in the rotation of crops (norfolk
basin shape of a cirque), and which usu¬
rotation) and those grown mainly for
ally results in the solid mass presenting
human consumption include sugar beet,
a well-defined, uphill-facing, back-slope.
potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips. Trop¬
MASS MOVEMENT.
ical root crops include arrowroot, cas¬
sava, sweet potatoes, yams. rotation grass, rotation grassland,
temporary grassland grass which is
ropy lava, corded lava lava which has
sown and grown for one or more years in
solidified so that the surface of the flow
rotation with other crops, ley, rotation
is glassy and smooth with surface shapes
of CROPS.
resembling ropes or cords, pahoehoe.

Ro-Ro roll-on/roll-off technique, con¬ rotation of crops a farming system in

which a systematic succession of different
tainer.
crops is grown on the same piece of land
Rossby waves long waves with a wave¬ so that the maximum use is made of soil
length of some 2000 km (1250 mi), very nutrients but soil fertility is not exhausted.
large-scale westerly movements in the air¬ LAND ROTATION, MONOCULTURE, NOR¬
flow of the upper atmosphere-i (in the FOLK ROTATION.
middle and upperTROPOSPHERE), stretch¬
ing from sub-polar to tropical latitudes. rotation of the earth the revolving
There are generally about four such waves movement of the earth on its axis from
in the northern hemisphere, four in the west to east, from which it appears (from
southern. the earth) that the sun, moon and stars

350
 rural population

move round the earth from east to west. (vulcanizing) which opened up the pos¬
The average period of rotation of the earth sibility of its extensive use in manufactur¬
in relation to the sun, i.e. the time interval ing 2. a synthetic substitute for the natural
between two successive crossings of the product.
sun over a meridian, is 24 hours (mean
runnel 1. a small stream 2. the small chan¬
solar time); but the rotation period
nel in which a small stream flows.
measured by two successive crossings of a
meridian by a selected star is less, being 23 runoff 1. all the water flowing from a
hours 56 minutes 4.09 seconds (sidereal drainage area 2. that part of the precip¬
day). The velocity of the earth’s rotation itation which runs off the land surface
is some 1690 km (1050 mi) per hour at into streams, in contrast to those parts
the equator, some 845 km (525 mi) per which either soak into the ground or evap¬
hour at 6o°N and S, and zero at the poles. orate (although some authors include
AXIS OF THE EARTH. water which returns to the surface by seep¬
age and from springs), overland flow,
rough grazing unimproved, usually
THROUGHFLOW. Fig41.
unenclosed grazing, including many
different types of natural and semi-natural Evapotrartspiration
, , Rainfall
vegetation, e.g. moorland, scrubland, salt
marsh, mountain pasture. In Britain the
distinction between rough grazing (usually
unenclosed) and improved grazing (usu¬
ally enclosed in fields) is clear, the two
categories being shown separately in offi¬
cial statistics. In other countries enclosed
grassland for grazing does not exist,
and statistics merely separate pasture
from arable: thus statistics for grassland, Fig 41 Runoff
pasture, grazing are not internationally
comparable. rural adj. of, belonging to, relating to,
characteristic of, the country or country
rubber 1. an elastic substance made from
life, in contrast to the town or urban life.
the sap (latex) of a number of different
It is now recognized that in industrialized
tropical trees and climbers. Formerly,
countries the distinction between rural
‘wild rubber’ was collected from such
and urban is blurred. Some authors write
plants in the equatorial forests of South
of a rural-urban continuum, or urban-
America and tropical Africa; it was super¬
rural continuum, and the creation of
seded by rubber from plantations of the
a rural-urban complex as ‘rurbanization’.
Brazilian rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, in
RURBAN, RURBAN FRINGE.
Malaysia (with some in Indonesia, Thai¬
land, Sri Lanka, Nigeria). The trees are rural population 1. broadly, the popu¬
‘tapped’ by cutting a thin slice of bark, lation living in the countryside, not in a
the white sap is collected, curdled by the town 2. more specifically, that part of the
addition of a little acid, and stickiness population defined on the basis of various
countered by the addition of sulphur. It criteria, e.g. functional, those maintained
was this treatment of rubber with sulphur by the exploitation of the intrinsic resource

351
rural-urban continuum

of the land (agrarian, or agrarian and min¬ rutin a glycoside, present in plants, espe¬
ing); landscape-sociological, those living cially in buckwheat and tobacco leaves,

in a ‘non-built-up’ area; statistical, the size used in the treatment of radiation injuries

of the agglomeration, or the density of and of hypertension.

population; socio-psychological, many
ruware a rock pavement, a low rounded,
‘primary’ social contacts 3* *n Britain,
in some cases elongated, exposure of rock,
before the reform of local administrat¬
rising from a plain in a tropical area.
ion in 1974, the population living in
Opinions differ as to whether it is an early
the administrative units known as rural
stage in the formation of a dome-shaped
districts, many of which included fairly
inselberg, or the result of the wearing
large towns or suburbs of towns.
down of an inselberg combined with the
rural-urban continuum rural, merging of surrounding pediments.
URBAN-RURAL CONTINUUM.
rye Secale cereale, a tall-growing cereal
rurban adj. having the characteristics of with dark grain, cultivated in the colder
country and town combined. parts of Europe as far north as the Arctic
Circle, and in mountainous areas up to
rurban fringe, rural-urban fringe an
4270 m (14000 ft). It tolerates the poor
indeterminate transitional zone around a
soils unsuited to most of the other midlat¬
town where urban functions and activities
itude grain crops. The grain yields a dark-
impinge on those that are agricultural,
coloured flour, used in making bread
rural, urban-rural continuum.
(which is heavy, with a rather sour flavour)

rust 1. a hydrated oxide of iron formed and cnspbread which keeps well and is
when iron is exposed to air and moisture favoured in low-calorie diets. The grain
2. the red-brown colour of that substance is also used in making whisky, gin, beer.
3. any of the several diseases of plants Young plants are fed to livestock, the straw
caused by an order of parasitic fungi, or is used in thatching, bedding, paper¬

the parasitic fungus itself. making.

 s
sagebrush a semi-desert type of vegeta¬ ring in areas with high evaporation, e.g.
tion in western North America dominated in hot deserts or in dry areas with high
by sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata, in associ¬ summer temperatures (as in cool temper¬
ation with other small-leaved shrubs. ate continental interiors), and especially
resulting from the drying of salt lakes
Sahara (Arabic sahra) a desert, a plain, a
that once lay in inland drainage basins.
term applied to the greatest of all deserts,
Irrigation, unless carefully managed in
the Sahara, northern Africa (which should
such areas, may increase salinity. The salt
therefore not have ‘desert’ added to its
solution is drawn upwards in the soil
name).
by capillarity, it dries out and forms
Sahel (Arabic shore) the semi-arid vegeta¬ a surface crust over a salt-impregnated
tion zone lying between the Sahara and more granular layer, soil, soil classi¬
the savanna lands to the south in north fication.
Africa. Prone to long periods of drought,
it is characterized by a short uncertain salinity the degree of concentration of

rainy season and a long dry season. The common salt in a solution, determined by

original climax was thorn woodland, but measuring the density of the solution, and

the vegetation now consists of patches of usually expressed in parts per thousand by

poor wiry and tussocky grass, acacia and mass.

thornbushes. desertification.
salinization the precipitation-2 of
St Elmo’s fire small flickering flames soluble salts within the soil.
around the tops of tall objects, such as
salt i. in chemistry, a chemical compound
mastheads, visible at night, occurring in
derived from acids formed when all or part
stormy weather, associated with the pass¬
of the replaceable hydrogen atoms in
ing ofa front. The phenomenon consti¬
a molecule of the acid are replaced by
tutes a brush discharge, occurring when
a metal, directly or indirectly. Classified
a stream of molecules of air, electrically
as normal salt when all the replaceable
charged, is repelled by a sharp-pointed,
hydrogen atoms have been replaced by
charged conductor.
a metal, acid salt when only part of all
salina (Spanish) a playa with a high con¬ replaceable hydrogen atoms have been
centration of salts, enclosed from the sea. replaced 2. common salt, sodium chloride,
a white crystalline compound, widespread
saline adj. salt, or of, containing, or tasting
in nature as a solid (rock salt) around
salt-2; or relating to or being character¬
margins of salt lakes, in salt domes, or
istic of chemical salts-i.
in solution in seawater, and present in
saline soil an intrazonal soil with a all animal fluids. It is obtained commer¬
high concentration of soluble salts, occur¬ cially by the evaporation of brine from

353
 \ V

saltation

seawater, from brine wells and salt lakes; andwvhen protected in this way the term
or from the solid deposits in rock salt sea-marsh is sometimes applied.
mines. It is used as a food seasoning and
salt mine a mine where a natural deposit
preservative, and widely as a raw material
of rock salt is worked, salt-2.
in industrial processes and manufacturing
industry, e.g. the chemical industry, in salt pan 1. a small undrained natural basin

glass and soap making etc. in which water evaporates, leaving a

deposit of salt 2. a shallow vessel in which
saltation I. leaping, jumping 2. the mode salt water accumulates and from which
of transportation of sediments bouncing salt-2 is obtained by evaporation.
along a surface, e.g. of material by a nver,
whereby particles such as small pebbles samiel khamsin.

make intermittent leaps from the bed of sample 1. a small part taken from the
the stream, bed load 3. the similar move¬ whole by which the characteristics of the
ment of grains of sand propelled by the whole can be deduced 2. an individual
wind in a hot desert. portion, a specimen, by which the quality
of more of the same sort can be judged 3.
salt dome, salt plug an almost circular
in statistics, a part of a population-4 or
mass of rock salt or of other salt forced
a subset from a set of units, deliberately
upwards from a great depth in the earth s
selected with the object of investigating
crust and, being plastic under pressure,
the properties of the parent popula¬
squeezed towards the weak part of the
tion-4 Or set. RANDOM SAMPLE, SAM¬
sedimentary cover, thus often topped by
PLING, STRATIFICATION.
limestone cap rock. Oil and gas fields are
in many cases associated with salt domes, sampling 1. in general, the judging of
which extend to great depths in the earth’s the quality etc. of the whole by examining
crust. a part 2. in statistics, the process ofselecting
a part or a subset in order to judge the
salt flat a stretch of unbroken, salt-
quality, characteristics etc. of the whole
encrusted horizontal land, the bed of a
by investigating the properties of the
former salt lake, now dried out, usually
part, quadrat, random sample; and
permanently but sometimes only tem¬
SAMPLE-2.
porarily.
sampling error in statistics, the difference
saltings a slightly elevated natural area of
between a population-4 value and an
salt marsh, with muddy channels, support¬
estimate of it derived from a sample-3.
ing halophytes, and covered by the sea
No sample, however carefully selected,
at high water. The distinction is not always
can be a perfect representation of the
made between saltings and salt marsh.
population from which it is drawn; but if
salt marsh a natural coastal marsh, sup¬ the sample units are selected at random
porting HALOPHYTES, regularly covered from the population (random sample)
by the sea at high water. Some authors the sampling error can be calculated. The
use the term to include the elevated area greater the precision of the sample, the
(salting), others exclude it. Salt marshes less the sampling error. Sampling error
may be enclosed for grazing, for land does not include errors due to imper¬
reclamation, for the recovery of salt, fect selection, bias-2 in response or

354
 saprophyte

estimation, mistakes in observation and hot deserts, to be consolidated, com¬

recording etc. Errors arising after the pacted, and cemented by such substances
sampling has been done are termed as clay or silica which affect the colour
non-sampling errors, random sam¬ of the sandstone and can be used as criteria
pling, RANDOM SAMPLING ERROR. in classification, e.g. calcareous, siliceous,
ferruginous, or dolomitic sandstone.
samun, samoon (Iran) a warm, dry
CAMBRIAN, NEW RED SANDSTONE, OLD
FOHN-like wind in Iran, descending from
RED SANDSTONE.
the mountains of Kurdistan; not to be
confused with simoom, simoon. sandstorm a phenomenon in arid or
semi-arid regions caused by a very turbu¬
sand i. comminuted rock or mineral frag¬
lent wind which, passing over sandy soil,
ments of small size commonly, but not
lifts and carries clouds of sand for a re¬
necessarily, siliceous-i, ranging from 2
latively short distance and rarely above
to 0.2 mm diameter, classification inter¬
a height of 15 to 30 m (50 to 100 ft).
nationally agreed as coarse (2 to 0.2 mm),
DUST-STORM.
fine (0.02 to 0.002 mm) 2. a soil of which
90 per cent or more is sand, aren- sandur (Icelandic) 1. a general term for
ACEOUS-I, GRADED SEDIMENTS. sandy ground, sand flat, sand bank 2. an
alluvial outwash sand plain (outwash
sandbank an accumulation of sand, piled
apron) formed by glacier streams flowing
up by the action of waves or currents,
from a glacier edge to the sea.
occurring in a river (point bar) or by the
sea and exposed at low water. Santa Ana, Santa Anna a hot, dry wind,
commonly dust-laden, blowing from the
sand drift a formation of blown sand,
north and northeast down the Sierra
occurring in the lee of a gap between two
Nevada and over the south Californian
obstacles, caused by funnelling of the wind
deserts. It blows mainly in winter, but also
or by the concentration of the sand stream
occurs in spring, when it may damage the
on the windward side from a broad to a
blossom or young fruit of fruit trees.
narrower front.

sapropel sludge or mud which collects in

sand-dune a general term for a mound
swamps or shallow marine basins, rich in
or ridge of loose, well sorted sand, piled
organic matter, formed by slow anaer¬
up by the action of wind on sea coasts or
obic decomposition of remains of small
in hot deserts, dune.
organisms, e.g. of diatoms and plank¬
sandplain (Australia) a large, sand- ton, which, if compressed by accumu¬
covered plain of uncertain origin, a term lated sediments, may form petroleum
used especially in western Australia. compounds.

sandstone a porous, arenaceous sedi¬ saprophyte an organism, usually a plant,

mentary rock, widespread and laid obtaining organic matter in solution from
down throughout geological time, formed decaying or decayed organic matter, e.g.
mainly from rounded grains of quartz a fungus living on dead wood; or yeasts,
and vanous minerals, varying considerably which include among their activities the
in colour, laid down in shallow seas, estu¬ production of alcohol, epiphyte, para¬
aries and deltas, along shallow coasts, in site.

355
saqia

saqia (Sudan: Arabic) a simple animal- massive heavenly body, e.g. one of the
powered mechanical device, also known artificial satellites in orbit around the earth,
as the Persian wheel, used to raise water particularly one used in remote sensing

from a river to irrigate the land above. 2. a state which depends economically

Types vary, but a common, simple one, and politically on another, more powerful,
resembling the hand-powered shaduf, state.
incorporates a bucket suspended from the
satellite town a self-contained town, i.e.
end of a pole, the pole pivoting on the
with its own industry, etc., especially a
top of a support mounted vertically on
new town, in some cases in the style of
the ground and attached to a system of
a garden city, associated with a major
cog-wheels operated by a circling animal.
city with which it has good commun¬
The bucket is dipped in the water and,
ications.
when full, swung round by the cog-wheel
system to be tipped and emptied, usually saturated adj. applied to I. a solution
into a channel carrying water to the having the highest possible amount of a
cultivated land. In the Persian wheel solute in a specified amount of the sol¬
a series of buckets is fixed round the vent at a given temperature 2. the
circumference of a vertically mounted atmosphere-i when it cannot hold any
wheel, similarly operated by a cog-wheel, more water vapour, i.e. when the
animal-powered system. number of molecules of water going in
coincides with the number going out. If
sargasso gulfweed, a tropical brown sea¬
cooling occurs at that stage conden¬
weed which gives its name to the calm
sation results, giving mist, cloud or
Sargasso sea, characterized by the mass of
rain 3. a rock holding in its interstices
sargasso which floats on it, supporting a
the maximum possible amount of water.
variety of marine organisms, some of
water table 4. a rock having the
which are unique and peculiar to it.
maximum possible amount of combined
sarsen a mass ofhard sandstone, varying silica (if the rock is oversaturated the
in constituents, especially one formed in excess silica occurs as free quartz).
the eocene, left as a residual mass on the SATURATION LEVEL.
surface of southern England. It is widely
used as a building stone, and in prehistoric saturated (or wet or moist) adiabatic
times in megalithic monuments, mega¬ lapse rate the rate of loss ofTEMPERAT-

lith. URE-2 with increasing height occurring in

a moist or saturated-2 body of air as
sastrugi, zastrugi (Russian pi.) preferred
it ascends adiabatically. The rate is
spelling zastrugi, wavelike ridges of hard
governed by the water vapour content
snow formed by the action of wind carry¬
(itself governed by temperature) because
ing ice particles, occurring on a level sur-x
latent heat is given up as condensation
face (e.g. of a snow field or ice field), the
takes place (the higher the temperature
axes of the ridges lying at right angles to
the greater the content of water vapour,
the wind. the greater the release of latent heat). Thus
satellite I. a natural or artificial celestial the rate can vary between o.4°C and
body constrained by gravitation and 0.9°C per 100 m (20°F and 5-30F per
moving in orbit around another more IOOO ft). CONDITIONAL INSTABILITY,

356
 scattergram

DRY ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE, ENVIRON¬ with soil impregnated with salt 2. in soil
MENTAL LAPSE RATE, LAPSE RATE, NEUT¬ science, specifically a red-brown soil
RAL STABILITY. which has lost part of its a horizon.

saturation the act of completely filling, scale i. a level of representation of reality,

or of completely satisfying, or the result the proportion of a representation to the
of those acts, saturated. object it represents 2. linear scale, the in¬

saturation level, saturation point, dication on a map or PLAN-1,2,3, of the

saturation stage the level or point or ratio between a given distance on the map
or plan and the corresponding distance on
stage at which a solution, the atmo-
the earth’s surface. This is shown by a
sphere-i, or a substance, or an area etc.
reaches a stage of saturation, e.g. when graduated line, or by the representative
fraction; or it is expressed in words 3.
the population-i,3 of an area equals its
an arrangement ofmarks spaced at intervals
CARRYING CAPACITY-1,2,3,5, or when
to represent a series of numerical values
the diffusion-i ofiNNO vation is com¬
plete. and used in measuring temperature (ther¬
mometer), length, angles etc.
savanna a term with a wide variety of
applications, but best restricted to the scarp, scarp-face, scarp-slope the

natural, open, tropical grassland with scat¬ abrupt, sometimes cliff-like face or slope
tered trees and bushes (mainly xero- terminating an elevated surface of low

phytes) covering vast areas in Africa, relief, i.e. an escarpment-2, the steep

South America and northern Australia slope of a cuesta. Escarpment is the

between the equatorial forests and preferred term.

the hot deserts, a region with its particular

scarp-foot spring a spring-2 near the
soil conditions and a regular climatic
foot of an escarpment, occurring
regime. Rain falls in the hot summer and
particularly where chalk, limestone or
leads to a sudden luxuriant growth, but
sandstone overlies clay.
this withers in the drying winds of the
winter with its low rainfall, or is scorched scarpland, scarplands a region charac¬
in frequent extensive fires, campo, terized by a number of parallel or subparal¬
llano. lel scarped ridges separated by vales, as
in the scarplands of England, also termed
savanna woodland park-like woodland
scarp-and-vale terrain. Fig 42.
with xerophytic undergrowth, park¬
land-2, XEROPHYTE. scattergram a graph showing the way in
which a DEPENDENT VARIABLE, plotted
scabland a landscape with flat-topped
on the ordinate or vertical axis (the y-axis),
hills or plateaus, bare or covered with a thin
relates to an independent variable
soil consisting of angular debris formed
plotted on the abscissa or horizontal axis
in situ and supporting a sparse vegeta¬
(the x-axis). The scattered points may
tion, formed by the glacial erosion of a
lie in such a way that they form, for
hard basalt surface, occurring particularly
example, a linear-4 or a curvilinear
in northwestern USA. Compare bad¬
relationship; or they may not form a
lands, associated with soft sediments.
pattern at all, indicating an absence of any
scalded flat I. in Australia, a low plain relationship. Scattergrams are therefore

357
schist

Obsequent Subsequent

Fig 42 Scarp and vale terrain and characteristic streams

often used to discover if there are relation¬ scientific adj. 1. of, pertaining to, used

ships which would not be revealed in an in, science-1,2 2. of or using methods

ordinary correlation coefficient. based on well-established facts and

conforming to well-established laws

schist a foliated metamorphic rock 3. using knowledge made available by

in which the various minerals have crys¬ scientists.

tallized or been recrystallized into thin
layers, lying parallel to each other, a rock scientific law a general statement of

which will split into more or less irregular fact methodically established (according

flakes, owing to the occurrence in it of to the orthodox view) by induction, on

such minerals as mica . The texture is inde¬ the basis of observation and experiment

pendent of the BEDDING PLANES of the (empiricism). Scientific laws are usually

original rock, the grains are of medium rooted in determinism-i, and are uni¬

size, not so coarse as those of gneiss; and versal in their application in that they usu¬

the type of schist is distinguished by ally make statements which cover all

the dominant mineral, e.g. mica-schist. members of a particular class of things. But

Nearly all types of sedimentary and they stray into probability in statistics

igneous rocks will become schists if sub¬ in making statements about a methodically

jected to sufficient heat and pressure. estimated proportion of the class of things
under observation. Some philosophers of
science (Latin scientia, knowledge) 1. the science do not agree that the method of
condition or fact of knowing 2. know¬ establishing a scientific law is wholly
ledge gained by detailed observation, inductive. They see two phases in the
by deduction of the laws governing scientific method, the first comprising
changes and conditions and by testing' inspired guesswork, leading to the forma¬
these deductions by experiment 3. a tion of an hypothesis; and the second,
branch of study, especially one concerned the confirmation of the hypothesis by

with facts, principles and methods. induction.

science park research and science scoria pi. scoriae 1. a mass of volcanic

PARK. rock, fine-grained and resembling clinker

358
 seamount

from a furnace, the holes being caused transitional stage in a plant succession,
by the expansion of gases and steam leading to woodland 2. the land covered
imprisoned in the lava and the rapid with this type of vegetation 3. sometimes
cooling of its surface. A a 2. an accumula¬ applied to rain forest in Queensland,
tion of similar clinkery material which has Australia.
been ejected from a volcano as pyro-
scrub forest forest-i consisting of mal¬
clasts.
formed, small or stunted trees and shrubs.
Scotch mist mizzle, precipitation resem¬
scrub woodland an open cover of the
bling mist and drizzle, occurring when
trees and shrubs characteristic of scrub
cloud lies near the ground, especially
forest.
common in hilly or mountainous areas,
e.g. in Scotland, hence the name. sea 1. in general, applied to the great body
of salt water on the earth’s surface (the
scour the strong, erosive action of a cur¬
ocean-i), i.e. as opposed to land 2. one
rent or flow of water, e.g. of the tide, of
of the smaller bodies of salt water of the
a river, in clearing away deposits such as
ocean with a proper name, e.g. Mediter¬
mud and sand; or of boulders frozen into
ranean sea, China sea 3. a large body of
the base of an ice sheet or glacier.
inland salt water, e.g. Sea of Aral, Dead
ABRASION.
Sea, Salton sea.

scree i. a slope consisting of an accumula¬

sea breeze, lake breeze a local breeze
tion ol loose angular rock debris of any
(BEAUFORT scale) which blows usually
size and commonly formed by frost action
during the afternoon from the sea to the
from the parent rock, lying at a uniform
land, owing to the differential heating and
angle (commonly of some 350) at or near
cooling of land and water. The heating of
the foot of a steep cliff, rock-buttress,
the land by day causes the ascent ofwarmed
mountain etc. 2. the angular rock debris
air in a small low pressure area, and cooler
itself 3. a synonym for talus, angle
air from the sea flows inland for a short
OF REPOSE, MASS MOVEMENT, REPOSE distance to take its place. A sea breeze
SLOPE.
occurs in calm, settled weather where tem¬
perature changes are regular, and especially
scroll 1. on a floodplain, a narrow
in equatorial latitudes. A similar breeze is
stretch of floodplain added to the outer
associated with large lakes, land breeze.
end and downstream side of spurs between
enclosed meanders 2. a type of point sea floor spreading oceanic ridge,
bar, sometimes termed a meander bar PLATE TECTONICS.
or meander scroll, a low, narrow ridge
sea-fret (southwestern England) a salt
running in line with the curve of a
mist moving inland from the sea, often
meander, formed when the river over¬
very destructive of vegetation.
flows its banks, overbank stage.
sea-level, sea level mean sea-level.
scrub 1. vegetation consisting of dwarf or
stunted trees and shrubs, often very thick, seamount a topographical feature rising
xerophilous and growing on poor soil, from the ocean floor, an isolated peak,
or in a semi-arid area, or in an exposed usually a volcano, with a pointed summit
position. It may be a natural climax or a (as opposed to a flat-topped guyot), the

359
search space V v

summit usually lying well below the ocean dry season; in monsoon regions there are

surface, e.g. sometimes 3000 m (nearly commonly three seasons, termed cold,

10 000 ft) below. hot, rainy; in polar regions the periods of

change between winter and summer are
search space the locations within an area so brief as to be scarcely noticeable, so
where an individual (or an organization)
there are in effect only two seasons; and
searches in order to meet a specific need in equatorial regions there is little differ¬
or specific needs (e.g. for housing), based entiation of season 2. a period of time most
on information from that individual s cur¬ favourable to something, e.g. strawberry
rent AWARENESS SPACE. season, when that fruit is at its best; or to

SEASAT 1 the first of the NASA satel- some activity, e.g. the football season.

lites-i to be launched (1978), equipped

seaway 1. in general, a way across the
with radar sensors, to obtain information
open ocean used regularly by shipping 2. a
for oceanographic research, lands at,
ship canal large enough for ocean-going
REMOTE SENSING.
vessels, notably the St Lawrence Seaway
seashore 1. a general term applied to land in Canada.
immediately adjoining the sea 2. the land
seaweed any marine plant, but especially
between the lowest water line of the
the red, brown, or green algae living
spring tide and the highest limit of storm
in or by the sea, many edible and used dir¬
waves.
ectly as human food, particularly in Japan
season 1. a division of the year associated and China; or as a fertilizer; or as a source
with the duration of daylight and/or of useful substances (e.g. iodine or the
characteristic climatic conditions related gelatinous agar-agar, used in making jellies
to changes in the intensity of solar radi¬ and as the base of media for bacteriological
ation brought about by the inclination of culture).
the earth’s axis to the plane of the ecliptic
sebka (north Africa: Arabic) a salt-
and the elliptical nature of the orbit of
encrusted mud flat, a closed depression in
the earth around the sun. Defined astro¬
an and area which becomes temporarily
nomically there are four divisions in the
marshy after the (rare) rain, playa.
year, lasting from equinox to solstice,
from solstice to equinox (sequence re¬ secondary consequent stream a tribu¬
peated). In midlatitudes the seasons are tary to a SUBSEQUENT STREAM which,
associated with the life cycle of plants, although formed after the subsequent
winter (dormant), spring (sowing), sum¬ stream, flows parallel to the original
mer (growing and ripening), autumn (har¬ CONSEQUENT STREAM.
vesting), conventionally and arbitrarily
defined as winter (December to Febru¬ secondary depression in meteorology,

ary), spring (March to May), summer a relatively small area of low atmospheric
(June to August), autumn (September pressure associated with a main primary
to November) in the northern hemi¬ depression-3, encircling the latter in an
sphere, the reverse in the southern. In anti-clockwise direction in the northern
tropical regions the seasons are linked to hemisphere (clockwise in the southern) as
rainfall, the year being commonly divided it moves along its course. It may be linked
into two, the wet (rainy) season and the to the primary depression, appearing in

360
 sedentary

the isobars (iso-) as a protuberance, or it system after the Second World War,
may be self-contained, with closed isobars; including the countries of eastern Europe
in either case its pressure may be lower linked economically with the USSR.
than that of the primary, which it may FIRST WORLD, THIRD WORLD.
eventually absorb.
section i. in geometry, the plane figure
secondary industry, secondary activ¬
resulting from the cutting of a solid by a
ity, secondary sector manufacturing
plane; hence 2. the formation revealed by
industry, i.e. industry concerned
a cut, or representation of a cut, made
with transforming material provided by
vertically through a landform, rock or soil
primary industry into somethingmore
so as to show the surface and subsurface
directly useful to people, e.g. manufac¬
layers, e.g. in a geological section, the
tured goods, construction work, electric
surface layer and the underlying strata. In
power production (but some countries
that example the representation of such a
include the last in primary industry).
cut may be small scale and generalized
QUATERNARY INDUSTRY, TERTIARY IN¬
(diagrammatic section), or have an accur¬
DUSTRY.
ate surface profile with the strata in dia¬
secondary labour market primary grammatic form (semi-diagrammatic). A
LABOUR MARKET. totally accurate representation, without
exaggeration of the vertical scale, would
secondary production in ecology, the
give a misleading impression of the dip
energy lost in the respiration of the
of the strata (vertical exaggeration).
consumer levels in a food chain,
CROSS SECTION, SOIL PROFILE.
primary production, production.
sector model sectoral model, of land use,
secondary soil a transported soil, soil
a model-2 developed on the assumptions
formed on transported material, as
that the arrangement of routes radiating
opposed to a residual soil, sedent¬
from a city centre conditions the structure
ary soil.
of the city and its growth; and that differ¬
secondary vegetation a general term ences in accessibility between the radial
applied to the natural plant-cover growing routes lead to variations in land value and
on land that was once cleared of vegeta¬ consequently of land use in the sectors
tion, used for a while, and then abandoned. created by these routes, the outer arc of
NATURAL VEGETATION, SEMI-NATURAL each sector tending to repeat the pattern
VEGETATION. of its earlier growth.

secondary wave of earthquake.

secular adj. i. of a change or event occur¬
SHAKE WAVE.
ring very rarely, e.g. once in a century or
second home a dwelling of a freeholder other very long period of time 2. continu¬
or leaseholder (land tenure) whose ing, lasting over such a long period 3.

usual, commonly larger, residence is else¬ concerned with temporal, worldly matters
where, and who occupies the second rather than with religion.

home at weekends and/or holiday periods.

sedentary adj. being established in, stay¬
Second World the countries which ing in, one place, i.e. not migratory, not
adopted a centrally planned communist transported.

361
sedentary agriculture V. V

sedentary agriculture farming as prac¬ by folding, faulting or other disturbance.

tised by a settled farmer in one place, as LAW OF SUPERPOSITION.
distinct from shifting cultivation.
sedimentation 1. the downward move¬
sedentary soil a soil formed from the de¬ ment of finely divided solid particles
cay and decomposition of the solid rocks through a fluid under the influence of
on which it lies, secondary soil. gravitation-1 2. the act or process of
deposition, of settling as a sediment-2.
sedge any member of Cyperaceae, a very
large family of coarse grass-like herbs, usu¬ seed bed an industrial area near the cen¬
ally with solid, three-sided stems, com¬ tral business district where rents are
monly growing in wet places, although low and premises cheap and easily con¬
some are xerophilous. bog peat. verted to small factories, conditions which
favour the setting-up of new small manu¬
sediment i. matter which, owing to its
facturing enterprises. Those that flourish
greater density, naturally sinks by gravita¬
transplant themselves to larger premises
tion to the bottom of any undisturbed
farther from the central area. They and
liquid with which it was formerly mixed,
those that fail are soon replaced by new,
e.g. as in a solution (colloid) 2. in
hopeful, industrialists. There is thus a rapid
geology, unconsolidated particles or
turnover of manufacturing establishments
grains of rocks deposited by river, ocean,
in the seed bed area; but such areas are
ice, wind, graded sediments, sedi¬
squeezed out by policies of urban re¬
mentary ROCKS, SEDIMENTATION.
newal and centralization-i.
sedimentary rock a rock consisting of
seeding of clouds the dropping of
material derived from pre-existing rocks
(i.e. from sediments-2) or from organic chemical particles (e.g. solid carbon diox¬

debris, laid down in layers, in some cases ide, silver iodine) from aircraft on to clouds
in order to stimulate condensation and
with fossils, some being consolidated
(e.g. by compaction-i), others un¬ lead to rainfall.

consolidated. They may be mechanically

seepage the very slow percolation or
formed (clastic rock) and arenaceous
oozmg out of a fluid through a porous
(e.g. sandstone), argillaceous (e.g.
body (porosity), or along a fault or
shale), or of larger-sized grains (e.g.
joint-plane, e.g. the slight oozing out of
conglomerate). They may be organic¬
petroleum on the ground surface, an
ally formed and calcareous, ferrugi¬
important indication of the presence of
nous, SILICEOUS-I or CARBONACEOUS
oil in rocks below; or the percolation of
(e.g. the coals). They may be formed
surface water into the soil; or the slow
by chemical processes (e.g. flint). Those
oozing out of ground water at the surface
formed by drying-up include rock salt.
when the flow of water is insufficient and
The layers vary greatly in thickness and
the pressure not high enough to form a
may lie horizontally or at an angle; con¬
SPRING-2.
siderable tilting reveals that they were
disturbed after the period of deposition. segregation i. separation of sub-groups
In all sequences of sedimentary rocks the from the major group in a society-2,3,
oldest bed lies at the bottom, the young¬ especially involving the establishment
est at the top, unless the order is upset by law or custom of separate facilities for

362
 sensor

different social or ethnic groups, as for of the solid earth, including earth tremors
whites and blacks in the former Republic produced artificially, seismograph.
ofSouth Africa, apartheid 2. the process
selva (South America: Portuguese and
by which individuals and groups settle in
Spanish) i. dense equatorial forest
areas already housing people with tastes,
of the Amazon region 2. such equatorial
preferences, or social characteristics similar
forest growing elsewhere 3. the Amazon
to their own. ghetto.
region in which it grows.
seiche a periodic or occasional, brief,
semi-arid climate, semi-desert the
undulation of the water in a restricted
transitional zone lying between savanna
area, e.g. in a lake, estuary or bay, ap¬
and the true hot desert (sahel), or
parently caused by abrupt changes in
between the hot desert and a Mediter¬
atmospheric pressure, or by wind, or
ranean climatic region, characteristically
EARTHQUAKE.
supporting patchy xerophilous ve¬
seif-dune (Arabic seif, sword) a sand getation.
dune piled up longitudinally as a steep¬
semi-natural vegetation vegetation
sided ridge, sometimes stretching over
not actually planted by human hand,
many kilometres, and lying parallel to the
but resulting directly or indirectly from
direction of the prevailing wind.
the activities of human beings or their
seine a large fishing net held vertically in livestock, e.g. secondary vegetation.
the water by floats fixed to one edge and NATURAL VEGETATION.
weights to the other. The fish (especially
semiotics the theory of symbols, the
demersal fish) are trapped as the ends
systems of signs by which an individual or
are drawn together.
a culture expresses meaning.
seismic adj. relating to, characteristic of,
senile river a river system in old age in
produced by, movement within the earth,
the cycle of erosion, i.e. when all
e.g. an earthquake.
slopes have been worn down and the

seismic focus, seismic origin the place products of decomposition accumulated,

in the earth’s crust, under the surface, from covering any irregularities in the surface,

which an earthquake shock originates. so that the floodplain may become a

DEEP FOCUS, EPICENTRE. marsh without regular outflow: thus

the river lies on a completely formed
seismic wave i. a shock wave generated PENEPLAIN.
by an underground explosion or earth¬
quake 2. a TSUNAMI. sensible temperature cold or heat as felt
by the human body, depending not only
seismograph a scientific instrument used on actual temperature but also on relat¬
in recording the duration, magnitude and ive humidity and wind, latent heat.
direction (horizontal and vertical) of earth
sensor any apparatus used to detect vari¬
tremors, natural (earthquake) or arti¬
ficial. ations in electromagnetic radiation, acous¬
«
tic energy or force fields associated with
seismology the scientific study of gravity and magnetism at a distance from
earthquakes and of other movements their source, especially such a device used

363
 \ V

separatism

to gather information about distant objects ings 2. the act of peopling a formerly un¬
or phenomena in the atmosphere-i, inhabited or under-populated land 3. a
BIOSPHERE, HYDROSPHERE, LITHO¬ decision or choice made to put an end to
SPHERE (as in REMOTE sensing), elec¬ a controversy.
tromagnetic SPECTRUM, REFLECTION.
settlement hierarchy the ranking of
separatism the demand of a particular urban places with their associated trade
group of people that a particular piece of areas, graded according to their functional
territory should become separate in ter¬ importance, central place hier¬
ritory and political sovereignty from archy, CENTRAL PLACE THEORY.
the state within which it lies, plural
Seven Seas the Arctic, Antarctic, North
society.
and South Atlantic, North and South
serac (French) a pinnacle of ice formed Pacific and Indian oceans (ocean). In
in the part of a glacier where crevasses classical literature the term was applied to
intersect, usually at the point where the the seven supposed salt water lagoons on
glacier breaks on reaching a steep slope. the east coast of Italy, including the lagoon
of Venice (cut oflf from the Adriatic by
sere i. a developmental series of plant
the lido).
communities resulting from the process
of succession-2 2. any stage in a plant Seventh Approximation soil classi¬
SUCCESSION-2. fication.

sericulture the rearing of silkworms and shade temperature the temperature

the production of raw silk. shown on a thermometer sheltered
from the sun’s rays, from radiation
service industry tertiary industry.
from surrounding objects (including the
services I. the products of the paid activ¬ ground), from strong wind, and from pre¬
ities of an employee or professional person cipitation, best achieved by putting it in a
2. in Britain, utilities (gas, water, elec¬ Stevenson screen. In climatic statistics
tricity) as supplied to a consumer 3. the the temperature given is shade temperat¬
product of human activity intended to ure, unless sun temperature is specified.
satisfy a human need or needs but not
shadow effect the effect of a large, well-
constituting an item of goods.
served urban centre on the transport ser¬
sesquioxide an oxide with three oxygen vices of a nearby small centre, the smaller
and two metallic elements, in soil mainly place being relatively ill-provided with
iron (Fe203) and alumina (A1203). direct services, accessibility, inter¬
vening LOCATION EFFECT.
seston the bioseston (living organisms)
and abioseston (inanimate matter, also shaduf (Arabic) a simple hand-operated
termed tnpton) swimming or floating ' irrigation device used for raising water
in a body water. from a river or shallow well. It consists of
a long pole with a bucket suspended from
set aside cap.
a rod, chain or rope at one end and a
settlement 1. any form of human habita¬ weight (a stone or pieces of iron etc.) at
tion, even a single dwelling, although the the other. The pole is mounted and pivots
term is usually applied to a group of dwell¬ on a vertical support which is fixed firmly

364
 shearing

in the ground. The pivot point is nearer America) barrio; (Asia) busti or kam-
to the weighted than the bucket end of the pong; (Africa) bidonville or shanty-town.
pole; the weight acts as a counterbalance to
sharecropping an agricultural tenancy
the bucket. The bucket is dipped in the
system in which the tenant renders rent
water and the counterpoising weight takes
to the landlord in the form of produce
over most of the effort of raising and
rather than cash. The systems vary, but
swinging it round so that the bucket may
usually the landlord in addition to provid¬
be emptied into a trough or into a channel
ing and being responsible for the land,
by which the water is carried to cultivated
buildings, drainage and farm roads also
land. Archimedes’ screw, saqia.
provides the sharecropper (the tenant)
shake wave S-wave, the secondary wave with machinery, stock, seeds and fertilizer.
(also termed shear wave or transverse In return the landlord receives an agreed
wave) produced by an earthquake, a proportion of the farm produce, land
body wave in the earth which passes tenure.
through solids but not liquids, resembling
sharp sand sand-i with angular, as
a light wave in that it is a transverse wave,
opposed to rounded, GRAiNS-4.
i.e. it displaces particles at right angles
to the direction of its own movement. shatter belt, shatter-belt a zone of
LONGITUDINAL WAVE, MOHOROVICIC movement in the earth’s crust where rocks
DISCONTINUITY, PUSH WAVE, TRANS¬ have been broken into angular fragments,
VERSE WAVE, WAVE. i.e. into fault-breccia. It occurs where
faults are ragged and extensive, so that
shale a fme-grained argillaceous
a line of weakness develops in the crust,
sedimentary rock, formed from par¬
along which weathering and erosion
ticles of clay minerals compressed by
are facilitated.
overlying rocks, very finely laminated
(lamination), in the direction of the shattering a form of physical weather¬
bedrock, the thin layers easily splitting ing in which strong mechanical stresses
apart and disintegrating (compare slate). produce fresh fractures in the rocks.
CAMBRIAN, SHALE OIL.
shear 1. in physics, stress applied to a

shale oil an oil distilled from bituminous body but along one face only of the body

SHALE. (termed shearing stress), or the strain-2

produced by shearing stress, producing a
shallows an area of little depth of water change of shape but not of volume 2.
in a sea, lake, river, channel-3. in geology, a change in the direction
of a stratum due to lateral pressure.
shanty-town, squatter settlement a
SHEARING.
settlement, lacking services, which con¬
sists of a collection of small, crude shacks shearing in geology, the bending, twist¬
made of discarded materials and serving as ing or drawing out, sometimes accom¬
habitations for poor people on the out¬ panied by crushing or shattering, of a rock
skirts of towns, especially in South near a fault or thrust-plane, due to
America and parts of Africa, variously stress with resultant slipping (hence
termed (South America) favela, rancho, shear-fault, shear-plane, shear-cleavage).
barriades or villas miserias; (Central The volume of the rock does not alter,

365
 N. V
shear wave

but its form does as the two neighbouring by the clouds so that it appears as a sheet
parts slide past each other, in some cases of Hght.
causing crushing and shattering along the
sheet metal metal flattened out to form
line of shear-i.
a thin sheet.

shear wave shake wave. shell sand beach sand consisting mainly
of comminuted shell fragments, and there¬
sheep a gregarious animal, domesticated
fore highly calcareous, e.g. machair.
and crossbred for a very long time to pro¬
duce animals suitable for specific purposes, shelterbelt a windbreak, usually a stand
i.e. for supplying meat or wool of vary¬ of trees planted to act as a screen against
ing quality, and milk (especially in the the wind, especially in areas subject to
Mediterranean region) for cheese. Sheep wind erosion.
flourish on land poorer than that required
shield in geology, a very large rigid mass
for cattle provided it is not too wet under¬
of precambrian rock, forming a major
foot, those bred for meat needing better
continental block, relatively stable over a
fodder than those kept for wool. The fine
long period of geological time, disturbed
wool breeds (merino) thrive in dry, warm
only by some slight warping, e.g. the
climates, those with medium quality wool
Laurentian Shield, glint-line.
in cooler midlatitudes, where they provide
meat as well as wool. shield volcano a volcano shaped like a
shield, i.e. a broad dome, the diameter of
sheet erosion very slow erosion of soil
the base being large, the angle of slope
from an extensive, flat, gently sloping area,
small, basic lava forming the cone, e.g.
the result of runoff, most likely to occur
Mauna Loa in Hawaii, basaltic lava,
in areas where the soil layer is thin, soil
HAWAIIAN VOLCANIC ERUPTION, SINK.
erosion.
shifting cultivation loosely applied to
sheetflood, sheetflow an unhampered, any of the many systems of cultivation
broad expanse of water derived from pre¬ where land is cropped and after a few
cipitation flowing down a slope, occur¬ years, with the initial fertility exhausted,
ring where channels are absent or when abandoned in favour of a new patch. A
the runoff is so great and fast that the distinction can be made between the true
existing channels, rills, etc. cannot carry shifting cultivation of nomadic peoples
it, and thus it overflows, overland who do not practise a land rotation
flow. but move on when the soil fertility is
exhausted; a regular system ofland rotation
sheeting the splitting away of shells of
or bush fallowing practised by people
rock from the upper surface of a massive
who usually have a fixed central village;
rock (particularly an igneous rock)
ajad shifting cultivation associated with
resulting from the expansion of the rock
certain cash crops whereby land is aban¬
by the release of pressure (dilatation);
doned when yields begin to drop below
not to be confused with exfoliation.
an economic level. There are some 150
sheet lightning a discharge of light¬ or so vernacular terms applied to shifting
ning within a cloud or between clouds, cultivation, farming, land tenure,
the brilliance of the flash being diffused SWIDDEN FARMING.

366
 shoulder

Shimbel index a measure of the access¬ giant tankers the dwt may be 120 per cent
ibility of a node-2 in a network-2. The higher than gross tonnage.
shortest-path links between each node
shoal 1. a shallow part of a nver, sea, lake
and all other nodes in the network are
2. an accumulation of sand, mud, pebbles
recorded on a MATRix-5; the lower the
creating such shallow water and in many
index value the better the accessibility.
cases dangerous to navigation 3. a group
shingle an accumulation of coarse stones, of fish.
rounded by water. The term is usually
shoddy 1. a yarn made from the shredded
restricted to cover only such an accumula¬
and reconstructed fibre of fabric or fabrics
tion on a BEACH.
which have already been used 2. a fabric
made from such reconstituted yarn, re¬
ship canal an artificial waterway large
cycling.
enough for the passage of ocean-going
vessels, e.g. the Manchester Ship Canal. shore 1. loosely applied to the land
SEAWAY. immediately bordering the sea or other
large expanse of water 2. the meeting of
shipping tonnage a measure of capacity
sea and land considered as a boundary of
of ships, calculated as follows: Gross
the sea, thus the land as seen from the sea
tonnage, the capacity of the permanently
3. the area between the lowest water of a
enclosed space between the frame of the
spring tide and the highest point reached
vessel and the deck together with any
by unusually strong waves in a storm 4.
closed-in space above the deck, 2.83 cu
in law, the ground between the ordinary
m (100 cu ft) being reckoned as 1 ton. Net
low and high water marks (low water,
or registered tonnage, gross tonnage less
HIGH water). BEACH, COAST, FORE¬
the space occupied by engines, gear, crew’s
SHORE, SHORELINE.
and officers’ quarters, i.e. the space avail¬
able for cargo and passengers, calculated shoreline the line where the shore meets
on the same basis as gross tonnage. Dues are the water, an imprecise term sometimes
usually paid on net or registered tonnage. regarded as synonymous with coastline
Cargo tonnage, the weight of the cargo (equally imprecise), sometimes applied to
carried, calculated by volume; in UK 1.19 the line reached by an ordinary low tide.
cu m (42 cu ft), in USA 1.1 cu m (40 cu There is a tendency to regard coastline as
ft), being equal to 1 ton. Deadweight the landward limit fixed in position for
tonnage, dwt, the total load carried at considerable periods of time, shoreline as
maximum loadline, including the total a moving phenomenon.
weight of cargo, fuel and passengers etc.
shott (north Africa: Arabic) 1. a fluctuat¬
measured in tonnes. Displacement ton¬
ing shallow brackish or saltwater lake in
nage, the weight of water displaced by
north Africa, especially in Tunisia and
the vessel when fully laden, i.e. the weight
Algeria, dry for much of the year, water-
of the vessel and its contents when calcu¬
filled in winter 2. the depression holding
lated on the basis that 0.99 cu m (35 cu ft)
such a lake, playa, salina.
of water equals 1 ton. As a rough conver¬
sion for a mixed fleet, consisting of tankers shoulder 1. a rounded spur on a moun¬
and cargo vessels, gross registered tons plus tainside 2. a bench on the side of a valley,
50 per cent equals deadweight tons; for most likely to occur on the side of a valley

367
shower

deepened by a glacier at the point where being housed on the farm land. The crop
the gentle slope of the upper part (unaffec¬ raised is usually one which needs little
ted by glacial erosion) changes abruptly to attention in growth, e.g. a cereal, suit¬
the steep slope of the inner, glaciated valley case FARMER.
side. ALP, U-SHAPED VALLEY.
sierra (Spanish; Portuguese serra) a high
shower a fall of rain, hail, sleet or range of mountains with jagged peaks
SNOW of brief duration. resembling the teeth of a saw. The term
was originally applied to such mountains
shrub a perennial plant with many per¬
in Spain and Spanish-speaking South
sistent woody stems branching from or
America, but it is now extended and
near the base, herb-i, tree.
applied in Spanish to almost any high
SI, Systeme Internationale d’Unites a mountain range; and in English generally
simplified metric system based on seven to ‘the mountains’ or a mountain region.
basic units, agreed in i960 by an inter¬
sieve map, sieve method a series of maps
national committee and now adopted by
drawn on transparent material (overlay),
most countries using the metric system.
each showing the distribution of a selected
The seven basic units, from which all other
factor. By superimposing the transparen¬
SI units are derived, are the metre (m),
cies the factors wanted or not wanted for
kilogram (kg), second (s), ampere (A), the
a particular purpose can be ‘sieved out’.
kelvin (K), mole (mol) and candela (cd).
Multiples and submultiples preferably sep¬ signature the unique pattern of wave¬
arated by the factor of 1000 are used with bands (electromagnetic spectrum)
these basic units, i.e. io12 (prefix tera-, T), peculiar to and emitted by an object on
io9 (giga-, G), io6 (mega-, M); io3 (kilo-, the earth’s surface, remote sensing.
k); io-3 (milli-, m); io-6 (micro-, p);
significance test a statistic calculated to
10 9 (nano-, n); io~12 (pico-, p); io~15
indicate the likelihood that a character¬
(femto-, f); io-18 (atto-, a), centi-,
istic in a sample-3 reflects accurately
HECTO-, JOULE, KILO-, MILLI-, NEW¬
the characteristic of the parent popu¬
TON, PASCAL.
lation-4 of that sample, and that it has
sial silica and u/umina, granitic rocks not occurred by chance in the sampling,
(granite-i) of the surface of the earth’s e.g. CHI-SQUARED TEST.
continental crust (plate tectonics),
composed mainly of silica and alum¬ significant adj. in statistics, unlikely to
ina, light in colour and density (between have occurred by chance.

2.65 and 2.70). There is a tendency for the silage green fodder (e.g. grass, clover,
term to be replaced by the less specific alfalfa, maize plant) packed into a silo,
term upper crust, geothermal gradi-,
usually with molasses, fermented by an¬
ENT, ISOSTASY, SIMA. aerobic bacteria to preserve it, and cut

Siberian high a persistent anticyclone into blocks for animal feed when needed.

situated over north central Asia in winter.

silica silicon dioxide 1. the mineral of that
sidewalk farmer in USA, a person who composition, e.g. quartz 2. the silicate
lives in an urban area and cultivates land mineral content of a rock, commonly
distant in a rural area, the farm equipment expressed chemically as the percentage of

368
 sima

silica by weight. Silicate minerals are the sill 1. an INTRUSION of IGNEOUS ROCK
largest group of compounds in the earth’s of tabular form, as when a very fluid
crust. SILICATES. magma is forced between the bedding
planes of sedimentary or volcanic forma¬
silicate magma magma from which
tions, i.e. it is concordant with the
silicate minerals are formed, silica-2,
strata 2. a submarine ridge between
silicates.
ocean basins, or between a sea and an
ocean or, termed submerged sill, near the
silicates silicate minerals, a group of
entrance to a fjord. Fig 21.
minerals based around the highly stable
Si04, constituting (with the silica-i silt fine particles, larger than those of clay,
group) some 95 per cent of the earth’s finer than those of fine sand, diameter
crust, and including clay minerals, feld¬
0.002 to 0.02 mm, suspended in, carried or
spar, quartz etc. as members, silica, deposited by, water, graded sediments.
silicon.
Silurian adj. of or pertaining to the third
siliceous adj. 1. of, pertaining to, contain¬ period (time) or system (rock) of the
ing, resembling silica-i 2. growing in or palaeozoic era, preceded by the Or¬
needing a soil containing silica. dovician, succeeded by the Devonian.
GEOLOGICAL TIMESCALE.
silicon a nonmetallic element occurring,
as a brown powder or dark grey crystals, silver a white, stable, malleable, ductile
abundantly in nature, always in com¬ metallic element-6, a precious metal,
pounds. It is the second main element in some occurring in silver ores, and a little
the earth’s crust (the first being oxygen), native-1 in nature, but more as an
comprising by volume some 28 per cent impurity in lead ores, particularly galena,
(sial). Combined with oxygen it forms considered to be argentiferous (silver¬
silica and, with various other oxides, a bearing) if it has more than 0.1 per cent
large group of rocks termed silicates. It of silver. A good conductor of heat and
is used in glass-making, the manufacture electricity, silver is resistant to oxidation.
of very hard alloys and, in silicone com¬ It is used in electrical apparatus, coins,
pounds, in lacquers, lubricants, water- photography, electroplating, backing mir¬
repellent finishes etc. rors, jewellery, silverware etc.

silicone any of the large class of synthetic silviculture a branch of the science of
siLicoN-containing compounds in which forestry concerned with the breeding,
the atoms of silicon are held together development and cultivation of forest
by bonds to oxygen atoms which act as trees.
bridges.
sima silica and magnesium, basaltic
silk 1. a fine, strong, protein, thread-like rocks composed of silica and mag¬
structure secreted by some insects 2. such nesium, fomiing part of the earth’s crust,
a substance secreted by the caterpillar (silk¬ relatively heavier in density than the sial
worm) of the moth Bombyx mori, so called of the continental crust which over-
because it feeds on the leaves of the white lies it in places. In areas without sial, sima
mulberry, Morns alba, sericulture, syn¬ forms most of the ocean floor. There is
thetic fibre. thus a tendency for the term sima to be

369
 \ s.

simoom

replaced by oceanic crust, isostasy, thi past, present or future, situation.

PLATE TECTONICS.
Site of Special Scientific Interest sssi.
simoom, simoon (Arabic) a scorching-
situation 1. the place, position or
hot, heavily dust-laden, swirling wind oc¬
location of something, e.g. a house, a
curring in the hottest months in the
town, in relation to its surroundings or to
northern Sahara, usually associated with
another thing 2. a state of affairs, site.
the northward passage of a low pressure
system. It may carry so much dust and skargard (Swedish) enclosure by a line
sand that visibility is reduced to zero; and of skerries, skerry, skerry-guard.
it greatly affects the shape of sand dunes
skerry a small islet, sometimes one of a
in its path.
series lying parallel to the main trend of the
sink, sinkhole I. in general, a hollow in coast, usually rocky, sometimes composed
which surface water collects and escapes of morainic material, over which the sea
through a shaft, i.e. a swallow hole may break at high tide or in stormy
2. specifically, a feature characteristic of weather.
limestone country (karst), a closed
skerry-guard the area of calm water
depression which is dry or through which
between a line of skerries (skerry) and
water seeps downwards, resembling in
the mainland. The term should not be
shape a basin, funnel or cylinder 3. a large
applied to the line of skerries itself.
depression in a shield volcano or lava
dome formed when the surface has cooled skewness in statistics, asymmetry, fre¬
and solidified but subsides as the under¬ quency curve.
lying molten lava flows away.
sky the atmosphere enveloping the earth,
sinter a chemical deposit ofsiLic a formed with or without clouds. Its blue appear¬
around a geyser or hot spring, the ance if cloudless in the daytime is due to
material having been previously held in the scattering of sunlight by the molecules
solution in the water (hydrothermal). of air. At high altitudes the sky appears to
be deep blue because there the short waves
sirocco, scirrocco a very hot south or
of the blue-violet end of the spectrum of
southeasterly wind, sometimes dust-laden,
solar light are easily scattered by the fine
dry as it blows over north Africa, some¬
molecules of air present.
times humid by the time it meets the south
Italian shore, blowing from the Sahara Skylab a US satellite-i that no longer
over the Mediterranean to Malta, Sicily, exists. It was launched in 1973 with a
Italy, ahead of a depression moving east¬ crew of three, whose members carried out
wards over the Mediterranean. It is com¬ various experiments and had control over
mon in spring, when it may damage crops,' the remote sensing equipment aboard.
especially blossoming vines and olives. LANDSAT, SPACE SHUTTLE, SPACE STA¬
KHAMSIN. TION.

site a fixed position where an object, slack 1. a shallow hollow among coastal
structure or tissue is placed or where some¬ sand dunes or mud banks 2. the state of
thing occurs, e.g. the position on the the tide when tidal currents are almost
ground of a place, town, building etc. in still, commonly about high or low water

370
 slope elements

when there is neither ebb nor flow 3. dip of the fault plane, termed dip-slip
small pieces of coal, refuse coal. 2. a landslide in which a mass of
rock or surface debris moves as a whole
slash 1. locally in south and southeast
down a slip-plane, mass movement, ro¬
USA, a low, wet, swampy, boggy area,
tational slip.
overgrown with bushes, cane etc., favour¬
able for the growth of any one of the slash slip -face the leeward side of a sand
pines, e.g. Pinus caribaea yielding gum and dune, steeper than the windward side
turpentine 2. the debris of felled trees 3. from which sand is blown, dune, plinth.
part of a forest strewn with such debris.
slip-off slope of a meander, the gentle
SLASH-AND-BURN.
slope of the spur on the convex (inside)
slash-and-burn a method of clearing curve opposite the steep bank or river
land, as in shifting cultivation, by cliff on the concave curve (outer side).
felling trees and burning the slash-2. point bar. Fig 29.
SWIDDEN FARMING.
slope 1. the upward or downward in¬
slate a fine-grained, laminated (lamina¬ clination of a natural or artificial surface,
tion), dark grey, metamorphic rock a deviation from the perpendicular or
derived from shales or mudstones sub¬ horizontal 2. the degree or nature of such
jected to pressure by earth movements. It an incline. The study of the development
has the property of being fissile into thin of slopes on the earth’s surface is a complex
slabs (slates) by the development of one, theories abound and many specialized
minerals such as mica, the thin flakes of terms are in use apart from those that
which lie at right angles to the pressure follow. CONSTANT SLOPE, FREE FACE,
in DYNAMIC METAMORPHISM. Thus the GRAVITY SLOPE, HALDENHANG, PARAL¬
splitting is along the lines of cleavage, LEL RETREAT OF SLOPE, SLIP-OFF SLOPE,
independent of the original bedding SLOPE ELEMENTS, SLOPE RETREAT,
planes, differing from the splitting of TRANSPORTATION SLOPE, WANING
shale, which takes place along the bed¬ slope, waxing slope 3. on a straight line
ding planes, clay-slate. on a graph, the amount by which the
dependent variable (on the vertical axis)
sleet precipitation-1 consisting of
increases/decreases for each unit of the
snow and rain mixed, or of partially
independent variable (on the horizontal
thawed snow, glazed frost.
axis), the slope of a regression line for two
slide 1. a mass of rock or earth falling as variables being the regression coefficient.
a whole, rapidly and sometimes cata¬ REGRESSION ANALYSIS.
strophically down a bedding plane or
slope elements of hillside slope, the
joint through the force of gravity 2. the
component parts of the hillside slope pro¬
mark on the hillside, caused by such a
file defined as the waxing slope (relat¬
slide. MASS MOVEMENT, ROCK SLIDE,
ively concave and at the top), succeeded
SLUMPING.
downwards by the nearly vertical free
slip 1. in a fault, the4 actual relative face, the constant slope (rectilinear
movement along the fault plane, either in profile), and the waning slope (rel¬
in the direction of the strike, termed atively concave) at the base, standard
strike-slip; or in the direction of the HILLSLOPE.

371
 \ 'v

slope length

slope length the actual length of the sur¬ small holding, smallholding, small¬
face of a slope-i , from its highest to its holding written as two words, with or
lowest point, not the length projected on without a hyphen, applied generally to
to a plane, termed the horizontal any small farm or holding. But as one word
equivalent, which measures less, gra¬ given a special legal meaning in Britain

dient. under the Agriculture Act 1947, be. a

holding of less than 20.25 ha (50 acres),
slope retreat the progressive wearing having a rental value below a certain level.
back of a slope profile by erosion.
smelting the extraction of metal from
slum a rundown settlement or part of a its ore, usually by a heat process which
settlement, usually in or near an urban area reduces the oxide of the metal with carbon
and characterized by dilapidated buildings in a furnace, separating out the metal in
or shacks (favela), the poverty of its a molten state; or by calcination of
inhabitants, squalor, the presence of refuse, sulphide ores.
and overpopulation.
smog (term derived from smoke and fog,
slumping the downward, usually dis¬ 1905) I. originally applied to thick, yellow
tinctly rotational, slipping under gravity radiation fog, injurious to health, oc¬
of a mass of rock, torn away from its base, curring over a built-up area where sooty
over a curved slip fault (slip-i), leaving a particles from smoky fuels (smoke)
scar on the slope surface. It commonly formed the nuclei for condensation in the
occurs where more massive rocks overlie atmosphere, and sulphur dioxide ad¬
a weaker layer, e.g. limestone over clay, ded to the pollution. Avery dense smog
along an escarpment. It is also believed to in London in 1952 stimulated a campaign
occur extensively down the steep slope of for smoke abatement and was so successful
the continental slope from the con¬ that the use of smoky fuels within specified
tinental platform, termed submarine areas was banned under the clean Air Acts
slumping, mass movement. of 1956 and 1968 2. the term has since
been applied to other foggy air pollution,
slurry I. very wet, mobile mud-i,2 2. a not necessarily caused by smoke but by
mixture of water and insoluble matter, e.g. the pollution of the air by nitrogen
chalk, clay, coal, lime, sometimes trans¬ oxides and hydrocarbons from the
ported by pipeline. exhausts of motor vehicles, combined
with the chemical change brought about
small business in Britain, a firm
by the action ofsunlight, as in the common
employing between one and 100
Los Angeles photochemical smog.
persons.
smoke fine particles suspended in the
small circle any hypothetical circle on,
atmosphere-i and carried by air cur¬
the earth’s surface the plane of which does
rents, usually consisting of carbon particles
not pass through the earth’s centre, in
formed from incomplete combustion.
contrast to the plane of a great circle.
SMOG.
Thus all parallels of latitude to north
and south of the equator are small circles, snout of a glacier, the lower extremity
decreasing in size polewards; but the of a valley-glacier, sometimes par¬
equator itself is a great circle. tially hidden by morainic material, but

372
 social class

commonly featuring a cave from which snow-limit the limit north and south
MELT-WATER flows. MORAINE. from the equator indicating a zone within
which no snow falls and stays unmelted,
snow precipitation-i in the form of
varying with physical conditions (eleva¬
delicate, feather-light, hexagonal, vari¬
tion, proximity to the ocean etc.); not in
ously patterned, individual ice crystals
general use as a technical term.
aggregated to form snowflakes. The ice
crystals are formed when water vapour in snow-line the variable lowest level on
the atmosphere condenses quickly at a mountains above which snow never com¬
temperature below freezing point, does pletely disappears, considered to be a
not liquefy but passes immediately to the permanent level (varying with latitude,
solid state, the sparkling whiteness releas¬ altitude, temperature, humidity, precip¬
ing latent heat, causing a rise in air itation, aspect, steepness of slope) if sum¬
temperature. Sometimes snow melts in mer warmth does not melt and remove
descending, to reach the ground surface the winter accumulation. The snow-line
as rain; it arrives as snow only if the lower in winter is commonly lower than this
atmosphere is cold enough to prevent so-called permanent snow-line.
melting. Air is trapped between the crystals
social adj. I. relating to human so-
in snowflakes causing internal reflection
ciety-i 2. as applied to human beings, of
of light at the crystal surfaces and giving
any behaviour or attitude that is influ¬
snow its sparkling whiteness. This trapped
enced or created by experience of the
air, combined with the air between the
behaviour of other people; or any
flakes, makes snow a good insulator, pre¬
behaviour or attitude directed towards
venting heat loss by radiation from the
other people.
surfaces on which it collects. Snow can be
dry and powdery, and therefore great in social area analysis a technique used to
volume (as in cold temperatures, e.g. in link social structure and urban residential
the Antarctic); so to make for uniformity patterns. Widely ranging data, e.g. con¬
in meteorological recording, it is collected cerning rank in social class, occupa¬
(usually in a special cylindrical gauge) and tion, fertility, size of families, racial and
melted, the amount being expressed as the ethnic grouping, are analysed and classified
rainfall equivalent, and usually added to in order to make distinctions between
the precipitation total, avalanche, red small areas within a city. Sometimes
snow. termed social ecology.

snow avalanche a swift fall of a mass of social capital in Marxism, state expend¬
snow down a slope (avalanche), distin¬ iture which, by providing resources that
guished as dry, consisting of newly-fallen finals themselves would otherwise have to
snow in winter; wet, caused by spring provide, contributes to the profitability of
thaw; wind slab, where the surface layer the private sector of an economy.
of the snow is compacted and hard.
social class a problematic, disputed con¬
snowfield a stretch of permanent snow cept, widely used in the social sciences,
with a relatively level, smooth surface, applied to a group of people of similar
occurring in shallow depressions in moun¬ rank or status in a community (CLASS-3),
tainous areas or on high plateaus. the basis for the grouping being variable,

373
social Darwinism

e.g. determined by education, power, USA), and many of the aspects of urban
income, wealth, prestige, occupation, or GEOGRAPHY, HUMANISTIC GEOGRAPHY

relationship to the means of produc¬ and welfare geography. It deals gen¬

tion. A distinction may be made between erally with the interrelationship of
social class (distinguished in relation to people with their environment. But so-
the means of production) and social cial-i,2 implies an individual living
status (distinguished on the basis of and functioning with others in a group
consumption of goods, of particular life¬ or a sociETY-1,3; thus social geography
styles). The Registrar General’s classifi¬ emphasizes the importance of studies of
cation, UK, distinguishes five categories, population, urban and rural settlements,
from higher managerial or professional social activities and problems (including
through skilled manual to unskilled such considerations as social justice,
manual workers. But the term social class SOCIAL NETWORK, SOCIAL STRUCTURE,

is often used loosely in the UK to distin¬ SOCIAL WELL-BEING).

guish upper, middle (also stratified) and

working classes without any precise social housing public housing.
definition of the criteria used. In Marxist
theory, social class is related to the owner¬ social investment in Marxism, state
ship or non-ownership of the means of expenditure which acts mainly as con¬
production (mode of production), stant capital during capitalist pro¬
a class comprising individuals with a duction, thereby lowering the costs of
common behavioural pattern, sharing a private sector investment in the means of
common relationship to property and production, i.e. raising the productivity
power, the classes being the capitalist, the of labour.
bourgeoisie and the proletariat,
social status. socialism a political, social and economic
concept which takes various forms. Each
social Darwinism the application of
form, traditionally, is opposed to uncon¬
Darwin’s theory of the survival of the
trolled capitalism, seeks equality of
fittest, and evolution, to human societies.
opportunity for each person, advocates
social distance I. the voluntary or that there should be collective ownership
enforced separation of distinct social of the means of production and control of
groups for most of their activities 2. the distribution, and maintains that in return
distance as perceived by individuals or for contributing to the community, the
small groups between themselves and individual should be entitled to receive the
other individuals or social groups. care and protection of that community. T o
generalize, it may be said that Marxian
social exclusion the separation of indi¬
socialism is concerned largely with eco¬
viduals or groups of people from the
nomic issues, and stresses the import¬
society-3 within which they live.
ance of communal ownership and control
social geography a branch of geography of the means of production, distribution,
with a variety of approaches but defined exchange. Christian socialism, more con¬
broadly as the analysis of social phenomena cerned with social aspects, sees socialism as
in space, and also equated with human a way oflife. Democratic socialism stresses
GEOGRAPHY, CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY (in the political aspect, and compromises in

374
 social status

the economic field between state and pri¬ social physics a mechanistic approach to
vate enterprise. the study of human geography whi ch uses
analogy with physical laws in analysing
social justice in welfare geography,
human behaviour. Introduced in the mid¬
the fair distribution ofbenefits and burdens
nineteenth century, it is represented today
among the members of a society-i.
by, e.g., the gravity model, reilly’s
socially necessary labour labour LAW OF RETAIL GRAVITATION.
THEORY OF VALUE.
social polarization the consequence of
social mobility the movement of people such divergence of segregated groups
between social classes. People moving in a society that large discrete groups
from unskilled and manual occupations (representing widely different socio¬
to those that are skilled, non-manual and economic status, cultures etc.) form at the
professional are often considered to be extremities of the social spectrum and
going up (upwardly mobile), those there is little or no social contact between
moving in the reverse direction, from them, segregation-1,2.
what may be considered superior oc¬
social relations the evolving interplay of
cupations to the inferior, going down
cultural, economic and political activities
(downwardly mobile) in social class
that shape and identify individual places
position; such mobility is said to be vert¬
but which spread beyond their boundaries.
ical. The term horizontal mobility is
applied to movement which involves social relations of production, re¬
a change of status (social status) and lations of production in Marxism, the
role (particularly in occupation, social relationships between social groups which
role) without a change in social class are generated by, and form the basis of, a
position. MOBILITY, MODERNIZATION, particular mode of production.
PRE-INDUSTRIAL CITY.
social role the pattern of behaviour
social network the relatives, friends, expected by others from an individual in
neighbours with whom an individual a particular social position, of a particular
person or a family is linked (the persons social status, e.g. a mother, doctor,
being represented by nodes, the relation¬ employer, school-teacher.
ships by connecting links, network-3).
social segregation the residential group¬
social overhead capital the public
ing, the spatial separation of people within
investment in roads, housing, community
an area, on the basis of social distinctions.
services necessary for production to take
SEGREGATION.
place.
social space the space perceived to be
social pathology an approach to social
homogeneous by those living in it who,
problems which concentrates on the
in using it, give it its special character,
characteristics of problem individuals and
the space itself reflecting their activities,
communities. It suggests, for example, that
preferences, aspirations, and thereby
the problem of poverty can best be under¬
becoming separate, identifiable by the
stood by studying any physical and social
social group inhabiting it.
inadequacies which may be present in the
poor themselves. social status the social standing of a

375
 \ V

social structure

person, based on life-style, consumption facilities for recreation and leisure; and be
of goods, the esteem in which that person able to participate in social affairs in a stable
is held by others, social role. (preferably democratic) administration.
QUALITY OF LIFE, STANDARD OF LIVING,
social structure the form, shape, pattern,
WELFARE.
framework of the interrelationships of
people in a society-2,3, in a social system, society 1. the state of living in organized
which can be analysed by identifying the groups 2. people living and working
roles and sets of roles played by the indi¬ together and considered as a whole 3. a
vidual in that society, as well as the rules, large group of people associated together
constraints, conventions, resources and geographically, culturally or otherwise,
facilitations which underpin them, any of with collective interests, shared laws,
which may be considered as a social struc¬ customs etc. and with a particular or¬
ture in its own right, with structures of its ganization. INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, POST¬
own. That, broadly, is one of the tra¬ INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, PRE-INDUSTRIAL
ditional applications of the term social society 4. an association of people with
structure in anthropology and analytic some special interest, some central dis¬
(formal) sociology. In human geography cipline.
it is more commonly applied (as social
socioeconomic adj. of or relating to
structures) to the social rules and resources
social and economic conditions.
etc. which underlie a social system, cul-
TURE-I, POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY, sodium a soft, white metallic element-6,
SOCIAL ROLE, SOCIAL STATUS, STRUC¬ oxidizing rapidly in air, reacting with
TURE-1,2. water to liberate hydrogen and producing

social well-being, human well-being a solution of sodium hydroxide. It is

a state in which the needs and wants of a widely distributed in many compounds,

population-i are, in general, satisfied. the most common being common salt-2,

The identification of these needs and an essential micronutrient. Sodium

wants is subjective and in many cases his¬ salts are important in industrial processes.

torically determined, varying from one FELDSPAR.

culture to another and changing with

software the set of systems, in the form
the passage of time. In western indus¬
of programs, which controls the operation
trialized societies in the twentieth century,
of a computer, simplifying and linking the
it may be said that it is generally accepted
work of computer and user, hardware.
that in order to be in a state of ideal social
well-being a population should be in good softwood any tree with timber which
health, have sufficient income for basic is soft and relatively light, with an open
needs and thus be free from want, be texture. Most commercial softwoods are
well fed and clothed, housed with suffi¬ coniferous trees (the timber being
cient space in a benign, POLLUTiON-free known commercially as pine, fir, deal),
environment; should have command over taken from the great northern forests of
goods and services, receive all the edu¬ Canada, Scandinavia and the CIS; others
cation desired, be protected by the admin¬ are grown in plantations elsewhere in
istration of justice, have social and Europe and in New Zealand. Softwood
economic mobility, as well as time and is used especially for pulp, cellulose and

376
 soil classification

wood products, and in construction work. and iron compounds. (The terms pedocal
HARDWOOD. and pedalfer are now little used by soil
scientists.) From another viewpoint soils
soil loosely, the earth or ground, but
fall into three world groups: zonal, soils
specifically the loose material of the earth’s
with profiles which show a dominant
surface in which terrestrial plants grow,
influence of climate and vegetation in their
usually formed from weathered rock or
development; azonal, or skeletal, soils
regolith changed by chemical, physical
lacking such a profile; and intrazonal,
and biological processes. Thus the soil may
well developed soils with profiles reflect¬
be considered as an entity, quite apart from
ing the influence of some local factor of
the rocks below it. It consists partly of
relief, parent material, or age, rather than
mineral particles and partly, to a varying
those of climate and vegetation (soil pro¬
extent, of organic matter (humus). The
file). Most soil scientists recognize the
mineral particles can be graded according
existence of world soil groups at one end
to size (graded sediments); and accord¬
of the scale and soil series or soil types
ing to the proportion of the grade present
as the units for description and map¬
the terms clay soil, sandy soil etc. are
ping, but the intermediate soil families
applied. A soil is said to be mature ifit has
and soil associations are differently
a fully developed profile (soil profile);
interpreted.
immature if it lacks a well-developed pro¬
In i960 the Soil Conservation Service
file; truncated if it has lost all or part of the
of the US Department of Agriculture in
upper horizons (soil horizon). Human
Soil Classification: A Comprehensive System,
beings, by their cultivating activities, have
Seventh Approximation (commonly termed
affected the development of many soils
the Seventh Approximation), later entitled
and led to the destruction of others (soil
the Comprehensive Soil Classification System
erosion), soil association, soil
(CSCS), drew up another classification in
classification and other entries quali¬
which ten major orders were based on
fied by soil.
the present state of development of soils,
soil acidity acid soil, pH. divided into sub-orders, great groups, sub¬
groups, families and soil series. The ten
soil association a term used by some soil
major orders are alfisols, aridisols,
scientists but not by others, usually applied
ENTISOLS, HISTOSOLS, INCEPTISOLS,
to soils, not necessarily with the same pro¬
MOLLISOLS, OXISOLS, SPODOSOLS,
files (soil profile), lying close to each
ULTISOLS, VERTISOLS.
other, but also in UK, a group of soil
A new soil classification in England
series developed on parent material de¬
and Wales, 1973, groups soils on a con¬
rived from similar rocks or combinations
sideration of their land use capability.
of rocks.
Taking landform, geology, climate and
soil classification a systematic grouping natural vegetation into account, seven
of soils. Most soils which develop in the major groups emerge: peat soils, and six
solum fall into one or other of two great groups of mineral soils, brown soils,
groups, the lime-rich pedocals, contain¬ GLEY SOILS (GLEYSOLS), LITHOMORPHIC
ing an accumulation of calcium car¬ SOILS, MAN-MADE SOILS, PELOSOLS and
bonate and the lime-poor pedalfers podzolic soils. The sub-groups num¬
containing accumulations of aluminium ber 108. SOIL HORIZON, SOIL PROFILE.

377
 \ v

soil compaction

soil compaction compaction-2. tureless humus. Inferior numbers are

sometimes added to the principal capital
soil creep the slow downward movement letter to indicate small differences within
of soil under the force of gravity, mass the horizon, e.g. A2, a leached A layer.
MOVEMENT, SOLIFLUCTION. Some soil scientists now add inferior lower
case letters to the capital letter distin¬
soil erosion the removal of soil by ero¬
guishing the horizon in order to indicate
sion, the main types being gully ero¬
some special feature, e.g. Ap, an A horizon
sion, rill erosion, sheet erosion and
which is ploughed. Another classification
wind erosion (deflation), assisted in
of soil horizons is based on organic (o
many cases by human activities and grazing
horizon) and mineral (mineral hori¬
animals, especially in the removal of ve¬
zons) content, a horizon, b horizon,
getation acting as a soil protection, ac¬
C HORIZON, DIAGNOSTIC HORIZON,
celerated erosion.
SOIL, SOIL CLASSIFICATION, SOIL PRO¬
soil horizon a distinctive soil layer with FILE.
features produced by soil-forming pro¬
soil moisture the moisture in the pore
cesses within the surface layer of the earth’s
spaces of a soil, important for plant
crust. If undisturbed, e.g. by ploughing or
growth.
similar activities, or by erosion, soils tend
to develop a succession oflayers, horizons, soil pore porosity.
commonly identified from the surface
downwards as the a horizon (often
soil profile a vertical section of soil show¬
ing the sequence of horizons (soil hori¬
subdivided in soil studies), containing
zon) downwards from the surface to the
humus, from which material is washed
downwards by percolating water (leach¬ parent material. It may be cut and
studied in the field, or, as a sample section,
ing) so that it is termed an eluvial horizon
(eluviation). Under the A horizon there taken away for study.

may or may not be the b horizon,

soil series a group of soils the members
a horizon of deposition, of secondary
of which, formed from similar parent
enrichment, an illuvial horizon (illuvi¬
material, have horizons (soil hori¬
ation) into which material (e.g. clay min¬ zon) similar in distinguishing charac¬
erals, iron-aluminium oxides from the A
teristics and arrangement in the soil
horizon) is washed. Underneath is the c
profile, except for the texture of the
horizon, with the parent material
surface layer and its state of erosion. The
for the existing soil, the little altered,
series is the group most commonly used as
though weathered, bedrock. The above
the basic unit in mapping soils (comparable
are the standard horizons in general use,
with the species in biology), and is usually
but some soil scientists also distinguish
the lowest in the hierarchy of a system of
a D horizon, with unweathered rock,
SOIL CLASSIFICATION.
underlying the C horizon; an F horizon
or layer, a layer of forest soil consisting soil structure the character of a soil
of partly decomposed plant residues; a G shown by the ability of its particles to come
horizon, the layer where gley occurs; and together and to hold together to form
H honzon or layer, an organic layer of aggregates-3 or crumbs and by the
forest soils with dark-coloured, struc¬ way they do so.

378
 solifluction

soil texture texture-2. Uranus, Neptune, Pluto), the natural sat¬

ellites which revolve round the planets
soil water water held in the soil and avail¬
(e.g. the moon around the earth), the
able to the roots of plants.
ASTEROIDS, COMETS, METEORS, MET¬
solano (Spanish) levante. EORITES. The orbits of the nine planets are
elliptical and approximately in the same
solar adj. of or relating to the sun.
plane, the solar system as a whole moving
solar battery, solar cell an apparatus that through space at about 18.5 km (11.5 mi)
uses solar radiation or its heating per second.

effect to produce an electrical current.

solar wind a flow of atomic particles from
solar constant the rate per unit area the sun.
at which radiation from the sun
reaches the outer margin of the earth’s solar year the astronomical, equinoctial,
atmosphere, averaging approximately 2 natural or tropical year, the average time
gramme-calories per sq cm per minute taken by the earth to complete one orbit
(139.6 mW per sq cm). round the sun with reference to the vernal
equinox as shown by the First Point of
solar day the time interval between two Aries now 365.2422 solar days, i.e. 365
successive transits of the sun over the same days 5 hours 48 minutes 45.51 seconds,
meridian, varying slightly at different times decreasing by some 5 seconds in 1000
of the year because the orbit of the earth years.
round the sun is elliptical and inclined to
the equator. A mean solar day of 24 hours solfatara (Italian, derived from the name
is the calculation commonly used, mean of a small volcano in Phlegraean Fields near
SOLAR TIME, SOLAR MONTH, SOLAR Naples) a volcanic vent through which
YEAR. vapours and gases, especially sulphurous
gases, gently issue, usually marking a late
solar month one-twelfth of a solar
stage in volcanic activity, fumarole.
YEAR.

solar radiation electromagnetic solid matter with a definite volume and

waves emitted by the sun. The wave¬ shape, the structure being determined by

lengths range widely outside the earth’s the arrangement in space of its molecules,

atmosphere, but absorption in the atoms or ions which, unable to move

stratosphere ensures that the electro¬ freely, vibrate about a fixed position.

magnetic waves reaching the earth’s FLUID, GAS, LIQUID.

surface are limited to certain bands.

solifluction, solifluxion the slow move¬
These include the wavelengths of visible
ment of rock debris, saturated with water
light, electromagnetic spectrum,
and not confined to definite channels,
INSOLATION.
down a slope under the force of gravity. It
solar system the sun and the celestial occurs particularly when thawing releases
bodies orbiting round it Under the force of such surface deposits while the underlying
gravity, i.e. the nine planets (in sequence layers are still frozen. Formerly considered
measured in distance from the sun, Mer¬ to be synonymous with soil creep, but
cury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, now usuady applied only to saturated

379
solonchak

deposits. DRY VALLEY, FREEZE-THAW, or the state of being put into solution,
MASS MOVEMENT. e.g. in the chemical weathering of
rocks (corrosion) the salts they con¬
solonchak (Russian) a saline soil, without
tain are commonly dissolved by water to
structure, occurring in arid and semi-arid
form a solution; rainwater charged with
regions, soil structure.
carbon dioxide dissolves (forms a
solonetz (Russian) a formerly saline soil solution with) calcium carbonate,
from which the salts have been leached. to remove it as calcium bicarbon¬
In Russian, solonets, pi. solontsy, is applied ate (carbonation, hydrolysis); and
to a soil with surface rock salt. rivers, in their work of transporting debris,
carry a variety of substances in solution.
solstice a term conveying the idea of the
sun-2 standing still, i.e. the point in the solvent the part of a solution which is
ecliptic when the sun is farthest from present in greater bulk, i.e. usually the
the equator, either north or south (i.e. liquid in which the solute is dissolved.
approximately 23°3o'N, the Tropic of If the solvent is not water, this fact is usually
Cancer and 23°3o'S, the Tropic of Capri¬ noted, e.g. non-aqueous solvent.
corn). Thus in the northern hemisphere
sonar Sound Navigation Ranging, echo
the summer solstice is 21 — 22 June, the
sounding, a device for locating an under¬
longest day, when at noon the sun is shin¬
water object by sending out high fre¬
ing vertically over latitude 23°3o'N, the
quency sound waves which are reflected
Tropic of Cancer; the winter solstice is
from the object and registered on the
21-22 December (the shortest day), when
apparatus, the time delay and nature of the
it is shining vertically at noon over latitude
echo giving information about shoals of
23°3o'S, the Tropic of Capricorn. Fig 18.
fish, underwater obstructions, and ocean
solum the term applied by soil scientists depths (radar). Some animals, e.g. bats
to the part of the earth’s crust influenced (in air), dolphins and whales (underwater)
by climate and vegetation, i.e. the soil use high frequency sound waves in a sim¬
layers above and excluding the parent ilar way, to locate objects and to commun¬
MATERIAL. SOIL, SOIL HORIZON. icate with each other.

solute the solid or gaseous substance sonde (French) an apparatus designed to

which dissolves in the solvent to form measure and record conditions in the
a SOLUTION. atmosphere at certain altitudes, variously
equipped with a lifting device and sensing
solution 1. a homogeneous mixture of
and recording instruments.
two or more substances, in which a solid,
liquid or gas forms a single phase with sorghum Sorghum vulgare, great millet,
another solid, liquid or gas (usually a liquid) termed dura (northern Africa), kaffir corn
(solute, solvent) which has constant (southern Africa), guinea corn (west Af¬
physical and chemical properties through¬ rica), a small-grained cereal with seeds
out at any selected concentration up to its larger than, and not storing so well as,
saturation point. A standard solution those of most millets, regarded by some
is a solution of known concentration. botanists as a millet, but not by others.
colloid, suspension 2. the act by Possibly native to Africa, it is cultivated
which a substance is put into solution, there and in other semi-arid tropical and

380
 sovereign state

subtropical regions. The white-grained situated towards, coming from, the south,
variety is preferred for cooking, the red¬ e.g. of winds blowing from the south.
grained for beer making. Sugar is obtained
southeaster a strong wind or storm
from a sweet variety grown in the USA.
coming from southeast of the observer.
The gram of all varieties, some of which
enters world trade, is fed to livestock. southeast trades the trade winds of
the southern hemisphere.
sorting separation and putting into groups
or classes according to some special quality southerly burster, southerly buster a
or kind (shape, size, weight, age etc.), e.g. strong, dry cold wind blowing from the
the sorting of sediments by the natural south, most frequently in spring and sum¬
processes of flowing water and of wind. mer, in Australia and New Zealand, in
DEFLATION-I, GRADED SEDIMENTS. the wake of a trough of low pressure.
BRICKFIELDER.
sound I. a stretch of water connecting
two larger bodies of water, e.g. a sea or Southern Cone a term applied in 1976
large lake with another sea or the ocean, by A. P. Whitaker, American histor¬
wider than a strait 2. the channel ian, to the states of Argentina, Chile and
between an island and the mainland, con¬ Uruguay. Since then some writers have
cordant coast 3. an inlet of the sea included Paraguay, or adjacent parts of
4. a lagoon fringing the southern and Paraguay and southern Brazil.
southeastern coast of USA.
Southern Cross a five-star constellation
sounding 1. a method by which the depth forming a Christian cross, with a bright star
of a sea or lake can be determined, formerly at each extremity, the longer axis pointing
by a weighted line (a sounding line) towards the south pole. It is used to
dropped overboard, now usually by an find true south and latitude from
echo-sounder (sonar) 2. a measure of any point in the southern hemisphere
the depth of water determined by those (comparable with the pole star in the
means. northern hemisphere).

source of a river, the point at which a southern hemisphere the half of the
river, identifiable as such, begins its flow. earth south of the equator, hemi¬
This may be at a spring-2, or from a lake, sphere.
glacier, cave, marsh or swamp, or formed
south magnetic pole magnetic pole.
from the coalescence of trickles of water
in runoff on a hillside. South Pole the geographical South Pole,
the southern extremity of the earth’s axis.
south I. one of the four cardinal points of
MAGNETIC POLE, POLE, TRUE SOUTH.
the compass, directly opposite the north,
lying on the right side of a person facing southwester, sou’wester a strong wind
due east 2. towards or facing the south, or storm coming from southwest of the
the southern part, especially of a country, observer.
particularly of the southern states (The
sovereign state a state-2 with the
South) of the USA. brandt report.
supreme authority, the supreme power,
south adj. of, pertaining to, belonging to, held within the state itself, a state which

381
 V V

soviet

is therefore independent and fully self- spa^e I. that which objects occupy as a
governing. NATION, NATION STATE. result of their volume, the amount ofspace
occupied being the volume of the object
soviet (Russian soviet, council) I- an 2. a part of space, a volume, area or length
elected governing council in the former
that may be occupied by something, or
USSR, at local, provincial and national
may be empty, e.g. an extent or area of
level, the latter (the Supreme Soviet) com¬
the earth’s surface, or the distance between
prising delegates from all the Soviet
two points, or two objects, or two lines
Republics 2. any of the associated repub¬
on a page 3. a period of time, e.g. between
lics of the former USSR. CIS. two events 4. that which is beyond the

soviet adj. of, relating to, or pertaining limit of the earth’s atmosphere-i. spa¬

to, the former Union of Soviet Socialist tial.

Republics. space cost curve a cross section-i

through a cost surface, related either
sovkhoz (Russian) a state farm (state
to total production costs, or to single items
farming) in the former USSR, usually
in such costs, cost curve.
large-scale. Under the cis, state farms
became collectivized, kolkhoz. space shuttle a nasa satellite-i with
a crew aboard, designed as a maintenance
soya bean, soybean Glycine max, an
unit to make repeated return trips between
annual leguminous herb (legum-
earth and space-4, to act as a platform
inosae), susceptible to frost, prob¬
from which other orbiting satellites (e.g.
ably native to southwestern Asia, a wide
space station) and space research equip¬
number of varieties being grown there and
ment (e.g. the Hubble Telescope) can
in the USA in areas with warm summers.
be serviced and repaired, to carry relief
The plant produces highly nutritious seeds
crew members to a space station, and to act
(high in protein, low in carbohydrates)
as a base for rem ote s en s 1 n G instruments.
which yield oil (used in cooking and
industrially for making paints, plastics, space station an artificial satel¬
etc.), provide flour and ‘milk’, or are des¬ lite- 1, serving as a work station, with
tined (fresh, fermented or dried) for a crew aboard, orbiting the earth in
human consumption, as are the young space-4 equipped with a laboratory and
seedlings (bean sprouts). Soy sauce, a piq¬ remote sensing instruments. The crew
uant sauce, is made from femiented are engaged in earth observation and in
soya beans soaked in brine. The mature physiological and astronomical research.
plant and the residue remaining after the The station is serviced by crew transported
extraction of oil from the seed are fed to to the station by space shuttle or by
livestock. rocket, landsat, skylab.

spa a watering place, a resort with ' space-time constraints time-space

springs-2, the water of which contains constraints.
minerals reputedly of medicinal value. The
, r . spalling EXFOLIATION,
term is derived from Spa, a watering place
near Liege, Belgium, celebrated for the Spanish moss Tillandsia usneoides, an epi-
curative properties of its mineral spring phyte, a stemless herbaceous plant,
water. forming long, loose, grey-green hang-

382
 specific gravity

ing tufts in warm humid conditions in bution in space-3, commonly falling

southern USA (e.g. in the Everglades, into three categones: regular, random,
everglade) and West Indies; or Ramalina clustered.
reticulata, a lichen forming lace-like nets
spatter cone, driblet cone a small vol¬
on trees in the humid coastal regions of
canic cone, between some 3 and 6 m
western USA.
(10 and 20 ft) in height, formed when
spatial adj. I. of, pertaining to, or relating lava erupts violently from the side of a
to, space 2. consisting of, or having the volcanic vent, or in some cases through
character of, space 3. extending in or occu¬ a fissure, and spatters (falls in drops) to the
pying space 4. subject to or controlled ground, where it rapidly congeals.
by the conditions of space (in contrast to
Spearman’s rank correlation coef¬
temporal) 5. existing in, occurring in,
ficient a measure of the strength of the
caused by, or involved by, space 6. as
relationship between variables used when
applied to a faculty or a sense, perceiving
only the relative size, or rank, of each
space.
variable is known, correlation-2.
spatial analysis an approach to geography
species 1. in biology, the smallest unit of
in which the locational variations of a
classification commonly used (classi¬
phenomenon or a series of phenomena
fication of organisms), the group
are studied and the factors influencing or
with members having the greatest
controlling the patterns of distribution
mutual resemblance, able to breed with
investigated. spatial-i,3 patterns are
each other but not with organisms of
broken down into simple elements so that
other groups. Local differences may oc¬
measurements can be made of single pat¬
cur through reproductive isolation, recog¬
terns. This allows the comparison of two
nized in classification as a sub-species. The
or more patterns, e.g. the pattern of a
common names of familiar animals and
single phenomenon in different areas, or
plants often refer to species, indicator
the pattern of different phenomena or
plant. Most biologists agree that species
variables in one area; and it allows tests
are groups of organisms that share a
to be developed to show whether a pattern
common pool of genes and are separate
differs significantly from a random pattern.
evolutionary entities. Sexually reprodu¬
spatial margin spatial margin to profit¬ cing organisms maintain the pool by
ability, the limit where the total cost of interbreeding; in non-sexually repro¬
production of a given volume of output ducing forms the genetic nature of species
equals the total revenue possible from the is maintained through clonal continu¬
sale of that volume of output. It therefore ity 2. in chemistry, entities, such as
indicates the area within which an activity atoms, molecules, ions, free radicals,
should be profitable. On a cost surface and activated atoms or molecules, which
map the spatial margin of profitability are active in chemical reactions.
appears as the contour which encloses the
specific gravity the ratio between the
area within which production is econom¬
weight, at any chosen place, of a given
ically feasible, but outside of which an
volume of a substance and the weight of
operation will probably lose money.
an equal volume of water at 4°C (39.2°F)
spatial patterns the patterns of distri¬ at the same place. Specific gravity and

383
 V \

specific humidity

density are numerically the same, but the centre for various services, or with which
former is a relative quantity, density-2 it has special relations (the terms umland,
is absolute. URBAN FIELD orURBAN HINTERLAND are
now more commonly applied to such an
specific humidity the ratio of the weight
area), central place theory.
of water vapour in a parcel of the
atmosphere-i to the total weight of air spheroid a figure, a body, resembling
(i.e. including water vapour), measured in a sphere-i (especially an ellipsoid).
grams of water vapour per kilogram of air. GEOID.
The specific humidity of very cold dry air
spheroidal weathering onion weather¬
is low, that of very warm humid air is
ing, a form of underground chemical
high. ABSOLUTE HUMIDITY, HUMIDITY,
weathering occurring particularly in
RELATIVE HUMIDITY.
tropical regions in well-jointed rocks such
sphagnum bog moss, a member of Sphag¬ as basalts. Water penetrates the inter¬
num, a genus of soft mosses with erect secting joints, attacking each separate
stems, growing in swamps or in water in block from all sides simultaneously, break¬
cold temperate zones. Minute holes in ing off a succession of shells or skins, so that
some of the cell walls of the leaves promote a succession of new surfaces is presented
the absorption of water, even when the to the weathering solution, leaving a
leaves are dead. The conditions of the mass of unweathered rock in the centre
environment prevent decay, so as the plant which, on exhumation, appears at the
grows upwards the depth of the moss bed surface as a rounded mass. The process
increases, becomes compacted, and forms (hydrolysis) is similar to that involved
PEAT. BOG. in EXFOLIATION.

sphere I. in geometry, a solid figure made Spilitic suite a petrographic prov¬

when a circle rotates about a diameter, ince, marked by volcanic action and slow
any point on the surface of this solid figure submergence. Atlantic suite, pacific
being equidistant from its centre (the SUITE, PILLOW LAVA.
centre of the sphere) 2. in general, loosely,
spillway 1. the area below a dam or a
an object with a shape approximately
natural obstruction over which excess
like that of a sphere, i.e. not necessarily a
water from a reservoir or lake above is
perfect sphere, spheroid 3. a realm, an
allowed to drain away 2. the part of a dam
area which is limited in extent but within
over which water flows 3. a passage for
which something is effective, sphere of
the overflow of water from a reservoir etc.
influence 4. a field of knowledge 5.
the zone in which a culture-i, having spinifex one of the genus Tricupsis, a
spread from its core area or cultural coarse grass with sharp, pointed, shiny
hearth and over its domain-2, is still leaves growing in large tufts, separated by
effective and influential, outlier-2. bare ground, over large areas of semi-
desert in the heart of Australia.
sphere of influence 1. a territory or part
of a territory in which a foreign power has spit a narrow ridge of sand and shingle,
political and economic interests, special resulting from longshore drift, at¬
rights and privileges, sphere-3 2. in urban tached to the seashore at one end,
studies, an area which depends on an urban extending some distance seawards, and

384
 spur

terminating in open water at the other. April, May or (astronomically) from the
The outer end is often deflected landward spring equinox, 22 March, to the sum¬
to form a hook, or a recurved spit; and mer solstice, 21 June 2. a continuous
development of the hook may produce a or intermittent natural flow of water
compound recurved spit or compound issuing strongly or seeping gently from the
hook. BARRIER ISLAND. earth’s surface under its own pressure, the
site being related to the nature and rela¬
spodosols in soil classilication,
tionship of rocks (especially permeable
USA, an order of soils associated with a
and impermeable layers), the level of
cool and cool-humid climate and forest
the WATER TABLE, the surface relief. DIKE¬
or heath vegetation, with a leached, acid,
SPRING, FAULT SPRING, MINERAL SPRING,
ash-grey a horizon, low in plant nutri¬
SCARP-FOOT spring, spring-line,
ents, overlying a b horizon rich in iron
THERMAL SPRING.
oxide and aluminium and enriched by

organic material from the A horizon (elu- spring-line a line ofsPRiNGS-2 occurring
viation, illuviation), e.g. a PODZOL. roughly at the level where, by reason of
deposition of the strata, the water table
spoil waste material from mining or
reaches the surface, as at the foot of an
quarrying operations, piled up in spoil
escarpment. Where such springs are
banks, spoil tips, spoil dumps or tip-heaps.
copious and constant they provided in the
SPOT Satellite Probatoire pour l’Obser- past a reliable water supply, one of the
vation de la Terre, a satellite-i orbiting factors likely to influence the choice of a
the earth, launched by France, carrying site for a village, hence the term spring-line
remote sensing equipment similar to village.
that aboard landsat satellites in order
to gather data on natural resources, spring-sapping, spring-head sapping
environmental conditions, land use etc. the undermining of a hillside at the point of

needed for certain earth resource develop¬ issue of a spring-2, caused by the erosive

ment projects. SKYLAB, SPACE SHUTTLE. action of swiftly flowing water, leading to

small slips and the formation of an alcove

spot height a precise point on a map or amphitheatre which cuts backwards
showing the height of the ground at that into the slope and results in the retreat of
place measured from a given datum (e.g. the valley head.
in British Ordnance Survey maps, height
above od). It is not necessarily indicated spring tide a tide with a range (tidal

physically on the ground, thus differing range) greater than that of ordinary tides,

from BENCH MARK. i.e. the high tide is higher, the low tide

lower, occurring twice monthly, when

sprawl URBAN SPRAWL.
the moon, sun and earth are almost in

spread and backwash effect circular the same straight line (syzygy), either in

AND CUMULATIVE GROWTH. conjunction (at the time of the new

moon) or in opposition (the time of the

spring i. one of the seasons of the year, full moon), so that the gravitational effects
occurring between winter and summer in are reinforced, moon, neap tide.
midlatitudes, a period variously defined in
the northern hemisphere as being March, spur a marked projection of land from a

385
 N. S.

squall

mountain or a ridge, interlocking mental lapse rate of an air mass is less

SPUR, NESS, TRUNCATED SPUR. than the dry adiabatic lapse rate. If
a pocket of air at the earth’s surface is
squall i. a sudden, violent gusty wind
moved upwards it cools at the dry adia¬
which lasts a minute or two and then
batic lapse rate, becomes colder (thus
subsides, usually accompanied by rain or
denser) than the air around it, and sinks
hail 2. a storm characterized by a series of
to its original level, conditions typical in
squalls, the gusts of wind being short-lived
an anticyclone. Contrast unstable
and blowing at speeds half as great again
EQUILIBRIUM.
as the average wind speed, line squall.
stable population, stationary popu¬
squatter i. one who occupies (especially
lation a population-i in which the pro¬
premises) without legal entitlement 2. in
portion of members at each age is constant
USA, one who occupies government land
and the rate of the annual growth or
in order to gain legal title to it 3- in Aus¬
decline is fixed, due to the fact that there
tralia, a large-scale sheep farmer, or one
is no change in the chance of dying at a
occupying a tract of grazing land as a crown
particular age or of a female giving birth
tenant.
at a particular age. If the annual rate of
squatter settlement shanty-town. growth is zero, the population is termed
stationary.
squattocracy (Australia) a class ofwealthy
landowners who obtained their land in stac (Gaelic) a mass of hard igneous

the period before the Free Selection Acts, rock, steep-sided, varying in height,
Australia. Comparable with the squire¬ especially such a mass forming an off¬
archy in Britain. shore island.

SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest, in stack an isolated mass of rock near a coast¬
planning in Britain, an area ot land judged line, detached from the mam mass usually
by the Nature Conservancy to be of special by marine erosion (especially by wave
interest on account of the fauna or flora it action), rising steeply from the surround¬
supports, or of its special geological or ing sea. It represents the midway stage in
physiographical features. the marine erosion cycle: cave-i, arch,

STAC, STUMP, REEF-I.

stabilized dune a coastal dune fixed by

vegetation and therefore usually not liable stadial moraine a recessional mo¬

to DEFLATION-I. FORE-DUNE, MOBILE raine, stadial in this case meaning ol or

DUNE. relating to a stage in development.

stable adj. I. staying or able to stay stages of economic growth model

unchanged in form, structure, character ROSTOW MODEL.

etc. in conditions which would normally

stalactite a cylindrical or conical deposit
induce changes 2. not easily decomposing
of mineral matter, hanging from an elev¬
or changing 3. able to recover, to return
ated point, formed by dripping water, i.e.
to original condition after slight displace¬
a mass of calcite hanging from the roof
ment 4. enduring, permanent.
of a limestone cave, formed from water

stable equilibrium the state of the containing dissolved calcium bicar¬

atmosphere-1 where the environ¬ bonate (carbonation) which has

386
 standard time

seeped through joints and crevices to drip at random with replacement not only the

very slowly from the cave roof. Some of means but also the standard deviations and

the carbon dioxide in the water is released the variances etc. of these samples-3

so that some ofthe dissolved calcium bicar¬ always vary, standard error of the

bonate reverts to calcium carbonate; MEAN.

and this process, combined with evapor¬

standard error ofthe mean in statistics,
ation, leads to cumulative downward
the standard deviation of an infinite
deposits ofcalcite with every drip of water.
set of means of samples-3, the samples
STALAGMITE.
being the same size and selected at ran¬
stalagmite a mineral mass resembling a dom with like replacements from the same
stalactite and formed by the same pro¬ POPULATION-4.
cess, but markedly conical in shape and

rising from the floor as a result of drops of

standard hillslope a hillslope comprising

four components (slope elements),

water falling from the roof to the floor. It
stated by some authors to be the outcome
may be formed by water dripping from a
of all types of slope process, independent
stalactite in a limestone cave, leading
of climatic influence. But a strong, massive
to the eventual union of stalagmite and
bedrock is essential if all four components
stalactite in a pillar connecting the roof to
are to be supported; if it is weak only the
the floor.
waxing and the waning slopes may
standard atmosphere the average con¬ be formed.
dition ofthe atmosphere-i in respect of

its pressure and temperature at a selected standard of living 1. the conditions in

altitude, used as a unit of measure in avi¬ which people live or would like to live 2.

ation in calibrating instruments, assessing the conditions of living considered to be

aircraft performance etc. atmosphere-2, desirable as defined by national or inter¬

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE. national convention or agreement for a

specific purpose (e.g. in order to establish

standard deviation in statistics, the
a minimum wage, working hours etc.).
square rootofthevARiANCE,a widely used

measure indicating the spread of values on standard parallel a parallel of latitude

each side of the mean in a frequency selected for its appropriateness for making

distribution. If there is no variation be¬ the necessary calculations and for drawing

tween values in the distribution the stand¬ a particular map projection; or for acting

ard deviation will be zero; it increases with as the horizontal axis of a grid-system. A

the increase in variation. A relatively low meridian selected for the same reason and

standard deviation is associated with a close purpose, but providing the vertical axis, is

grouping around the mean; a relatively termed a standard meridian.

high standard deviation, a wide spread of

standard time the mean time of a meri¬
values about the mean.
dian centrally located over a country or

standard error in statistics, the stand¬ part (zone) of a country (time zone), and

ard deviation of a whole set of estim¬ used for the whole of that area in order to

ates. It owes its existence to the fact that avoid the inconvenience resulting from

if an infinite number of samples of the the use of local time, daylight sav¬

same size are drawn from a population-4 ing. Fig 43.

387
 \ s.

Fig 43 Standard time zones and the international date line

 statistical test

standing wave, stationary wave a wave in the former USSR (sovkhoz), in

form produced by the interaction of two which the land is owned by the STATE-3
wave motions (transverse or longitudinal) and the farm workers are employed, as
of identical amplitude, frequency and wage-earners, by the state. They do not
velocity, superposed and moving simul¬ have a share in the produce of the farm
taneously through a medium in opposite (unlike the workers in collective
directions, making a pattern of alternat¬ farming), land tenure.
ing points of no displacement (at nodes)
and most displacement (at antinodes), the state intervention activity by the

intermediate displacement between the state-3 in which it assumes responsib¬

ility for some of the processes usually asso¬
two being a smooth curve, lee wave,
OSCILLATORY WAVE THEORY OF TIDES. ciated with the market in a capitalist
(capitalism) or market economy,
staple I. the main commodity grown, e.g. in a mixed economy.
produced, traded in, in a particular area
2. a commodity in constant demand and static adj. 1. at rest, not moving in relation
regularly kept in stock 3. a chief ingredient to the earth 2. unchanging 3. in equilib¬

or constituent, e.g. the foodstuff forming rium. The opposite of dynamic.

the mam constituent of the diet of the

static lapse rate synonymous with en¬
people of an area.
vironmental LAPSE RATE.
star dune, star-dune a large, pyramidal,
static rejuvenation rejuvenation of a
fairly permanent sand dune, with a relat¬
river caused by an increase in its eroding
ively high peak from which ridges radiate.
capability, not by a lowering in base-
state 1. condition with respect to growth, level, e.g. occurring when increased
development, arrangement 2. a self- rainfall leads to increased runoff; or the
governing group of people occupying a volume of a stream increases owing to
defined territory, or the territory thus river capture; or there is a decrease in
occupied, nation state, sovereign the load carried by a stream, all of which
state 3. the political organization form¬ increase the eroding power of the drainage
ing the basis of civil government, the system, dynamic rejuvenation.
supreme civil power and government
station 1. a place with its associated build¬
(sometimes with initial capital letter).
ings on a route, where buses, trains etc.
state capitalism an economic system (or habitually stop to take on and discharge
the political doctrine advocating it) in passengers, goods, mail 2. a place with
which the state-3 owns or controls a buildings and equipment for the trans¬
major part of the economy, consistently mission and reception of radio, television
supporting the interests of private capital, signals, etc. 3. in Australia, a sheep or cattle
or, alternatively, regarding private capital run with associated buildings.
as subordinate to the interests of the state
statistical test an accepted method of
and its own enterprises.
deciding from the given data whether to
state farming a form of agricultural retain the initial hypothesis (i.e. the null
organization in some countries with a hypothesis) or to set it aside in favour
centrally controlled economy, especially of a specified alternative hypothesis.

389
 \ V

steady state

steady state an open system in which the ‘one above, thus producing step-like
external and internal relationships pro¬ changes of level of strata. Rift valleys are
duce equilibrium, or internal balance. often bounded by such a series.
DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM.
steppe the treeless midlatitude grassland
steam fog a f o g resulting from the passing stretching from central Europe to southern
of cold air over the surface of warmer Siberia in Asia. It is similar to midlatit¬
freshwater, the moisture from the latter ude grassland elsewhere (e.g. pampas,
condensing into tiny visible droplets in the prairie) but if the term is applied to
air so that its surface seems to steam. In these it is best restricted to their drier
very low temperatures the droplets are parts.
converted immediately to ice particles and
stereoscope a binocular optical instru¬
form ICE FOG. ARCTIC SMOKE.
ment designed to give photographs a
steam point the point at which pure three-dimensional character, the simplest
water at sea-level boils at a standard pres¬ comprising two lenses mounted horizon¬
sure of ATMOSPHERE-2. tally in a frame with legs some 20 cm
(8 in) in height, the distance between the
steel any of the many alloys of iron and o. i
eye-pieces being approximately the same
to 1.5 per cent carbon in the form of iron
as the distance between human eyes. Two
carbide, especially cementite, often alloyed
photographs of the same area but taken
with other metals if a special steel with a
from slightly different angles are viewed
particular property is needed. In its solid
through the lenses, with the result that
state steel is hard, with great tensile
each photograph is viewed by only one
strength, and it can be cast, rolled, drawn.
eye, giving the impression of a three-
It is used in construction work, all kinds
dimensional view. Stereoscopes, some
of machinery, installations, equipment,
very complex, are used especially in the
vehicles, domestic goods etc. It is made by
interpretation of aerial photographs.
reducing the carbon in cast iron (pig iron)
or by the diffusion of carbon into cast Stevenson screen a standardized met¬
iron. The methods formerly used in steel eorological screen, designed by
making (basic Bessemer process, Bes¬ Thomas Stevenson, an engineer.
semer PROCESS, OPEN HEARTH PROCESS)
stochastic adj. pertaining to chance or
have now been largely superseded by the
conjecture; in mathematics, random.
use of the electric furnace in large inte¬
SYSTEM A TIC-4-
grated steelworks (arc furnace, blast
furnace, iron, pig iron). Converters stock 1. an accumulation of goods held
lined with dolomite bricks in the basic for future use or maintained as a constant
Bessemer and basic open hearth processes source of supply 2. a resource 3. a group
produce basic, or mild, steel; acid steel is of plants or animals having the same line
produced from non-phosphonc ores pro¬ of descent 4. livestock.
cessed in converters lined with silica
stone 1. rock, hard mineral matter (other
bricks.
than metal) 2. a piece of rock of imprecise
step faults a series of parallel faults each size, but larger than a particle of coarse
with a throw that projects in the same sand, smaller than a boulder, graded
direction, but to a greater distance than SEDIMENTS.

390
 stratified society

Stone Age the period generally defined strain in physics, the deformation of a
as extending from the beginning of the body as a result of stress, termed homo¬
PLEISTOCENE (GEOLOGICAL TIMESCALE) geneous if the deformation is equal in
to the beginning of the bronze age, all directions, heterogeneous if otherwise.
when stone, bone or wooden (not metal) Strain is measured by the ratio of the
tools and weapons were used, divided into dimensional change produced to the ori¬
the culture periods eolithic, palaeo¬ ginal dimension (in linear measure, area
lithic, MESOLITHIC, NEOLITHIC. or volume); e.g. the ratio of the change
in area to the original area.
store cattle cattle bought and kept for
fattening and, as fat cattle, destined for the strait, straits a narrow passage of water
butcher. connecting two larger bodies of water.
CURRENT-4,5.
storm i. any violent disturbance of the
atmosphere-i and the effects associated strata stratum.
with it, e.g. SANDSTORM, THUNDER¬
strath glen.
STORM 2. a gale-force wind, beaufort
SCALE. stratification (verb to stratify, to arrange or
form in strata, or to become arranged in
storm-beach a deposit of coarse beach
strata) formation into layers 1. in geology,
material, including cobbles and boul¬
the accumulation ofsEDiMEN t ary rocks
ders, thrown high up on the shore (usu¬
and of some igneous rocks in layers or
ally farther inland than the level reached by
strata ; the condition or manner ofbeing
a high spring tide) by unusually strong
stratified; the arrangement in strata (lam¬
waves in a storm.
ination) 2. in meteorology, the forma¬

storm-surge an unusual, rapid nse in tide tion of stable horizontal layers in the

level, above normal heights, caused by atmosphere-i, occurring when the

atmospheric factors, especially by the lapse rate is less than the adiabatic

passage of an intense atmospheric de¬ lapse rate 3. in statistics, the division of

pression^ producing gale-force (beau- a population-4 into layers or strata

fort scale) onshore winds. appropriate to the question at issue in order

to be able to draw a representative ran¬
stoss-and-lee relief a relief feature dom sample from each layer, thereby
characteristic of a glaciated region, where increasing the precision of the sample with¬
small hills are markedly asymmetric, their out increasing its size 4. in oceanography
gentle, smooth slopes (stoss end) having and hydrology, thermal stratifi¬
been abraded by the oncoming ice, their cation.
steeper, rougher slopes on the lee side
stratified arranged or formed in strata,
having been subjected to plucking-i.
in layers; the antonym is unstratified.
stoss end, stossend the side of a prom¬
stratified society a society-3 in which
inent crag, hill or knob of rock facing
there are obvious social levels, identifiable
the oncoming movement of an ice sheet
by marked differences in attitude and
or glacier, scratched (striae) by the ice.
inequality of access to scarce resources.
CRAG AND TAIL, STOSS-AND-LEE RELIEF.
Once defined as scarce by the society,
Strahler ordering stream order. these resources acquire a market value,

391
stratiform

and a market economy develops which perature is relatively constant, moisture

creates wealth in the society as a whole content is low, clouds do not form, and
(but some would add depends on the large convection currents are absent, ideal
maintenance of scarcity), and large-scale flying conditions for aircraft. At greater
urbanization becomes possible. altitude, nearing the top of the strato¬
sphere, where ozone absorbs short¬
stratiform adj. having a stratified wave solar radiation, temperatures
arrangement, stratification 2. having resemble those on earth; but approaching
the form of stratus, applied to all the stratopause the temperature begins
sheet clouds, including altostratus,
to rise. Fig 4.
CIRROSTRATUS, NIMBOSTRATUS, STRA-
TOCUMULUS, STRATUS. stratum pi. strata, in geology, a generally
distinct, roughly horizontal individual
stratigraphy a branch of geology con¬
layer ofhomogeneous material, its surfaces
cerned with the study of the occurrence,
parallel to layers of different material lying
lithology, composition, sequence, fossils
above and below. The term is usually re¬
and correlation of rock strata, and
stricted to a bed or layer of sedimentary
especially with the chronological order of
rock or to a layer of pyroclastic material
succession of rock formations, by which
(pyroclast). geological inversion,
historical changes in the geography of the
LAW OF SUPERPOSITION, STRATIFI¬
earth can be traced.
CATION, STRATIGRAPHY.
stratocumulus a continuous extensive
stratus a continuous extensive sheet of
sheet of grey, heavy cloud, consisting of
grey uniform cloud, often persistent,
circular contiguous mounds, usually fairly
usually low-lying, but occurring at any
low (500 m: 1600 ft), but sometimes reach¬
altitude up to 2400 m (8000 ft), sometimes
ing an altitude of 2400 m (8000 ft). It
bringing fine drizzle, but never heavier
usually occurs in the northern hemisphere
rainfall. It is termed fractostratus (frac-
in winter, and does not bring ram.
tus) if it is fragmented to form irregular
stratopause the layer in the earth’s patches, stratiform.
atmosphere-i lying at a varying altitude
of some 56 km (35 mi), separating the straw the stem ol certain cereal crops
stratosphere (below) from the MESO¬ remaining after cutting and threshing.
SPHERE (above) and within which the ris¬
stream 1. a body of flowing water, per¬
ing temperature reaches some 8o°C
manent or intermittent, from the small¬
(i76°F). Fig 4.
est to the largest, on land, underground,
stratosphere the layer in the atmosphere or in the ocean or sea, e.g. Gulf Stream.
between the tropopause and the stra¬ bed load, dissolved load, rill, ri¬
topause, extending upwards from an ver (and entries qualified by river), sus¬
altitude of some 11 km (about 7 mi), pended load 2. the flow or current of a
depending on latitude and season and con¬ fluid, or the direction of that flow.
dition of the weather in the tropo¬
sphere. It is a generally tranquil zone streamline the direction of movement
in which, at the lower level (sometimes of all parcels of air in an area, measured
termed the isothermal region), the tem¬ individually and simultaneously, provid-

392
 strike

ing an immediate general picture of air when they are in a position of economic
motion; compare trajectory. strength, not weakness, i.e. conditions are
satisfactory in the place where they live,
stream order a hierarchical classification
but conditions in another (e.g. higher
of streams based on the magnitude of their
wages, higher social status, more pleas¬
channels and position in a drainage
ing environment) seem more desirable.
area, the outermost tributaries being des¬
PUSH-PULL THEORY, WAGE DIFFEREN¬
ignated fingertip tributaries or first order
TIAL THEORY.
streams, two first order streams uniting to
form a second order stream, two second stress I. in physics, the force acting on an
order streams joining to form a third order, object, expressed as force per unit area,
and so on until the main river or trunk measured in newtons per metre squared
stream, opening to the mouth, is reached. (i.e. the force needed to give a mass of
At least two streams of any given order 1 kg an acceleration of 1 m per second
are needed to form a stream of the next per second, symbol N), calculated by
higher order. A more recent classification dividing the total force by the area to
is simpler, using only first order links as which it is applied. When stress is applied
an index of magnitude. Fig 44. to a body, e.g. a rock, it produces strain,
and the body can be distorted or deformed,
according to its elasticity. If two forces
press towards each other compression
or thrust results; if they pull apart there
is tension; and if they act in parallel the
result is shearing stress (shear) 2. the state
produced by that force 3. the force exerted
by environmental factors on the nervous
system of an animal or human being, or
the state produced by that force.

striae, striation scratches and narrow

grooves on the surface of ice-worn rocks.
They are cut as a glacier moves along, over¬
R
riding boulders and bedrock in its path, by
O Outer point --1st order the rocks and the small fragments of rock
• Inner point -- 2nd order that are frozen into its underside. Striae
R Root ——- —» 3rd order
1
therefore indicate the direction of move¬

Fig 44 Stream order, according to Strahler ment of the ice. Similar scratches and
(modified) grooves on rocks may be the result of other
movements, e.g. soil creep, so the distinc¬
stream stage the height of the surface of tion ‘glacial striae’ is sometimes made.
a stream at any particular point in time.
strike the direction of a horizontal line
BANKFULL STAGE, FLOOD STAGE, OVER¬
on an inclined rock stratum at right angles
BANK STAGE.
to the direction of the true dip of
strength theory of migration-i,2, a the rocks. Strike is applied as an adj. to
theory which suggests that people move features roughly parallel to the strike, e.g.

393
strike fault

strike fault, strike joint, strike valley. HAWAIIAN, VULCANIAN (or VESUVIAN),
Figs 16, 42. and pelean.

strike fault a fault of which the strike structuralism a movement, an approach

is parallel to the strike of the strata to knowledge concerned not so much

affected. with the apparent ‘surface’ struc-
tures-i,2 of a subject but with the
strike-slip fault, strike-slip faulting deep structures (e.g. the social and ideo¬
tear fault, a slip-i or fault characterized logical values, the rules, conventions and
by movement transverse to the strike of restraints etc.) which underlie and gener¬
the folded strata. Fig 22. ate the phenomena being observed.

strike valley a valley of which the structure 1. in general, something made

direction is parallel to the regional of parts fitted or joined together 2. the
strike of the strata in an area, e.g. the way in which the constituent parts (of
valley of a subsequent stream in trellis something) are fitted or joined together
DRAINAGE. or arranged in a way that gives that thing
its peculiar character, social structure
strip cultivation 1. the system of dividing
3. in geology, geological structure, most
a large field into strips, each worked by a
commonly (and best) applied to the ar¬
separate owner or occupant (strip field), as
rangement and disposition of the rocks in
in the field system in medieval England
the earth’s crust, as a result of (or the
and other parts of western Europe 2. the
absence of) earth movements; but also
growing of different crops in contiguous
applied to the morphological features
strips along the contours of a hillside, to
(morphology) of rocks, e.g. columnar
counteract soil erosion.
structure.
strip map a map showing only a narrow
stubble the short stalk of cereal crops
band of country in which the user is inter¬
left standing in the ground after reaping.
ested, e.g. on each side of a route.
Student’s t-test (Student, nom de plume
strip mining (American) opencast
ofW. S. Gosset) in statistics, an hypothesis
MINING or QUARRYING.
test used to analyse one sample of data in
Strombolian eruption a volcanic erup¬ order to compare a population mean with
tion characteristic of Stromboli, a vol¬ a particular value; or to analyse two paired
cano in the Lipari Islands off the coast of or matched samples of data (pairing) in
Italy. Gases can readily escape from the order to compare two population means;
molten lava in the crater, so pressure does or to analyse two unrelated samples of data
not build up. Instead the volcano ejects in order to compare two population means.
incandescent dust (volcanic dust), The samples of data must be small, and
scoria and bombs (volcanic bomb) , the sample data on interval scale;
with a little water vapour fairly frequently, the population distribution(s) is/are as¬
the lava being somewhat less basic-i than sumed to be normally distributed (nor¬
that typical of the Hawaiian volcanic mal distribution). The two-sample
eruption (basic lava). This is one of f-test should be used only if it can be
the four types of volcanic activity com¬ assumed that the two population stan¬
monly distinguished, the others being dard deviations are approximately

394
 subjective

equal. For the matched pairs f-test the two inant in southern areas) spread, pre-

samples must not only be paired: it should boreal.

be possible to assume that the population

Sub-Boreal the climatic period dating
distribution of the differences between the
from about 3000 bc to 500 bc, when con¬
matched pairs is normal. The standard
ditions became cooler, reverting to the
error of the mean is used to find out if
conditions prevailing before 5500 bc, but
two samples are truly representative of the
being generally drier, the dominant tree of
original population-4, if the means of
the Atlantic stage, the oak, giving way
two samples differ so much that the samples
slowly to ash, birch and pine, pre-boreal.
are unlikely to be drawn from the same
population, or ifthe difference between the sub-consequent stream a secondary
sample means is a chance or random occur¬ CONSEQUENT STREAM.
rence; t is given as the ratio of the difference
subcontinent 1. a large land mass forming
between the sample means to the stan¬
part of a continent, and having a certain
dard error of the difference between the
sample means. The value of the calculation geographical entity, e.g. the Indian sub¬

can then be checked in a table of t values to continent 2. a very large land mass smaller

assess the probability of its being a chance than one usually termed a continent, e.g.
Greenland.
occurrence.

stump a worn-down stack, the penul¬

subduction zone andesite, deep,

OCEANIC TRENCH, PLATE TECTONICS.

timate stage in the cycle of marine ero¬

sion of part of a coastline.

subglacial adj. of, relating to, formed in

subalpine adj. of or relating to the lower or by the underside of a glacier, en-

Alpine slopes, or to the higher mountain GLACIAL, SUPERGLACIAL.

slopes just below the tree line.

subglacial channel a melt-water

subarctic, Sub-Arctic adj. I. the region channel formed by melt-water flowing

in latitudes near or just south of the arctic beneath an ice sheet or glacier, and

circle, and the phenomena associated now usually dry or carrying only a small

with it 2. a group of cold climatic types stream.

mKOPPEN’s CLIMATIC CLASSIFICATION,

subglacial moraine debris (moraine)
with low precipitation and evaporation,
frozen into and carried by the ice of a
the mean temperature of the warmest
glacier at or near its base.
month sometimes exceeding io°C (50°F),
of the coldest falling below — 3°C (26.6°F). subhumid adj. applied to a climate in
relation to its precipitation which
Sub-Atlantic the climatic phase in which
(combined with other climatic and phys¬
we live, dating from about 500 bc (pre¬
ical factors) is neither too little, resulting
ceded by the sub-boreal), when sum¬
in arid conditions with the growth of
mer temperatures became lower than
xerophytes, nor adequate in amount
those of the Sub-Boreal, but conditions
and evenness of seasonal fall for tree
generally became more mild and humid.
growth. Such a climate leads to the growth
In Bntain the lime forests declined, but
of tall grass, savanna.
the alder, oak, elm, birch, hornbeam and
beech flora (with the latter usually dom¬ subjective adj. seen from the viewpoint

395
 \ v

sublimation

of the thinking subject, and therefore con¬ subsequent stream a stream indicating
ditioned by personal characteristics and that its development was subsequent to
feelings, humanistic geography, ob¬ a consequent stream. A consequent

jective. stream flows down the dip, but a sub¬

sequent stream excavates its valley along
sublimation a process whereby a solid
an outcrop of weak rocks such as clays or
changes directly to a vapour without
shales, or other lines of weakness, e.g. a
passing through a liquid state; or, sim¬
fault. If these lines of weakness occur in
ilarly, a vapour is changed directly to a
the direction of the strike, i.e. more or
solid (e.g. the formation of ice-crystals
less at right angles to the valleys of the
directly from water vapour when conden¬
consequent streams, the subsequent
sation occurs at a temperature lower than
streams will meet the consequents at nght
that of freezing-point), latent heat.
angles, resulting in trellis drainage,
sublittoral zone I. the marine zone annular drainage. Fig 42.
extending from low tide level to the edge
subsidence 1. in general, a sinking in
of the continental shelf, part of the
level, settling downwards to a lower po¬
neritic zone underneath the littoral
sition, or returning to a normal state 2. in
zone 2. in a lake, the part in which the
the earth’s crust it may be readjustment
water is too deep for the growth of rooted
on a large scale, as in a rift valley, or
plants.
on a smaller, more superficial scale, e.g.
submarine canyon a steep-sided valley the collapse of a cave roof in karst or the
in the continental shelf which in collapse of a land surface resulting from
some cases may extend right across the mining activity; or, in mass movement,
shelf into the continental slope. The a landslide in which there is downward
origin of these canyons is obscure and displacement of relatively dry superficial
has provoked much discussion; some are earth material without a free surface (com¬
obviously continuations of valleys of the pare rock fall) and without horizontal
adjoining land. displacement 3. in meteorology, the slow
descent of a large air mass, as in an anti¬
submarine ridge oceanic ridge.
cyclone (subsidence inversion).
submerged coast, submerged shore¬
line a coastline formed when a rise of sea subsidence inversion a condition of

level in relation to the land leads to the high level inversion in the atmos phere-i

flooding of the former land surface. Dal¬ caused by the slow descent of a large air

matian coast, fjard, fjord, ria, sub¬ mass which, as it approaches the ground,
decelerates and spreads horizontally,
merged FOREST.
resulting in adiabatic compression, the
submerged forest the remains of a warming of the descending air, and a stable
former forest, now completely covered by lapse rate. SUBSIDENCE-3.
the sea except occasionally at very low
tide, resulting from the submergence of subsistence agriculture, subsistence
the coast caused either by a rise of sea farming farming in which the products
level relative to the land (eustatism) or are grown or raised primarily (but not
by a lowering of the land surface (iso- necessarily solely) for the support of the
stasy). submerged coast. farmer and the farmer’s dependants, not

396
 succession

primarily for sale or trading. The opposite cancer and about 40°N and between the
is COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE which is tropic of capricorn and about 40°S
primarily concerned with the growing 3. to belts of atmospheric high pressure
of crops or raising of livestock for sale. occurring in those zones, subtropical
AGRIBUSINESS, FARMING. HIGH PRESSURE BELTS to climatic
regions where the temperature in any
subsistence crop a crop (commonly a
month does not fall below about 6°C
farinaceous food crop) grown as the
(43°F), e.g. MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE.
basic item of diet to be eaten by the farmers
The term extra-tropical is sometimes pre¬
and their dependants, not for sale or trad¬
ferred when the reference is to something
ing. CASH CROP, STAPLE-3.
occurring just outside the tropics, e.g.
subsistence economy an economic extra-tropical high pressure belt.
system in which there is little if any buy¬
subtropical high pressure belts the belts
ing and selling, although there may be
of persistent high atmospheric pressure
bartering, market economy.
(anticyclone) with an east to west

subsoil an imprecise term for the soil trend, centred generally about latitudes

layer consisting of weathered parent 30°N and 30°S. Fig 5.

material lying immediately below the soil subtropical jet stream a jet stream
proper (solum, topsoil) and above the forming at the tropopause immediately
bedrock, corresponding approximately over the hadley cell. Fig 5.
to the c horizon. The term is seldom
used by pedologists, pedology, soil suburb, suburbs the outer, socially

HORIZON, SOIL PROFILE. homogeneous, mainly residential or

dormitory part of a continuously built-up
sub-surface wash the processes involved urban area, town, or city, distinguished
in the carrying by water of solutes and from the inner area by a lower housing
particles within the regolith, the flow density, and characterized by a high level
of water being termed throughflow. of commuting (commuter) to central
If the particles are carried down a slope, locations in the inner area, concentric
horizontally to the surface of the regolith, ZONE GROWTH THEORY, CENTRAL BUSI¬
the process is termed lateral eluviation; NESS DISTRICT, INNER CITY, URBAN-
if the throughflow occurs along definite RURAL CONTINUUM.
lines of seepage, the process is termed tun¬
suburban adj. 1. of or pertaining to the
nelling.
SUBURBS-1,2 2. having qualities con¬
subtropical adj. applied 1. imprecisely sidered to be charactenstic of the suburbs
to climatic conditions that are tropical or of the people who inhabit them.
(tropical climate) for part of the year,
suburbia a synonym for suburbs, some¬
or to those that are ‘nearly’ tropical
times used contemptuously.
throughout the year, to the vegetation
growing in, and to the lands with, those succession in general, the coming of one
conditions, i.e. polewards beyond the thing after another in order or time, a series
tropics, merging into the warm tem¬ of things in order, a sequence 1. in geology,
perate zone 2. more precisely, to lati¬ the order, in time, of beds of rock; the ver¬
tudinal zones between the tropic of tical sequence of rock in a certain local-

397
 V s.
succession and invasion

ity 2. in ecology, the progressive natural fuel or a fuel additive; and current experi¬
development of vegetation from the initial ments indicate that it may be used as a
pioneer community (pioneer stage) to the substitute for petrochemicals in various
climax, one community being gradually industrial processes, e.g. the making of
replaced by another under the influence detergents and plastics.
of physical factors (the living organisms
sugar beet a biennial plant with a
responding to topographical features, and
white, conical, swollen root yielding suc¬
edaphic and climatic factors) and bio¬
rose (sugar), native to midlatitude lands
tic factors (organisms reacting to one
in continental Europe, grown there
another), sere.
and in similar conditions elsewhere for a

succession and invasion invasion sugar supply. The leafy tops and the pulp

AND SUCCESSION.
remaining after the sugar has been ex¬
tracted are used for cattle feed; molasses,
succession phenomenon a problem another by-product of the processing of
resulting from the control of pests and the roots, is also used as stock feed and for
diseases, in that by removing one pest or making industrial alcohol, the filter cake
disease another is given the opportunity remaining after the juice has been purified
to operate. by filtration being used as manure.

succulent a plant adapted to meet water sugarcane Saccharum officinarum, a species

loss. adj. as applied to a xerophytic (xero- of tall, coarse perennial grass, native to
ph yte) plant with enlarged tissue for water tropical areas of the old world, still
storage in leaves and/or stems, which al¬ cultivated there but even more in similar
lows it to withstand drought. conditions elsewhere, especially in the
West Indies, the USA, Central and South
sudd (Sudan: Arabic) i. floating, compact
America, and in Australia, for its high yield
masses of vegetation in the upper Bahr
of sucrose (sugar) obtained from the
el-Jebel (White Nile) which obstructs
stems of the cane. The plant needs a fertile
navigation 2. the marshes in Sudan re¬
soil, heavy dressings of manure and fertil¬
sulting from this obstruction.
izer, a good rainfall, or irrigation.
sugar one of a class of crystalline carbo¬
suitcase farmer (American) an agricul¬
hydrates soluble in water, the term gener¬
tural landholder whose holdings are scat¬
ally applied to sucrose, manufactured by
tered, and who moves from one holding
all green plants and commonly stored in
to another at crucial times, e.g. seed-time,
roots, bulbs, flowers, fruit. The plants from
harvest-time, to make the best use of farm
which sugar is refined for commercial use
machinery. The crop is usually a cereal
are mainly sugarcane (yielding cane
which needs little attention in the growing
sugar) and sugar beet (yielding beet
period. SIDEWALK FARMER.
sugar); but some is also regularly obtained
from the wild date palm, the sugar palm, sukhovey (Russian) a hot, dry wind,
the palmyra palm, and the sugar maple. In blowing during the summer mainly from
addition to its use as a foodstuff, sweetener the southeast in the southeastern part of
and preservative for other foods sugar European CIS and Kazakhstan. The air
(especially that obtained from sugarcane) temperature may rise to 35°C to 40°C
provides alcohol which can be used as a (95°Fto io5°F) and the relative humid-

398
 sun

it y may drop to 15 per cent or less, causing (sulfur) dioxide emitted in the burning
excessive evaporation and seriously injur¬ of hydrocarbon fuels and in other pro¬
ing crops and other vegetation. cesses in towns and industrial plant.

sulphur (American sulfur) a nonmetallic summer 1. in general, the warmest season

element occurring in crystalline or of the year, as opposed to winter, the
amorphous form, abundant and wide¬ coldest 2. in the northern hemisphere, the
spread in nature in a free state or com¬ monthsjune, July, August; in the southern
bined as sulphates and sulphides, an December, January, February 3. in astro¬
essential macronutrient for plants. It nomy, the period between the summer
is deposited near volcanic vents and solstice (about 21 June) and the au¬
hot springs, occurs in sedimentary tumn equinox (about 22 September) in
rocks and is associated with salt domes. the northern hemisphere; and between
the solstice about 22 December and the
sulphur (sulfur) dioxide a stable oxide of
equinox about 21 March in the southern.
sulphur, gaseous except at very unusual
EQUINOX, SEASON, SOLSTICE.
atmospheric pressure, but easily liquefied
by pressure, produced by the burning of summer solstice season, solstice,
a wide range of fuels, but especially of coal SUMMER.
and heavy fuel oil. It is released, with
sulphates (sulfates), in volcanic eruptions. sun I. in general, any heavenly body that

ACID RAIN. is the centre of a solar system 2. in particu¬

lar, the central body of ‘our’ solar
sulphuric (sulfuric) acid a colourless, system, lying at the main focus of the
dense, rather oily liquid (oil of vitriol), orbits of the earth and the other planets,
dissolving and ionizing with ease in water, a dwarf yellow star in the spiral arm near
used extensively in petroleum refining, the outer edge of the Milky Way,
in the chemical industry and in making the spiral galaxy in which the solar
detergents, explosives, dyes, rayon fabrics. system lies. A nearly spherical gaseous
It is formed in the atmosphere by the body, diameter about 1 392 000 km
combination of sulphur (sulfur) trioxide (865 000 mi), it is thought to be composed
with water, resulting in a stable mist of of approximately 90 per cent hydrogen,
small acid droplets which fall to the ground 10 per cent helium mixed with small
and, sulphur being an important plant amounts of all other known elements, the
macronutrient, contribute to soil fer¬ temperature at the core being some
tility. Excessive deposition of sulphur from 15 mn°C (59 mn°F), at the surface some
the atmosphere is, however, undesirable 57O0oC (10 292°F). It rotates once in 24.5
in an area with an acid soil, where it may days at its equator, and its mean distance
lead to a high level of acidity in lakes and from the earth is 150 mn km (92.9 mn mi)
rivers, and a slowing down of growth, or (aphelion, perihelion). Only a very
even the death, of some plants; but it is small amount of the total solar radi¬
not so disastrous in an area of alkaline ation reaches the earth, but it is respons¬
soil where it may raise soil fertility. The ible there, directly or indirectly, for most
term acid rain is applied to precipitation energy-requiring processes, including the
charged with excessive sulphuric acid (and growth of animal and plant life, insola¬
other acids) derived in part from sulphur tion. Fig 18.

399
 V S.

sunrise

sunrise, sunset the times at which the formed in situ, is also included; but a soil
sun apparently rises in the morning and formed in situ through the weathering of
sets in the evening below the horizon, the underlying rock is not. clay-with-
varying with latitude and with the sun’s flints, of uncertain origin, is usually
declination, due to the earth’s rotation on referred to as a superficial deposit, sur¬
its axis. Sunrise is defined in meteorology face deposit.
as the time at which the upper edge of
superglacial, supraglacial adj. of or
the sun appears above the apparent
relating to the surface or to the environ¬
horizon on a clear day; sunset, the time at
ment at the surface, of a glacier, engla-
which the upper edge of the sun appears
CIAL, SUBGLACIAL.
to sink below the apparent horizon on a
clear day. superglacial stream a rivulet of melt¬
water flowing in summer in a deep runnel
sunspot a dark area on the visible surface
on the surface of a glacier and descending
of the sun, consisting of a grey region
into a crevasse, englacial river, sub¬
surrounding a darker centre, causing
glacial CHANNEL.
an increase in the solar radiation
received on earth, and particularly affect¬ superheating heating to a temperature
ing the earth’s magnetic field and iono¬ above the normal transition point for a
sphere. Their number usually reaches a change of state without the occurrence of
maximum every eleven years. that change, e.g. when water is heated
above boiling point without boiling
supercooling cooling to a temperature
occurring, supercooling.
below the normal transition point for a
change of state without the occurrence of superimposed (superposed) drainage
that change, e.g. when water, if undis¬ epigenetic drainage, a drainage pattern
turbed, stays liquid at a temperature below appearing to be independent of the struc¬
o°C (32°F). This can happen naturally if ture of the underlying rocks because it was
water droplets in clouds are not disturbed; established on a former rock surface, since
but they become ice immediately on removed by denudation.
coming into contact with another body,
supermarket a large, self-service store
e.g. an aircraft (which can be most danger¬
stocked with food and (usually) some small
ous), or tall trees; and supercooling can
household goods displayed on open
also create very large hailstones, super¬
shelves, hypermarket.
heating.
superphosphate any of the various phos¬
superficial adj. of or relating to the sur¬
phate fertilizers containing soluble phos¬
face, not penetrating below the surface.
phorus pentoxide, obtained by treating
superficial deposit unconsolidated PHOSPHATE rock with SULPHURIC ACID.
Pleistocene or Holocene material lying on PHOSPHORUS.
the surface of the earth’s crust, not formed
superposition law of superposition.
in situ from underlying bedrock, but
carried and set down in position by the supersaturation the state of a solution
agencies of wind (e.g. loess), water (e.g. having a higher concentration of solute
alluvium), ice (e.g. glacial drift), than atsaturation (saturated), produced
or by gravity (e.g. colluvium), peat, by heating and slow, steady, undisturbed

400
 suspended load

cooling or by very fast cooling of a satu¬ above the surface, and thereby drawing the
rated solution. Supersaturation occurs in surface together. In a small quantity of
the atmosphere-i when a cooling body liquid a shape with the smallest area possible
of air with a relative humidity will be found, i.e. a sphere. Surface tension
exceeding ioo per cent has enough water is usually reduced by a rise in temperature.
vapour to produce condensation, but con¬ CAPILLARY MOISTURE, POROSITY.
densation does not take place unless solid
surface wash processes whereby soil and
particles (e.g. dust) or negative ions are
other unconsolidated material are carried
available, quicksand.
by flowing water across the surface of the
supply and demand the market forces land, overland flow is the major pro¬
that govern prices, operating freely in a cess, but on sloping ground the action of
market ECONOMY, apparent through the large raindrops or a heavy downpour in
price mechanism as responses in quantities dislodging soil particles is also involved.
offered for sale (the supply) or the quant¬ SOIL EROSION. WANING SLOPE, WAXING
ities that consumers are prepared to buy SLOPE.
(demand) when the market price changes.
survey i. a general inspection or view¬
supraglacial adj. sometimes applied to
ing as a whole 2. a careful consideration,
the environment at the surface of a glacier.
inspection and examination as a whole
SUPERGLACIAL.
and in detail, e.g. of a place, building,
surazo (Brazil: Portuguese) friagem, a cold population, problem, state of affairs, con¬
wind blowing in winter in the campo of dition etc. 3. the presentation ofthe find¬
Brazil in the middle Amazon region, pro¬ ing of such a survey in written, diagram¬
duced by an anticyclone. Tempera¬ matic, cartographic, photographic form
tures may fall below io°C (50°F), causing 4. the process of gathering data relating
great discomfort. to a chosen area, e.g. by remote sensing
or by the measuring and recording of lines
surf the foaming water produced by a
and angles of an area of land in order to
powerful wave as it breaks on rocks on
make an accurate map of it 5. an area that
the seashore, littoral current.
has been so measured and recorded etc.
surface deposit unconsolidated material 6. a group of people, or a department,
overlying bedrock, weathered from the engaged in the surveying indicated in
bedrock itself (residual deposit), or 1,2,3,4 7. in statistics, a method for esti¬
weathered elsewhere and carried to the mating. SAMPLE SURVEY.
present position by wind (aeolian de¬
suspended load the fine organic and
posit), by water (alluvium), by ice
inorganic materials (e.g. silt and clay)
(glacial drift) or by gravity (collu¬
consisting of particles with diameters
vium). superficial deposit.
commonly less than 0.2 mm (some¬
surface tension the surface force acting times termed wash load) carried by a
on the surface of a liquid with the effect of stream-i in suspension (without the
reducing the surface area to the minimum. aid of saltation), as distinct from the
This surface force is the result of forces bed load and the dissolved load.
within the liquid acting on the molecules Measurements of suspended material are
ofthe surface in the absence offorces acting usually expressed in milligrams per litre or

401
suspension

kilograms per cubic metre, and are used disappears, in some cases as a waterfall 2.
to calculate transport rates. a hole in a stream bed through which some
of the stream water flows and disappears;
suspension a two-phase system in which or a point of no fixed location where a
a finely divided insoluble solid is uniformly stream may dry up as its water percolates
dispersed in a liquid or gas. In moving
downwards.
water, e.g. in a stream-i, small particles
are kept buoyant (in suspension) by tur¬ swamp 1. in general, wet spongy land
bulent upward eddies which prevent saturated with water for much of the time,
the particles sinking under gravity; thus and its associated vegetation 2. more pre¬
the finest particles may be carried long cisely, the soil-vegetation type in which
distances by a stream or river before they the normal summer water level is above
sink to the bottom or are carried out to that of the soil surface, and the character¬
sea. colloid, saltation, solution, istic vegetation is woody 3. in ecological
SUSPENDED LOAD, TRACTION. freshwater studies, the last phase of aquatic
vegetation before it gives way to land ve¬
sustainable development develop-
getation (the sequence being, from the
ment-i in which the rate of exploi-
centre of a body of freshwater to the
TATION-I of RESOURCES-1,2 does not
margins: aquatic, swamp, marsh), bog,
exceed that of the renewal of those
FEN, MANGROVE SWAMP, MARSH.
resources, or degrade the stock-2, maxi¬
mum SUSTAINABLE YIELD, RESOURCE
swash the body of water which rushes up
MANAGEMENT.
a beach after an ocean wave has broken.

sustained yield forestry any practice or backwash. Fig 28.

technique (e.g. patch cutting) used

S-wave shake wave.
in forestry which aims to conserve
the forest and ensure that it remains
swell 1. of a large body of water, especially
a flow resource rather than a stock re¬
in the ocean, the regular, undulating
source (natural resources), conser¬
motion of the surface, the succession of
vation, RESOURCE CONSERVATION, RE¬
waves which do not break 2. on the deep
SOURCE MANAGEMENT.
sea floor, a rise.

swale I. a low, long narrow depression

swidden farming a term applied by
approximately aligned with the coastline
some authors to a type of shifting
and lying between two ridges of shingle
cultivation m which the existing
on a beach 2. (American) a marshy or
vegetation is removed by cutting and
moist depression in level or rolling land,
burning (slash-and-burn), the cleared
or a long narrow depression lying between
area being sown and cropped until the
the bars of a point bar deposit on the
soil nutrients are exhausted and yields be¬
floodplain of a river. Fig 29.
gin to fall. The area is then abandoned,
swallow, swallow-hole, swallet 1. a the cultivators moving to a new patch
deep vertical hole or opening in the earth, which they similarly clear and sow (com¬
especially one produced by the solution pare bush fallowing); but after some
of rocks in limestone country (karst), time they may return to the abandoned
down which a surface stream or rainfall site where the natural vegetation has

402
 synoptic map

regenerated and soil fertility has built up which divide the structure in exactly cor¬
naturally, to repeat the process. responding and equal parts.

symbiosis i. in biology, the very close synclinal valley a valley which follows a
association of dissimilar organisms to syncline in the underlying rocks, i.e. a
their mutual benefit, commensalism, valley formed by a downfold.
LICHEN, MUTUALISM, MYCORRHIZA,
syncline a downfold in the strata of
parasitism 2. in human ecology, the very
the earth’s crust, the rocks dipping inwards
close, mutually advantageous relations
to a central axis (axis of fold), caused
among dissimilar members of a human
by COMPRESSION. ANTICLINE, PITCH-3,
group or among dissimilar groups within
SYNCLINORIUM. Fig I.
a larger group, or among dissimilar insti¬
tutions and activities, symbiotic rela¬ synclinorium a broad downfold (syn¬
tionship. cline) of the rocks over a considerable
tract of country on which numerous
symbiotic relationship the relationship minor upfolds (anticline) and down-
of the dissimilar organisms in symbiosis, folds are superimposed. Fig i.
applied by analogy to other phenomena,
e.g. the mutually beneficial relationship synoptic adj. providing a general sum¬
between a city or large town and its sur¬ mary or a general view.

rounding area, or between different synoptic chart a chart giving a summary,

groups within a human community when a general view of the meteorological con¬
the groups are unlike and the relations ditions (isobars, temperatures, winds etc.)
complementary.
over a large area at a given time, an essential
tool in weather forecasting, weather
symbol a sign, shape or object accepted as
chart.
representing or typifying a thing, person,
idea, quality or value, semiotics. In car¬ synoptic climatology the compre¬
tography an explanation of the conven¬ hensive study of the condition of the
tional signs used to represent specific atmosphere-i over a very large area
objects commonly appears on the map (e.g. one of the hemispheres) at a particu¬
itself; but if very many symbols are used, lar time, of prime importance in weather
reference is usually made to a charac¬ forecasting, meteorology, synoptic
teristic sheet. METEOROLOGY.

symbolic model a model-2 in which synoptic image a general view of a part

selected aspects of reality are all expressed of the earth’s surface, usually provided
by mathematical expressions, analogue by a sensor mounted on a high-altitude
MODEL, ICONIC MODEL, MATHEMAT¬ SATELLITE-I. REMOTE SENSING.
ICAL MODEL.
synoptic map a map displaying all the
symmetrical fold a fold in which the factors to be taken into account in solving

limbs dip away symmetrically (sym¬ a problem. The factors are shown either

metry) from the axis of fold. on one sheet or on a series of overlays

placed over the base map, each overlay
symmetry the quality of having a form showing a separate factor or a selected
so regular that one or more axes exist combination of factors, sieve map.

403
synoptic meteorology

synoptic meteorology the branch of deposited during a geological period (geo¬

meteorology concerned with the col¬ logical timescale).
lection of meteorological data (over a
systematic adj. 1. working in an orderly,
smaller area than that involved in syn¬
methodical way, in accordance with a
optic climatology), the making of
SYSTEM-1,2,3,4,5,6 2. constituting a
synoptic charts from the information
system-2 3. in biology, relating to clas¬
gathered and the interpretation of the pres¬
sification 3. in statistics, the opposite of
sure patterns etc. revealed by the charts in
random or stochastic.
order to anticipate changes likely to affect
the weather in a particular area, micro¬ systematic error in sampling-2, an
meteorology. error which is in some way biased, occur¬
ring predominantly in one direction
synthetic fibre an artificial fibre throughout the sampling measurements,
which can usually be spun, woven, felted e.g. in a survey of people charged with
etc., made to rival the natural fibres (fine, exceeding the speed limit in driving, most
thread-like structures occurring in plant or of the accused will underestimate rather
animal tissue) of cotton, wool, flax, silk. than overestimate their speed. A system¬
atic error, unlike a random error, does
synthetic rubber artificial rubber not balance out and will bias the results
made from hydrocarbons derived from of a survey.
PETROLEUM.
systems analysis, systems approach an
approach which uses the concept of the
system i. a set of related elements organ¬
SYSTEM-1,2,3 (i.e. broadly, a complex
ized for a particular purpose, the whole
whole with interrelated elements) as an
being identifiable by the interconnexion
analytical tool. The system is identified by-
of the elements 2. a set of things or sub¬
defining its boundaries, its purpose, and
stances, associated, interdependent, gov¬
(if it is a subsystem), its position, its
erned by physical laws, and making a
role, in a larger system. The structure and
whole (as in the solar system) 3* a set
function of the system are investigated,
of things, structures, processes, activities
and the level of abstraction at which it is
(e.g. human activities) associated and
to be treated defined (model-2). As in
interconnected, forming and functioning
GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY, attempts
as a complex whole through a regular set
are made to discover isomorphisms
of relations (as in the nervous system of
between systems so that analogue
an animal) and in many cases forming part
models can be constructed.
of a larger system, the larger system itself
forming part of an even larger system 4. syzygy in astronomy, the point at which
a set of principles linked to form a coher¬ two heavenly bodies are incONjUNCTiON
ent doctrine 5. a method of organization, or opposition, especially the moon and
administration, procedure (as in a legal the sun; applied particularly to the point
system) 6. a formal method of classifica¬ when the sun, moon and earth are in the
tion, nomenclature, notation, governed same straight line, thus coinciding with the
by well-defined rules 7. in geology, a di¬ new moon and full moon as seen from the
vision of the succession of stratified rocks earth.
tableland a flat or gently undulating area influence of gravity, mass movement.
of high relief, a term generally superseded
talweg (German; older spelling thalweg),
by plateau, but sometimes applied spe¬
the longitudinal-2 profile of a river.
cifically to a plateau with abrupt cliff-like
LONG PROFILE OF A RIVER, RIVER PRO¬
edges rising sharply from surrounding
FILE.
lowlands, e.g. a mesa.
tank in Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka,
tabular iceberg a very large, floating ice
a reservoir for irrigation, a small lake or
mass with a flat top, broken off from the
pool made by damming the valley of a
Ross ice shelf and floating in the
stream to retain the monsoon rain for later
Southern Ocean, iceberg.
use.
taiga (Russian) cold woodland, the pre¬
dominantly coniferous forest stretching tanker any large rail or road vehicle or
in a broad zone in the northern hemi¬ ship especially designed with a large vessel

sphere, adjacent to the tundra. There (a tank) for the carrying of liquids in bulk.

does not seem to be any authority for the tapioca starch the very pure starch
spelling taiga: etymologically tayga is more extracted from the root of the manioc
correct.
(cassava) plant, potentially useful in

tail dune a sand dune of varying length, the making of biodegradable plastic

formed in the lee of an obstacle and taper¬ materials, biodegradation, natural

ing away from it. RESOURCES.

talik (Russian) I. a layer of unfrozen tar a dark, thick, viscous substance ob¬
ground between the seasonally frozen tained by the destructive distillation
ground (active layer) and the perma¬ of coal, wood, or other organic material
frost 2. an unfrozen layer within the (coal tar). It is used in road surfacing
permafrost 3. unfrozen ground between (macadam), as a preservative for wood
permafrost. and iron, and in making dyes, antiseptics
etc.
talus 1. commonly applied to a scree, a
sloping heap of rock debris at the foot tariff 1. a scale of duties imposed by a
of a cliff or mountain slope 2. applied government on goods exported from or
specifically to the landform produced by imported into the territory under its juris¬
such rock debris, the term scree being diction; or the classificatory instrument
restricted to the rock debris itself, talus embodying such duties 2. the duty
CREEP. imposed 3. a scale of rates or charges, e.g.
for hotel accommodation.
talus creep the slow movement of
talus-i or scree down a slope under the tarmac macadam.

405
 V v

tarn

tarn a small lake among mountains, usu¬ the ^problems arising from the interaction
ally of glacial origin, fed by rainwater from of people with their environment, al¬
the surrounding steep slopes rather than by ternate, APPROPRIATE, INTERMEDI¬
a distinct feeder stream; sometimes applied ATE, low, and high technology.
to a nearly circular lake occupying a corrie
technosphere the part of the physical
or CIRQUE.
environment created or modified by

tar-sand oil-sand. human action, psychosphere.

taxonomy the science of classification, tectonic adj. of, relating to, or ansing

usually restricted to the classification of from, the processes which build up or

living and extinct plants and animals and form features of the earth’s crust, plate

covering the principles and methods tectonics.

employed in classifying organisms in tectonics a branch of geology concerned

hierarchical groups, cladistics, clas¬ with the study of the processes involved
sification OF ORGANISMS. in the formation of structural features of
the earth’s crust, plate tectonics.
tea a product used in making the beverage
of the same name, manufactured from the Figs 36, 37.

young leaves of a small evergreen tree, teff a tropical millet, the most widely
Camellia sinensis, usually pruned to form a grown food grain in Ethiopia (rarely cul¬
shrub, native to hill lands of southeast Asia, tivated elsewhere), yielding a fine white
now grown there and elsewhere in Asia, flour.
in east Africa and in areas bordering the
teleology consequentialism, the study of
Black Sea. It flourishes in high rainfall if
ends, goals or purposes, the doctrine of
the soil is well drained, yields well on
final causes. The belief that an explanation
highly acid soils, withstands frost.
of anything (process, object, act, event
teak a large deciduous tree, native to etc.) can be achieved only if the ends to
the relatively wet areas of tropical regions which it is directed are considered; that
of southeast Asia, providing very hard, explanation restricted to terms of caus¬
close-grained timber, used especially in ality is insufficient.
furniture-making.
temperate adj. moderate, without ex¬
tear fault a strike-slip fault, some¬ tremes, of equable temperature, espe¬
times termed a transcurrent fault. cially a climate without extremes of
temperature.
technological determinism in Marx¬
ism, the theory that the predominant type temperate glacier warm glacier.
ofTECHNOLOGY-3 of a society determines
temperate zone term applied in classical
its other features, particularly its social
times to the latitudinal temperature zone
organization.
lying between the tropics (23°3o'N or S)
technology I. the scientific study con¬ and the polar circles (66°3o'N or S), the
cerned with the practical and industrial midlatitudes. But temperatures of great ex¬
arts 2. the practical arts or practical science tremes occur in these midlatitude belts
3. the systematic application of scientific (especially in the interiors of the contin¬
knowledge to industrial processes or to ents), so in making specific reference to

406
 terrace gravel

them in terms of a climatic zone the term landed property-2 2. the period ofhold-
temperate is inappropriate: it is better to ing this. LAND TENURE.
use the adj. midlatitude. Temperate
tephra a collective term for all the solid
zone does however appear in koppen’s
material ej ected into the air from a volcanic
CLIMATIC CLASSIFICATION.
vent during an eruption, i.e. pyroclast.
temperature I. the property of an object
teratogenic pollution the kind of pol¬
which indicates the direction in which
lution which gives rise to the birth of
heat energy will flow if the object is put in
malformed or otherwise defective organ¬
thermal contact with another, heat energy
isms.
flowing from places of higher to places of
lower temperature 2. as a climatic element, terminal moraine, end moraine a
the degree of sensible heat or cold in crescent-shaped moraine forming a ridge
the ATMOSPHERE-I (SENSIBLE TEMPER¬ beyond the snout of a glacier or at the
ATURE), measured on various scales. end of an ice sheet, marking the furthest
absolute as applied to range, temper¬ extent of the ice. If it is large it indicates
ature, zero; and diurnal range, inver¬ a long pause in the retreat of the ice.
sion OF TEMPERATURE, TEMPERATURE
terrace I. in agriculture, one of a series
ANOMALY, THERMOMETER.
of horizontal steps cut into a hillside to

temperature anomaly the difference provide cultivable land in an area of steep

between the mean temperature of a place relief, and to reduce soil erosion, terrace

and the mean temperature along its parallel cultivation 2. in geology, a level or

of latitude (in both cases adjusted to sea- nearly level and horizontal or nearly hori¬

level) . If the mean temperature of the place zontal strip of land, usually narrow

is higher than that of the mean along its and bordering the sea, a lake, or a river

parallel oflatitude, the anomaly is qualified (river terrace), lying between a rising

as positive; if lower, as negative. The slope on one side and a downward, often

British Isles is much warmer than the av¬ abrupt, slope on the other, alluvial ter¬

erage of places on the same latitude, race, CONTINENTAL TERRACE, KAME

and thus has a positive temperature an¬ TERRACE, MEANDER TERRACE; and REJU¬

omaly, especially in winter, anomaly, VENATION, TERRACE GRAVEL, TERRA-

ISANOMAL. CETTE.

terrace cultivation a system of cultiva¬

temporal adj. of, related to, pertaining
tion which reduces soil erosion, prac¬
to, time (as distinct from spatial).
tised in areas of steep relief and scarcity of
tension a pulling force, tending to stretch, level land. A series of artificial horizontal
to cause the extension of a body or to steps is cut into the hillside, the soil being
restore the shape of an extended elastic retained by stone walls or earth banks,
object. In the rocks of the earth’s crust behind which crops are sown. If irrigation
tension extends strata, resulting in joints is necessary (e.g. in rice cultivation) the
and normal faults. Compare com¬ water is allowed to move by gravity from
pression, STRESS, THRUST. the upper to the lower terraces.

tenure I. the act, manner or right of terrace gravel a gravel deposit remaining
holding office or property, especially on a river terrace after the erosion

407
terracette

of the finer alluvium with which it was on land, as opposed to marine-i deposits.
originally combined.
terrestrial magnetism the magnetic
terracette one of a senes of narrow hori¬ field of the earth as a whole, weak and
zontal steps from a few centimetres to varying in intensity and direction (mag¬
60 cm (up to 2 ft) in height, making a netic DECLINATION, PALAEOMAGNET-
ribbed pattern on a steep, usually grassland, ism) , which causes the needle ofa magnetic
slope in areas accessible to animals. Their compass, swinging freely in a horizontal
origin is disputed. They may owe their plane, to come to rest, indicating the north
existence to soil creep and, once formed, and south magnetic poles. The origin
be used by sheep and other animals; or of terrestrial magnetism has not yet been
they may have been formed initially by satisfactorily accounted for. magneto¬
animals treading the easiest route up the sphere.
hill. LYNCHET.
terrestrial radiation long-wave radi¬
terracing the work of making terraces for ation given out by the earth.
TERRACE CULTIVATION.
terrigenous adj. derived from the land.
terrain an area of land in respect of its
terrigenous deposits inorganic deposits
physical characteristics or condition,
(sand, gravel, pebbles etc.) derived from
especially if considered for its fitness or
the denudation of the land and laid down
use for a special purpose, e.g. for laying a
in the littoral zone-i of the sea floor,
railway track, or for a military operation.
as distinct from pelagic deposits.
terra rossa (Italian) a red-coloured thin
territorial waters the coastal waters with
clay loam soil, rich in iron, developed in
the sea bed below and all that lies or lives
limestone areas with a warm temperate,
therein (and the air space above) over
seasonally dry climate, occurring espe¬
which a coastal state has sovereignty. Vari¬
cially in karst in lands bordering the
ous international conventions have sug¬
eastern coast of the Adriatic sea, and else¬
gested the zones shown in Fig 45 (but
where in the Mediterranean region. The
discussions continue). A line drawn to link
fact that it supports garigue suggests that
major promontories is deemed to be the
deforestation may have contributed to its
landward baseline; for the treatment of
existence.
bays, see bay-2.
terra roxa (Brazil: Portuguese) a deep, A coastal state has (a) sovereignty over
dark red-purple, porous soil, rich in the territorial sea (b) powers of policing the
humus, formed on the Parana plateau in contiguous zone (to prevent infringement
Brazil, especially suitable for coffee cul¬ of its customs, fiscal, immigration and san¬
tivation. itary regulations etc.) (c) sovereign rights
over the sea bed of the so-called contin¬
terrestrial adj. I. of or pertaining to land,
ental shelf (to explore and exploit its
or to the earth-i (as opposed to celes¬
natural resources). For this purpose the
tial) 2. consisting of land (as opposed to
seaward limit of the continental shelf is
water) 3. growing on land 4. living on
defined as 370.4 km (200 nautical miles)
land, aquatic.
from the baseline or a limit coinciding
terrestrial deposits deposits laid down with the outer edge of the continental
 Tertiary

margin, providing this is not beyond sovereign state on behalf of the United
648.2 km (350 international nautical mi) Nations 3. historically, in Australia, Can¬
from the baseline. The exclusive econ¬ ada, USA, an area not admitted to full
omic zone extends a coastal state’s rights rights as a state or province, having a sep¬
of sovereignty over the natural resources arate legislature under an administrative
of the waters as well as those over the authority appointed by the central govern¬
natural resources of the sea bed. Where ment 4. any large tract of land, a region, a
the distance between coastal states is less district, with undefined boundaries 5. in
than 740.8 km (400 international nautical zoology, the area of the habitat occupied
mi) a median line is usually drawn between by an individual animal or group of animals
the closest points of the baselines of the which will be defended by them, attacks
states concerned. being made especially against a trespasser
The traditional freedom of the high seas or trespassers belonging to the same
retains for all nations the right of naviga¬ species- 1 as the occupant(s).
tion, overflight and laying of submarine
cables in the areas of the so-called con¬ tertiary third in order or rank.

tinental shelf and the exclusive economic

Tertiary adj. a much discussed term
zone. Legal problems relating to rights of
applied to a division of geological time. It
ownership of the deep sea bed and of rights
is now generally accepted that it applies to
of exploitation of its resources have yet to
the third period of geological time with its
be resolved. Fig 45.
associated system of rocks (follow¬
territory 1. the area of land and adjacent ing the cretaceous and preceding the
seas, and the air space over both, ruled by Quaternary) consisting of the Palaeocene,
a sovereign authority 2. an area dependent Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene
on a sovereign state, but having some epochs (of time) and series (of rocks) when
autonomy, e.g. an area supervised by a mammals became dominant and mountain

Territorial sea Contiguous zone

Baselines
Internal waters

Exclusive economic zone

CONTINENT -10O0 fathoms

0 12 24
100
nautical mi les ♦ 2007
CONTINENTAL SLOPE
CONTINENTAL RISE ABVSSAL PLAIN

Fig 45 Territorial waters: maritime zones

409
 V V

tertiary industry

chains such as the Alps and Himalayas were zontal angles by means of a small telescope,
formed, i.e. the earlier of the two periods a spirit level, and graduated arcs, mounted
of the Cainozoic era (geological time- on a tripod, triangulation.
scale).
theory 1. in general, an organized body
tertiary industry, tertiary activity, ter¬ of ideas, an integrated system of hypo¬
tiary sector one of the main categories theses, put forward as the truth of
ofiNDUSTRY, the activity concerned with something, supported by a number of
service to the primary and secondary facts relating to it, but sometimes resulting
industries, to the community and to from speculation 2. scientific, a structure
the individual, e.g. financial, commercial resting on a series of steps of observations
and educational institutions, distributive and assumptions, each supported by the
trades, professions, transport and com¬ preceding step, put forward to explain
munications, construction, repairs, main¬ a particular class of phenomena 3. a pro¬
tenance, defence, personal services, qua¬ cess of investigation based on logical or
ternary INDUSTRY. mathematical reasoning rather than on
expenment.
Tethys the name applied to the ocean
and the geosyncline which it occupied, thermal a current or updraught of air
separating laurasia and gondwana- rising vertically in the atmosphere-i (of
LAND. CONTINENTAL DRIFT, PANGAEA, great advantage to birds and glider-pilots),
PLATE TECTONICS. the result of differential heating by the
sun’s rays on a sunny day of small parts
texture i. in geology the size, shape,
of the earth’s surface. It is the parts that
arrangement and distribution of particles
warm up more rapidly which give rise to
constituting a rock or a surface deposit, as
conductional heating and absolute in¬
opposed to the chemical character of such
stability and thus to rapidly ascending
particles 2. the arrangement and relation¬
vertical currents. A thermal may rise high
ship of particles of a soil as opposed to
enough for condensation to occur, leading
their chemical character.
to the formation of cumulus cloud, in
thalweg talweg. some cases associated with heavy con¬
vection rain and a thunderstorm.
thanatocoenosis a group of fossils con¬
sisting of the remains of organisms thermal adj. pertaining to heat.
assembled after death, in contrast with
BiocoENOSis-3. thermal conduction the process oftrans-
fer of heat through a body where there is
thematic adj. of, pertaining to or consti¬
a temperature gradient, the heat energy
tuting the topic, the main subject with
diffusing through the body by the action
which a study, discussion, piece of writing
of particles of high kinetic energy on
etc. is concerned.
particles of lower kinetic energy (from a
thematic map a map on any scale rep¬ high to a low temperature point). There
resenting a specific spatial distribution, is no visible movement of any part of the
theme, topic or aspect under discussion. body, convection, radiation.

theodolite an optical surveying instru¬ thermal depression a low pressure

ment used to measure vertical and hori¬ system, usually intense, varying in size,

410
 thermometer

caused by localized heating of the earth’s flow of hot water from the ground, usually
surface, leading to convectional rising of (but not always) associated with present
air, resulting in heavy rainfall and thunder¬ or former volcanic activity. It contrasts
storms if the warmed air rises high enough with a geyser, with its violent, intermit¬
for condensation to occur (thermal). tent emission, geothermal energy.
Small scale thermal depressions lead to
thermal stratification the succession of
dust devils in hot deserts and the
well-defined layers of water of different
simoom in the Sahara; on a larger scale
temperatures lying at various depths in the
they are associated with monsoon con¬
ocean or a deep lake, the top layer being
ditions.
the warmest, except under ice, where
thermal erosion a type of erosion there may be an inversion or, in very cold
occurring in areas of permafrost where, areas, just one unstratified layer of very
if the organic layer protecting the land cold water, epilimnion, hypolimnion,
surface is removed, the ground ice-2 THERMOCLINE.
melts and the land surface breaks up.
thermocline the layer of water in an
thermal (infra-red) sensing remote ocean or deep lake, lying between the
sensing in which a thermal scanner, pen¬ non-circulating hypolimnion and the
etrating darkness and cloud, is used rather warmer epilimnion, through which
than a camera to sense the natural radi¬ the temperature falls swiftly with increas¬
ation emitted by features on the earth’s ing depth, commonly exceeding i°C per
surface and, by revealing relative temper¬ metre (about n°F per foot) of descent.
ature differences, to detect pollution in THERMAL STRATIFICATION.
water, the source offorest fires etc. infra¬
thermokarst, cryokarst a KARST-like
red RADIATION.
landform with irregular depressions
thermal metamorphism contact meta¬ formed in periglacial or former periglacial
morphism, the alteration of pre-existing superficial deposits as a result of the melting
rock to form a new, well-defined type
of ground ice-2 and the subsequent set¬
of rock, caused by a rise in temperature,
tling or caving of the ground. The term is
usually brought about by an intrusion
not widely used by British geomorpholo¬
into the pre-existing rock of very hot, gists, but is favoured by Russian authors.
molten igneous rock, metamorphic thermometer an instrument used to
AUREOLE, METAMORPHISM, REGIONAL measure temperature on any tem¬
METAMORPHISM. perature scale, commonly consisting of
a graduated glass tube with a bulb at
thermal pollution the heating of part
one end containing mercury or alcohol
of the environment by the discharge of
which is heat-sensitive, expanding with
substances with temperatures higher
increase in heat, and therefore rising in
than that of the ambient. The effect is
the tube; contracting with decrease, and
particularly detrimental in freshwater
falling in the tube (dry-bulb thermom¬
because heating tends to lower its content
eter, MAXIMUM-MINIMUM THERMOM¬
of free dissolved oxygen. Heeded by most
ETER, wet-bulb thermometer). Less
of the organisms living in it. pollution.
common types incorporate heat-sensitive
thermal spring hot spring, a continuous metals, which expand or contract with
 N. S.

thermonuclear

temperature change, at a known rate; or OU’S thorny trees, the thorns giving partial
which, with temperature change, have protection from browsing animals.
varying resistance to the passage of elec¬
tricity. There is also a gas thermometer Thornthwaite’s climatic classifica¬
which measures pressure variations in a tion a classification of climates developed
gas maintained at constant volume. by C. W. Thornthwaite, American clima¬
tologist, between 1931 and 1948, based on
thermonuclear adj. relating to nuclear
the effectiveness of climate in the develop¬
fusion.
ment of plant communities. Identifying

thermosphere the layer of the upper rainfall and temperature as the dominant,

atmosphere (above the mesopause) in variable influences, he drew up formulae

which temperature increases with increas¬ to assess them. His index for measuring

ing height. Fig 4. precipitation in terms of its usefulness

to plant growth is:
Thiessen polygon dirichlet poly¬
gon.

Third World (from French tiers monde)

P/E being precipitation efficiency, p the
a term of variously defined ongin. It was
monthly mean precipitation in inches, T
applied (as Tiers Monde) in the ‘cold war’
the monthly mean temperature. Five
period of the 1950s to countries commit¬
major regions were distinguished on that
ted to neither of the two major power
basis. He subdivided these on the basis ot
blocs, i.e. neither to the generally free
thermal efficiency (the heat received by a
market economy Western ‘capitalist’ bloc
particular area in relation to the produc¬
(the first world), nor to the centrally
tion of POTENTIAL EVAPOTRANSPIRA-
controlled economy Eastern ‘communist’
tion). His index for thermal efficiency
bloc (the second world). The term
being:
Third World is now generally applied
to countries considered to be not yet T - 32
TE =
fully DEVELOPED (UNDERDEVELOPED) 4
primarily in economic but also in social
where TE — thermal efficiency, T = mean
terms .Conventionally the Third W orld in¬
monthly temperature in °F. Finally he
cludes most countries in Asia, Africa, Latin
drew up a moisture index, to show
America; but opinions differ as to whether
whether an area has a positive or negative
China, Vietnam, Cuba, South Africa,
water balance, expressed as:
Israel and the oil-rich nation states of the
Middle East should be included; and the
MI= I00(P ~ PE)
United Nations has singled out from the PE
Third World some 2 5 countries designated
where MI = moisture index, P = precip¬
as least developed. This group is sometimes
itation, PE = potential evapotranspira-
termed the Fourth World, brandt re¬
tion. Using those indices he distinguished
port.
the climatic zones: perhumid (A), MI
thorn forest, thorn woodland a general exceeding 100; humid (B, with four sub¬
term applied to tropical or subtropical divisions), MI 20 to 100; moist subhumid
fo est or woodland of small, xerophil- (C2), MI o to 20; dry subhumid (Ch), MI

412
 thunderstorm

—20 to o; semi-arid (D), MI —40 to —20; of strata or rocks in a fault, varying from
arid (E) with MI below —40. koppen’s a few millimetres to hundreds of metres
CLIMATIC CLASSIFICATION. in extent. The rocks on one side of the
fault-line are termed upthrow, on the
three-field system a system of cultivation
other side downthrow, indicating the dis¬
common in medieval England whereby
placement of each in relation to the other.
the arable land was divided in three large
HEAVE OF FAULT. Fig 23.
fields (open fields), worked in common
by the village, one being fallow or resting thrust 1. a force tending to compress,
each year while the other two were similar to tension but acting in the op¬
cropped with wheat or rye and barley or posite direction, stress 2, in geology,
oats. The system disappeared with enclos¬ a compressional force affecting strata in
ure, the discovery that clovers (leg- an almost horizontal plane, leading, e.g.,
uminosae) enrich the soil and that to a reverse fault of very low angle.
fallow is largely unnecessary. OVERTHRUST, THRUST FAULT, THRUST
PLANE.
threshold 1. the point at which a stimulus
of increasing strength is first perceived or thrust fault a low-angled reverse
provokes a specific response, the point of fault, with the beds of the upper limb
transition from one state to another 2. in pushed far forward over the beds of the
central place theory, the threshold lower. FAULT, NAPPE, THRUST PLANE.
of success, the lowest demand necessary
thrust plane the surface, usually inclined
to ensure that any good, service or func¬
at a low angle and not strictly a plane, over
tion will be offered at a central place.
which the upper strata ofa reverse fault
Demand may be measured in terms of
are pushed, fault.
population (threshold population)
or income per caput. thunder the sound produced by the
explosive expansion of suddenly heated
threshold population the minimum
gases in the atmosphere-i resulting from
number of people needed in an area to
the expending of electrical energy in
support a function, service or provision of
LIGHTNING. THUNDERSTORM.
goods. CENTRAL GOOD, CENTRAL PLACE
THEORY, THRESHOLD-2. thunderstorm a storm of heavy rain
and/or hail and wind, with lightning
throughflow the flow of water down a
and thunder, occurring when intense
slope through the regolith, as distinct
heating of the ground surface leads to
from overland flow. It occurs when
strong upward air currents, great at¬
the quantity of water falling on the ground
mospheric instability and the forma¬
surface, or the rate at which it falls, is
tion of cumulonimbus clouds in which
too great for it all to percolate sufficiently
electrical charges become separated, the
swiftly downwards through the upper
positive charge collecting in the upper
soil horizons. Lateral eluviation re¬
part, the negative charge in the lower,
sults from the carrying of soil particles by
with a small region of positive charge at
the throughflow. pipe-4, runoff, sub¬
the base. Eventually the separation of the
surface wash. Fig 41.
main negative and positive charges gives
throw of a fault the vertical displacement rise to a diff erence of some 100,000 volts,

413
tidal

breaking down the insulation of the air, barrage) to drive hydraulic turbines
and resulting in a flow of electricity seen which generate electricity.
as the lightning flash. Thunderstorms
tidal race race-2.
are frequent in tropical and equatorial
regions, where air masses are warm and tidal range the difference in the height
moist; and they are also associated with of the water at high and low tide at a place,
the passage of a cold front (termed a varying from day to day. The fortnightly
frontal thunderstorm). neap tides have a small range, the spring
tides have a greater range.
tidal adj. of, or pertaining to, due to,
affected by, the tide. tidal stream the normal movement of
seawater in a coastal inlet, the inward flow
tidal barrage a barrier built on the sea¬
with the flood tide, the outward with
ward side of the reservoir in a tidal
the ebb tide, usually resulting in scour.
POWER STATION.
TIDAL CURRENT.

tidal basin a basin-io filled with water

tidal wave i. an unusually large wave at
at high tide that can be held and released
high water resulting from tidal movement
at low tide, the force of the outflowing
2. popularly, but inaccurately, applied to
water scouring the neighbouring har¬
a giant destructive wave caused by an
bour.
earthquake, the correct name for which is

tidal current a powerful horizontal TSUNAMI.

movement of seawater in areas affected

tide the regular periodic alternating rise
by the tide. It is sometimes regarded as
and fall of the level of the water in the
synonymous with tidal stream; but
oceans (often accentuated in adjoining
more specifically it is applied to conditions
seas, bays, gulfs). The rising of the water
in a strait where differing tidal regimes
is termed the flood tide, the falling is
result in water levels which differ at each
the ebb tide. The tide flows and ebbs
end of the strait, the tidal current ef¬
twice in a lunar day of 24 hours 51
fectively equalizing the water level, cur¬
minutes and is caused by the gravitational
rent. pull of the sun and the moon, the latter
being the more powerful. When the sun
tidal dock a dock in which the level of
and moon act together (conjunction)
water rises and falls with the tide.
a higher tide results (spring tide); when
tidal flat an area ofsand or mud uncovered they do not reinforce each other (op¬
at low tide. position) there is a smaller tide (neap
tide). See entries qualified by tidal and
tidal glacier, tide-water glacier a val¬
tide, as well as apogean tide, double
ley glacier which reaches the sea, where
TIDE, HIGH WATER, LOW WATER, PERI-
part of it may become detached, forming
GEAN TIDE.
ICEBERGS or ICE FLOES.
tied cottage a dwelling house in which
tidal power station a coastal power
a worker (especially a farm worker) can
installation which uses the natural power
live while employed by the owner.
of the ebb and flow of tides as they rush out
of and into an enclosed reservoir (tidal tierra caliente (Spanish) one of the four

414
 timber

altitudinal zones of low latitudes in the Central America, Mexico and the north¬
northern Andes, Central America and ern Andes, the altitudinal zone known as
Mexico (the others being tierra fria, the zone of coffee (the zone of perpetual
TIERRA TEMPLADA, TIERRA HELADA). spring in the northern Andes), lying
Tierra caliente is the lowest zone, the zone between the tierra caliente and the
of tropical products, the hot tropical tierra fria, from about 1000 m to
coastland from sea-level to about 1000 m 1800 m (3000 to 6000 ft), average annual
(3000 ft), where the climate is humid, the temperature varying between i8.3°C and
temperature varying little between 24°C 24°C (65°F and 75°F), the range between
and 27°C (74°F and 8o°F) throughout the the coldest and the warmest month rather
year, and with the difference between the less than that in the tierra caliente. The
coldest and warmest months not more natural vegetation is savanna with open
than three or four degrees. The natural forest; the crops are maize, coffee, tobacco;
vegetation is luxuriant and tropical, with but rainfall is too low for pasture.
dense forests in wetter parts. The crops are
till unstratified, unconsolidated drift-i
bananas, sugar, cocoa; with maize, tobacco
consisting of a heterogeneous mixture of
and coffee on the mountain slopes.
angular and/or subangular clay, sand,
tierra fria (Spanish) one of the four alti¬ gravel and boulders carried by ice and
tudinal zones oflow latitudes in the north¬ deposited, with little or no subsequent
ern Andes, Central America and Mexico sorting or transportation by water. The
(tierra caliente), the tierra fria, the term boulder clay, long in use, has
zone of grains, lying higher than the now been replaced by till; and recently
tierra templada, lower than the refinements in the nomenclature of till
tierra helada, i.e. from about 1800 m have been proposed, taking into account
to 3000 m (6000 to 10 000 ft). The average the processes which form the sediments
annual temperature lies between I2.5°C and the position of their deposition.
and i8°C (55°F and 65°F), there is little
tillage 1. the process of cultivating land
difference in temperature from one month
so as to make it fit for raising crops 2. land
to another, and the natural vegetation is
ploughed or hoed in the current year 3.
coniferous forest giving way to scrub and
arable land, excluding rotation grass
grassland with increasing height and
and clover.
decreasing temperature. The crops are
wheat and vegetables; the fruits are those tilt block a block of rock standing
common at sea-level in higher latitudes between prominent fault lines and slanted
in the northern hemisphere; and there is at an angle in such a way that its slopes
much pasture. contrast with those that border it. basin
AND RANGE, BLOCK FAULTING, TILTING.
tierra helada the highest of the altitudinal
zones (tierra caliente) in the northern tilting the condition of slanting or being
Andes, Central America and Mexico, the slanted from the horizontal or vertical.
permanently snow-covered region of
timber 1. a wood suitable for or processed
mountain summits, lying higher than the
for use in construction 2. a tree yielding
TIERRA FRIA.
such wood. HARDWOOD, LUMBER, SOFT¬
tierra templada (Spanish) in tropical WOOD.

415
 S v

timber-line

timber-line the altitudinal or latitudinal tmte (which may include hours of day¬
line or zone beyond which trees suf¬ light, or biological constraints such as the
ficiently large to be of use for timber circadian rhythm) and physical
cease to grow, tree-line. accessibility. For example, it is possible
to travel only a certain distance from home
time APPARENT TIME, DAYLIGHT SAV¬
to another place, to spend time there in
ING, GEOLOGICAL TIME, GMT, INTER¬
some activity (working, shopping, play¬
NATIONAL DATE LINE, LOCAL TIME,
ing, visiting friends, etc.) and to return
MEAN SOLAR TIME, STANDARD TIME;
home in daylight, or in waking hours.
and entries qualified by time.
TIME GEOGRAPHY.
time geography, time-space geo¬
time-space convergence the concept
graphy an approach to geography pro¬
that as improvements in transport pro¬
posed in the 1960s by T. Hagerstrand,
gress the significance of the travel time
Lund School of Geography, who saw time
between places diminishes, distance
and space as resources, inextricably linked,
DECAY PHENOMENON, FRICTION OF DIS¬
together imposing the boundary of the
TANCE, TIME-SPACE DISTANCIATION.
field within which human activities and
behaviour are possible (time-space con¬ time-space distanciation term used by
straints). Within this framework he Anthony Giddens to define the social
identified (a) capability constraints, those interaction of peoples across space and
imposed on an individual or group by time by which formerly separate, self-
physical limitations (e.g. need to eat/ contained social systems, remote from one
sleep), or the availability of the facilities another, come into contact and become
required; (b) coupling constraints, the interdependent and integrated, the inter¬
place, time and duration of time available action being facilitated by swift transport
for people to meet, cooperate, join organ¬ and communication systems (time-space
izations; (c) authority constraints, limita¬ convergence). Giddens distinguishes
tions imposed by law or tradition that these ‘distanciated’ contacts from the rou¬
determine the place and time when per¬ tine face-to-face contacts of everyday life,
sonal contacts are possible, e.g. legal work¬ normally confined to a fairly limited
ing and shop hours, transport timetables, locality.
etc.
time zone the division represented by 15 0
time-space compression a force identi¬ longitude (less in small countries) within
fied by D. Harvey, 1989, as the accelera¬ which the mean time of the central (or
tor in TIME-SPACE CONVERGENCE and near central) meridian is selected to rep¬
time-space distanciation. He attrib¬ resent the whole division, standard
uted it to the mechanism of capitalism time. Fig 43.
in its unceasing search for new markets
tin a silvery-white, soft, malleable,
and a quick turnover of capital for re¬
ductile, stable metallic element-6,
investment.
resistant at ordinary temperatures to the
time-space constraints, space-time chemical action of air and water. It occurs
constraints the boxmg-in of human mainly as the oxide cassiterite, either in
activity produced by the simultaneous placer deposits weathered from veins in
operation of the limitations of available granite, or directly from lodes. It is used

416
 topophilia

in the making of tinplate, and as an alloy to so much confusion that geographers

in solder, bronze etc. today tend to avoid it. Those who do use
it apply it in general to the description or
tithe I. from Old English, a tenth or
representation on a map of all the surface
tenth part, an application now obsolete 2.
features of an area, natural and artificial
historically, in England, a tenth part of
(topographic map). A few restrict it
annual agricultural produce etc. given as
to the relief features, but this use is not
an offering or paid as a tax (ultimately in
generally accepted.
monetary value), especially the tax levied
by the church for its support. topological adj. applied in geographical
studies as relating to, pertaining to, con¬
tithe barn a large barn where the agricul¬
cerned with enclosure, order, connect¬
tural produce representing tithes-2 was
ivity, contiguity and relative position
delivered and stored.
rather than with actual distance and ori¬
tombolo (Italian) a bar of sand or shingle entation, topological relationships be¬
linking an island to the mainland, or one ing frequently expressed in terms of
island to another. NETWORKS. TOPOLOGICAL MAP.

ton, tonne a measure of weight. In avoir¬ topological diagram or map a dia¬

dupois i long ton (lgt) is equal to 2240 lb grammatic map which shows the ac¬
(20 cwt of 112 lb) or 1.016 metric ton tual relationship of certain features (e.g.
(tonne). A metric ton (tonne) is equal to positions of towns) but on which true
1000 kilograms or 2204.62 lb or 0.984 scale is deformed to accommodate some
long ton, or 1.1 short ton. A short ton other consideration(s), e.g. the best way
(American ton) equals 1000 lb (i.e. 20 cwt to show a communications system. The
of 100 lb) or 0.907 tonne, or 0.892 long diagrammatic maps of underground rail¬
ton. way systems are good examples (e.g. of
the London Underground, or of the Paris
tonnage 1. the carrying capacity ofa vessel
Metro): they show connectivity, i.e. the
or the total carrying capacity of a fleet
way in which lines connect the stations,
measured in tons 2. the duty based on the
but are not concerned with the correct
cargo capacity of a vessel 3. the charge per
orientation of the stations, and they are
ton of cargo carried on canals or in some
not drawn to scale, graph-2.
ports. SHIPPING TONNAGE.

topographic adj. of or relating to topology a branch of mathematics con¬

TOPOGRAPHY. cerned with preserving certain relation¬
ships, e.g. closeness. The definition which
topographic map a map, usually on a restricts topology to the study of the
fairly large scale (e.g. 1:50000), rep¬ properties of a geometrical figure that are
resenting surface features, e.g. landforms unaffected when the figure is continuously
and other natural phenomena as well as transformed or deformed is too narrow
features produced by human activities. in its concept, topological, topolo¬
The term should not be applied to a map gical DIAGRAM.
showing only relief features, topo¬
graphy. toponymy the study of place-names,

topography a term which has given rise topophilia the love of place, the coupling

417
 \ V

topotype

of sentiment with place, mental map. Mexico meets cool, dry air from the north,
and when the heating of the land surface
topotype in ecology, a population with
is at its greatest. It may travel only a short
characteristics associated with a particular
distance (some 30 km: 18 mi) and last
region, which are distinct from the charac¬
under two hours, but in that time it mows
teristics of the population in another
down anything in its path, tropical
region.
REVOLVING STORM.
topsoil an imprecise term applied by agri¬
tour a journey made for pleasure or for
culturalists rather than by soil scientists to
reasons of business, inspection, education
the cultivated layer of the mature soil,
etc. which ends at the place of origin and
whatever soil horizons were originally
takes in several places or points of interest
involved, or to the surface soil as distinct
on the way. tourism.
from the subsoil.
tourism 1. the practice of making tours
tor a prominent, isolated mass of jointed,
for pleasure 2. synonym for tourist indus¬
weathered rock, usually granite, especially
try, the whole business of providing hotel
one rising from the moorland of Dart¬
and other accommodation, facilities and
moor, southwest England.
amenities for those travelling, or visiting,
tornado I. African tornado, a violent or staying in a place for a relatively limited
storm over the lands of west Africa, con¬ period of time primarily for pleasure.
sisting of a squall, usually with torrential ADVENTURE TOURISM, ECOTOURISM.
rain, sometimes of short duration, but
extending over a long front (up to 320 km:
tower karst, turmkarst karst formed
200 mi) associated with a thunder¬ in tropical conditions (tropical karst),
with isolated limestone hills, generally
storm. It occurs most frequently in day¬
flat-topped with steep, forest-covered
time between the wet and dry seasons
when humid monsoon air from the south¬ sides, interspersed with stretches of allu¬

west meets the dry northeasterly har- vium or other detrital sand, kegelkarst.

mattan from the Sahara 2. a violent,

town in general, a place larger than a
anticlockwise, very destructive, short¬
village consisting of a compact agglom¬
lived revolving storm (sometimes termed
eration of dwellings, shops, offices, public
a twister in USA), usually accompanied
buildings etc., usually with paved roads,
by rain and thunder, associated with
street lighting, public services, an organ¬
an intensely low pressure system, with
ized local government, and a community
wind velocities estimated to exceed
pursuing a distinctive, urban way of life.
320 kph (200 mph), in some examples
Specialized functions are commonly de¬
travelling a nearly straight track at between
fined by qualification (e.g. market town,
16 and 80 kph (10 and 50 mph), and with
mining town, railway town) as are
a dark, funnel-shaped cloud (funnel
locational features (e.g. gap town, sea¬
cloud), small in diameter, appearing to
side town), or special characteristics (e.g.
grow downwards from dark cumulon¬
GHOST TOWN, SHANTY TOWN).
imbus cloud. Such a tornado is particularly
common in the Mississippi basin in the township 1. in Scotland, a crofting
afternoons in spring and early summer township, a district in the crofting coun¬
where warm humid air from the Gulf of ties, comprising individually held croft

418
 trade wind

land and the common grazing, the croft traction load bed load, traction.
land being separated from the common
trade the business of distributing, selling
pasture by the township dyke (a stone or
and exchanging commodities.
turf wall), the number of crofts varying
widely (from six to fifty or more) 2. trade gap in the trade of a country, the
(American) a term applied in two ways in amount by which, over a period of time,
Public Land Survey, USA, the first being the value of imports exceeds that of ex¬
to the congressional townships of 6 mi ports.
square, whether it is settled or not, the
trade-off theory of land use, a theory
second to the northern component drawn
which maintains that consumers are pre¬
up for locating and identifying the town¬
pared to trade-off (balance out) rents and
ships 3. in Australia, a tract of land laid out
transport costs, i.e. to trade-off the access¬
with streets and subdivided into lots for
ibility offered by city centre sites (where
future urban development, or a temporary
the plots of land are small and the cost of
settlement on such a site 4. in the former
land is high, but transport costs involved
Republic of South Africa, separate areas
in living there are low) and the lower land
of generally low standard housing reserved
costs but higher transport costs incurred in
for Africans, Asians or ‘coloured’ people.
living in suburban sites. Trade-off theory
towpath a path alongside a navigable river thus relies on the ideas of indifference
or canal, used originally by draught animals theory (a theory which states that, within
or people towing boats. certain limits, consumers are indifferent to
varying combinations of goods, e.g. of
trace element one of the chemical
high rents and low transport costs, or low
elements present in relatively small quan¬
rents and high transport costs), and is used
tities in the earth’s crust, and essential in
particularly in studies of residential land
very small amount for the normal health
use. It is similar to bid rent theory (bid
of plants and animals, e.g. boron, copper,
price curve) in that it explains residential
manganese, molybdenum, zinc for higher
location decision solely in terms of minim¬
plants, cobalt for cattle and sheep, iodine
izing travel costs (accessibility) and hous¬
for human beings. An insufficiency or lack
ing costs (location rent). If a graph is drawn
of intake of trace elements may lead to
to show transport costs, land costs and
deficiency diseases. An excess is in some
overall cost in relation to distance from
cases harmful, macronutrient, micro¬
the city centre, there will be various points
nutrient.
where the mix of land and transport costs
trace fossil the trace of plant or animal produces the same overall cost. These are
activities (e.g. tracks or burrows ofanimals, the points of access/space trade-off which,
root passages of plants) preserved in the in those terms, present the consumer with
rocks of the earth’s crust, fossil. a choice of best location, the consumer in
this case being indifferent to the alternative
traction a process in the transportation of
combinations of factors which make up
debris by a river, in which the debris rolls
the total costs.
and slides along parallel with and close
to the bed, other debris being carried in trade wind (from nautical phrase to blow
solution-i and suspension, salta¬ trade, to blow a regular course) a constant
tion. wind which blows (more strongly over

419
 V v
traffic in endangered species

the ocean than over the continents) from commodity movements, e.g. tariff walls.
V
the tropical high pressure belts towards
transform fault in theory of plate tec¬
the equatorial LOW in the northern and
tonics, a massive tear fault that marks
southern hemispheres, i.e. from the north¬
the divide where two plates slide past each
east in the northern, from the southeast
other, the edges moving jerkily and jost¬
in the southern, the typical planetary
ling each other but staying close together.
WINDS. ANTI-TRADE WIND, HADLEY
The plates do not dive into the mantle,
CELL, WESTERLIES. Fig 5.
no material is added to or subtracted from
traffic in endangered species cites. the earth’s crust, but the friction arising
from the movement of the plates usually
traffic principle, transportation prin¬
causes severe earthquakes and earth
ciple one of the principles used by
tremors, e.g. the San Francisco earth¬
W. Christaller to account for the varying
quake, 1906, caused by the movement
levels and distribution ofcENTR al places
along the San Andreas transform fault in
in a central place system. Assuming
California, USA.
ease and efficiency of transport between
central places to be the dominant consider¬ transhumance a periodic or seasonal
ation, as many lower order centres as pos¬ movement of pastoral farmers and live¬
sible will he on the traffic routes between stock seeking fresh pasture between two
the higher order centres (shown by a K-4 areas of different climatic condition, e.g.
hierarchy, where a higher order place in mountainous areas, the movement from
serves three adjacent lower order places). valley floor, the winter location, to moun¬
There will therefore be a greater number tain pasture for the summer, and the return
of higher order centres than is accounted to the valley in autumn; or the movement
for by the marketing principle, ad¬ from drought-stricken lowlands in sum¬
ministrative PRINCIPLE, K-VALUE. mer to cooler higher land, as in Spain.
Fig 9(a). Some authors also use the term as equi¬
valent to nomadism, the migration of
trajectory the path of an individual parcel
nomadic pastoralists in search of fresh pas¬
of air over some duration of time, in con¬
ture in a regular, seasonal pattern according
trast to STREAMLINE.
to the rainfall regime, mayen.
tramontana, tramontane, tramon-
transition zone the zone surrounding
tanto (Spanish; Italian, north wind) a cold
the CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT, with
dry north or northeast wind descending
residential areas invaded by business and
towards the sea from cold, dry plateaus in
light manufacturing, mainly from the
the western Mediterranean area.
core-2, but also from elsewhere.
transcurrent fault tear fault.
transit trade in international trade, trade
transect a section taken across a tract of' in which freight is exported from one
country for the purpose of studying the country to cross another, or others, before
vegetation in relation to soil and relief. reaching its destination in the importing
country.
transfer costs in international trade,
transport costs combined with the translocation in soil science, the transfer
costs of overcoming other obstacles to of substances in solution-i or suspen-

420
 traverse

sion from one soil horizon to another. the site of deposition, the agents being
ILLUVIATION. running water, ice (glaciers and ice sheets),
wind, the ocean (waves, tides, currents).
transnational capitalism capitalism
The material earned, termed the load
that is non-territorial, not only crossing
(load of a river), may itself act as an
state borders in seeking new markets, raw
eroding agent (abrasion, corrasion),
materials, cheaper labour, but concerned
suffering attrition as the particles rub
especially with speculative finance capital
against each other and the surface over
in the world economy, state capit¬
which they are being carried.
alism.
transportation slope a slope-2 on
transnational corporation multi¬
which at each point the amount of material
national CORPORATION.
received from points upslope is balanced
transnational movements social, cul¬ by the loss of material passing downslope.
tural and political networks that cross
transport costs all the costs involved in
territorial boundaries of existing states
the moving of goods from one place to
without having a dominant base which
another, e.g. inventory, paperwork, hand¬
expresses the interests of any individual
ling, packaging, insurance, freight rates,
state (or groups within such a state).
temporary warehousing en route etc.
transpiration the loss ofwATER vapour TRANSFER COSTS.
from a plant mainly through the tiny pores
transverse adj. crosswise, lying across,
in the outermost layer of cells, i.e. from
crossing from one side to another.
the stomata of the leaves, resulting in a
stream of water with dissolved mineral transverse coast an Atlantic type
salts surging up through the plant. Tran¬ COASTLINE, or DISCORDANT COAST.
spiration is unlike evaporation in that
transverse dune a dune with its crest
it takes place through living tissue under
running at right angles to the direction
the influence of the physiology of the
of the prevailing wind, longitudinal
plant. EVAPOTRANSPIRATION.
DUNE.
transport the act of carrying material or
transverse valley a valley which cuts
a person from one place to another. In
across a ridge, at right angles to the ridge.
British usage the terms transport and
LONGITUDINAL VALLEY.
transportation are commonly inter¬
changeable, transport being preferred transverse wave shake wave.
except in geomorphology in the cases
traverse a surveyed line consisting of a
cited below. American usage generally
series of observations (legs), measured in
favours transportation.
distance and direction from a known start¬
transportation i. (American) the carry¬ ing-point, the end of one leg being the
ing or the conveying of material or a person beginning of the next, thus incorporating
from one place to another 2. a phase in cumulative error. The term closed traverse
the process of denudation concerned is applied if the legs are joined to link a
with the conveying of loose material of known starting-point to a known fin-
the earth’s crust by a natural agent (other ishing-point. If the position of only the
than mass movement by gravity) to starting-point or the finishing-point is

421
 N. S>

trawl

accurately known, and the legs are joined, streams at right angles, angulate drain¬
the traverse is termed an open traverse. age. Fig 17.
TRIANGULATION.
trench 1. a deep elongated submanne
trawl, trawler a large bag-shaped fishing trough. DEEP, OCEANIC TRENCH 2. a

net with a wide mouth which is dragged long narrow valley between two moun¬

along the bottom of the sea by a boat; tain ranges, especially a rift valley or

hence trawler, a fishing boat dragging a a U-SHAPED VALLEY.

trawl for catching fish.

trend line the grain, the pattern of
the main structural lines, e.g. of folding
treaty port a sea or river port (later also an
(fold-2) and faulting (fault) in a region.
inland town) opened by treaty to foreign
trade, applied especially in the nineteenth trend surface analysis a statistical tech¬
century to certain ports in China, Japan, nique particularly useful to the geographer
Korea. In 1842 the first in China were in that it extends regression analysis
opened with extraterritorial rights to to three dimensions. It entails the fitting
foreigners. The system ended in 1943. of a statistical surface to values which are
EXTRATERRITORIALITY. distributed in space, using a mathematical
power function, usually with the aid of
tree a woody perennial rising from the
a computer. The observations of the de¬
ground with a strong, distinct trunk.
pendent variable represent a series of
HERB-I, SHRUB.
sample points on a map, and the inde¬
pendent variables are the coordin¬
tree-line, tree-limit (synonymous with
ates (latitudinal and longitudinal) of those
timber-line in American usage) the line
points; but in order to describe the surface
or zone beyond which trees do not grow,
accurately some transformation of the
governed mainly by temperature and
independent variables may be necessary.
water supply, but also by soil, aspect and
exposure 1. the upper limit of tree growth triangular trade the infamous trade of
on a mountain (sometimes termed the cold seventeenth-nineteenth century identi¬
timber-line to distinguish it from the dry fied by the export of manufactured goods
timber-line of arid regions) 2. the lower from western Europe to west Africa where
limit of tree growth on mountains in arid they were bartered for African slaves, who
regions where precipitation decreases with were transported to plantations in South
descent down the slope 3. the latitudinal America, the West Indies and North
limit at which tree growth ceases. America, the ships returning to Europe
laden with sugar, rum and indigo from the
trellis drainage, trellised drainage
West Indies, and tobacco or cotton from
drainage-2 with a rectilinear pattern,
Virginia.
occurring particularly in areas of folded
sedimentary rocks, e.g. in scarplands, triangulation in surveying, the series or
where consequent, subsequent, network of triangles into which a land area
OBSEQUENT and SECONDARY CONSE¬ of any size may be divided in a trigono¬
QUENT streams cut channels through the metrical survey in order to provide a
less resistant rocks at right angles to the geodetic framework for a topographical
initial slope, and thus meet the main survey. From a pre-determined base

422
 tropical climate

line, which serves as one side of the cancer) and23°3o'S (tropic of capri¬
primary triangle, triangles are constructed, corn).
their angles being measured with a
tropical adj. of or pertaining to the
theodolite, the length of their sides
tropics, relating either to the specific
being calculated by trigonometry as
parallels of latitude, 23°3o'N or 23°3o'S;
the equipment is moved from one point
or to the zone lying between those two
that is to be determined to another. Tri-
parallels; or to that zone with the adja¬
angulation may be of primary, secondary
cent areas, since major climatic and other
or tertiary order, in accord with the area of
changes take place more nearly at 30°N
the triangles and the standard of accuracy
or S thanat23°3o'N orS. But some authors
needed, traverse.
exclude as distinct the doldrums or belt
Triassic adj. of or relating to the earli¬ of calms (itcz) or the equatorial belt.
est period (of time) or system (of rocks)
tropical air mass an air mass, symbol
of the mesozoic era, when reptiles were
T, originating within the subtropical
donnnant, gymnosperm plants (plants pro¬
high pressure belts, either the warm,
ducing seeds not enclosed in an ovary)
moist maritime tropical (mT), originating
appeared, and sandstone and pebble beds,
in the trade wind belt and subtropical
shelly limestone, red sandstones and marls,
waters of the ocean, or the hot, very dry,
with layers of rock salt and gypsum, were
unstable continental tropical (cT), origin¬
laid down.
ating in low latitude deserts (especially
tributary a stream or river flowing into the Sahara and Australian deserts), polar
a larger one. FRONT.

trigonometric(al) survey a survey car¬ tropical climate any of several types of

ried out by triangulation and trigo¬ climate occurnng in the tropics (in this
nometrical calculation. case the term tropics is understood to
exclude the equatorial belt with its
trigonometry the branch of mathematics
equatorial climate), i.e. one of the
that deals with the relationship between
belts which for part of the year comes
the sides and angles of triangles (plane
under the influence of trade winds but
figures bounded by three straight lines).
for the rest of the year is subject to con-
trip a short journey, especially one of a vectional rain. There is no cold (winter)
series of journeys over a particular route. season, but in general there are three
others, i.e. hot rainy, cool dry, hot dry,
trophic adj. of or related to a food supply, with average monthly temperatures ex¬
or the obtaining of nutrition. ceeding i8°C (64.4°F) and with consider¬
able rainfall, mainly convectional, the
trophic level i. one of the levels in a
maximum falling in the hot rainy period.
food chain or food web 2. the nutri¬
The two main types are marine, which
ent level of a body of water, especially in
lacks a pronounced dry season (tropical
relation to nitrate and phosphate content.
marine, tropical marine monsoon) and
EUTROPHIC.
continental, with a pronounced dry season
tropic one of the two parallels of latitude (tropical continental, tropical continental
of approximately 23°3o'N (tropic of monsoon), humid tropicality.

423
 s. V.

tropical cyclone

tropical cyclone tropical revolving Tropic of Capricorn an imaginary line

STORM. encircling the earth at approximately
23°3o' south of the equator, where the
tropical easterly jet stream a jet
sun’s midday rays are vertical about 21
stream moving from east to west at very
December, the most southerly point of
high altitudes over southeast Asia.
the ecliptic, and the southern limit of

tropical forest the natural vegetation the tropics.

covering the wooded parts of the tropics Tropics, tropics the zone of the earth’s
which have a dry season, rain forest, surface lying between the tropic of
TROPICAL CLIMATE. cancer and the tropic of capricorn
(i.e. between 23°3o'N and23°3o'S), where
tropical grasslands campo, llano,
the sun’s rays strike vertically at noon on
SAVANNA.
at least two days in the year, termed the
tropicality humid tropicality. torrid zone in classical times, humid
tropicality (humid tropics), tropic,
tropical karst karst formed in tropical
TROPICAL, TROPICAL AIR MASS, TROP¬
conditions, i.e. high temperature and high
ICAL climate and other entries quali¬
rainfall, the two main forms being kegel-
fied by tropical; and tropicality.
KARST and TOWER KARST.
tropopause a zone of the atmosphere-i
tropical revolving storm a small,
consisting of several, overlapping levels,
localized, very deep low pressure area
separating the troposphere from the
occurring most commonly in late summer
stratosphere. In the tropopause tem¬
or early autumn in tropical latitudes over
peratures cease to decrease with increasing
the western margins of the great oceans,
height (as in the troposphere): there is a
usually moving very slowly along fairly
pause for some kilometres in height before
well-defined tracks and causing much
they begin to increase with increasing
destruction. An intense cyclonic circu¬
height (as in the stratosphere). The level
lation is set up about the centre, with
of the tropopause varies daily, seasonally
violent winds sometimes exceeding
and latitudinally, but in general it is some
160 kph (i oo mph), accompanied by dense
18 km (11 mi) above the earth’s surface at
dark clouds, heavy rain, sometimes thun¬
the equator, some 6 km (4 mi) at the
der and lightning; but near the centre, the
poles. Fig 4.
eye, where pressure is at its lowest, there
is an area of calm with a clear sky. In the tropophyte a plant adapted to living
areas affected the storms are given spe¬ in moist or dry conditions according
cial, local names, cyclone, hurricane, to seasonal variation, e.g. deciduous
TYPHOON, WILLY-WILLY. trees, which shed their leaves when
adequate water is unavailable, hydro¬
Tropic of Cancer an imaginary line
phyte, HYGROPHYTE, MESOPHYTE,
encircling the earth at approximately
XEROPHYTE.
23°3o' north of the equator, where the
sun’s midday rays are vertical about 21 troposphere a layer of the atmo¬
June, the most northerly point of the sphere-i in which temperature decreases
ecliptic, and the northern limit of the with height at a mean rate of some 6-5°C
TROPICS. per km (3.6°Fper 1000 ft), the layer nearest

424
 tsetse fly

to the earth’s surface, i.e. below the the observer, as distinct from magnetic
tropopause. The thickness of the tropo¬ north and grid north.
sphere vanes from 7 to 8 km (11 to 13 mi)
near the poles to some 16 km (26 mi) over true origin the point on which the
the equator. It contains nearly all the dust grid-1 system on a map is based, at the

and liquid particles, some 90 per cent of intersection of the projection axes (the

the water vapour, and 75 per cent of the central meridian and a line drawn at right

total gases in the atmosphere, so most of angles to it), false origin.

the weather activity affecting human life

true south true north.
on earth takes place in its lower layers.
Fig 4- truncated soil a soil which has lost all
or part of its upper horizons by erosion.
trough 1. a deep or trench in the ocean
floor 2. an elongated U-shaped valley 3. truncated spur a spur which projected
a syncline 4. of a wave, the position of into the side of a pre-glacial valley until
displacement or disturbance opposite to the valley became glaciated, when it was
the position of a crest, the depression sharply cut and shortened by the glacier
between any two crests of a regular wave as it moved down the valley, u-shaped
motion 5. in meteorology, a narrow, elon¬ VALLEY.
gated region of low barometric pressure
between two areas of higher pressure. trust territory, trusteeship a territory
(which is not self-governing) under the
trough end a steep wall of rock at the authority of the United Nations, or an
head of a glaciated valley. authority deputed by the United Nations
Trusteeship Council. It may be a former
trough lake a lake occupying part of the
mandated territory not yet inde¬
floor of a trench made by an alpine
pendent, a territory taken away from a state
GLACIER.
after the Second World War, a territory
truck farming (American) the cultiva¬ placed under the authority of the United
tion of vegetables and fruit for market. Nations by the state governing it. The
Truck farming differs from British mar¬ Charter of the Trusteeship Council of the
ket gardening mainly in that it is on United Nations provides a system to safe¬
a larger scale, there is a concentration on guard the interests of the inhabitants of
one or more crops, and the distance of the the territories not yet fully self-governing.
enterprise from the market is greater.
trypanosomiasis any disease caused by a
true dip in geology, dip-2, i.e. the max¬ trypanosome, a microscopic organism,
imum inclination of a stratum, as distinct e.g. sleeping sickness.
from APPARENT DIP. STRIKE. Fig 16.
tsetse fly a member of Glossina, family
true north, true south the direction Glossinidae, a bloodsucking fly of central
determined by the geographical north and south Africa, carrying trypanosomes
pole or south pole of the earth, i.e. which cause nagana, a disease fatal to do¬
the direction of the geographical North mestic animals, notably cattle, and sleep¬
or South Pole from the observer, i.e. ing sickness and other diseases affecting
along the meridian passing through human beings. The presence of tsetse fly

425
 \ V

tsunami

restricts the areas where cattle rearing is spreading of a more fluid lava below, thus
possible in Africa. resembling a laccolith in origin.

tsunami (Japanese) a large-scale seismic tundra (Russian) a treeless region and its
ocean wave (incorrectly termed a tidal associated vegetation north of the north¬
wave) caused by a submarine earthquake ern latitudinal tree-line, characterized
or a volcanic eruption. It travels at great by long, very cold winters and perma¬
speed in the open ocean (between some frost, and supporting a vegetation of
600 and 1000 kph: 370 and 1600 mph), mosses, lichens, herbs-i and dwarf
with enough energy in some cases to travel shrubs, infested with insects (blackflies,
halfway round the world. The wave height midges, mosquitoes) in the short summer.
is low in the open ocean, but on entering The mean monthly summer temperature
shallow water the energy is concentrated, lies below io°C (50°F), warm enough to
resulting in a wave of great height (up to thaw the snow and the surface of the
15 m: 50 ft), inundating low-lying areas permafrost, providing ideal marshy con¬
on the shore. ditions in the ill-drained soils for msect-
breedmg. Koppen included tundra in
tuba cloud a cloud in the shape of a his polar zone, koppen’s climatic
cone or column emerging from a cloud CLASSIFICATION, TUNDRA SOIL.
BASE, e.g. a FUNNEL CLOUD.
tundra soil a dark-coloured shallow soil
tuber the swollen food-storing part of an with a highly organic surface layer and
underground stem (e.g. potato) or root usually (but not necessarily) with frozen
of a plant. subsoil. Comparatively little moisture is
available but where it is the typical
tube well a well dug or drilled to reach
tundra plants in decay give rise to a
a deep-seated supply of water, lined with
surface layer of organic material which
a pipe (a tube).
accumulates and forms a peaty layer over
tufa (Italian) calc tufa, a soft porous sedi¬ an anaerobic layer. In general soil pro¬
mentary rock composed of calcium files are not well developed, and the soils
carbonate orsiLiCA, depositedby evap¬ range from polar desert soil in the arid
oration of circulating ground water, north to Arctic brown earths in the more
or water in lakes, or water near the point of humid upland regions with better drain¬
issue of a spring-2 or thermal spring. age.

tuff a rock formed from compacted or turbidity cloudiness in a fluid caused by

cemented pyroclastic material (fine disturbance which results in the holding
volcanic dust, ash etc. thrown out of a in suspension of finely-divided particles.
volcano in eruption), with particles
turbidity current a current occurring
smaller than 4 mm in diameter.
in the ocean when sediment is locally
tumulus 1. an ancient burial mound. churned up (e.g. by an earthquake, or by
barrow 2. a small mound or hummock material sliding down the continental
of solid lava on a lava flow, in some cases slope), raising the density of the water to
up to 9 m (30 ft) in height and 18 m higher values than that of the surrounding
(60 ft) across at the base, produced by clear water. The heavier water flows very
the resistance of the lava surface to the swiftly, under the influence of gravity,

426
 typhoon

down any available slope, spreading out sunrise) and after it has sunk below the
on a horizontal floor, turbulence due horizon (sunset) in the evening, its dur¬
to the flow tends to keep the sediment in ation depending on the date and latitude,
suspension until the flow itself ceases; i.e. brief in tropical regions, longer in
thf_ sediment is then deposited. Turbidity higher latitudes, sunrise, sunset 2.
currents near the ocean floor have an ero- astronomical twilight begins in the morn¬
sional effect and are thought to have cut ing when the centre of the sun is 18° below
deep valleys in the continental slope. the horizon, lasting until dawn; in the
SUBMARINE CANYON. evening from sunset until the centre of
the sun is i8° below the horizon. About
turbulence movement of a fluid in the time of the solstice in high lat¬
which the flow is not in smooth, parallel itudes the sun’s centre never sinks to i8°
layers, but in eddies (eddy), so that mixing below the horizon, so twilight is continu¬
occurs, in contrast to a smooth laminar ous from sunset to sunrise for some nights,
flow. The term is used especially in the number of such nights increasing
meteorology in connexion with the flow towards the poles. 3. civil twilight is classi¬
and mixing of air (diffusion-z). Turbu¬ fied as commencing or ending when the
lence in river flow helps to carry material sun’s centre is 6° below the horizon, when
in suspension; and it is a characteristic the light is judged to be sufficient for out¬
feature of ocean drift-2, hydraulic door work 4. nautical twilight commences
force. or ends when the sun’s centre is 120 below
the horizon, when the light should be
turnpike historically, a spiked bamer
sufficient to allow vague shapes to be seen.
fixed across a passage for defence purposes;
later a gate placed across a road (hence twilight area the part of a town where old
turnpike road) where a toll was paid by buildings in need of repair and inadequate
anyone wishing to use the road. In Britain facilities lead to poor living conditions.
in the eighteenth century the roads were
twister a tornado-2 in USA, a
privately owned (especially by ‘turnpike
WATERSPOUT.
trusts’) and maintained by these tolls. Later
the term turnpike was applied to the road two-field system a simple system of cul¬
itself; and later still revived, especially in tivation practised in parts of medieval Eng¬
the USA, and applied to motorways sub¬ land, in which half the land was cultivated,
ject to a charge or toll. half left fallow each season, three-field
system.
tussock grass bunch grass.
typhoon a violent tropical revolving
twilight i. the faint light of the sun re¬ storm in the China Sea and adjacent
flected from the upper atmosphere-i on regions, particularly around the Philip¬
to the earth before the sun itself rises above pines, commonly occurring in the period
the honzon in the morning (dawn or from July to October.
 \ V

ubac (French dialect; Italian opaco; Ger¬ quartz or feldspar, with a silica con¬
man Schattenseite) the shady side of a tent less than 45 per cent and a basic-1
valley facing away from the sun, in contrast oxide content more than 55 per cent,
to ADRET. largely FERROM AGNESI an minerals, me¬
tallic oxides, sulphides. Ultrabasic rocks
ubiquitous materials the raw materials
usually occur in association with other
used in manufacturing industry
basic rocks in layered igneous intru¬
which are available anywhere, not loc¬
sions.
alized, and therefore do not influence the
selection of location of the industry con¬ ultraviolet radiation very short elec¬
cerned. RESOURCE ORIENTATION. tromagnetic waves emanating from
the sun, with wavelengths between those
Uinta structure (USA: from the Uinta
of x-rays and those of the violet end of
mountains, Utah) a broad, flattened an¬
visible light. Most ultraviolet radiation is
ticlinal flexure from which strata
absorbed by ozone molecules in the
descend sharply on each flank before
upper atmosphere, but some reaches the
resuming their horizontal state. In the
earth’s surface in sunlight, especially in
Uinta mountains there is a classic example
high mountainous areas. It plays an im¬
of subsidence and uplift on a giant scale,
portant part as a photochemical agent
a flattened anticlinal flexure being there
in some life processes, e.g. it acts on the
raised up in Cretaceous times, later ex¬
skm of some animals, including people, as
tensively denuded to expose Precam-
a factor in helping to produce vitamin D;
brian rocks, uplifted again at the end of
but an excess of ultra violet radiation can be
the Eocene, with large faults on its north
lethal to organic life, electromagnetic
and south flanks, and again uplifted in the
spectrum.
late Pliocene-Pleistocene epochs, geolo¬
gical timescale. umiak the traditional Inuit open boat
made from skins stretched tightly over
ultisols in soil classification, USA,
a wooden frame, paddled especially by
an order of soils which are deeply weath¬
women and children.
ered and relatively infertile, lacking base
minerals, having red and yellow clay umland (German) an area which is
constituents, associated with humid tem¬ culturally, economically and politically
perate to tropical climates. Character¬ related to a particular town or city, urban
istically the a horizon is marked by field is now the preferred term.
residual iron oxides and the b horizon
uncertainty I. the possibility that several
has accumulations of clay.
outcomes will occur as a consequence of
ultrabasic rock an igneous rock, gen¬ a decision or action, the form but not the
erally Plutonic and containing very little probability of each being known. Thus

428
 underdeveloped

uncertainty is incalculable, while risk is outside curve of a meandering stream, the

calculable 2. in statistics, the degree to opposite tO SLIP-OFF SLOPE. UNDER¬
which a sample statistic (e.g. the mean or CUTTING.
median) does not agree with (is in error
undercutting the carving away, eroding,
from) the ‘true’ value which would have
of material from the undersurface as by
been found if the whole population-4
I. the current of a meandering stream,
had been measured. The degree of uncer¬
cutting into its bank on the outside of a
tainty is sometimes termed the limits of
bend, meander 2. a sand-laden wind in
error.
deserts, eroding the base of exposed rocks
unconformable adj. applied to an overly¬ 3. wave action against cliffs along sea

ing rock stratum which does not con¬ coasts.

form in dip and strike to the underlying
underdeveloped, underdeveloped
strata, conformable, unconformity.
lands, underdevelopment terms that
unconformity in geology, a break or came into prominence in 1949 as a result
gap in the continuity of a stratigraphical of President Truman’s inaugural address
sequence, between two beds that are in in the USA, applied to those countries to

contact, where the overlying younger which the adjective ‘backward’ had pre¬

rocks have been laid down on a surface viously been applied but to which excep¬
resulting from a very long period of de¬ tion was naturally taken by their people.
nudation, the older, lower set of beds Underdeveloped (of a country or region)
having been laid down then uplifted, came to be applied to one not achieving
tilted, warped or folded and denuded to the level that could be reached, given its
a greater or less degree before the depos¬ natural and economic resources, if the
ition of the upper, younger series. The necessary capital, skills, machinery etc.
plane or the division between two such were available, i.e. underdevelopment was
sets is the unconformity, and it implies assessed in economic and technical terms.
a break (of any duration) in a geological From an economist’s viewpoint, under¬
record. developed can be applied to a country
which could use more capital, labour or
underclass an imprecise term, variously more available resources (or all of these) to
used, but in general applied to disad¬ support its present population on a higher
vantaged people who suffer multiple living standard or, if its per caput income
deprivation, who do not share in the is already fairly high, could support a larger
benefits of the society in which they live, population on a living standard which
who may fall outside a prevailing welfare would not be lower. In time the narrow
system, and who live in poverty-3 . pov¬ economic view of underdevelopment
erty CYCLE. came to be regarded as unsatisfactory: it
did not take into account social conditions
underdid a large mass of unstable rock
in the country or region concerned. It is
debris lying below a cliff, consisting of
thus now usual to include a c msideration
material which has slipped as a result of
of social (as well as economic and tech¬
weathering, occurring particularly if chalk
nical) elements in references to develop¬
overlies clay.
ment or underdevelopment. Over time
undercut slope the steeper slope on the other terms have been introduced relating

429
 S. x.

underfit river

to underdevelopment, e.g. in relation to usually get jobs only by retraining or by

poverty or to the degree of realized po¬ accepting work needing less skill than they
tential, less developed country (LDC), possess, de-skilling), or frictional (va¬
moderately developed country (MDC) cant jobs available and the unemployed
or highly developed country (HDC). have the appropriate skills but for some rea¬
Other terms refer to the stage reached in son, e.g. immobility or lack of informa¬
industrialization, e.g. advanced in¬ tion, the unemployed do not fill them).
dustrial country (AIC) and newly indust¬
UNEP United Nations Environment
rializing country (NIC), brandt re¬
Programme, an agency ol the United
port, developed, developing, DEVEL¬
Nations formed in 1972 to coordinate
OPMENT, INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF
intergovernmental measures for the moni¬
LABOUR, THIRD WORLD.
toring and protection of the environment.
underfit river, underfit stream misfit
Unesco United Nations Educational,
RIVER.
Scientific and Cultural Organization, an
undergrowth the low plants (herbs-i, agency of the United Nations established
shrubs and saplings) under the trees in a in 1946 to promote international collabor¬
forest or in woodland. ation in education, science and culture in
the cause of peace and security.
underpopulation too few people in
relation to resources, a term applied to the uneven development the condition at
population in an area where the available any time in the development-i of an
resources-i are not used so fully as they economic and/or social system, or in com¬
might be because very few people live pared regions or territories, when some
there, overpopulation. parts progress and prosper while others are

undertow a strong current flowing near static or in relative decline. Some writers

the bottom of the sea close to the shore, maintain that increased global competition

pulling away from or aligned with the and the mobility of capital (and the col¬

coastline. It is caused by the flowing sea¬ lapse of state socialism) encourage uneven

wards of water thrown up on the beach development and spatial differentiation.

by a wave. AREAL DIFFERENTIATION, GLOBALIZA¬

TION, INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF LA¬
undiscovered reserves reserves which BOUR, UNDERDEVELOPMENT.
are thought, on the basis of current scien¬
tific knowledge, to exist; or are known to uniclinal adj. applied by some authors to
exist but of which the extent and quantity strata dipping steadily and uniformly in
are uncertain, resources. one direction, hence uniclinal structure.

unemployment I. lack of employment, uniclinal shifting the process of asym¬

the state of being unable to secure paid metrical development of a valley due to a
employment 2. the inability to find a paid stream which, following the line of the
job at the current wage rate, commonly geological strike, tends to cut sideways
classified as demand deficient (no vacant in the direction of the dip, i.e. the valley
jobs of any type), structural (the skills of is gradually eroded and moved laterally
the unemployed do not fit the jobs avail¬ down the dip. Some authors apply the
able; the unemployed in this category can term monoclinal shifting to this pro-

430
 upland

cess, but others consider this confusing languages being English, French and (in
(uniclinal), preferring uniclinal because the General Assembly) Arabic, Chinese,
it implies a uniform dip in one direction. Spanish and Russian. The official lan¬
guages are English, French, Russian,
uniformitarianism the principle that the
Spanish and Chinese. The principal organs
processes and natural laws existing in the
are the General Assembly, the Security
past, which steadily and slowly brought
Council, the Economic and Social Coun¬
about changes in and on the surface of
cil, the Trusteeship Council, the Inter¬
the earth, can still be seen at work today.
national Court of Justice, the Secretariat.
The opposite view is expressed in cata¬
A very full account of the United Nations,
strophe THEORY.
its operations and agencies appears in The

unimproved adj. not used well, not made Statesman’s Year-Book, The Macmillan

better, not enhanced in value, e.g. as Press Ltd.

applied to land which has not been

United Nations Conference on Trade
cultivated.
and Development unctad.
uninverted relief a landscape where the
unstable air mass an air mass with a
surface relief reflects the underlying
high water vapour content, liable to
geological structure, where hill ridges
spontaneous convectional activity (con¬
coincide with anticlines and valleys
vection) which results in heavy showers
with synclines, the opposite of in¬
and THUNDERSTORMS.
verted RELIEF.
unstable equilibrium the state of the
unitary system of government, a state
atmosphere-i where the environ¬
system in which authoritative control is
mental LAPSE RATE of an AIR MASS
vested in a central or national government
exceeds the dry adiabatic lapse rate.
which delegates power to local govern¬
Such an air mass, being warmer and lighter
ment authorities, federal system.
than the air around it, will rise and go on

United Nations an association of coun¬ rising. If it is very moist it will cool very

tries which by signing the Charter pledge slowly, at the saturated lapse rate,

themselves to maintain international peace and be even more unstable, leading to the

and so to help the political, social and eco¬ formation oflarge cumulus clouds which

nomic progress of the world. The or¬ may be associated with heavy rainfall,

ganization is not authorized to intervene HAIL, THUNDERSTORMS. It Will Stop rising

in the domestic affairs of any state. It ori¬ only when its temperature equals that of

ginated during the Second World War, the surrounding air. stable equilib¬

statesmen from the UK, USA and USSR rium.

(including Winston Churchill, Franklin

upland, uplands a general, unspecific
Roosevelt andjoseph Stalin) agreeing that
term applied to higher ground, in contrast
such a conflict must never happen again.
to lowland or lowlands. It usually implies
They met at Washington DC in August—
an area of relatively subdued relief inland,
September 1944, talks with China came
away from the coast.
later, and the United Nations came for¬
mally into existence on 24 October 1945, upland, uplands adj. situated or living
headquarters New York, the working on, growing in, upland, uplands.

431
 V S.

upper atmosphere

upper atmosphere exosphere. urban climate the local climate of a

built-up area, where the buildings affect
upwelling in a deep body of water, the
temperature (by their heated interiors) and
upward movement of colder water from
the pattern and speed of winds (by their
lower layers to the warmer zone above,
layout), and they together with the paved
caused by a current-i, of economic im¬
surfaces create an impermeable layer
portance in the ocean because the colder
which increases and speeds up runoff;
water, rich in plankton and other nutri¬
and where the emissions from the burning
ents, attracts fish. Many of the world’s most
of hydrocarbon fuels in motor vehicles
important fisheries are associated with such
combined with those and other emissions
upwelling, e.g. the cold Benguela current
from industrial plant may pollute the
off southwest Africa.
atmosphere, affecting cloud formation and
uranium a radioactive, hard, white me¬ precipitation, heat island, pollution,
tallic element in the chromium group, SMOG, VENTURI EFFECT.
the heaviest of the elements occurring in
nature, found in pitchblende and some urban economic base a two-fold
other minerals. Natural uranium consists classification of urban economic func¬
of isotopes U 238, which converts into tion, based on space relationships, provid¬
plutonium, U 235 and some U 234. Plu¬ ing a means of identifying economic ties
tonium and U 235 are used as a source of between a large urban settlement and
NUCLEAR ENERGY. other areas, of classifying and drawing up
a comparative analysis of settlements, and
urban adj. 1. relating to, belonging to,
of classifying individual economic activi¬
characteristic of, constituting, forming
ties within the urban area itself. The two
part of, a town or city, the opposite of
categories are: basic activities (functions),
rural, i.e. applied to any settlement in
which serve areas outside the town or
which most of the working inhabitants
metropolitan area (metropolis-2), and
(some authorities specify over 60 per cent)
thus link the activities of the town/metro¬
are engaged in non-agricultural occu¬
politan area with other parts of the earth’s
pations (retail and wholesale trades,
surface; and non-basic activities (func¬
handicrafts, manufacturing industries
tions), which serve the inhabitants of the
and commerce, with associated service
town or metropolitan area and form links
occupations, etc.) 2. relating to, be¬
within the settlement itself. The extent
longing to, people living in such a place.
to which a given function is ‘basic’ is
URBAN SETTLEMENT.
measured by calculating the ratio of people
urban area specifically (Office of Popu¬ engaged in that activity to the total popu¬
lation Censuses and Surveys, EEC), ‘a lation of the town/metropolitan area, and
continuous area of urban land extending comparing this with a similar ratio for
for 20 ha (50 acres) or more. Urban land the country as a whole, basic activity,
includes permanent structures, roads and NON-BASIC ACTIVITY.
transport-related land use, mineral work¬
ing and quarries and any area completely urban field, urban region the sphere of
surrounded by built-up sites’ (in practice influence of a town, the territory around
nearly every settlement with 2000 or more a town with which it is functionally linked.
inhabitants). UMLAND.

432
 urban sprawl

urban fringe the area of social change etc. In the process most urban places grow
around a town or metropolitan area but the population tends to concentrate
(metropolis-2), where urban devel¬ most quickly and in the greatest numbers
opment impinges on agricultural land, in the largest places 2. the state reached in
population density increases and land the process, anti-urbanism, counter¬
values rise, rurban. urbanization, ECONOMIES OF URBAN¬
IZATION, URBANISM.
urban geography the branch of geo¬
graphy concerned with the site, evolution, urban land the land on which an urban
morphology (urban morphology) and SETTLEMENT is built.
classification of villages, towns and cities,
urban renewal a process in which the
their location in relation to a region or the
obsolete fabric of an urban area is restored,
country, the general processes (economic,
renovated and improved in order to meet
political, social) at work within them, and
contemporary needs or standards. In most
the pattern of their relationship to other
cases an attempt is made to retain its
urban areas.
original external character, but if this
urban hearth the place of origin of is impossible, a certain amount of re¬
urban development, of urban culture, development may be included. Redevel¬
e.g. the land between the rivers Tigris and opment involves the total destruction of
Euphrates, Mesopotamia; the Nile valley; all or part of the obsolete fabric before the
the Indus valley in the Indian subcontin¬ work of new building, creation of open
ent; the valley of the Hwang Ho, northern spaces, possibly new roads etc. begins.
China, hydraulic hypothesis.
urban-rural continuum rural-urban
urban hinterland the hexagonal trade continuum, the merging of town and
areas in central place theory. country, a term used in recognition of the
ISOTROPIC SURFACE, SPHERE OF IN¬ fact that in general there is rarely, either
FLUENCE-2. physically or socially, a sharp division, a
clearly marked boundary, between the
urbanism i. town character, the typical
two, with one part of the population
condition of a town, or way of life charac¬
wholly urban, the other wholly rural.
teristic of a town 2. sometimes used as
RURAL, RURBAN, RURBAN FRINGE.
an alternative term for urbanization.
ANTI-URBANISM. urban settlement a term loosely applied
to a relatively densely built-up area with
urbanization i. the continuous process
its associated open spaces where the major¬
of transformation from being of rural to
ity of the economically occupied inhab¬
being of urban character, and the con¬
itants are engaged in activities mainly
tinuous change within the urban area itself
concerned with secondary, tertiary,
as it grows by natural increase and by mig¬
quaternary industries, i.e. the def¬
ration-1,2 from other (usually rural)
inition is based on the function, not on
areas. The result is that an increasing pro¬
the number, of the inhabitants, urban,
portion of the population of an extensive
URBAN LAND.
area is concentrated in defined urban
places, with resulting changes in land use, urban sprawl an irregular, unplanned,
landscape, way of life, economic activities untidy spread of buildings around a

433
 V v
urban village

town, sometimes linking-up with similar more gentle slopes ofthe pre-glacial valley.
development around a neighbouring Theglacier straightens the valley, shortens
town, and usually consisting of residen¬ projecting spurs (truncated spur) and
tial areas, small shopping centres, small creates hanging valleys. The head of
industrial enterprises. the valley may end in a steep wall (trough
end); and paternoster lakes may be
urban village village-2. formed. Post-glacial alluvial deposits may
have enhanced the flatness of the floor.
urstromtal (German) a wide, shallow
valley excavated by a melt-water stream utilitarianism in ethics, a doctrine
flowing in front of a continental ice sheet (expounded broadly by David Hume,
in the North European Plain, correspond¬ 1711-76, but fully developed by Jeremy
ing to static periods in the northwards Bentham, 1748-1832) that the greatest
retreat of the edge of the Scandinavian ice good is the greatest happiness of the great¬
sheet. est number; and that therefore the moral
and political rightness of an action is deter¬
U-shaped valley a glaciated valley, a val¬
mined by its utility, i.e. its contribution
ley which in cross section has the shape of
to the greatest happiness.
a U, the floor being generally flat, the sides
usually steep, due to the work of a valley utility 1. in economic theory, value-i,
glacier moving down the v-shaped the capacity (especially the capacity of
valley of a pre-glacial river. The glacier goods or services) to satisfy human wants.
gouges out the floor and erodes the valley The worth to the consumer is determined
sides up to the level of the surface of by the extent to which these satisfy the
the ice. If the ice does not fill the valley wants; and it is reflected in the price which
a prominent shoulder-2 commonly oc¬ the consumer is prepared to pay 2. public
curs where the steepened sides meet the utility.
V
vadose water water wandering in the beauty, rarity, utility) expressed in terms
ground above the permanent water of the money, effort etc. someone is pre¬
table, varying in amount and position pared to expend in order to acquire, hold
as it moves through permeable rock. in possession, preserve it 2. a quality, prin¬
GRAVITY WATER, PHREATIC WATER. ciple etc. that excites such a desire (e.g.
moral values) 3. in economics, the monet¬
vale imprecise term applied to a broad,
ary equivalent of a product or a factor of
flat, extensive valley (e.g. the Vale of
production which satisfies three criteria,
Aylesbury), or simply a gently undulating
i.e. it is capable of being owned, it has
lowland (e.g. the Vale of Glamorgan). It
utility (satisfies needs or desires), and
is also used poetically, and is best avoided
is in limited supply 4. in mathematics,
as a geographical term.
the amount represented by a symbol
valley an elongated depression, usually or expression, or 5. the category of a
with an outlet, sloping down to an area VARIABLE-2.
of inland drainage, a lake, or to the sea,
value judgement a judgement that at¬
sometimes (but not always) occupied by
tributes worth or goodness, evil, beauty
a river. See valley qualified by beaded,
or some other value-i,2, to something;
DRY, HANGING, LONGITUDINAL, TRANS¬
or which asserts that some action ought
VERSE, U-SHAPED,V-SHAPED.
or ought not to occur.

valley glacier alpine glacier, mountain Van Allen radiation belt either of
glacier, outlet glacier, a glacier which the two layers of intense ionizing ra¬
occupies an existing valley, i.e. a preglacial diation, with high energy particles,
valley, termed an alpine glacier if it is which envelop the earth in its outer atmo¬
formed by the merging of several cirque sphere, the inner occurring at some 3000
glaciers; an outlet glacier if it originates km (1865 mi) above the earth’s surface,
from the margin of an ice cap or ice sheet. the outer at some 13 — 19000 km (8080
TIDAL GLACIER.
to 11 800 mi). The movement of the
particles is influenced by the magnetic
valley wind, valley breeze a general
field of the earth rather than by grav¬
term applied to cold air draining down
itation. MAGNETOSPHERE.
a valley especially by night (katabatic
wind) or a wind blowing up a valley vapour a substance in the gaseous state
(anabatic wind) by day, the result of (gas-2) which separates into two phases
the differential heating of the mountains when compressed, condensation,
above and the low land below. CRITICAL TEMPERATURE-I.

value I. the measure of how much some¬ vapour pressure the pressure exerted by
thing is wanted for its special quality (e.g. the vapour of a substance, e.g. the pressure

435
 S

vapour trail

exerted by water vapour in the atmo¬ variable costs 1. costs that vary with
sphere. If the air is saturated the term volume of output, unlike fixed costs 2.
saturated vapour pressure is applied, at¬ in spatial economic analysis, costs that are
mospheric pressure. subjectto spatial variation, cost surface,
VARIABLE COST ANALYSIS.
vapour trail condensation trail.
variable revenue analysis an approach
vardarac a cold wind, similar to the mis¬ to the explanation of industrial location
tral, which blows down the valleys of based on spatial variation in revenue.
Macedonia, including that of the river VARIABLE COST ANALYSIS.
Vardar, to the Aegean sea in winter.
variance in statistics, the square of the
variable i. something variable-i adj. standard deviation, a statistic which
2. in mathematics, a quantity which may measures the variability-2 in a set of
take two or more values, may take any observations, covariance.
one of a specified set of values-4 (also
variate in statistics, an individual observa¬
applied to denote non-measurable charac¬
tion, one member of a set of values for
teristics, e.g. sex is a variable in that any
one variable. A variate is a quantity that
human individual may take one of two
may take any of the range of values of
‘values’, i.e. male or female), or a symbol
a specified set with a specified relative
for such a quantity, dependent vari¬
frequency-3 or probability-2, and is
able, INDEPENDENT VARIABLE.
therefore sometimes termed a random

variable adj. I. having the quality ofbeing variable. It is particularly associated with

able to change, able to be changed 2. frequency (probability) function and ex¬

in biology, not true to type, classi¬ presses how often those values appear in

fication of organisms 3. in math¬ the situation being observed.

ematics, characteristic of a quantity which variety in classification of organ¬

may have different values, variable-2. isms, a taxonomic group below a subspe¬
cies, i.e. a group of organisms with certain
variable capital in Marxism, the living
qualities in common which distinguish the
labour expended in the production pro¬
group from others in the subspecies. The
cess, as distinct from constant capital
qualities may be, but are not necessarily,
which represents ‘dead’ labour. It is termed
inherited.
variable because, being produced by living
labour, the only creator of new value, Variscan orogeny in geology, a phase of
its value increases during the production the armorican orogeny, oflate Carbon¬
process, labour theory of value, so¬ iferous, early Permian times (geological
timescale). The term is used by some
cial CAPITAL. authors as a synonym tor hercynian, but
by others is applied only to the eastern arc
variable cost analysis an approach to
of the Hercynian orogeny.
the explanation of mdustnal (or other)
location based on spatial variation in varve (Swedisa) a distinct two-layered
production costs, comparative cost sediment deposited annually in a lake or
ANALYSIS, COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS, other body of still water, especially in lakes
VARIABLE REVENUE ANALYSIS. near the margins of retreating ice sheets,

436
 vent d’Autan

where, of the laminated sediment, the or tallow which are more or less solid
lower, thicker layer, light in colour, con¬ at ordinary temperatures (e.g. coconut
sists of coarser material (deposited by melt¬ oil). Allied are the waxes, harder than oil,
water from the rapidly thawing ice in occurring on leaf surface (e.g. carnauba
summer), the upper, thinner layer, darker wax); and lather-forming products of
in colour, of very fine-grained material leaves and stems used as soap-substitutes
(settling during the slow melting of ice (e.g. cultivated soapwort, Saponaria offi¬
in winter). Each varve thus represents a cinalis) .
year, so by counting the varves the time
vegetation a general term for the total
involved in the formation of the sediment
plant cover in an area or on the surface of
can be estimated; and by correlations over
the earth as a whole, climatic forma¬
a fairly extensive area, a glacial chronology
tions, EDAPHIC FORMATIONS, NAT¬
be established. The sediments are termed
URAL VEGETATION.
varve clays, varved clays, varved sedi¬
ments. vein lode, a general term for a crack or
fissure in the earth’s crust in which highly
vauclusian spring (from Fontaine de
heated waters from below have deposited
Vaucluse, southern France) a gushing
crystalline minerals (especially vein
spring, a large spring, the resurgence of
quartz) from solution and, under special
an actively eroding underground stream,
circumstances, metallic minerals of eco¬
commonly occurring in limestone coun¬
nomic importance.
try and varying greatly in output, re¬

surgence. veld (Afrikaans) any unenclosed country

in South Africa with vegetation suitable
vector in biology, an agent carrying a
for pasture. Many different types are distin¬
disease-producing agent (e.g. a bac¬
guished: high, middle, low, or mountain
terium) from one organism to another.
veld according to elevation; sour or sweet
veering of wind a change of direction of veld according to lime content, sour veld
wind, in a clockwise direction, i.e. from being deficient; bush grass, karoo veld ac¬
north through east to south in the northern cording to vegetation; sand veld, harde-
hemisphere, equivalent to a backing veld, according to soil condition.
wind in the southern hemisphere.
velocity the speed of movement in a cer¬
vegetable oils the various oils obtained tain direction, absolute or relative swift¬
from plants, used mainly in food products, ness, high speed of action or operation.
cosmetics, soap-making and other indus¬
vent an orifice in the earth’s surface,
trial processes, the residue left after the
especially that ofa volcano, through which
extraction in many cases being fed to live¬
molten material erupts during volcanic
stock (oil cake). Vegetable oils can be
activity. In a volcano it may become
classified as drying oils, oils which in
choked as the lava solidifies to form a plug
drying form a thin elastic film (e.g. linseed,
Or VOLCANIC NECK.
soya bean oil); semi-drying, those which
«

form a soft film only after long exposure vent d’Autan a strong, hot dry wind
(e.g. cottonseed oil); non-drying, those blowing from southern France towards
which remain liquid at ordinary temper¬ the centres of low pressure which come
atures (e.g. olive oil); and vegetable fats from the ocean into the Bay of Biscay.

437
ventifact

ventifact glyptolith or rillstone, a pebble bubbles in the molten material as it soli¬

with several flat facets which meet at fairly dified.
sharp angles, worn and polished by wind¬
vesicular adj. covered with vesicles, or
blown sand, usually in desert conditions.
resembling a vesicle in form or structure,
If only three facets are present tie term
applied especially in geoiogy to the tex-
dreikanter is preferable; and some authors
TURE-I of rock.
use the term einkanter if there is only one
facet, zweikanter if there are two. Vesuvian eruption vulcanian erup¬
tion.
Venturi effect the effect produced by the
narrowing of the channel or opening along village i. a collection of dwelling houses
or through which a gas or a liquid is pass¬ and other buildings, especially in rural sur¬
ing, the flow of either being speeded up, roundings; a nucleated settlement as con¬
e.g. as indicated by the gusts of wind in trasted with dispersed habitations 2. a
narrow streets and passages between tall close-knit, small community forming an
buildings in towns, urban climate. ‘island’ in an urban environment and

vertebrate adj. having a segmented spinal sometimes termed an urban village, often

column. INVERTEBRATE. situated in the inner city or the tran¬

sition zone. People of similar ethnic or
vertical exaggeration the increase cultural characteristics may cluster in some
necessary in the vertical scale in com¬
urban villages.
parison with the horizonal scale in
order fairly to represent the height of vineyard a plot of land devoted to the
an elevation-i in a model-i or a cultivation of grape vines.
SECTION-2.
viscosity i. the property or quality of a
vertical interval the difference in vertical fluid which makes it resistant to flow 2.
height between two points, horizontal the degree to which a liquid is resistant
EQUIVALENT. to flow.

vertical temperature gradient lapse viscous adj. having viscosity, being

RATE. sticky, slow-flowing, e.g. the lava form¬
ing a volcanic cone.
vertical zone altitudinal zone, in South
and Central America, tierra caliente, visibility I. the state or fact ofbeing visible
TIERRA FRIA, TIERRA HELADA, TIERRA 2. the range ofvision of an observer, which
TEMPLADA. depends on the time of day, the quality

vertisols in soil-classification, of light, the clarity of the atmosphere

USA, an order of clay-rich soils which (presence or absence of dust, fog, mist),

swell and crack in seasonally alternating the height above sea-level at which the

wet and dry conditions, thereby mixing observer stands, horizon.

or inverting their horizons.

visible light the part of the electro¬
vesicle in geology, a small, generally magnetic spectrum which may be per¬
rounded or oval cavity in a mineral or ceived by the human eye, the wavelengths
rock, particularly in glassy volcanic rock, ranging between the limits of infra-red
formed by the trapping of steam or gas and ultraviolet radiation.

438
 volcano

viticulture the cultivation of the grape various types are: Hawaiian, pelean,
vine for the production of grapes and STROMBOLIAN, VULCANIAN.
WINE.
volcanic neck or plug strictly the ori¬
voe (Scottish: Shetland and Orkney dia¬ fice of a volcano through which lava
lect) I. a narrow gully cut in a cliff, in reaches the surface, and in which the lava
many cases ending in a cave or tunnel eventually solidifies as a plug, the plug
with a blowhole 2. a bay, creek, inlet, itself also being termed a neck. This may
specifically in the Shetland and Orkney later stand in isolation if the material of the
islands, but the term is applied elsewhere. surrounding cone is denuded, denuda¬
tion, PIPE-I, VENT.
volcanic adj. of, pertaining to, or like a
volcano covering all types of extrusive volcanic rock an igneous rock formed
IGNEOUS activity, as distinct from intrus¬ by volcanic action at the earth’s surface,
ive Plutonic activity. consisting of solidified material which has
issued in the molten state from the depths
volcanic ash the unconsolidated pyro¬ of the earth, i.e. extrusive rock, in
clastic material consisting of finely com¬
contrast to hypabyssal and Plutonic
minuted fragments of rock and lava which
rocks. That is the most common applica¬
have been ejected explosively from a vol¬
tion, but some authors include rock
cano. The term ash, which dates from
formed in association with intrusive activ¬
the time when a volcano was thought to
ity (intrusion), and therefore include
be a ‘burning mountain’, is a misnomer.
some hypabyssal rocks; and others also

volcanic cone cone-i. include plutonic rocks, magma.

volcano a rift or vent in the earth’s crust

volcanic dust the finest particles thrown
through which molten material is erupted
out of a volcano in eruption. It may be
and solidifies on the surface as lava or
shot high in the air by the explosive force
through which the molten rocks, charged
and carried great distances by wind, e.g.
with gases and vapours, are ejected with
dust from the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa
explosive force and fall back as volcanic
in Indonesia is said to have been carried
ash and volcanic dust etc. (pyro-
round the earth three times before settling.
clast). A volcano may be a central type
OOZE.
(the eruption taking place through a more
volcanic eruption eruption. The or less cylindrical pipe) or a fissure type

Crater

Fig 46 Diagrammatic section through a volcano

439
 \ x.

Von Thiinen model

(the lava issuing through a line ofweakness central market (isolated state). In this
in the earth’s crust, fissure eruption). simple, original model (reflecting the
It is described as active whilst in eruption needs, conditions, equipment and tech¬
or liable to eruption; dormant during a nology of 1826), the zone nearest to the
long period of inactivity; extinct after all town was devoted to market gardening
eruptions are presumed to have ceased. and milk production, the zone beyond
Four types of eruption are identified: this to forestry (for fuel, building timber,
HAWAIIAN, PELEAN, STROMBOLIAN, wood products), the next one to intensive
VULCAN IAN. Figs 21, 46. crop rotation (without fallow), the next
to crop farming, fallow and pasture, the
Von Thiinen model a model devised by next to a three-field system, the next to
J. H. Von Thiinen, published 1826 in his livestock farming, which gave way to
Der Isolierte Staat, to explain the principles waste. This original model thus concen¬
which govern the prices of agricultural trated on the distance from market-i
products and the way in which these vari¬ as the governing, independent variable.
able prices control the pattern of agricul¬ Later Von Thiinen considered the effects
tural land use. Using the isolated state of varying soil fertility on production costs,
as his basic assumption and applying his and modified his assumptions of transport
theory of economic rent, he further costs being uniform in all directions.
assumed that all farmers would produce
voralp (German) the lower pastures of an
the crop giving them individually the
alpine valley, i.e. those above the valley
maximum net profit (land rent). To
floor but lower than the alp-i proper.
accomplish this each farmer would pro¬
MAYEN.
duce a crop or adopt an agricultural system
for which the location of the farm land in V-shaped valley a valley eroded by a
relation to the market was most advantage¬ river, V-shaped in cross-section in con¬
ous. Von Thiinen also assumed that the trast to the U-shape common to a glacially
value of a unit of produce to the farmer modified valley. In W. M. Davis’s cycle
would be equal to its market price less the of erosion the V-shape is cited as evid¬
cost of transport to the market. The cost ence of youth in the stage of river erosion;
of transport of agricultural produce from but nearly all river valleys, if not subjected
farm to market was the only variable in the to glaciation, are V-shaped in the upper
model. Land rent for any product declined course of the river. Among other factors
with increasing distance from the market the valley shape will be influenced by the
point, but the rate of decline varied for type of rocks through which the river is
each product according to its particular flowing, their resistance to weathering and
transport cost. The market price for each erosion, and climate, u-shaped valley.
product determined the highest land rent
possible. Von Thiinen also considered the Vulcanian eruption, Vesuvian erup¬
technology available for production and tion a volcanic eruption charac¬
transport, and the kinds and quantities of terized by Vesuvius, the active volcano
produce needed by the central, large town. southeast of Naples, the first known
From all this he postulated a model with eruption of which destroyed the towns of
concentric rings or zones of agricultural Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD. The
land use centred on the large town, the eruptions are less frequent, the magma

440
 Vulcanian eruption

more viscous, the ejected lava less basic material is not so sticky and acid as that of
than the phenomena associated with a a PELEAN ERUPTION. ACID LAVA, BASIC
strombolian eruption; but the ejected LAVA, PLINIAN ERUPTION.
 V \

w
wadi (Arabic) a stream course or valley in
hot desert or semi-arid areas, especially in
north Africa, usually dry but occasionally
carrying a stream following heavy rain.
ARROYO,NALA.

wage differential theory of migra¬

tion-1,2 a theory which asserts that
differences in wages in different places are
the main cause of migration, push-pull
THEORY, STRENGTH THEORY.

wake dune tsand dune formed in the

lee of a larger dune, trailing away
DOWNWIND.

Wallace’s line a ‘line’ drawn by the Eng¬

lish naturalist and geographer, Alfred
(sometimes termed the wash slope, or
Russell Wallace, 1823 -1913, modified by
wash controlled slope) at the foot which
Huxley, separating the distinct flora and
becomes less steep as it develops by
fauna of southeast Asia and Australasia. In
accumulating debris brought down by
the Oriental region all the characteristic
surface wash from above, merging into
mammals are placental (as are the great ma-
the widening valley floor, standard
j onty of all living mammals); in the Austra¬
HILLSLOPE.
lian region the characteristic mammals are
marsupial (e.g. kangaroo) and monotreme warm front the boundary zone between
(e.g. duck-billed platypus). Fig 47. the advancing mass of warm air forming
part of a depression-3 and the colder air
wall-sided glacier a valley glacier
which it is overriding and overtaking. In
projecting from the valley it is occupying
advance of the passing of a warm front
on to an adjoining plain so that its steep
over a fixed point, pressure falls, the cloud
sides are visible, unrestricted by the valley
base lowers, the wind backs (backing of
sides.
wind). A characteristic series of cloud
waning slope, waxing slope in the study forms accompanies its approach and pass¬
of hillslopes (slope-2) four elements are ing (cirrus, cirrostratus, alto-
commonly identified: the waxing slope stratus, stratus, nimbostratus),
near the top which becomes steeper as the intermittent drizzle and then steady,
hillside is worn back; the free face; the heavy precipitation accompanying the
constant slope; and the waning slope nimbostratus. The wind veers (veering

442
 water hole

of wind) as the front passes over, and SUB-SURFACE WASH, SURFACE WASH,
the precipitation dies away, cold front, WASH SLOPE.
FRONT, OCCLUSION, WARM SECTOR.
wash load suspended load.
warm glacier temperate glacier, a
wash slope, wash-controlled slope
moving ice mass, the surface of which
GRAVITY SLOPE, HALDENHANG, WAN¬
melts through thermal conduction,
ING SLOPE, WAXING SLOPE.
the resultant surface water percolating
through the ice mass, releasing latent waste, waste land 1. commonly, any
heat in refreezing, thus raising the tem¬ wild, uncultivated, uninhabited land 2.
perature of the ice mass itself (the summer formerly, the little-used common land,
temperature of the whole mass is about usually on light soil, which failed to yield a
o°C: 32°F but in winter the surface is return to the medieval and later cultivator.
colder), cold glacier. Now rarely applied to such land because
in so many cases it is valued as an open
warm occlusion an occlusion where space 3. now applied to land previously
the cold, overtaking air is not so cold as used but abandoned, for which further use
the air mass ahead of it. has yet to be found.

warm sector a region, a bulge, of warm water buffalo the common domesticated
air in a depression-3 , where the air tem¬ buffalo, widely used as a draught and dairy
perature and relative humidity rise. animal in the warm parts of Asia.
It is preceded by the warm front and
water cycle hydrological cycle.
followed by a cold front, occlusion.
waterfall a sudden, steep or perpendicular
warping i. the process (natural or arti-
descent of water in the bed of a river,
ficial-i) whereby the low-lying land of
occurring where the flow of the river is
a tidal estuary is flooded, leading to depos¬
broken by a nearly horizontal bed of hard
ition of silt, mud or clay 2. a gentle, slow
rock overlying easily eroded soft rock; or
deformation of the earth’s crust over a
by the sharp edge of a plateau; or by the
wide area, resulting in the raising or lower¬
abrupt end of a hanging valley, high
ing of the surface.
on the slopes of a u-shaped valley; or

Warsaw Pact a treaty of defence and by a fault-line scarp; or by the edge

mutual assistance signed in 1955 by of a coastal cliff, rapids.

Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East water-gap a cutting or gap, a low-lying

Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania valley made by a river as it flows across a
and the USSR in response to the forma¬ ridge. Water-gaps tend to be associated
tion of nato. Albania withdrew in 1968 with antecedent drainage and may
when the USSR invaded Czechoslovakia. be cut by either consequent or ob-
SEQUENT streams. Unlike a WIND-
wash 1. the surging movement of the sea
GAP, a water-gap is occupied by a stream
or other large body of water; the surge of
which continues to form part of the drain¬
water up a beach following the breaking
age system.
of a wave, in contrast to the backwash
2. an area of sand and mud washed by the water hole, waterhole 1. a hollow,
tide 3. fine material moved down a slope. natural or artificial-i, where water

443
 V v
watering place

gathers, especially in savanna and hot des¬ system, anomalous watershed, NOR¬
ert lands, in some cases fed by a spring 2. MAL'WATERSHED.
a depression in the bed of an intermittent
stream 3. a hole on the surface of ice. waterspout the product of an intense,
localized small scale cyclonic storm (cyc¬
watering place a term formerly applied lone) occurring over the ocean or a lake,
to 1. a place to which animals were taken usually in tropical and subtropical regions.
for drinking 2. a place at which ships called From the underside ofa cumulonimbus
to lay in a supply of water 3. a spa or cloud a spinning funnel cloud (carrying
locality with a mineral spring to which water droplets formed by condensation)
people went to drink the waters or to descends to meet spray thrown up from
bathe. the water surface by whirling winds, the
combination forming a rotating column of
waterlogged adj. applied in soil science to mist, water and spray which is sometimes
the state of a soil when it is saturated-2
vertical and straight, sometimes bent
with water. (when the top part moves faster than the
base), moving swiftly over the surface of
water meadow a low-lying meadow by
the water, tornado.
the side of a stream, artificially irrigated
by flooding in the early part of the year
water table, water-table the surface be¬
to encourage an early growth of grass, a
low which permeable rocks are satur-
practice especially common in the chalk
ated-2 with water. In areas with pervi¬
valleys of southern England where the
ous soil andpervious subsoil-rocks it tends
lime in the water was beneficial. Most of
to follow generally, but not in detail, the
these English water meadows have now
form of the land surface. Where the water
fallen into disuse on account of the high
table lies below the land surface its height
cost (especially the labour cost) of main¬
corresponds to the level of water in wells
taining the elaborate series of miniature
(ground water, phreatic water),
canals and drains.
and similarly fluctuates seasonally. Where

water power, waterpower the energy the water table reaches the land surface a

of moving water converted into mechan¬ spring-2 results; fluctuations in the water

ical energy, formerly used directly to drive table account for the intermittent flow

water mills etc. but now nearly always used of bournes. A permanent marsh or lake

to generate electricity, hydraulic, results when the theoretical water table is

HYDROELECTRIC POWER, POWER. above the land surface. In some circum¬

stances there is no regular water table,
watershed 1. (British) a water parting, e.g. where underlying rocks are irregularly
the elevated line which may or may not fissured, as in the ancient metamorphic
be sharply defined, separating two con¬ plateau of Africa. In other cases there
tiguous drainage areas from which the is a perched water table, artesian
headstreams flow in different directions, WELL, CAPILLARY FRINGE, PIEZOMETRIC
into different river systems or basins LEVEL, VADOSE WATER, WELL.
2. (American) a water parting, as in Brit¬
ish usage; but also the whole catchment water vapour in the earth’s atmo-
area or drainage basin of a single river sphere-i, water in the vapour state and

444
 weathering

below the critical temperature for waxing slope waning slope.

water, humidity.
wealth consuming sector of an eco¬
waterway i. a navigable stretch of inland nomy, the services sector.
water, i.e. of a lake, river, canal, which is
wealth creating sector of an economy,
or can be used for transport 2. the route
the manufacturing sector.
followed by inland water traffic.

weather a general term for the conditions

wave in a body of water, particularly in
prevailing in the atmosphere-1, espe¬
the ocean, the rise and fall in the forward
cially in the layer near the ground (tropo¬
movement in the surface area of the water,
sphere), over a short period of time (in
due to the oscillation of water particles,
contrast to climate) or at a specific time,
usually caused by friction of wind on the
at any one place, and as affecting human
water surface. The motion of the water
beings. Temperature, sunshine, pressure
particles is perpendicular to the direction
and wind, humidity, amount of cloud,
of the movement of the water, each par¬
precipitation (rain, sleet, hail, snow), the
ticle moving up to the crest and falling
presence of fog or mist are all taken
back almost to its original position in the
into account, analogue, long-range
TROUGH-4. The size of wave depends on
WEATHER FORECAST, METEOROLOGY,
the cause, e.g. speed and direction of wind
SYNOPTIC CHART, WEATHER CHART.
(fetch); the height constitutes the dis¬
tance between the trough and the crest; weather chart, weather map a chart or
length, the distance between two success¬ map showing weather details for a selected
ive crests; steepness, the ratio of height to area at a specific time. Data collected at
length (breaker); velocity, the speed observation posts and transmitted to
of movement of an individual crest. meteorological stations provides the basis
BACKWASH, CONSTRUCTIVE WAVE, for a series of charts relating to pressure
DOMINANT WAVE, HYDRAULIC FORCE, conditions, etc. affecting the selected area
LONGSHORE DRIFT, SWASH, TIDAL at set, regular intervals; and from this series
wave, tsunami, and the entries, quali¬ the final maps, giving a summary ofisobars,
fied by wave, which follow. Fig 28. elec¬ temperature, winds etc. at a selected time,
tromagnetic WAVE. are drawn. Some authors prefer to use the
term synoptic chart, as indicating the
wave-base the greatest depth at which
summary character of the final chart.
sea floor sediment can be just slightly
moved by oscillating water. weathering 1. the action of the weather
on objects exposed to it 2. in geo¬
wave-built terrace a terrace-2 formed
logy, the mechanical or physical, chem¬
by marine deposition seawards from a
ical and biological processes (chemical
WAVE-CUT BENCH.
WEATHERING, MECHANICAL WEATHER¬
wave-cut bench, wave-cut beach ING, organic weathering) by which
bench a marine erosion plane formed at rocks are decomposed or disintegrated by
the base of a sea cliff, sloping down towards exposure at or near the earth’s surface
the sea, in some cases merging impercep¬ to water, the atmosphere, organic matter
tibly into a wave-built TERRACE.ABRA¬ (denudation), a mantle of rock debris
SION PLATFORM, BENCH. being produced in situ. Transport (except

445
 \ s.
weathering front

by gravity) is notinvolved (erosion). The impound or raise the level of the water
main mechanical or physical agents are for fishing purposes, for creating a head
shattering, frost action and temperat¬ for a water mill, for the control of the
ure change, assisted by the biological current and maintenance of the water
processes, the organic agents being depth to aid navigation, for irrigation, or
plant roots, mosses, lichens, the burrow¬ to divert the flow. The term is limited to
ing of animals. The chemical processes small, low constructions over which the
include carbonation, hydration, water may flow, the larger being termed
HYDROLYSIS, OXIDATION, SOLUTION. DAMS and BARRAGES.
CORROSION.
welfare 1. the state or condition of being
weathering front the boundary between well, thriving, happy, prospering 2. work
weathered and unweathered rock. organization to bnng about this state in
needy members of a community.
weather vane wind vane, an apparatus
for indicating wind direction. A broad, welfare geography an approach in

thin strip, usually of metal, is fixed to a human geography concerned with

pivoted, freely rotating support, so that it social inequality, which considers the areal

may swing round easily in an air current. differentiation and spatial organization of
human activity from the perspective of
Weberian analysis a theory of the op¬ the welfare-i of the people involved. It
timum location of firms (manufacturing touches on everything, positive or nega¬
enterprises) formulated by Alfred Weber, tive, contributing to the quality of human
1909, German economist, who main¬ life, covering everything differentiating
tained that transport costs were the one state of society from another, the
major factor determining location; that ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ things consumed in
optimum location was primarily the society, what these are, to whom and
point where the costs of the transport where they are distributed; and how the
of raw materials to the factory and of observed differences arise (i.e. who gets
supplying goods to the necessary market what, where and how), quality of life,
were at their lowest; but that if variations SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY, WELFARE.
in other costs (e.g. of labour) were high
welfare state a state with a political system
enough, location determined solely by
based on the principle that the protection,
transport costs might not be the optimum
social security and welfare of the indi¬
one. LEAST COST LOCATION, LOCATION,
vidual is the responsibility of the com¬
LOCATION THEORY, MINIMAX LOCA¬
munity as represented in the state. The
TION, OPTIMUM LOCATION.
ideal welfare state therefore provides the
wedge ofhigh pressure a region ofHiGH facilities and services necessary to bring
atmospheric pressure, indicated by a V- this about (e.g. by providing medical care,
shaped pattern of isobars, narrower than 'education, public housing, pay for the
a RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE, occurring unemployed and the aged etc.), financed
between two depressions-3, bringing a by taxation and compulsory contributions
brief period of fine weather in a generally from the population.
rainy period.
well originally a natural spring-2 or pool
weir an obstruction built across a river to fed from a spring. The term is now re-

446
 wetland

stricted to a deep hole, usually cylindrical, sphere their presence makes the North
or a shaft, dug in the ground to obtain Atlantic ocean one of the stormiest regions
water, oil or gas. A well sunk for water is in the world; and in winter too they move
usually lined with brick or masonry, but southwards, carrying winter rain to the
may be unlined (e.g. if sunk through hard Mediterranean region. In the northern
rock) and normally fills with water up to hemisphere their force and direction vary,
the level of the water table (phreatic and they are associated with the succession
water), the surface ot water fluctuating of DEPRESSiONS-3 and ANTICYCLONES
seasonally with the height of the water characteristic of the weather of the area in
table. A well sunk into an artesian basin which they blow. But in the southern
taps water held under considerable pres¬ hemisphere they blow strongly and with
sure. ARTESIAN WELL, OIL WELL, TUBE greater regularity throughout the year
WELL. over the great expanse of ocean, giving
the region the name roaring forties.
Wentworth scale a scale devised by C. K.
Westerlies gain strength with height, evol¬
Wentworth, 1922, to measure the size of
ving into jet streams. The old term
particles in sediments, a geometric scale
applied to the Westerlies, the anti-trade
of factor 2. This scale ranges from clay
winds, is misleading and no longer used.
particles of 0.004 mm diameter, through
Fig 5-
silt, sand, granule, pebble, cobble to boul¬
der, exceeding 256 mm (10 in) diameter. wet adiabatic lapse rate saturated
GRADED SEDIMENTS. ADIABATIC LAPSE RATE.

west 1. one of the four cardinal points of wet-bulb thermometer a thermo¬

the compass, directly opposite the east meter with a bulb covered by wet mus¬
on the side of someone facing due north, lin, thereby being cooled by evaporation.
i.e. the direction of the setting sun at the The temperature recorded is accordingly
equinox 2. towards or facing the west lower than that shown by a dry-bulb
3. the western part, especially of a country, thermometer; and the two different
particularly the states west of the Missis¬ readings, combined with reference to a set
sippi, USA 4. the West, the countries of of statistical tables, enable dew-point,
western Europe and North America as RELATIVE HUMIDITY and the VAPOUR
distinct from those of eastern Europe and pressure of the air to be calculated.
Asia.
wet-day in UK, officially, a day of 24
west adj. of, pertaining to, belonging to,
hours beginning at 0900 hours during
situated towards, coming from, the west,
which at least 1 mm (0.04 in) of rain falls.
e.g. of winds blowing from the west.
PRECIPITATION-DAY.
Westerlies winds which blow frequently
wet dock a large basin-9 in which the
from the subtropical high pressure area to
water level, is maintained at the level of
the temperate low pressure area, between
high tide so that the vessel in it stays
35°N and 65°N and 35°S and 65°S, blow¬
afloat, dock.
ing predominantly from the southwest in
the northern hemisphere, predominantly wetland, wetlands a general term applied
from the northwest in the southern hemi¬ to an ecosystem intermediate between
sphere. In winter in the northern hemi¬ the terrestrial-2 and the aquatic, a

447
wet-point settlement

natural or artificial landscape in which black earths or chernozems are particu¬

fresh or salt water plays a key role, i.e. larly favourable. Climatically the best con¬
where the soil is waterlogged, the water ditions are a cool moist spring, which
table is at or near the surface, or the land causes the grain to produce a number of
is covered occasionally, periodically or stalks capable of bearing a head of grain,
permanently, by shallow fresh or salt water followed by warm sunny weather when
(e-g. BOG, FEN, MARSH, SWAMP, flooded the heads have formed, and some rain or
pasture land, intertidal mud flats). moisture just before harvest to swell the
grain. A total rainfall of between 375 and
wet-point settlement a settlement the
875 mm (15 and 35 in) is about right. In
site of which was related to the availability
countries with a very7 cold winter (e.g.
of a water supply, especially to a constant
Canada) wheat is sown in spring; in coun¬
spring-2, in contrast to a dry-point
tries with a mild winter (e.g. Britain) it
settlement in lands liable to flood.
can be sown in the autumn or fall, the
wet spell in UK, officially, an unbroken seeds remaining in the ground dunng the
succession of 15 or more consecutive winter to sprout as soon as the temperature
wet-days, a definition not accepted rises in spring. Hence the distinction
internationally, dry spell. between ‘spring’ wheat and ‘winter’ or
‘fall’ wheat. In tropical regions (e.g. in
wharf a landing stage to which barges and
Egypt or in parts of the Indian subcon¬
ships may be moored while loading and
tinent) wheat is grown as a winter crop to
unloading.
be reaped before the heat of summer.
wheat any of the grasses of the genus
whirlpool a circular eddy or current in a
Triticum, probably native to southwestern
river or the sea produced by the configura¬
Asia and eastern Mediterranean regions,
tion of the channel, by the effect of winds
an important grain crop, now grown
on tides, by the meeting of currents, or
especially in the former grasslands of the
by similar phenomena.
midlatitudes, providing the staple-3 food
in temperate climates, the grain being whirlwind a rapidly rotating column of
ground into flour used in the making of air revolving around a local centre of low
bread, biscuits, cakes etc. Triticum aestivum pressure, caused by local surface heating
is the most widely grown for this purpose. and exceptionally strong convection. It
Hard wheat, durum wheat, Triticum is limited in extent, formed round a vertical
durum, with small hard grains, grown in or slightly inclined axis, the inward and
dry regions in the Mediterranean region, upward spiral movement of the lower air
the CIS, Asia, North and South America, spreading to an outward and upward spiral,
is the best for making pasta. the whole moving progressively over land
Most wheats need about 100 days to or water, cyclone, dust-devil, tor-
grow and ripen between the last killing 'NADO, WATERSPOUT.
frost of spring and the first killing frost of
white box approach black box ap¬
autumn, and this sets the northern limit
proach.
in Canada and the CIS where, however,
wheat is being bred to ripen in 90 days. white-collar worker a person who
Wheat needs a good firm moisture¬ works in an office, and is employed in
holding soil, such as a heavy loam. The non-manual work (usually excluding

448
 wind chill

those engaged in the professions), blue- cells lose their turgidity, so that the leaves,
collar WORKER. young stems and tops of older stems
become limp. It is usually caused by an
white-out a condition in a blizzard
excess of water loss through transpira¬
when the snow cover is extensive and
tion in relation to water absorption
the falling snow so great that visibility
(wilting point); or it may be due to
is reduced to the minimum and finding
functional disorder or the action of fungus
direction almost impossible.
parasites.
WHO World Health Organization, an
international body established in April wilting point in soil science, the point
1948, headquarters Geneva, with an below which the amount of water stored

executive board consisting of technically in the soil cannot be absorbed by plants

qualified health experts, to foster the high¬ quickly enough to meet their needs, caus¬
est possible level of health in the world. ing wilt in any plant not adapted to

Its work includes dealing with matters of drought. Wilting point is used as a measure

international health, helping governments of storage capacity (field capacity) of

to strengthen health services (especially a soil.

so that primary health care reaches the

wind air in motion, usually restricted to
maximum number of people, and that
natural horizontal movement, varying in
diseases endemic in under-developed areas
strength from light to hurricane (beau-
are combated); promoting maternal and
fort scale). The term current-i is
child care; stimulating work and research
usually applied to the vertical movement
in mental health, medical research, the
of air (thermal). There are very many
prevention of accidents and the eradica¬
names for local winds (e.g. bora,
tion of disease; and encouraging the im¬
CHINOOK, FOHN, MISTRAL, NORTHER).
provement of standards in teaching and
ANABATIC, DEFLATION, DOMINANT
training in the health professions etc.
WIND, KATABATIC, PLANETARY WINDS,
wildcat a test well for petroleum or natural PREVAILING WIND, TRADE WIND.
gas bored as a speculation without any
detailed geological evidence of the exist¬ windbreak, wind-break something

ence of either of them. (especially a line of trees or a thick hedge

or a hurdle) designed to break the force
wilderness 1. an uncultivated, uninhab¬ of the wind and provide shelter for animals
ited region 2. in nature conservation ‘wil¬
or, more often, for growing plants. A
derness areas’ are those left in a wild state windbreak is particularly important where
as natural habitats, in contrast to those
a cold wind, e.g. the mistral, would
nature reserves which may need careful
damage unprotected crops, dust bowl.
management to maintain small commun¬
ities of plants and animals. wind chill the cooling power of wind
and temperature on shaded dry human
willy-willy, willi-willi (Australian) a
skin. It was originally measured as the
type of rROPiCAL revolving storm ori¬
product of wind speed in metres per
ginating off the coast of western Australia,
second and air temperature in degrees
in some cases moving on to the land.
Centigrade below zero; but a later formula
wilt a condition of plants in which the measures the cooling power of wind and

449
wind erosion

temperature in complete shade and regard¬ wind is blowing, facing into the wind, as
less of evaporation. opposed tO LEEWARD.

wind erosion deflation, erosion. wine an alcoholic drink made from the
fermented juice of the grape (but the term
wind-gap, air-gap a dry gap, a notch or is also applied to other juices fermented
gap in the crest of a hill range, or a pass, and containing alcohol). Wine is produced
originally cut by a stream, from which the in nearly all grapevine-growing countnes
water has disappeared, e.g. a dry col in (grape), where most of it is consumed,
an escarpment through which a con¬ although much enters international trade.
sequent stream may have flowed Even in a small area variations in soil and
before river capture. In many cases a microclimate, as well as in the weather,
wind-gap lies at a higher level than that type of grape and manufacturing processes,
of a neighbouring water-gap. produce great differences in yield and the
quality of the wine.
windmill a mill operated by rotating sails
which are turned by the wind, wind winnowing the act of blowing chaff (the
power. outer husk) free of grain-5 .

window atmospheric window, one of the winter i. the colder part of the year, in
bands in the electromagnetic spec¬ contrast to summer, the hotter 2. loosely,
trum within which terrestrial radi¬ the cold season; in tropical regions the
ation escapes into outer space because, term winter is usually dropped, the term
cloud cover being thin or non-existent, it cool season being preferred 3. one of the
is not absorbed by water vapour and seasons in mid- and high-latitudes, popu¬
carbon dioxide present in the clouds larly December, January, February in the
in the atmosphere. northern hemisphere (the other seasons
being spring, summer, autumn), or
wind power mechanical or electrical
June, July, August in the southern 4. astro¬
power generated by the rotor of a
nomically, from the winter solstice to
WINDMILL.
the spring equinox, i.e. from about 22
wind pump a pump activated by the December (also paradoxically termed
wind’s power in rotating a propeller midwinter day) to 20 March in the north¬
wheel composed ofvanes (blade-like, thin, ern hemisphere, 22 June to 21 September
flat strips, often curved). in the southern hemisphere.

wind rose a diagram with radiating arms winter solstice 21-22 December in the
constructed to show the frequency (and northern hemisphere, 21—22 June in the
usually the speed as well) of winds blowing southern, season, solstice, winter.
from the eight chief points (but sometimes
' wood 1. the hard, fibrous vascular tissue
from twelve points) of the compass. The
of mature plants, forming stems, roots and
length of each arm shows the frequency
the trunks of trees, providing mechanical
recorded over a specific period of time,
support, and through which water con¬
and gradations on the arms show the fre¬
taining dissolved mineral salts passes 2.
quency of wind speeds.
with indefinite article, i.e. a wood, or pi.
windward the direction from which the woods, imprecise terms applied to a piece

450
 WTO

of ground (small in relation to that support¬ national Bank for Reconstruction and
ing a forest-i) covered with relatively Development) with the aim of assisting
widely-spaced trees growing naturally (as postwar reconstruction in Europe. It
distinct from a plantation-i), with or extended its role by making large sums
without undergrowth, hanger, wood¬ available in ambitious development pro¬
land. jects in Third World countries, in many
cases involving them in very great debt.
woodland, woodlands land covered
The Bank has now scaled down some
with trees, sometimes defined as an open
of its credit advances, and is supporting
stand of widely-spaced trees without a
smaller, more viable projects, micro¬
continuous canopy of overhead foliage
finance.
(sometimes specifically as a canopy cover¬
age between 25 and 60 per cent), forest, world city, global city a city-i charac¬
FORESTRY, WOOD-2. terized by the range of its economic,
financial, cultural and political power and
wood pulp the fibre of wood processed
influence on a global scale. It may, or may
by mechanical means and chemicals to
not, be a large or a capital city, but its role
form a mixture of water and cellulose
in the world is dynamic and dominating.
fibres, used as raw material in making paper
or artificial fibres. World Health Organization who.

wool the fibrous growth on the skin of world-island a term applied by H. J.

some animal species, especially of the Mackinder to the world’s largest landmass,
sheep. The fibres are covered with over¬ the combined continents of Europe, Asia
lapping scales which hook into each other and Africa. Being surrounded by water
when the fibre is spun into yarn, entrap¬ this vast landmass is, by conventional
ping air and making any fabrics or articles definition, an island. In the same way the
made from it warm in wear, woollen. two Americas are an island, as are the
continents of Australia and Antarctica.
woollen adj. applied to a fabric made from
HEARTLAND.
WOOL.
wrought iron cast iron, pig iron, steel.
World Bank an agency of the United
Nations (inaugurated in 1945 as the Inter¬ WTO GATT.
X
xeno- (Greek) a stranger, a foreigner, a xerophyte a plant adapted to a dry habitat
prefix used in that sense in many scientific (in desert conditions, or in an alkaline, acid,
terms. salt or dry soil) and able to withstand pro¬
longed drought (XEROPHYTIC CONIFER¬
xenoparasite a parasite which lives on OUS forest), hydrophyte, hygro-
an organism which is not its usual host; or PHYTE, MESOPHYTE, TROPOPHYTE.
which can live only by invading an injured
xerophytic, xerophilous adj. of, per¬
organism.
taining to, characteristic of, a xerophyte.

xenophobia a fear or dislike of individuals xerophytic coniferous forest forest

or groups thought of as strangers or occurring at high elevations in semi-
foreigners. arid zones, e.g. in southwestern USA,
the species including juniper, hydro¬
xeric adj. i. having a low or inadequate phyte, HYGROPHYTE, MESOPHYTE,
supply of moisture to sustain plant life 2. TROPOPHYTE.
adjusted to arid conditions, applied par¬
xerothermic adj. related to both dryness
ticularly to a plant or animal having such
and heat.
a quality, hydric, mesic.
X-rays extremely short wavelength (high
xero- (Greek) dry, a prefix used in that frequency), high energy radiation in the
sense in many scientific terms. ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM.
Y
yardang a narrow, steep-sided crest in yield 1. in agriculture, output, product,
desert, particularly in central Asia, separ¬ amount of produce, result, e.g. output or
ated from others lying parallel to it by production expressed in relation to units
grooves or corridors cut in the desert floor of land or livestock or to units of capital
by wind carrying sand. A yardang may or labour applied 2. from investment, the
reach 6 m (20 ft) high and from 9 to 36 m rate of return from the investment of cap¬
(30 to 120 ft) in width. CORRASION. ital-2, e.g. with a 5 per cent yield the
capital invested should be recouped in 20
yardland in Britain, in agricultural his¬ years (5 x 20 = 100); with a 20 per cent
tory, virgate, an imprecise unit of land yield in 5 years (20 x 5 = 100).
measurement, representing a tenement
young adj. in the early stages of develop¬
varying in size measured in customary
ment, not far advanced, mature, old
acres (acre), including arable with adjoin¬
AGE, SENILE, YOUTH, YOUTHFUL.
ing meadow and pasture. In some cases it
might be divided into two ox-gangs (an young fold mountains fold moun¬
ox-gang being half a virgate) or four ferlings tains of the Alpine orogeny, in contrast to
(quarter-virgate), again of inexact area. Armorican, Caledonian and other earlier
In areas under Danish influence the equi¬ orogenies, orogenesis.
valent to ox-gang was bovate (the hide
young mountains mountains so recently
being termed carucate, the hundred
formed that their surface configuration of
being termed wapentake). In south¬
jagged peaks etc. has not yet been
eastern England the equivalent of hide
smoothed by the agents of erosion.
was sulung (subdivided into four yokes).
youth the first stage of development,
yazoo a deferred junction of a tribu¬ applied specifically (as are young and
tary, the name derived from the Yazoo youthful) in the cycle of erosion
river, the type example of a tributary to the first stage in the development of
which flows for some distance parallel to landforms, i.e. when the original upland
the main river (the lower Mississippi, in surfaces are undissected, not yet attacked
the case of the Yazoo) before merging by CORRASION orEROSION, whenRIVERS
with it. flow swiftly, slopes are steep and gradients
irregular, mature, old age, senility.
year the period of time taken by the earth
youthful adj. of or pertaining to youth,
to complete one orbit round the sun.
e.g. applied to a landform which has
solar year (365 days 5 hours 48 minutes
suffered little erosion, mature, old age,
45.51 seconds).
SENILE, YOUNG, YOUTH.

yellow ground kimberlite.

 V. V

z
zenith the point where the line joining temperate, torrid zones 3. in geology, a
the earth’s centre to the observer cuts group of strata of limited but variable
the celestial sphere, the opposite of thickness, characterized by a definite
NADIR. assemblage of fossils which distinguishes
it from all other deposits, the zone being
zinc a hard, blue-white, corrosion-
named after one of the characteristic
resistant metallic element, a trace
species 4. a layer or part of the earth’s crust
element, an essential micronutri¬
(e.g. zone of weathering or, deeper in the
ent, often occurring in association with
crust, zone of fracture; and, deeper still,
lead and silver. It is used especially in coat¬
zone of flow) 5. in land use planning,
ing sheet iron to prevent rust (galvanized
an area designated (zoned) for a specific
iron), in alloys (with copper to make
purpose.
brass), in electric cells; in its oxide form,
zinc oxide, as a white pigment (zinc zone of assimilation, zone of discard
white); and as a filler in ointments. related concepts indicating the movement

zonal flow atmospheric circulation in of city centre growth and decline. City

which the dominant airflow follows the centres tend to grow outwards system¬

lines of latitude, e.g. trade winds, atically; thus the zone of new growth

westerlies, in contrast to meridional becomes the zone of assimilation, and the

zone relatively in decline is termed the
FLOW.
zone of discard.
zonal soil a soil with a profile showing a
dominant influence of climate and vegeta¬ zone ofindifference in central place

tion in its development, as contrasted with theory, the area between the hinterlands
an AZONAL SOIL. SOIL CLASSIFICATION. of competing centres within which no
one centre exerts a dominant influence.
zone I. frequently applied more or less
THRESHOLD-3-
loosely to a region, belt, tract or area of the
earth (i.e. of the atmosphere, lithosphere,
zoning in land use planning, the desig¬
hydrosphere, or of any place or space),
nation of specific sites for specific uses,
with or without defined limits, with some
e.g. for residential use, for industrial use
characteristic or characteristics or activity
etc. ZONE-5.
particular to it (e.g. of climate, rocks, soil,
plant and animal life, condition), indicated zoogeography the scientific study of the
by a qualifying word or phrase which natural distribution of animals.
differentiates it from other regions, belts,
tracts or areas etc. 2. in classical times, one zoonosis a disease of animals naturally

of the latitudinal climatic belts into which transmitted between vertebrate animals

the earth’s surface was divided, i.e. frigid, and human beings.

454
 zymogenous

zoophyte an animal resembling a plant lated samples of data in order to compare

in appearance or growth, e.g. coral. two population means. The sample data
must be interval (interval scale) and
zooplankton minute animals, many the sample sizes must be large, the assump¬
microscopic and including the larvae of tion being that the sampling distribution
molluscs and other invertebrates, of the mean is approximately normal
which float or very feebly swim in bodies (normal distribution); and, for the
of fresh or salt water, phytoplankton, two sample test, the data must be totally
PLANKTON. unrelated.

2-test in statistics, an hypothesis test used zymogenous adj. applied to soil organ¬
either to analyse one sample of data in isms whose metabolic and reproductive
order to compare a population mean with rates increase if organic material is added
a particular value, or to analyse two unre¬ to the soil.
 RANDOM NUMBER TABLE

Random digits produced by throws of a ten-sided dice marked 0, 1 ... 9.

39 56 14 02 45 65 16 86 78 90 46 39 58 62 66 96 12 56
32 53 16 30 76 36 80 52 65 02 10 07 81 40 80 33 18 70
98 43 67 05 82 06 19 24 86 24 30 44 06 15 54 29 00 60
53 08 00 94 46 80 60 94 01 83 94 45 42 43 55 52 27 23
28 21 05 43 60 40 73 70 75 33 10 74 91 83 95 25 43 89

89 79 63 50 98 53 56 42 12 76 48 56 34 46 82 02 58 68
61 48 17 25 59 95 19 14 31 68 94 23 83 40 83 53 36 90
41 98 20 72 70 69 39 46 17 37 70 37 81 75 23 82 31 79
51 08 35 35 16 20 92 94 25 05 04 01 65 33 82 87 28 54
73 97 76 94 92 07 24 89 41 98 35 91 96 52 82 62 63 42

43 74 49 01 59 38 60 29 94 61 02 11 61 86 36 95 57 95
94 94 39 87 49 44 54 02 52 56 28 49 34 49 25 35 65 55
52 10 65 11 34 68 68 65 58 90 17 33 98 36 82 93 87 17
54 42 73 62 51 54 80 63 36 65 12 44 52 16 12 64 41 70
73 27 51 94 71 14 37 55 00 05 32 36 59 89 86 79 08 65

77 69 59 62 33 99 26 67 95 72 77 16 02 28 96 75 17 45
08 19 98 26 68 06 02 05 57 21 73 55 35 07 79 91 04 44
50 83 92 60 44 28 52 83 25 39 83 60 92 71 10 34 33 73
16 89 30 82 48 70 63 82 71 48 72 82 77 37 56 22 90 95
21 41 74 65 08 73 82 94 72 22 67 92 34 74 33 69 86 14

99 08 47 77 43 94 17 07 76 57 93 68 61 15 97 78 76 99
20 02 69 70 87 44 57 23 35 99 94 16 63 40 99 72 64 82
93 95 15 81 21 75 71 39 23 31 06 43 87 44 21 81 55 34
10 91 65 40 88 43 50 57 83 50 82 34 12 78 80 00 34 07
91 72 35 36 80 19 49 49 37 17 40 98 02 53 59 18 91 30

23 82 82 20 56 34 76 49 27 40 78 29 99 07 22 01 40 97
21 02 08 25 07 15 36 45 19 21 30 48 30 76 99 24 46 39
82 45 49 85 02 33 58 84 03 74 63 52 15 47 04 09 50 45
44 33 94 98 75 51 62 00 17 59 00 42 09 39 66 86 57 76
96 00 26 82 60 22 02 60 69 99 09 67 01 12 01 88 58 15

20 67 56 12 77 16 78 04 36 38 95 35 71 26 49 34 20 46
64 60 21 12 41 60 04 63 93 45 25 52 75 50 35 51 13 61
64 76 41 17 07 54 01 29 8b 41 93 16 55 54 40 32 80 30
93 46 82 67 64 48 91 74 85 94 40 51 30 93 08 42 35 24
82 64 44 58 45 94 30 39 86 19 64 84 35 30 19 04 77 69

61 46 40 89 21 47 20 85 91 90 56 67 40 31 46 30 97 14
92 80 33 89 23 96 24 33 16 80 45 20 35 36 00 76 31 13
45 65 20 02 56 40 21 35 17 71 33 07 36 71 90 71 56 81
40 99 02 66 37 59 24 79 35 21 61 29 96 50 01 27 51 87
50 31 47 84 44 30 70 33 12 63 54 86 63 08 62 63 07 30
 jhe Penguin Dictionary of Geography has always been the standard \
1 reference work for students of either physical or human geography. |
IfThis new edition has been expanded and revised: ap'd contains some ; ]
1750 new entries to take into account developments in all areas of the J
I subject. It now includes: ^ ^ - ' v I
ill , - • ■ *tv. ■
_| !■;) , j%\ ■ ' ■ -
An explanation of terms connected with all aspects of the
.Xj .
environment, natural and social
■ • • ‘ " |

m. Recent concepts in the field such as feminist geography, <,]

sustainability, uneven development and globalization

||j| Foreign and American terms

| ‘

I Succinct, clear definitions of natural phenomena

■ Sociological terminology Vj

M: Explanations of terms relating to climatology, ecology, economics,

:§! geology, remote sensing and statistics
a " ■' *if ■■ **• ■ -
tiff;; r ■ ■
lirhe author’s major work, the Longman Dictonary of Geography:
Human and Physical, on which this volume is based, has been ,
acclaimed as ‘the geographer’s bible’ (Geographical Magazine) and
‘an invaluable reference book’ (New Society). This new edition of her
Dictionary of Geography deserves equal praise.
|i|J ■ ' * .

Ibecond edition - -
over photograph of Rice terraces, Guangxi, China © Robert Harding Picture Library