Plate Tectonics
The theory of plate tectonics explains that Earth’s lithosphere is divided into moving sections called these.
What are tectonic plates?
The study of human populations, including size, density, and distribution, is known by this term.
What is demography?
Over 97% of Earth’s water is found in this form, making it unsuitable for direct human consumption or irrigation.
What is saltwater?
This 2015 international agreement aims to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
What is the Paris Agreement?
This imaginary line divides the Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
What is the Equator?
At divergent boundaries, plates move apart, creating these undersea mountain chains.
What are mid-ocean ridges?
This term refers to the mass movement of people from rural areas to urban centers.
What is urbanization?
This term refers to the continuous movement of water through the atmosphere, land, and oceans, driven by solar energy and gravity.
What is the hydrologic cycle (or water cycle)?
This 1997 treaty set legally binding greenhouse gas reduction targets for developed countries before being succeeded by the Paris Agreement.
What is the Kyoto Protocol?
This line of longitude, located at 0°, runs through Greenwich, England, and is used as the starting point for measuring time zones.
What is the Prime Meridian?
The Himalayas were formed by the collision of the Indian Plate with this tectonic plate.
What is the Eurasian Plate?
A country’s arithmetic density is calculated by dividing its population by this measure.
What is total land area?
This oceanic phenomenon, characterized by unusually warm surface waters in the eastern Pacific, disrupts global weather patterns every few years.
What is El Niño?
An international treaty adopted in 1987 to protect the ozone layer by phasing out CFCs.
What is the Montreal Protocol?
This projection, commonly used for navigation, distorts the size of landmasses near the poles.
What is the Mercator Projection?
The San Andreas Fault in California is an example of this type of plate boundary.
What is a transform boundary?
A region defined by people's perceptions or cultural identity—like “the Midwest” or “the Middle East”—is called this type of region.
What is a vernacular region (or perceptual region)?
The process by which groundwater is replenished as precipitation infiltrates through soil and rock layers is known as this.
What is recharge (or aquifer recharge)?
This type of market-based environmental policy puts a price on carbon emissions, encouraging companies to reduce pollution.
What is a carbon tax (or cap-and-trade system)?
This remote sensing technology uses laser pulses from an aircraft or drone to measure distances to the Earth’s surface, creating detailed 3D maps.
What is LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging)?
This layer of the Earth’s interior, lying beneath the lithosphere, allows tectonic plates to move due to its plasticity.
What is the asthenosphere?
This theory suggests that cultural innovations spread from a central place to other locations through communication and contact.
What is diffusion theory (or cultural diffusion)?
This term describes the condition when the demand for freshwater exceeds the available supply during a certain period or in a specific region.
What is water scarcity (or water stress)?
This 2015 set of 17 global goals adopted by all United Nations Member States aims to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030.
What are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
This type of data in GIS represents information as a continuous surface divided into a grid of cells, often used for elevation, temperature, or rainfall.
What is raster data?