| aa | a type of lava. |
| acclivity | an upward slope. |
| aftershock | an earthquake that follows and has its epicenter near a larger earthquake. |
| aiguille | a needle-like peak of rock. |
| ait | a small island. |
| alluvial | relating to running water activities or deposits; (noun) soil composed of ALLUVIUM. |
| alluvion alluvium | land gradually gained from the sea by the washing up of sand and earth. [L. alluvio]. |
| alp | a mountain. |
| altiplano | a high plateau in Andes > ALTIPLANOS. |
| anaclinal | of valleys, progressing in a direction opposite to the dip of the surrounding rock strata. |
| antar antre | a cave. |
| anticlinal | an anticlinal fold, axis, crest, or line; a line whence strata dip in opposite directions. |
| anticline | a fold that is convex upward, or that had such an attitude at some stage of its development. Compare SYNCLINE. |
| anticlinorium | an arch-shaped group of anticlines and synclines > ANTICLINORIUMS. |
| antidune | a sandhill that forms a steep slope against the direction of the prevailing current. |
| antre | see ANTAR. |
| archipelago | a chain or set of islands grouped together > ARCHIPELAGOS or ARCHIPELAGOES. [Ital. arcipelago, principal sea, referring to the Aegean]. |
| areic | of an area of the earth with little surface drainage. |
| arete | a narrow, saw-toothed mountain ridge developed by glacier erosion in adjacent cirques. |
| arroyo | a dry desert gully > ARROYOS. |
| as | (noun) a gravel ridge or KAME > pl. ASAR; a Norse god > pl. AESIR; a Roman coin > pl. ASSES. |
| aseismic | free from earthquakes; designed to withstand earthquakes. |
| ashfall | volcanic ash. |
| atoll | a roughly circular reef with an occasional small, low, coral sand island surrounding a shallow lagoon. |
| avalanche | a generic term for any slide of snow, ice, and debris. |
| backcountry | a remote rural region. |
| backveld | country remote from towns. |
| badland | a barren, hilly area. |
| bahada bajada | a broad, sloping depositional deposit caused by the coalescing of alluvial fans. |
| bankside | the slope of a bank, especially of the bank of a steam. |
| barchan barchane barkan barkhan | a crescent-shaped dune. |
| barranca barranco | a ravine caused by heavy rains or a watercourse. |
| barren | devoid of vegetation > BARRENER, BARRENEST; BARRENLY; (noun) a desert > BARRENS. |
| bayou | the marshy offshoot of a lake or river. [Choctaw bayou, little river]. |
| beach | the shore of a sea or of a lake, esp when sandy or pebbly; (verb) to drive ashore > BEACHES, BEACHING, BEACHED. |
| beachside | situated at the side of a beach. |
| beachy | having a beach or beaches > BEACHIER, BEACHIEST. |
| ben | a mountain > BENS. |
| benchland | a former wave-cut shore of a sea or lake. |
| benchy | of a hillside, hollowed out in benches > BENCHIER, BENCHIEST. |
| berg | a hill or mountain in S. Africa. |
| bergfall | a fall of mountain rock. |
| bergmehl | a powdery deposit of diatom frustules. [Ger. = 'mountain flour']. |
| bergschrund | a crevasse formed where a glacier or snowfield moves away from a mountain wall. |
| blowout | an irregular depression excavated by wind, usually in previously deposited blown sand. |
| bog | a marsh; (verb) to sink > BOGS, BOGGING, BOGGED. |
| bogginess | the state of being BOGGY. |
| boggish | boggy. |
| boggy | like a bog > BOGGIER, BOGGIEST. |
| bogland | marshland. |
| bolson | a basin-shaped depression surrounded by mountains, esp. in the southern US and Mexico. |
| bombora | a submerged reef; a dangerous current over this. |
| bommie | an outcrop of coral reef. |
| boonies | remote, undeveloped country. |
| boschveld bushveld | veld made up largely of woodland. |
| bottomset | as in bottomset bed, fine sediment deposited at the foot of a growing delta. No —S. |
| bouldery | of a landscape, characterized by boulders. |
| bradyseism | a slow up-and-down movement of the earth's crust. |
| brae | a steep bank beside a river valley; a hillside. |
| braeheid | the summit of a hill or slope. |
| brushland | an area covered with brush growth. |
| bundu | a remote uncultivated region > BUNDUS. |
| bushland | land covered by bush. |
| bushveld | see BOSCHVELD. |
| butte | an isolated hill rising abruptly from the surrounding area, having steep sides and a flat top. |
| cajon | a steep canyon > CAJONES. [Sp. cajon, box]. |
| caldera | a large, basin-shaped volcanic depression, more or less circular in form > CALDERAS. |
| callow | unfledged; inexperienced > CALLOWER, CALLOWEST; (noun) an alluvial flat > CALLOWS. |
| campagna | an open level tract of country; especially "Campagna di Roma", the extensive undulating plain which surrounds Rome > CAMPAGNAS or CAMPAGNE. |
| campo | an area of open grassland in S. America > CAMPI or CAMPOS. |
| canada | a narrow canyon (the n has a tilde) > CANADAS. |
| canyon | a deep gorge or ravine. [Sp cañón, a hollow, from root of cannon]. |
| carse | (a stretch of) alluvial lowland beside a river. |
| cataclinal | running in the direction of the dip of the surrounding rock strata. |
| cave | a hollow in a rock; (verb) to hollow out > CAVES, CAVING, CAVED. |
| cavern | to hollow out as in a cavern > CAVERNS, CAVERNING, CAVERNED. |
| cay | a low islet. |
| cenote | a deep natural hole in the ground with a pool at the bottom, esp. in the Yucatan peninsula, often used by the Mayas as a place of sacrifice. |
| cerrado | an area of wooded savanna in S. America. |
| champaign | an expanse of level, open country, a plain. |
| chasm | a deep cleft in the earth. |
| chasmal chasmic | of or like a chasm. |
| chasmed | having CHASMS. |
| chasmy | of or pertaining to a chasm; abounding in chasms > CHASMIER, CHASMIEST. |
| chersonese | a PENINSULA. |
| chott shott | a shallow saline lake of northern Africa; the dried bed of such a lake. |
| cirque | a bowl-shaped depression on a mountain that is carved out by an Alpine glacier. |
| cleeve cleve | a cliff, a hillside. |
| cleuch cleugh clough | a ravine. |
| cleve | see CLEEVE. |
| cliff | a high, steep face of rock. |
| cliffed | having CLIFFS. |
| clifflike | like a CLIFF. |
| cliffy | having cliffs; craggy > CLIFFIER, CLIFFIEST. |
| clift | a cliff. |
| clifted | broken into cliffs. |
| clifty | broken into cliffs > CLIFTIER, CLIFTIEST. |
| clint | a block in a limestone pavement. |
| clough | see CLEUCH. |
| coastal | pertaining to or located near a seashore. |
| coastally | |
| coastland | land along the coast. |
| coastline | the line or boundary of a coast. |
| col | a pass in a mountain range. |
| combe coomb coombe | a deep hollow or valley, esp. on the side of a hill; a valley running up from the sea. |
| copple | something rising in a conical shape; specifically, a hill rising to a point. |
| corcass | in Ireland, a salt-marsh, or land susceptible to flooding by a river. [Irish corcach]. |
| cordillera | a mountain ridge or chain. |
| cordilleran | relating to a CORDILLERA, a mountain ridge or chain. |
| corrie | a round hollow in a hillside. |
| coseismal | (a line) connecting points simultaneously affected by an earthquake > COSEISMALS. |
| coseismic | (a place) experiencing an earthquake shock simultaneously > COSEISMICS. |
| coste | (Spenser) coast. |
| coteau | uplands; higher ground of a region > COTEAUX. |
| coulee | a lava-flow; a rocky ravine. |
| couloir | a steep mountainside gorge. [Fr. couloir, corridor]. |
| cove | a small inlet of the sea, a bay; (verb) to form or provide with an architectural cove > COVES, COVING, COVED. |
| covelet | a small cove. |
| crag craig | a rough steep rock. |
| cragged | full of crags, or steep, broken rocks. |
| craggedness | the state of being CRAGGED, full of crags. |
| craggily | (adv.) CRAGGY, rugged, full of crags. |
| craggy | rugged, full of crags. |
| craig | see CRAG. |
| crater | the bowl-like mouth of a volcano; also a large two-handled bowl for mixing wine. (Verb) to make a crater in > CRATERS, CRATERING, CRATERED. |
| craterlet | a small crater. |
| craterous | pertaining to, or resembling, a crater. |
| craton | a large, relatively stable section of earth's crust, forming the basis of a continent or ocean. [Gk. kratos, strength]. |
| cratonic | relating to a CRATON, a large, relatively stable section of earth's crust. |
| creston | an outcrop. |
| crevasse | a deep crevice or open fracture in glacier ice; (verb) to make a crevasse in > CREVASSES, CREVASSING, CREVASSED. |
| cuesta | a geological feature > gentle slope on one side, cliff on the other. |
| cutbank | a steep stream bank. |
| cwm | a Welsh word for valley. |
| dale | a valley. |
| dargle | a dell. |
| debouchure | the mouth of a river or strait. |
| deglaciated | showing DEGLACIATION. N.B. no DEGLACIATE*. |
| deglaciation | the melting of ice due to the retreat of a glacier. |
| dell | a small, retired valley; a ravine. |
| delta | the often triangular-shaped alluvial deposition area at the mouth of a river. |
| deltaic deltic | relating to a DELTA. |
| dene | a sandy tract or dune by the seashore. |
| desert | a barren area; (verb) to abandon. |
| desertic | arid and barren. |
| diapir | an anticlinal fold in which the overlying rock has been pierced by material from beneath. [Gk. diapeirainein, to pierce]. |
| diapiric | of or like DIAPIR. |
| diluvial diluvian | of, relating to, or brought about by a flood. [L. diluere, to wash away]. |
| dimble | a deep and shady dell, a dingle > DIMBLES. |
| dingle | a dell. |
| djebel jebel | a hill, a range of mountains. |
| doab | a tongue or tract of land included between two rivers; as, the doab between the Ganges and the Jumna. [Persian do-ab, two waters]. |
| dolina doline | a typically funnel-shaped basin in a karstic region. |
| donga | a gully made by soil erosion. |
| downland | a rolling treeless upland. |
| drumlin | a long hill formed by glacial retreat. |
| dryland | relating to land as opposed to sea. No —S. |
| dune | a hill of sand. |
| duneland | an area of dunes. |
| dunelike | like a dune. |
| earthfall | a landslide. |
| earthquake | a quaking or shaking of the earth. |
| earthquaked | shaken or destroyed by an earthquake. |
| ejecta | material ejected e.g. from a volcano. No —S. |
| embayment | a bay; a recess in a coastline forming a bay. |
| embog | to bog down > EMBOGS, EMBOGGING, EMBOGGED. |
| englacial | embedded in, carried in or running through a glacier. |
| englacially | (adv.) ENGLACIAL. |
| epicenter epicentre epicentrum | the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the focus of an earthquake. |
| eremic | of or belonging to deserts. |
| erg | a Saharan area of shifting sand dunes > ERGS or AREG. |
| erupt | to break out or through, e.g. of a volcano > ERUPTS, ERUPTING, ERUPTED. |
| eruption | the action of a volcano. |
| escar eskar esker | a long narrow ridge of gravel deposited by a glacial stream. |
| escarp | a scarp or sudden slope; (verb) to make into a scarp > ESCARPS, ESCARPING, ESCARPED. |
| everglade | a swampy grassland, esp. in southern Florida. |
| eyot | a small island in a river. |
| fen | low marshy land. |
| fenland | marshy ground. |
| fennish | abounding in fens; fenny. |
| fenny | like a fen > FENNIER, FENNIEST; (noun) a kind of drink > FENNIES. |
| fiord fjord | a coastal valley which was sculpted by glacial action. |
| firn | granular ice formed by the recrystallization of snow. [Ger. firn, of last year]. Aka NEVE. |
| firth | a fjord, inlet. |
| fjeld | a high, barren Scandinavian plateau. |
| fjord | see FIORD. |
| fjordic | of or like a FJORD. |
| flatland | land lacking significant variation in elevation. |
| floodplain | an area bordering a stream over which water spreads when the stream tops its channel banks. |
| flybelt | a belt of country infested by tsetse fly. |
| foothill | a minor elevation below a higher mountain or range. |
| foreland | a headland. |
| foreshock | a minor tremor that precedes an earthquake. |
| foreshore | that part of the shore that lies between the low and high tide marks. |
| fumarole fumerole | a hole in a volcanic region from which hot gases and vapors issue. |
| fumarolic | of or like a FUMAROLE, a hole in a volcanic region from which hot gases and vapors issue. |
| fumerole | see FUMAROLE. |
| fynbos | in South Africa, an area of low shrubs > FYNBOSES. [Dutch fijn, fine + bosch, bush]. N.B. no FYNBO*. |
| garigue garrigue | an uncultivated open scrubland of the Mediterranean region. |
| geanticline | a large upward fold. |
| geest | alluvial matter on the surface of land, not of recent origin. |
| geo gio goe | a gully or creek. |
| geodynamic | pertaining to forces within the earth. |
| geodynamics | the study of GEODYNAMIC forces. |
| geyser | a type of thermal spring which ejects water intermittently with considerable force. |
| ghat ghaut | (in India) a mountain pass; a landing stage; a place for cremation. |
| ghilgai gilgai | a saucer-shaped depression forming a natural reservoir. |
| ghyll | a narrow ravine. |
| gilgai | see GHILGAI. |
| gio | see GEO. |
| glacial | very cold > GLACIALLY; (noun) a glacial period > GLACIALS. |
| glacialist | one who attributes the phenomena of the drift, in geology, to glaciers. |
| glaciation | the formation, advance and retreat of glaciers and the results of these activities. |
| glacier | a huge mass of ice > GLACIERS, GLACIERED. |
| glaciered | having a GLACIER or glaciers. |
| glaciology | the study of ice ages and glaciation. |
| glen | a narrow valley with a stream, often with trees. |
| glenlike | like a GLEN. |
| goe | see GEO. |
| goyle | (dial.) a ravine. |
| graben | a rift valley. |
| grassland | a habitat dominated by grass. |
| grike gryke | a crevice in a limestone pavement. [ON kriki, a crack]. |
| grot | a grotto. |
| grotto | a cavern > GROTTOES or GROTTOS; GROTTOED. |
| grottoed | having a GROTTO. |
| grough | a deep gully in a peat moor area. |
| gryke | see GRIKE. |
| gumlands | in Australia, infertile land from which the original kauri gum has been removed or burnt. N.B. no GUMLAND*. |
| guyot | a flat-topped underwater mountain of volcanic origin. [From A H Guyot, Swiss-born American geologist]. |
| hag hagg | broken ground in a moss or bog, a place from which peat has been dug. |
| hamada hammada | a desert plateau of bedrock. |
| haugh | a low-lying meadow by the side of a river. |
| headland | a cape; a promontory. |
| heath | an area of land covered with heath or heather, an evergreen shrub. |
| heathland | barren open country, esp covered with ericaceous and other low shrubs. |
| heathless | without heath. |
| heathlike | like a heath. |
| heathy | covered with heath; of the nature of heath > HEATHIER, HEATHIEST. |
| heuch heugh | a crag, a steep-sided valley. |
| highland | an elevated region. |
| highveld | a high altitude grassland region of E. South Africa. |
| hill | a high mass of land, smaller than a mountain; (verb) to rise into a mound > HILLS, HILLING, HILLED. |
| hillcrest | the top of a hill. |
| hilliness | the state of being HILLY. |
| hillock | a small hill. |
| hillocked | having HILLOCKS. |
| hillocky | full of HILLOCKS. |
| hillside | the side of a hill. |
| hillslope | the slope of a hill. |
| hilltop | the top of a hill. |
| hilly | like a hill > HILLIER, HILLIEST. |
| hoe hogh | a promontory. |
| hogback | an eroded, steeply tilted ridge of resistant rocks with equal slopes on the sides, aka SOWBACK. |
| holm | a river island. |
| hommock | a ridge in an ice field. |
| hornito | a low volcanic mound > HORNITOS. |
| horst horste | a mass of the earth's crust that lies between two faults and is higher than the surrounding land. [From MHG hurst, thicket]. |
| hummock | a pile or ridge of ice; (verb) to make hummocks on > HUMMOCKS, HUMMOCKING, HUMMOCKED. |
| hypocenter hypocentre | the point on the earth directly below where the energy of an earthquake is released. |
| icecap | a small ice sheet. |
| icecapped | having an ICECAP, a small ice sheet. |
| icefall | a steep part of a glacier resembling a frozen waterfall; an avalanche of ice. |
| icefield | an expanse of ice e.g. on a glacier. |
| inselberg | a steep-sided round-topped mount, usu. of granite or gneiss, rising above the general level of plain eroded bedrock > INSELBERGE or INSELBERGS. [Ger. 'island mountain']. Aka MONADNOCK. |
| interfluve | an area between two rivers that flow in the same direction. |
| interfluvial | between two rivers flowing in same direction. |
| intervale | a low level tract of land, esp. along a river. |
| intraplate | relating to or occurring within the interior of a tectonic plate, e.g. an INTRAPLATE earthquake. |
| island | a mass of land (not a continent) surrounded with water; (verb) to set or dot with or as with islands > ISLANDS, ISLANDING, ISLANDED. |
| islet | a small island. |
| isleted | having ISLETS. |
| isoseismal | a line connecting points of same earthquake intensity. |
| isoseismic | relating to an ISOSEISMAL, a line connecting points of same earthquake intensity. |
| isthmic isthmoid | of or like an ISTHMUS. |
| isthmus | a narrow neck of land joining two land masses > ISTHMI or ISTHMUSES. |
| jebel | see DJEBEL. |
| jungle | land covered with dense tropical vegetation. |
| jungled | abounding in JUNGLE. |
| jungly | of or relating to jungles > JUNGLIER, JUNGLIEST. |
| kaim kame | a comb; a ridge or mound of sand and gravel deposited on or near a glacier. |
| karoo karroo | a high inland pastoral tableland. |
| karst | a landscape composed of limestone features including sinkholes, caves, and underground streams. |
| karstic | of or like KARST, a landscape composed of limestone features including sinkholes, caves, and underground streams. |
| karstification | the process of becoming KARSTIFIED. |
| karstify | to make into KARST, a landscape composed of limestone features including sinkholes, caves, and underground streams > KARSTIFIES, KARSTIFYING, KARSTIFIED. |
| khor | a dry watercourse; a ravine. [Arabic khurr, khorr]. |
| khud | in India, a pit, hollow, ravine. |
| kipp | anything beaked; a pointed hill. |
| kloof | a deep ravine in South Africa. |
| knickpoint nickpoint | a break of slope in a river profile, esp. where a new curve of erosion arising from rejuvenation intersects an earlier curve. |
| knoll | a small hill; (verb) an obsolete form of KNELL > KNOLLS, KNOLLING, KNOLLED. |
| knolly | like a KNOLL > KNOLLIER, KNOLLIEST. |
| knowe | a small hill, a knoll. |
| kop | a South African word for hill. |
| kopje koppie | in S. Africa, a low hill. |
| kyle | a narrow strait. [Gaelic caol, narrow]. |
| lahar | a mudflow composed chiefly of pyroclastic material on the flanks of a volcano. |
| laich | low; a piece of low-lying ground; a hollow > LAICHS (not LAICHES*). |
| laigh | low > LAIGHER, LAIGHEST; (noun) a piece of low-lying ground; a hollow > LAIGHS. |
| lakefront | the front of a lake. |
| lakeland | scenery with lakes. |
| lande | a heathy plain or sandy tract, esp. in S.W. France. |
| landform | a geological feature. |
| landmass | a large continuous area of land, as opposed to seas or islands. |
| landscape | the appearance of the area of land which the eye can view at once. |
| landskip | landscape > LANDSKIPS. Also LANTSKIP. (Verb) to landscape > LANDSKIPS, LANDSKIPPING, LANDSKIPPED. |
| landslide | of land, to slide > LANDSLIDES, LANDSLIDING, LANDSLID, LANDSLIDDEN. |
| landslip | the fall of a mass of earth. |
| lantskip | see LANDSKIP. |
| lapillus | a small stone ejected by volcanic eruption > LAPILLI. |
| lauwine lawine | an avalanche. |
| lava | magma that has been extruded out on to the earth's surface. |
| lavaform | like lava. |
| lavalike | like lava. |
| lawine | see LAUWINE. |
| liman | the deposit of slime at the mouth of a river; slime. |
| litoral | pertaining to or on the seashore. |
| littoral | pertaining to or on seashore; (noun) a shore region. |
| llano | an extensive plain with or without vegetation > LLANOS. |
| logan | a rocking-stone. |
| lowland | an area of land lying lower than the adjacent country. |
| lowveld | the lower altitude areas of the eastern Transvaal. |
| maar | a volcanic crater without a cone, usually filled by a lake > MAARS or MAARE. |
| machair | a low-lying sandy beach, esp. in the Hebrides. |
| magma | molten or partially molten rock material > MAGMAS or MAGMATA. |
| magmatic | of or like MAGMA, molten or partially molten rock material. |
| mamelon | a rounded hill or protuberance. [Fr. mamelon, nipple]. |
| maremma | a marsh; a miasma; an Italian sheepdog > MAREMMAS or MAREMME. |
| marish | low, wet ground; a marsh; a fen. |
| marsh | a tract of low, wet land. |
| marshland | low poorly drained land that is sometimes flooded and often lies at the edge of lakes, streams, etc. |
| marshlike | like a MARSH. |
| marshy | like MARSH > MARSHIER, MARSHIEST. |
| maskeg muskeg | a swamp, bog or marsh. [Cree maskek]. |
| massif | a large mountain-mass; a compact group of mountain heights. |
| merse | a low flat marshland. |
| mesa | a flat-topped hill. |
| meseta | a plateau, esp. that of central Spain. |
| microquake | a very small earthquake. |
| microseism | a small earth tremor. |
| microseismic microseismical | relating to a MICROSEISM, a small earth tremor. |
| mire | mud; (verb) to bog down > MIRES, MIRING, MIRED. |
| mofette moffette | a volcanic opening in the earth emitting carbon dioxide. |
| molasse | soft sediment produced by the erosion of mountain ranges in the final stage of mountain building > MOLASSES. |
| monadnock | a mountain or rocky mass that has resisted erosion and stands isolated in an essentially level area. [From Mount Monadnock, a peak of southwest New Hampshire]. Aka INSELBERG. |
| montane | mountainous; mountain-dwelling; (noun) the lowest vegetation belt of a mountain. |
| monticle | a little hill. |
| monticule | a secondary volcanic cone. |
| monticulus | a little hill > MONTICULUSES. |
| moorish | having the characteristics of a moor or heath. |
| moorland | a tract of marshy land > MOORLANDS. |
| moory | of or pertaining to moors > MOORIER, MOORIEST. |
| morainal | of or like a MORAINE. |
| moraine | a landform made largely of glacial till. |
| morainic | of or pertaining to a MORAINE, a landform made largely of glacial till. |
| morass | a very wet or muddy area of ground. |
| morassy | marshy; fenny. |
| morro | a rounded hill or headland > MORROS. |
| mossland | wet, peaty land. |
| motu | a small reef island in the Pacific > MOTUS. |
| moulin | a nearly vertical, cylindrical shaft or cavity worn in a glacier, carved by melted surface water falling through a crack in the ice. [Fr. moulin, mill]. |
| mountain | a large, natural elevation of the earth's surface. |
| mountained | having mountains. |
| mountainous | having mountains. |
| mountainousness | the state of being MOUNTAINOUS. |
| mountainy | mountainous. |
| moutonnee | of a rock, rounded by the action of a glacier. |
| moya | volcanic mud. |
| mudflat | a level tract alternately covered and left bare by the tide. |
| mudhole | a place that stays damp and muddy. |
| muir | a moor. |
| muskeg | see MASKEG. |
| nala nalla nallah nulla nullah | in India, a ravine, a watercourse. |
| naze | a headland or cape. |
| nek | a col, a pass in a mountain range. |
| ness | a headland. |
| neve | old compressed snow, aka FIRN. |
| nickpoint | see KNICKPOINT. |
| nondesert | not related to or living in a desert. |
| noup | in the Shetlands, a crag, a steep headland. |
| nulla | see NALA. |
| nullah | see NALA. |
| nunatak | a point of rock appearing above the surface of land ice > NUNATAKS or (Swedish) NUNATAKER. [Inupiaq (Greenlandic) nunataq.] |
| oasis | a fertile spot in a desert > OASES. |
| oreographic | relating to OREOGRAPHY, the science of mountains. |
| oreography orography | the science of mountains. |
| oreological | relating to OREOLOGY. |
| oreologist orologist | one versed in OREOLOGY, the study of mountains. |
| oreology orology | the study of mountains. |
| orogen | an orogenic belt, a mountain-forming area > OROGENS. |
| orogenesis | mountain-building. |
| orogenic | relating to the formation of mountains. |
| orogeny | the process of mountain making, esp. by folding of the earth's crust. |
| orographer | one who practises OROGRAPHY, the science of mountains. |
| orographic | showing heights. |
| orography | see OREOGRAPHY. |
| orologist | see OREOLOGIST. |
| orology | see OREOLOGY. |
| ose | an esker, a narrow ridge of gravel and sand. |
| outback | the remote, uncultivated, and usu. uninhabited inland districts of Australia; any remote or sparsely populated region. |
| outcrop | any place where bedrock is visible on the surface of the Earth; (verb) to form an outcrop > OUTCROPS, OUTCROPPING, OUTCROPPED. |
| outwash | beds of sand and gravel laid down by glacial melt water. |
| overfold | a fold tilted over so that the dip on both sides of the axis is in the same direction; (verb) of folded strata > to be pushed beyond the vertical, so as to form an overfold. |
| overwash | material carried by glacier streams over a frontal moraine. |
| oxbow | a pronounced meander or horseshoe-shaped loop in a river; the land included within such a loop. |
| padi paddy | a rice field. |
| pahoehoe | a hardened lava with a smooth or ropy surface. Cf. AA. |
| pakahi | acid land unfit for cultivation > PAKAHIS. |
| pakihi | an area of swampy infertile land > PAKIHIS. |
| paludal paludic paludinal paludine paludinous | of marshes. |
| paludose paludous | marshy; living in marshes. |
| palustral palustrian palustrine | of marshes, inhabiting marshes. |
| pampa | a vast treeless plain in S. America > PAMPAS. [Quechua = a plain]. |
| paramo | a bare wind-swept elevated plain in South America > PARAMOS. |
| peak | the top of a mountain; (verb) to reach a maximum > PEAKS, PEAKING, PEAKED. |
| peakish | of or relating to a peak. |
| peatary peatery petary | a region, bog or moor covered with peat. |
| peatland | an area of land consisting of peat bogs. |
| peneplain peneplane | a low gently, rolling landscape produced by long-continued erosion. |
| peninsula | a strip of land jutting out into water, a near-island. |
| periglacial | bordering a glacier. |
| phrygana | an uncultivated open scrubland of the Mediterranean region, aka GARIGUE > PHRYGANAS. |
| picacho | an isolated peak of a hill > PICACHOS. |
| piedmont | an area of land formed or lying at the foot of a mountain or mountain range. [From Piedmont in Italy]. |
| pindan | a desert region of Western Australia. |
| pineland | land on which pine trees grow. |
| pingo | a cone-shaped mound with an ice core > PINGOS or PINGOES. [Inupiaq pinguq nunatak]. |
| plateau | a flat highland > PLATEAUX; (verb) to level out > PLATEAUS, PLATEAUING, PLATEAUED. |
| playa | a basin which becomes a shallow lake after heavy rain, and dries out again. |
| pocosen+ pocosin pocoson | an upland swamp of the coastal plain of the southeastern U.S. |
| poechore | a semiarid region. |
| polder | an area of low-lying land reclaimed from a body of water (esp. in the Netherlands); (verb) to reclaim low-lying land > POLDERS, POLDERING, POLDERED. |
| polje | a large elliptical depression in karst regions, sometimes containing a marsh or lake. |
| poort | a mountain pass. |
| pothole | a hole or basin cut into bedrock of a stream by the abrasive action of pebbles and sand swirled by turbulent stream flow; (verb) to explore (limestone potholes) > POTHOLES, POTHOLING, POTHOLED. |
| prairie | an extensive tract of treeless grassland, esp. in N. America. |
| prairied | having prairies. |
| precepit | a precipice. |
| precipice | a high vertical or nearly vertical cliff or rock face. |
| puy | a small volcanic cone. |
| pyroclast | ash and other debris ejected by a volcano. |
| quag | a quagmire. |
| quaggy | boggy, like a quagmire > QUAGGIER, QUAGGIEST. |
| quagmire | a bog; (verb) to be sunk or stuck in a quagmire > QUAGMIRES, QUAGMIRING, QUAGMIRED. |
| quagmiry | like a QUAGMIRE > QUAGMIRIER, QUAGMIRIEST. |
| quicksand | a loose watery sand which swallows up anyone who walks on it. |
| rambla | a dry ravine; a broad avenue esp in Barcelona. |
| ravine | a narrow, steep-sided valley. |
| ravined | scored with ravines, trenched. |
| reedbed | a stand of reeds. |
| reefy | full of reefs or rocks > REEFIER, REEFIEST. |
| ria | a drowned valley. |
| ridgeline | a line marking or following a ridge. |
| rillmark | a marking produced by water running down a bank or beach. |
| rimaye | a BERGSCHRUND, a crevasse formed where a glacier or snowfield moves away from a mountain wall. |
| rimland | an outlying land. |
| riparial | pertaining to or on river bank. |
| riva | in Shetland, a cleft in rock. [ON rifa]. |
| rivage | shore; bank. |
| riverbank | the bank of a river. |
| riverside | the area at the side of a river. |
| riviera | a warm coastal district. |
| rockslide | a fall of rocks down a hillside. |
| rognon | an isolated rock outcrop on a glacier. |
| sabkha sabkhah sabkhat | a broad, salt-encrusted coastal plain above the level of normal tides. |
| salina | a salt lagoon. |
| salse | a mud volcano. |
| salting | an area of land regularly flooded by tides. |
| sandbank | a large mass of sand. |
| sandbar | a sandbank, esp. formed at the mouth of a river or harbour. |
| sandhill | a hill of sand. |
| sault | a leap; a waterfall or rapid in some rivers; as, the Sault Ste. Marie. |
| savanna savannah | tropical grassland. |
| scabland | an area of bare, usu. volcanic rock in the N. W. US that has been deeply channelled by glacial meltwater. |
| scarping | a steep slope; the rocky face of a hill. |
| scaw skaw | a low cape or headland |
| scoria | a slag-like mass of lava > SCORIAE. |
| scrubland | land covered by scrub. |
| seabank | a bank beside the sea. |
| seabeach | a beach lying along the sea. |
| seaboard | the line where land and sea meet, the coastline. |
| seacoast | the shore or border of the land adjacent to the sea or ocean. |
| seamount | a volcanic mountain on the seafloor. If flat-topped, it is a GUYOT. |
| seashore | land bordering on the sea. |
| seaside | the seashore. |
| seastrand | the seashore. |
| sedgeland | land where sedge grows. |
| seif | a long sand-dune lying parallel to the direction of the wind that forms it > SEIFS. [Arabic sayf, sword]. |
| seism | an earthquake. |
| seismal seismic seismical | relating to earthquakes. |
| seismicity | degree of vulnerability to earthquakes. |
| seismism | seismic phenomena collectively. |
| seismograph | instrument for recording earthquakes. |
| seismology | the study of earthquakes. |
| seismometer | instrument for measuring earthquake intensity. |
| seismoscope | an instrument for detecting earthquakes. |
| semicirque | a semicircular hollow or opening among trees or hills. |
| serac | a large mass of ice broken off a glacier and remaining behind in a crevasse. |
| shore | the seaward edge of coast between low tide and effective wave action; (verb) to prop up > SHORES, SHORING, SHORED. |
| shoreline | the line separating land and water, that fluctuates as water rises and falls. |
| shott | see CHOTT. |
| shrubland | land covered by shrubs. |
| sidehill | the side or slope of a hill. |
| sierra | a ridge of mountain and craggy rocks, with a serrated or irregular outline. |
| sierran | relating to a mountain range. |
| sinkhole | a depression in ground surface caused by collapse into a cave below. |
| sinky | of ground, yielding underfoot > SINKIER, SINKIEST. |
| skaw | see SCAW. |
| skerry | a small rocky island. [ON sker]. |
| slade | a little valley or dell. |
| sleech | slimy mud; a mudflat. |
| slickenside | a polished and smoothly striated rock surface that results from friction along a fault plane. |
| slickensided | in the form of a SLICKENSIDE. |
| slieve | a mountain. |
| slobland | a mudflat, reclaimed alluvial land. |
| slough | a quagmire; (verb) to cast off > SLOUGHS, SLOUGHING, SLOUGHED. |
| sloughy | full of sloughs, miry > SLOUGHIER, SLOUGHIEST. |
| slumpy | marshy > SLUMPIER, SLUMPIEST. |
| snowbelt | a region that receives an appreciable amount of snow each year. |
| snowland | land permanently under snow. |
| snowscape | a landscape under snow. |
| soakaway | a depression or pit into which water percolates. |
| soffioni | volcanic steam-holes. |
| solfatara | a volcanic vent emitting only gases. |
| solfataric | relating to a SOLFATARA, a volcanic vent emitting only gases. |
| sowback | an eroded, steeply tilted ridge of resistant rocks with equal slopes on the sides, aka HOGBACK. |
| spewiness | the state of being SPEWY, boggy. |
| spewy | boggy > SPEWIER, SPEWIEST. |
| spit | a tongue of land projecting out to sea; (verb) to emit saliva > SPITS, SPITTING, SPAT; to pierce with a spit > SPITS, SPITTING, SPITTED, SPITTEN. |
| steppe | one of the vast plains in Southeastern Europe and in Asia. |
| stoss | the side of a hill facing upstream. |
| strandflat | in Norway, a gently sloping coastal platform extending seaward. |
| strata | a layer, a stratum > STRATAS. (Plural erroneously taken as singular). |
| strath | a valley of considerable size, through which a river runs. |
| stratovolcano | a composite volcano > a volcano that is composed of alternating layers of lava and pyroclastic material, along with abundant dikes and sills. Viscous, intermediate lava may flow from a central vent > STRATOVOLCANOS or STRATOVOLCANOES. |
| strond | a strand; a beach. |
| succussive | characterized by a shaking motion, especially an up and down movement, and not merely tremulous oscillation; as, the succussive motion in earthquakes. |
| superterranean | above or on surface of earth. |
| swail | a marshy hollow or depression; meadow > SWAILS. Also SWALE. |
| swale | a marshy hollow or depression; meadow. Also SWAIL. (Verb) to scorch, singe > SWALES, SWALING, SWALED. Also SWEAL, SWEEL, SWAYL. |
| swaly | marshy > SWALIER, SWALIEST. |
| swamp | a tract of wet, spongy land; (verb) to inundate > SWAMPS, SWAMPING, SWAMPED. |
| swampish | like a swamp. |
| swampland | swamp country. |
| swampy | like a swamp > SWAMPIER, SWAMPIEST. |
| swire | a hollow between two hills. [OE sweora, neck]. |
| syncline | a fold that is convex downwards, or that had such an attitude at some stage of its development. Compare ANTICLINE. |
| syrtis | a patch or area of quicksand > SYRTES. |
| tableland | a plateau. |
| taiga | subarctic Siberian evergreen forest. |
| talweg thalweg | a line following the lowest point of a valley; the middle of a navigable waterway used as boundary line. [Ger. thal (valley) + weg (way)]. |
| taphrogenesis | vertical movement of the earth's crust > TAPHROGENESES. |
| tel tell | in Arab lands, a hill or ancient mound formed from the accumulated debris from earlier mud or wattle habitations. |
| temblor | an earthquake or earth tremor > TEMBLORS or TEMBLORES. |
| tephra | a general term for all pyroclastic material, i.e. ash and debris ejected by volcano > TEPHRAS. [Gk. tephra, ashes]. |
| terrain | ground, a tract, regarded as a field of view or of operations, or as having some sort of unity or prevailing character. |
| thalweg | see TALWEG. |
| thwaite | a piece of reclaimed wasteland (now only in place-names. [ON thveit]. |
| tideland | land which is submerged at high tide. |
| timberland | land covered with trees used for timber. |
| tombolo | a bar of sand or gravel connecting one island with another > TOMBOLOS. |
| tomo | a shaft formed by the action of water on volcanic or limestone rock > TOMOS. |
| tor | a hill. |
| tumpy | hummocky > TUMPIER, TUMPIEST. |
| tumulose tumulous | full of small hills or mounds; hilly. |
| tumulosity | the state of being TUMULOSE, full of small hills or mounds. |
| tumulous | see TUMULOSE. |
| tundra | a vast treeless zone lying between the ice cap and the timber line of North America and Eurasia and having a permanently frozen subsoil. |
| undercliff | a subordinate cliff on a shore, consisting of material that has fallen from the higher cliff above. |
| upland | the higher land of a region. |
| uplandish | of or pertaining to uplands; dwelling on high lands. |
| urman | swampy pine forest. |
| vae voe | in Orkney or Shetland, a bay or creek. |
| vale | a broad VALLEY. |
| valley | a depression of the earth's surface. |
| valleyed | having VALLEYS. |
| varve | a seasonal layer of sediment deposited in still water, used in establishing Ice Age chronology. |
| varved | stratified in VARVES, seasonal layers of sediment deposited in still water, used in establishing Ice Age chronology. |
| vega | a low fertile plain; a tobacco field. |
| veld veldt | open grassland > VELDTS. [Afrikaans veld, from Dutch veld, field]. |
| versant | the general slope of a mountain. |
| vlei vly | low-lying wet ground, a swamp. |
| voe | see VAE. |
| volcanian vulcanian | volcanic. |
| volcanic vulcanic | pertaining to, of the nature of, produced or caused by a volcano. |
| volcanicity | the state of being VOLCANIC. |
| volcanise volcanize | to subject to the action of volcanic heat. |
| volcanism | volcanic power or action; volcanicity. |
| volcanist vulcanist | one versed in the history and phenomena of volcanoes. |
| volcanize | see VOLCANISE. |
| volcano | a centre of eruption of subterranean matter > VOLCANOS or VOLCANOES. |
| volcanology vulcanology | the study of volcanoes. |
| vulcanian | see VOLCANIAN. |
| vulcanic | see VOLCANIC. |
| vulcanism | a term given to processes whereby magma is extruded on to the earth's surface. |
| vulcanist | see VOLCANIST. |
| vulcanology | see VOLCANOLOGY. |
| wadi wady | the dry bed of a torrent; a river valley > WADIS, WADIES. |
| wagmoire | a quagmire. |
| washaway | an erosion of the earth's surface due to running water. |
| washland | an area periodically flooded by a river. |
| wasteland | a desolate, barren area. |
| waterside | the edge of a sea, lake, etc, a shore. |
| wayboard | a thin geological seam separating larger strata. |
| wetland |
