Understanding Earth's Surface Features and Geological Processes

Elevation and Relief

Elevation: Gradient of a point on the Earth's surface relative to sea level.

Close witnesses are residual reliefs formed by harder rocks such as limestone.

Countryside and Scale

Countryside: Gently rolling lowlands crisscrossed by rivers.

Scale: The average ratio between the map's length and the corresponding length in reality.

Geological Structures

Faults: A terrestrial crust rupture with fractured block separation.

Latitude and Longitude

Latitude: The angular distance from any point of land to the Equator.

Longitude: The angular distance from any point on Earth to the 0° meridian.

Plains and Meridians

Plain: A plain high above sea level.

Meridians: Semi-circles ranging from pole to pole. The most important is Greenwich.

Solids and Tectonic Movements

Solid: A set of mountainous terrain and plateaus with well-defined limits.

Tectonic Movements: Transformations of the Earth's crust that give a new structure.

Orogeny

Orogeny Definition

Movements produced by lateral pressures that give rise to mountains.

Geological Periods

Geological periods during which ridges are formed.

Hercynian Orogeny

Intense mountain-building movement that took place late in the Paleozoic era.

Alpine Orogeny

Phase of folding and mountainous relief that occurred in the Tertiary period.

Param and Peneplains

Param: High and flat terrain characteristic of a plateau whose top layer is flame-resistant and has a cornice.

Peneplains: Erosion surfaces that are very gently rolling with little difference in height between the valleys.

Param: Elevated flat surfaces capped by a calcareous layer more resistant to erosion.

Folding and Plate Tectonics

Folding: The curling of the layers of the crust.

Plate Tectonics: Fragments of the Earth's crust that can form continents.

Parallels and Rock Types

Parallel: Circles perpendicular to the main parallel, the Equator, which divides the Earth into two hemispheres.

Sedimentary Rock

Deposited during the Mesozoic era, including limestone conglomerates and marls.

Rock Clay

Comprised of sedimentary materials with little resistance, such as clay loams and gypsum.

Limestone

Made up of materials whose presence determines the existence of karst areas.

Metamorphic Rock

Sediment transformed under heavy pressure, such as granite and gneiss.

Marine Transgressions and Regressions

Marine Regression: When the sea moves away from land due to uplift.

Marine Transgression: When the sea invades the land because it has sunk.

Socket

Socket: A set of hardened land where juxtaposed elements are formed by successive orogenies.