Geography and Environment

Afforestation: is the establishment of a forest in an area where there was no previous tree cover.

Anticlines: these are folds in which each half of the fold dips away from the crest.

Aridity: a dry condition that results when there is no rainfall for a long period of time, leading to scarcity of water and massive crop failure and reduced plant life

Bearing: bearing is the direction measured as an angle and given in degrees.

Biodiversity: the variety of life in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

Biogas: is the mixture of different gases produced by the breakdown of agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste or food waste in the absence of oxygen

Catchment area: an area, such as a forested highland area, where sources of water such as rivers originate from

Census: an official counting of people b the government, with details as to age, sex, occupation being taken

Climate: is the average weather conditions of a place recorded over a long period of time, usually between 30 ad 35 years.

Conservation: preservation, protection, or restoration of the natural environment, natural ecosystems, vegetation, and wildlife.

Contour lines: these are lines drawn on a map joining places of the same altitude (that is, height above sea level).

Deforestation:  is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses.

Dereliction: the state of having been abandoned and become dilapidated.

Earthquake:  a sudden and violent shaking of the ground, sometimes causing great destruction, as a result of movements within the earth’s crust or volcanic action.

Eastings: they refer to the eastward measured distance (or the x-coordinate).

Epicenter:  the point on the earth’s surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake.

Erosion: this is the gradual destruction of soil by natural forces such as water, wind, or ice.

Emigration: this is migration of people from their country to another in order to settle there.

Exfoliation:  separation of successive thin shells, or spalls, from massive rock such as granite or basalt.

Faulting:  this is the process that causes the fragile rocks of the earth’s crust to fracture and form cracks.

Folding: this is the bending of the rocks of the earth’s crust due to compression forces operating within the earth’s surface.

Foreground: the foreground is the area that is nearest to the camera. Objects in this area are always bigger and clearer than those in background.

Global warming:  is the term used to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently changing the Earth’s climate.

Human portage: A form of transport where people carry goods on the head, shoulder or back, or simply with their hands from one place to another.

Inceptisols: a soil formed in the highland areas through quick weathering of the parent rock material of an order comprising of freely draining soils in which the formation of distinct horizons is not far advanced, such as brown earth.

Immigration: this is the migration of people into a given country.Impoverishment: the state or fact of being extremely poor.

Irrigation:  the artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and re-vegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall.

Kaolisols: is soil that is formed on weathered parent material which is mainly made of clay with little silica under the heat and heavy rainfall

Landslide:  the sliding down of a mass of earth or rock from a mountain or cliff.

Lava: hot molten or semifluid rock erupted from a volcano or fissure, or solid rock resulting from cooling of this.

Magma:  is the molten rock originating from the upper plastic layer of the mantle. When it gets to the surface and loses its gases, it is known as lava.

Mass wasting: this is the process by which soil, sand and rock move down slope in a mass form.

Mining:  is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth from an ore or other valuable deposits.

Non-renewable resources: aresourceof economic value that cannot be readily replaced by naturalmeanson a level equal to its consumption.

Northings: they refer to the northward measured distance (or the y-coordinate).

Nucleated settlement: to form into a nucleus or cluster.Oxidation:is a form of weathering where rockminerals, especially iron, react with oxygen leading to a change in the mineral composition of therock and eventual breakdown or weathering

Pastoralism: this is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock.

Ranching:  is the practice of raising herds of animals on large tracts of land.

Reforestation:  is the reestablishment of forest cover, either naturally (by natural seeding, coppice, or root suckers) or artificially (by direct seeding or planting).

Rehabilitation:  the act of restoring something to its original state.

Relief:  this refers to the general appearance of the landscape, that is, how hilly the land is.

Renewable resources: substances of economic value that can be replaced or replenished in the same amount or less time as it takes to use it.

Seismic focus:  the place of origin within the Earth of an earthquake; usually some more or less restricted area of a fault surface. If the focus is to be some particular point, it is the central point of the area over which fault movement occurred and caused the earth quake

Seismograph : an instrument that measures and records details of earthquakes, such as force and duration.

Solifluction: the gradual movement of wet soil or other material down a slope, especially where frozen subsoil acts as a barrier to the percolation of water.

Spot heights:  it is an exact point on a map with an elevation recorded beside it that represents its height above a given area. On a topographical map, it is shown as a circle and a dot inside.

Subsistence farming: is where farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families, with the output being mostly for local consumption with little or no surplus for sale.

Sustainable: able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.

Synclines: these are folds in which each half of the fold dips toward the trough of the fold.

Tourism: this is travelling for pleasure. It is the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours.Tourism may be international, or within the traveler’s country.

Trapezium: thisis a quadrilateral that has only one pair of parallel sides.

Trigonometric stations: these are points on the earth’s surface constructed on the highest points of prominent hills.

Urbanisation: is the movement of people from rural to urban areas leading to a gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas

Umudugudu: the smallest administrative unit in Rwanda. A village

Viscous lava: thick, molten rock materials from underground that can flow on the earth’s surface.

Volcanicity: All the processes associated with the transfer of magma and volatiles from the interior of the Earth to its surface.

Vulcanicity:  is the process through which gases and molten rock are either extruded on the earth’s surface or intruded into the earth’s crust.

Warping: this is the bending or curving of the surface due to forces acting inside the earth’s surface

Weather: Is the condition of the atmosphere at a particular time

Weathering: this is the process by which rocks are increasingly broken into small particles.