Geographic Terms

   These are the terms you will need to become familiar with in order to display and present your 3 dimensional salt map of the state of Alaska.  These features should be identifiable on your map. 

Brooks Range:  A mountain range extending across the northern part of Alaska.

Alaska Range:  A mountain range in southern Alaska.

Arctic Slope:  Northern most land area, which is mainly wilderness covered with ice and snow.

Central Plateau:  Area of land located between Brooks Range and the Alaskan Range, which consists of lowlands and tablelands.

Pacific Mountain Area:  Area of land that lies to the south of the Alaskan Range.

Alaska Panhandle:  Area of land bordering British Columbia, south central Alaska, part of the Alaskan peninsula, and the Aleutian Islands.  It borders on the Gulf of Alaska.

mountain:  A high land form with steep sides; higher than a hill.

mountain range:  A row or chain of mountains.

forest:  A dense growth of trees and underbrush covering a large area.

bay:  Part of an ocean or lake that extends deeply into the land.

gulf:  Part of an ocean that extends into the land;  larger than a bay.

river:  A natural stream of water larger than a brook or creek.

snow:  Small white crystals of ice formed directly from the water vapors in the air. 

ice:  frozen water

glacier:  A huge sheet of ice that moves slowly across the land.

plateau or tableland:  An area of elevated flat land.

lowlands:  Low flat country.

peninsula:  A body of land surrounded by water on 3 out of 4 sides.

island:  A body of land completely surrounded by water on all sides.

basin:  A bowl shaped land form surrounded by higher land;  a round valley.

slope:  The part of a continent draining it's water into a particular ocean.