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Archipelago: a string or chain of islands

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Bay: a small body of water partially surrounded by land

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Butte: a visible hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top (Similar to but smaller than a plateau, mesa and table)

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Canal: a man-made waterway for boats or for draining or irrigating land

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Canyon: a deep valley or crevice in the earth’s surface, with very steep sides and usually with a river running through it

Also known as gorges; ravines are similar, but not as deep

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Cape: a point of land that extends into the sea or into a lake

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Delta: a triangular, fertile area of land around the mouth of a large river

The Nile Delta– northern Egypt

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Fjord: a narrow, winding ocean inlet with steep cliff-like sides (carved out by a glacier)

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Glacier: a huge sheet of snow or ice moving slowly down a slope (mountain) or valley

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What’s the difference between a GLACIER and an

ICEBERG?A glacier is a river of ice, mostly on land. It is fed by snowfields in the mountains and flows down a valley, like a very slow moving river, until it meets with the sea or a lake.

An iceberg is a large piece of ice floating in water. It may have broken off a glacier.

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Geyser: a spring from which boiling water and steam gushes into the air in intervals

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Gulf: a large portion of the ocean, partially surrounded by land

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Island: a body of land completely surrounded by water

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Isthmus: a narrow strip of land connecting two larger pieces of land

The Isthmus of Panama

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Jungle: land densely covered with trees, vines, etc. (typically found in the tropics)

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Lagoon: a body of shallow sea or salt water that is separated from a larger sea by some barrier (sand, rock, reef, etc.)

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Lake: a large inland body of standing water (usually freshwater)

Lake Michigan Lake Winnipesaukee

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Mesa: a tall, flat-topped mountain with steep, vertical sides (usually found in dry places)

Buttes are small mesas

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Ocean: a large body of salt water

                           

Pacific

Atlantic

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Peninsula: a long piece of land surrounded by water on three sides

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Plain: a large, flat, and mostly treeless area of land

The Great Plains

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River: a natural stream of water larger than a brook or creek (typically flowing into an ocean or lake)

Mississippi River

Merrimack River

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Sound: a wide channel linking two larger bodies of water or separating an island from the mainland

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Swamp: wet, spongy land often partly covered with water

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Tundra: a vast, treeless arctic plain

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Volcano: an opening in the Earth’s surface that forms when lava, gases, and rocks erupt, or burst out, from deep inside the Earth

Mt. Saint Helens