It is essential to learn the basic terminologies to spend your holidays in hill stations, or especially to explore a mountain area. The knowledge about these will help you to get a proper guide and explain your adventure to others in more informative way. In this first article, the main focus will be on the very basic terminologies for beginner travelers, but it still be helpful for experienced traveler as they seldom have such type of information.
Valley
A valley large size low area between the long range of mountains and hills. Normally, a river or stream flows along the valley. Mostly these valleys are formed due to erosion of land by rivers or streams, or due to erosion of glacier ice over a long period of time. Due to river as well as several small streams from the near hills, the landform is ideal for cultivation and planting.
Hill Station
It is a town located on the mountain top at a higher altitude than the surrounding areas. It normally receives snow in winter season, whereas in summer season, its temperature is much cooler than other adjoining areas.
Mountain
It is an elevated and raised portion of the crust. These are formed through a process of tectonic forces, erosion of earth surface, or volcano system. A mountain is normally rising at least 980 feet above the adjoining area. High altitude of mountains produces cold climates than at sea level. There three types of mountains, volcanic, fold, and block mountain. Volcanic mountains are formed due to pushing of plate below another plate at a hotspot or mid-ocean ridge. In this way, melting occurs above the slab due to water and it forms magma that flow out from the central passage of the mountain on the surface. Fold mountains form due to collision of two plates that push the plate upward to form hills, or mountain. Block mountains are formed by faults in the Earth crust. The rocks on the one side of the fault rise to form a mountain. Mountains are continuously in the state of erosion that creates a new surface of the mountain with the passage of time.
Hill
It is an uplifted area above the surrounding terrain and formed a sloped landform. Its height is normally less than mountain, but it has a prominent and distinct summit. It is normally considered below 1000 feet above sea level.
Hillock
A small sized hill is called a hillock and located separated from the mountain range.
Summit or peak
It is highest surface point than all points adjacent near to it. It is normally the highest point of the permanent solid ice or some highest point of rock. If a mountain has a prominence of at least 980 feet, otherwise it will be subpeak.
Mountain top
It is the highest point on the mountain peak at some distance of its summit. It may be a big sized rock near the summit.
Mountain Range
It is a series of mountains those are arranged in a line and connected with high ground, also known as mountain passes. Mountain belt is a series of mountains with similarity in their formation, structure, and alignment. Mountain ranges are separated by mountain passes and valleys.
Mountain Pass
Mountain pass is a navigable path to travel in a mountain range. It is normally difficult to cross the mountain range other than the mountain pass area. It is the minimum high point between two adjoining valleys and lowest point along that ridge in the mountain range. The top area of the pass is short but flat.
Cliff or Rock Face or hillside
It is rock that has near vertical angle on any of its side. These are formed due to erosion and weathering process. There is normally some form of scree slope at their base that is formation due to erosion of that rock. Sometimes, a waterfall is formed if some water tributary flow over it.
Desert
It is a type of landscape that has dry atmosphere due to little precipitation. It exposes the unprotected ground surface due to lack of vegetation in the area as there is no main source of water, and shortage of rain as well. Due to weathering process as well as huge difference of temperature between day and night, rocks break in pieces to form sand and dust. Negligible rain is normally occurred in the desert, which also become cause of rock shattering. High temperature in day causes sand and dust storms at larger part of it. If such type of climate is occurred in cold areas, then it is called as cold desert. Deficiency of rain is one of the major causes of such cold deserts.
Sand Dune
It is a landform occurred due to wind or water in the form of mound of large size of sand. This type of sand structure is also formed due to some ridge or hill in the desert. Due to heavy dust storms, the layout of sand dune is not fixed. Therefore, to identify the direction in desert, a proper compass must be required.
Glacier
It a solid layer of dense ice that has been accumulated over a number of years. It becomes too hard due to mixture of rocks and dust in the snow and becomes upper part of persistent structure of same mixture. It is constantly moving downward due to melting from the bottom due to the stresses by its weight. One must be careful while walking over time, as sometimes, its upper layer becomes so thin and it can be easily broken with little pressure on its top. Due to increase of temperature In summer season, it starts to melt in speed from its sites or its thin parts, and the process becomes slow as significant difference of temperature in night. Its large portion still there on the beginning of next winter, so more snow becomes the part of it in winter season. These are the one of the main sources of fresh water on Earth.
Crevasse
As glaciers are melting consistently in summer season and due to its weight and stress and downhill movements, there becomes deep cracks in the glacier. It is normally due to different rates of movement in different portion of glacier. These type of long and deep cracks in the glacier are called crevasses. These will also increase the melting rate of the glacier that becomes a reason of crevasse to the bottom of glacier due to penetration of water. It may be 150 feet and 70 feet wide.
Serac
It is large size block or column of glacier ice due to formation of crevasses. They are most dangerous part of the glacier as they may topple easily or destabilized due to glacier rapid movements.
Cirque
It is a valley formed by glacier erosion. Due to different type of erosions, it may be concave shape on the downhill side, or cupped shape on the steep side. A seasonal melting creates a small lake on floor of cirque.
Canyon or Gorge
It is deep and long cut between cliffs due to weather condition or erosion activity of stream or river. The process becomes fast if there is significant difference of elevations from the headwaters to its bottom. The canyon also refers to a rift between two mountain peaks due to flow of stream or river between these mountains. The Box canyon has steep walls on three sides and allows access through its mouth. Slot canyon has very narrow passage with smooth walls.
Ravine
The structure of ravine is same as of the canyon, but it forms narrow landform than canyon. Normally it has a stream that is the part of river channel. There may be water in the stream depending upon the weather or season. It is a fluvial slope on the order of 20 to 70 percent in gradient on the steep-sided valley.
River
River is the main natural stream of fresh water that flows to another water source at low elevation. The main source of river water is the glaciers or snow in the mountains. The flow of water in the river depends upon the season. Every river has its own channel of streams those merge to form drainage basins, from where it flows on its course, and then finally confluences into other water source such as ocean, lake, or some other river. The flow of river in its course creates different landscapes around it such as islands and deltas, as wall as canyons and valleys by erosion.
Stream
A stream is a continuous moving water within its bed. A large size stream is called river, whereas small size water channels are normally referred as streams. Number of other terms such as rivulet, tributary, brook, or creek are also referred to stream. The flow of water in a stream depends upon surface runoff due to rain or melting of glaciers, water of stream flowing under the surface, and amount of groundwater coming from a spring. A creek is narrow stream and smaller than a river and considered as a minor tributary of linking river. Brook is smaller stream than a creek, that is normally fed by a spring.
Lake
It is a natural large and permanent source of water on surface. It is completely on land and separated from the ocean and its water is collected in a basin or interconnect basins covered with dry land. Lakes are normally found in depressed landforms or in the widen river channel along the river channel. There are fresh water lakes as well as salt lakes. Lakes are normally fed by spring water, glacier water, stream, or river water. Endorheic lake has no outflow, whereas volcanic lake does not have any inflow streams and filled directly by precipitation runoffs. Alpine lakes are located in high altitude mountains above the tree line and formed due to glacial activity.
Spring
It is a natural source of groundwater emerges from an underground layer of fractured rocks and flows out from the surface. It is one of the best sources of fresh drinking water. Hot spring is a result of underground volcanic or magma activity. Spring water is main source of minerals dissolved in the water while passing underground rocks, also known as mineral springs due to their mineral water. Mineral springs also has healing characteristics for human beings. Springs without such minerals are call sweet springs.
Waterfall
If there are vertical drop or series of steep drops in the course of river or stream, it forms a waterfall. It also occurs if melt-water drops over the edge of a vertical rock or glacier. High altitude streams mostly have waterfalls in their course. Sometimes, falling water erodes the soft rocks under the waterfall and results in a large and deep water pool.
Reservoir
It is artificial lake and source of fresh water. It is normally created behind a dam or barrage to control the flow of water, or to produce electricity. These are created by building wall in front of river or stream, as well as storing of water in a depressed landform to store rain water as well as creating artificial channel of water for its inflow. It is normally used as main drinking water source for local population.
Canal
It is an artificial stream to fulfill water requirement of areas where natural water source is not available. It is also used to transfer water from one river to other river to produce electricity in dams, to increase cultivation area for agriculture, to fulfill drinking water requirements, etc. These are extracted from a headwork or barrage over a main river site.
Dam
It is a physical construction over a river to hold water to produce electricity using hyper-power mechanism. It is normally constructed on a suitable site on river, where it has wider channel to hold large amount of water, as well as having some rocking structure of river sides to maintain its stability. These dams can also be used to store water for drinking purposes.
Barrage
It is headwork system over a river to extract artificial channels or canals to transfer water to other river, or area where nature water sources are not available or limited. Barrage also provide a water storage system and can control the flow of water as per need of specific area.
River Delta
It is normally a triangular landform at the end of river where it empties into ocean, lake, or another river. Due to wider channel at the mouth of river, its velocity decreases and river deposit its sediment such as silt, sand, and clay in the surrounding area and forms multiple small channels to flow water. Sometimes, due to less flow of river water, ocean water gets into the delta that make it salty and greatly impacts the drinking water.
Island or Isle
It is a piece of land, completed surrounded by water. These are formed due to volcanic activity in the ocean, or splitting from the main continental land. River or lake islands are formed from the debris and sediment in rivers.
Iceberg
It is a piece of ice more than 15 meters that is cut off from main glacier and is freely floating in open water. A large part of iceberg is under water surface. Small floating chunks of ice are called growlers.
Plateau
It is high plain land with flat terrains those raise sharply. One or more sides have long and deep range of hills These are normally formed by erosion by water or glacier, or flow of volcanic magma.
Meadow
It is an open and vast field, covered with grasses and herbs. It can exist naturally or developed artificially. It is homeland of multitude of wildlife and various flora and fauna. It is necessary to provide favorable conditions such as climatic and soil condition for natural meadow. Natural meadows are main source of animal grazing for local peoples. Alpine meadows are located at high altitude above tree level.
Forest
It is a large and dense collection of trees occurred naturally or artificially. Type and kind of trees in the forest depend upon the type of landform, altitude of landform, and atmosphere of that landform. Deforestation is process of cutting or removing trees from the surface of earth due to some natural disaster or due to human activity.
Wetland
It is type of ground that covers in water due to flood or excessive water. It is a transitional zone between dry land and water bodies and is saturated with water.
Marsh
It is a type of wetland that has abundance of herbaceous plants rather than woody plants. These are normally formed near the edges of lakes or streams and covered with grasses and reeds.
Swamp
It is a forested wetland and located near lake, river, or sea. This type of wetland consisting of saturated soils with standing water and normally dominated by shrubs, water-tolerant trees, and bushes.
Ocean
It is large and fixed body of salt water on the Earth crust. It covers more than 70% of Earth and acts as primary component to control the Earth atmosphere. All of the rivers and stream on the earth are ended finally in oceans.
Sea
It is same as ocean but physically covers smaller body of salty water. These are normally bounded by dry lands from two or three sides, also known as mediterranean sea. Sometimes sea is enclosed by land if its size is much larger than lake, also known as inland sea.
Bay
It is a large coastal body of salty water directly connects with large water body such as ocean or lake. It is sometimes connected with river for inflow in ocean water. It has a well-defined coastline and convers large part of the ocean water.
Gulf
It is large size inlet from ocean or sea into a landform. It has narrow opening than a bay and is enclosed by well-defined coastline.