Geography-Derived Toponomy

• Some places derive their names from geographical features that are present within the area.
• Sometimes we see that administrative regions’ names derive from the names of nearby geographical features. Other times, the inverse is true — the geographical feature defines the name of the administrative region.
• Note that some terms are loose (i.e.e, Bay and Bight). Sometimes the wrong term may be used in naming (for example, calling a Cove a Pond).

Water Courses §

• Bayou - a body of water found in a flat low lying area. Often refers to a briny slow moving stream
• Beck - a stream flowing through a narrow valley.
• Bourne / Burn / Winterbourne - an ephemeral stream or river. Typically pertaining to areas with chalk or limestone.
• Brook - a stream smaller than a creak fed by a string or seep. Small and shallow, allowing for it to be forded.
• Creek - a stream smaller than a river.
• Crossing - a portion of the stream where structures may restrict the flow of the stream.
• Distributary / Arm / Channel - a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel.
• Meanders - looping serpentine changes of direction of a stream.
• Rapids - the turbulent, fast flowing stretch of a stream or river.
• Riffle - the shallow place in a river where water flows quickly past rocks
• River / Yeo - a naturally flowing watercourse flowing on the surface or inside caves towards another waterbody at a lower elevation (or into the ground / becomes dry).
• Rivulet / Rill - a very small stream
• Spring - the point at which a stream emerges from an underground course through sediments.
  • Geyser - springs characterized by a discharge of water.
• Stream / Run - a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel.
  • Run - the smooth flowing part of a stream.
• Torrents - an intermittent stream that comes from either melting snow or rainfall that washes down from a mountain.
• Tributary / Branch / Fork - a stream that contributes to a larger stream or which joins another river.
• Waterfall / Cascade / Falls / Force / Linn / Snout - any point in a stream where water flows over a vertical drop.
  • Plunge Pool - depression at the bottom of a waterfall
• Wash / Arroyo / Wadi - pertains to an intermittent stream that only flows for part of the year. Typically these are found in deserts and they flow after sufficient rainfall.
  • Draw - a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges with low ground between them.

Static Water Bodies §

• Lake / Loch - a naturally occurring large body of water surrounded by land and separated from the ocean (though possibly connected via river) ¹
  • Kettle / Pothole - a hole in a plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining flood waters.
  • Pond / Pool - a body of water smaller than a lake, especially those of artificial origin
  • Reservoir - a large lake formed behindn a dam.
• Oasis - a fertile area in a desert or desert like environment
  • Fog Oasis / Lomas - oases that are supported by moist dense fog.
• Ocean - a major body of salt water.
• Sea - a large body of salt water.

Coasts §

• Bank - land alongside a body of water.
• Bar - a shoal that develops in a stream as elevated sediment that is deposited as current slows or is impeded by a wave.
  • Ayre - a shingle / gravel beach
  • Shoal / Bank / Sandbar / Sands - a naturally submerged long ridge or bank.
• Beach / Point - a landform alongside a body of water consisting of loose particles (often sand, gravel or pebbles). ²
• Delta - a triangle shaped landform created by sediment carried by a river into slower-moving or stagnant water.
• Estuary - a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more watercourses flowing into it, and with free connection to the sea.
• Harbor / Port - a landform where a section of a body of water is protected and deep enough to allow ships to be anchored. It can be a Strait or Inlet.
• Inlet - an indentation of a shore line that leads to a larger body of water.
  • Bay - a recessed coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water (i.e., an ocean or lake). Interchangeable with Bight
  • Bight - a concave bend in a coastline, typically broad, open, shallow and only slightly recessed. It is much shallower than a Sound. Interchangeable with Bay, although often less curved than a bay.
  • Cove - a small coastal inlet with a narrow entrance, often circular shape, and situated within a larger bay.
  • Fjord / Firth - a long, narrow, sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs created by glaciers.
  • Gulf - a large inlet from an ocean into a landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay
  • Ria - a coastal inlet formed by submergence of a drowned river valley, typically featuring dendritic patterns.
  • Sound - a smaller body of water usually connected to a sea or ocean, deeper than a bight and wider than a fjord.
• Island / Isle - a piece of subcontinental land surrounded by water.
  • Ait / Eyot - an island in a river or lake.
  • Archipelago - a chain of islands.
  • Atoll - a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim, that encircles a lagoon. Possibly with coral islands or cays.
  • Barrier Island / Barrier - an island with an area of sand where the coast is parallel to the tidal action.
  • Cay / Caye / Key - a small low elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef.
  • Reef - an outcrop of rock in the sea formed by the growth of coral skeletons.
• Isthmus / Bridge / Pass - a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated.
  • Tombolo - a sandy or shingle isthmus
• Lagoon - a shallow body of water separated from a larger one by a narrow landform
  • Barachois - a lagoon partially or totally separated from the ocean by a sand or shingle bar.
• Peninsula - a landform surrounded by more than half but not entirely by water.
• Promontory / Point - a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or body of water
  • Headland - the point of land, usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water.
  • Cape - a promontory extending into a body of water, usually the sea. It represents a marked change in the trend of the coastline.
• River Mouth - the portion where a river flows into a larger body of water.
• Skerry - a small rocky island or islet too small for human habitation.
• Strait / Firth / Pass / Passage - a landform connecting two seas or two water basins
  • Canal - a man-made channel
  • Channel - wider than a strait.
  • Passage - typically connects waters between islands.

Elevation-Based Landmasses §

• Canyon / Gorge / Chasm - a deep chasm between cliffs
  • Chine - a coastal gorge where river flows to the sea through the cliff.
  • Ravine / Gill / Ghyll / Glen / Gorge / Kloof / Chine - narrower than a canyon, larger than a gully but smaller than a valley. Often they have intermittent streams.
  • Slot Canyon / Hollow / Pass - a long, narrow channel
• Cliff / Towers / Peaks / Wall - an area of rock with a near vertical angle. ³
  • Bluff - a cliff overlooking a body of water or plain.
  • Geo - inlet, gully or narrow and deep cleft in the face of a clift.
  • Gully - a landform created by erosion or running water.
• Hill - a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Smaller than a mountain
  • Drumlin - an elongated hill.
  • Dune - hills of loose sand built either by wind or water.
  • Foothill / Piedmont - hills before a mountain range.
  • Kame / Knob - a glacial landform, an irregularly shaped hill composing of sand or gravel.
  • Knoll - small hill.
• Flat - relatively level surface of land within a region of greater relief.
• Highland - area of high elevation
• Mountain - a large natural elevation on earth’s surface.
  • Massif - the main mass of the mountain
  • Mountain Pass - a route through a mountain range or over a ridge.
  • Mountain Range - an area containing several mountains.
  • Nunatak / Rognon - a summit of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier.
  • Pyramidal Peak / Glacial Horn - an angular sharply pointed mountain peak which results from erosion due to glaciers.
  • Summit / Apex / Peak / Zenith - the highest point.
• Plain - expanse of land that is mostly flat and treeless
  • Abyssal Plain - flat or gently sloping areas in the ocean plain.
  • Flood plain - plains adjacent to a river.
  • Scroll plain - plain through which a river meanders
• Ridge - a long narrow elevated landform separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides
  • Arete - a narrow ridge separating two valleys
  • Crest - the sides of the ridge away from the narrow top.
  • Esker / Asar / Eskar / Eschar - a long winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel
  • Ridgeline - a narrow crest.
  • Tor / Castle Koppie / Kopje - a large free standing rock outcrop that rises abruptly from the surrounding smooth and gentle slopes
• Tableland - areas with a flat top
  • Butte - an isolated hill with steep vertical sides and a small top. The top is narrower than the height
  • Mesa - an isolated flat topped elevation of moderate size bounded on all sides by steep cliffs. The top is wider than the height
  • Plateau - an area of highland consisting of flat terrain raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side.
  • Terrace - a step like landform.
• Valley / Gate / Vale - an elongated low area running between hills or mountains, typically containing a water course.
  • Cirque / Corrie / Cwrn - a horseshoe shaped valley formed through erosion by ice or glaciers.
  • Cove - a small valley between two ridge linens closed at one or both ends.
  • Dale - a wide open valley. Typically with rivers running through. Also pertains to a low area between hills.
  • Dell - a grassy valley or dried stream bed. Often a wooded area.
  • Glen / Glyn - a valley that is long, narrow, and deep and bounded by gently sloped concave sides.
  • Gulch - a deep V-shaped valley formed by erosion. Larger than a gully. May contain a creek bed.
  • Hollow / Coulee - a general term for a drainage zone. Typically pertaining to a small valley surrounded by mountains or ridges. Alternatively, a dry stream bed.
  • Rift - pertaining to rift valleys. A linear shaped lowland between several highlands. They span a large area and are a result of tectonic activity.
  • Strath - a large valley that is wide and shallow.
• Volcano - a rupture in the crust where material escapes to the surface.
  • Caldera - large, crater like depression formed when a volcano erupts and collapses.
  • Cinder Cones - cone-shaped volcanoes whose eruptions eject pyroclastic material resembling cinders.
  • Lava Dome - a circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano
  • Shield Volcano - have broad, shield like profiles and formed by low viscosity lava flowing from a vent
  • Vent - flat linear fractures through which lava escapes

Other §

• Cave / Cavern - a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter.
  • Glacier Caves - caves found within the ice of a glacier.
  • Grotto - small caves near water usually flooded at high tide.
  • Ice Cave - caves with a significant amount of ice.
  • Pit / Chasm - caves with a vertical shaft.
  • Sea Cave - found along coasts formed by wave actions.
• Glacier - a body of dense ice moving down under its own weight
  • Crevasse - a deep crack in an ice sheet or glacier.
  • Moraine - accumulation of debris occurs in currently and formerly glacial regions
• Graben - a depressed block of the crust bordered by normal faults
• Horst - a raised fault block bounded by normal faults.
• Karst - topography formed by limestone, dolomite, gypsum and other soluble carbonate rocks
• Quarry - place where geological material has been excavated from the ground.
• Sinkhole / Chasm / Hole / Well - a depression caused by collapse of the surface layer.
  • Blue Hole - deep underwater sinkholes. In general, any deep water filled pits.
  • Cenote - a sinkhole that exposes groundwater underneath

Biome-Based Landmasses §

• Desert - a landscape with little precipitation, lack of vegetation, and an arid surface. Deserts can either be warm or cold
  • Fog Desert - deserts where fog drip supplies the moisture.
• Forests - environments characterized with a lot of trees. The trees form a closed canopy
  • Cloud Forest - forests characterized by a persistent, frequent, seasonal low-level cloud cover at the canopy level
  • Gallery Forest - one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands.
  • Rainforest - forests characterized by a closed canopy and high humidity.
  • Taiga - boreal / snow forest. Characterized by coniferous forests. Typically low precipitation and low soil quality.
  • Temperate - found between the tropical and boreal regions. Typically, the trees are either deciduous or coniferous. Rarely, there are temperate rainforests which occur in coastal areas.
  • Tropical - found in the tropical regions.
• Grassland - an area where vegetation is dominated by grass.
  • Glade - an open area under the canopy of deciduous trees.
  • Meadow - a field vegetated by grasses and herbs. Typically the grasses are cool-season grasses
  • Prairie - a field vegetated by grasses and herbs. Typically the grasses are warm-season grasses.
  • Savanna - a mix between woodlands and grasslands. Trees are far apart that they do not form a closed canopy.
  • Steppe - characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes.
  • Xeric Shrublands - shrublands found within deserts. They have low rainfall and tend to be sparse.
• Montane Ecostystems - ecosystems found in the foot of mountains.
• Moorland / Moor - habitat found in upland areas characterized by low growing vegetation on acidic soil.
• Shrubland / Scrub - characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs. and bushes.
  • Heath - characterized by acidic, low fertility soil.
• Tundra - frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. Typically the soil is in permafrost.
  • Alpine Tundra - does not contain trees because of high altitude
  • Polar Tundra - located in the poles.
• Wetland - a semi-aquatic ecosystem where the ground is saturated with water.
  • Bog / Mire / Quagmire - accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials. The ground is acidic and low in nutrients
  • Fen - peat accumulating wetland where the ground is rich in nutrients. The water comes from mineral-rich groundwater.
  • Flood Plain / Bottomlands - the water comes from overflowed rivers or lakes
  • Marsh - wetlands dominated by herbaceous plants rather than woody plants. Typically used for any low-lying and seasonally waterlogged terrain
    • Salt Marshes - close enough to the shoreline, typically lagoons and estuaries.
    • Tidal Marshes - the water comes from ocean tides.
    • Wet Meadows - areas with low depressions or at the edges of rivers and lakes. High plant diversity. Often dry during the summer.
  • Swamp - a forested wetland.
    • Mangrove Forests - wetlands occurring in areas that are above water level in low tide and below water level at high tide. Features mangroves with tangled roots.
• Woodland - land covered in woody plants, including trees and shrubs.
  • Grove / Arbor - a small group of trees with minimal to no undergrowth.
  • Holt - a small woods.

Links §

• List of Landforms on Earth

• Glossary of Landforms

• List of Rivers

• List of Waterfalls

• List of Lakes

• List of River Name Etymologies

Footnotes §

1. Some Seas may be called a lake (i.e., the Caspian Sea is a lake). Lakes can also be mistaken for seas and vice versa. ↩

2. We also use any inlet or island related names when naming a beach since these tend to occur together ↩

3. Often cliffs are named with an association to their mountains. Gorges and Canyons may also be used ↩