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The images in this gallery were collected from two satellites orbiting the Earth: the IKONOS and GeoEye-1 satellites operated and maintained by GeoEye.
Satellite imagery captures a dazzling array of features in the natural landscape. How many can you identify? Where else would you expect to find them?
- atoll
- bay
- canyon
- crater lake
- erg
- fjord
- glacier
- lagoon
- moraine
- oxbow lake
- river
- shield volcano
- stratovolcano
- volcanic crater
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Term Part of Speech Definition Encyclopedic Entry atoll Noun a coral reef or string of coral islands that surrounds a lagoon.
Encyclopedic Entry: atoll atoll lagoon Noun shallow, circular body of water between the ocean and a ring-shaped atoll.
bay Noun body of water partially surrounded by land, usually with a wide mouth to a larger body of water.
Encyclopedic Entry: bay canyon Noun deep, narrow valley with steep sides.
Encyclopedic Entry: canyon crater Noun bowl-shaped depression formed by a volcanic eruption or impact of a meteorite.
Encyclopedic Entry: crater fjord Noun long, narrow ocean inlet between steep slopes.
Encyclopedic Entry: fjord fjord estuary Noun place where a river or freshwater stream flows into a deep, steep gorge carved by a glacier and filled with seawater.
glacial lake Noun body of water created by a melting glacier.
glacier Noun mass of ice that moves slowly over land.
Encyclopedic Entry: glacier lagoon Noun shallow body of water that may have an opening to a larger body of water, but is also protected from it by a sandbar or coral reef.
Encyclopedic Entry: lagoon lake Noun body of water surrounded by land.
Encyclopedic Entry: lake moraine Noun material, such as earth, sand, and gravel, transported by a glacier.
Encyclopedic Entry: moraine oxbow lake Noun lake formed from an abandoned bend in a river.
Encyclopedic Entry: oxbow lake river Noun large stream of flowing fresh water.
Encyclopedic Entry: river sand dune Noun mound of sand created by the wind.
shield volcano Noun large, gently sloping volcano made from fluid lava.
stratovolcano Noun steep volcano made of hardened lava, rock, and ash. Also known as a composite volcano.
Media Credits
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Editor
Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society
Producers
Sean P. O'Connor, BioBlitz Education Consultant
Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society
Last Updated
Nov. 8, 2016
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