This document defines and provides examples of common geographical features in English: bays, deltas, peninsulas, waterfalls, canyons, estuaries, plains, cliffs, peaks, and reefs. For each feature, it gives the definition in English and uses the term in a short example sentence to show the word in context. The content was adapted from Oxford and Wikipedia dictionary and encyclopedia entries on these geographical terms.

1. IRANYS URBINA
GUTIÉRREZ

2. GEOGRAPHICAL
FEATURES
LEARNING CONTENT IN
ENGLISH

3. BAY

4. BAY
DEFINITION: A broad inlet of the sea where the land
curves inward.
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT:
‘As Trevor said this, they passed over the mountains,
showing a bay with a large city surrounding it.’

5. DELTA

6. DELTA
DEFINITION: A delta is a land form that is formed at the
mouth of a river where the mainstream splits up into
several distributaries
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT:
Over long periods, this deposition builds the characteristic
geographic pattern of a river delta.

7. PENINSULA

8. PENINSULA
DEFINITION: A piece of land almost surrounded by water
or projecting out into a body of water.
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT:
‘The island's 3,700 acres of tropical rainforest are a
biological reserve that also includes five surrounding
peninsulas on the Panama mainland.’

9. WATERFALL

10. WATERFALL
DEFINITION: A cascade of water falling from a height,
formed when a river or stream flows over a precipice or
steep incline.
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT:
‘Fast-flowing rivers create spectacular waterfalls, gorges
and a myriad of caves.’

11. CANYON

12. CANYON
DEFINITION: A deep gorge, typically one with a river
flowing through it.
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT:
‘Oak woodland develops best in moist, protected canyons
and valleys with deep alluvial soils.’

13. ESTUARY

14. ESTUARY
DEFINITION: The tidal mouth of a large river, where the
tide meets the stream.
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT:
‘The turtles spend most of their lives in mangrove-lined
tidal estuaries, where rivers flow into the sea.’

15. PLAINS

16. PLAINS
DEFINITION: A plain is a flat region. Plains occur as
lowlands and at the bottoms of valleys but also on plateaus
or uplands at high elevations.
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT:
Plains in many areas are important for agriculture because
where the soils were deposited as sediments they may be
deep and fertile, and the flatness facilitates mechanization
of crop production; or because they support grasslands
which provide good grazing for livestock.

17. CLIFFS

18. CLIFFS
DEFINITION: A steep rock face, especially at the edge of
the sea.
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT:
‘His daughter's empty camper van was found parked at the
edge of cliffs near her home in Cornwall.’

19. PEAK

20. PEAK
DEFINITION: The pointed top of a mountain.
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT:
‘How it ended up on the peak of a snowy mountain
(located over a crocodile lake and through a blue tunnel) is
a question we'll have to save for another day.’

21. REEF

22. REEF
DEFINITION: A ridge of jagged rock, coral, or sand just
above or below the surface of the sea.
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT:
‘To illustrate the point, Knowlton offers the example of coral
reefs, which she describes as the most diverse ecosystems
in the world.’

23. REFERENCES
Content taken from:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/es/definicion/in
gles_americano/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/