United States Unit Vocabulary

Front

What is the term for parts of a canal or river that work like water elevators for boats, raising or lowering boats so they can travel between places where the water level is different?

Back

Locks

Front

What do you call smaller rivers or streams that flow into a bigger river?

Back

Tributaries

Front

What are raised walls of dirt or concrete built along rivers to help keep the water from flooding the land called?

Back

Levees

Front

What is the imaginary line along the tops of mountains that separates the way rivers flow, with one side flowing toward the Pacific Ocean and the other toward the Atlantic Ocean?

Back

Continental divide

Front

What are flat, low lands that are next to the ocean, usually with good soil for farming and lots of rivers, beaches, and wetlands called?

Back

Coastal plains

Front

What is the place where higher land (hills) meets lower, flat land, and rivers often form waterfalls or rapids there called?

Back

Fall line

Front

What is a group of mountain ranges that are next to each other and run in the same direction called?

Back

Cordillera

Front

What is the highest place on a mountain where trees can grow, above which it is too cold or the air is too thin for trees to survive?

Back

Timberline

Front

What is a warm, dry wind that blows down the mountains in the western U.S. and Canada, quickly melting snow and making winter days feel much warmer called?

Back

Chinook

Front

What is the term for the first people to live in a place?

Back

Indigenous