Glossary

A Civilization is a society in which large numbers of people share a variety of common elements. It is a society or culture group normally defined as a complex society characterized by the practice of agriculture and settlement in cities. Compared with other cultures, members of a civilization are organized into a diverse division of labour and an intricate social hierarchy.

The term civilization is often used as a synonym for the broader term "culture" in both popular and academic circles.^[1] Every human being participates in a culture, defined as "the arts, customs, habits... beliefs, values, behavior and material habits that constitute a people's way of life".^[2] However, in its most widely used definition, civilization is a descriptive term for a relatively complex agricultural and urban culture. Civilizations can be distinguished from other cultures by their high level of social complexity and organization, and by their diverse economic and cultural activities.

A desert is a landscape or region that receives very little precipitation. Deserts can be defined as areas that receive an average annual precipitation of less than 250 mm (10 in),^[1][2] or as areas in which more water is lost than falls as precipitation.

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land, a deluge.^[1] In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide.

Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, exceeding the total capacity of its bounds, with the result that some of the water flows or sits outside of the normal perimeter of the body. It can also occur in rivers, when the strength of the river is so high it flows right out of the river channel, particularly at corners or meanders.

The word comes from the Old English flod, a word common to Teutonic languages (compare German Flut, Dutch vloed from the same root as is seen in flow, float).

The term "The Flood," capitalized, usually refers to the great Universal Deluge described in Genesis and is treated at Deluge.

 

flood: the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land; "plains fertilized by annual inundations"

flood: an overwhelming number or amount; "a flood of requests"; "a torrent of abuse"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

 

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land, a deluge.MSN Encarta Dictionary. Retrieved on 2006-12-28. In the sense of "flowing water", the word is applied to the inflow of the tide, as opposed to the outflow or "ebb".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inundation

Ploughed - plowed: (of farmland) broken and turned over with a plow; "plowed fields"

permanent community where people live

In geology, a valley (also called a vale, dale, glen or strath and near or in Appalachia, a draw) is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.

The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys. Most valleys belong to one of these two main types or a mixture of them, at least with respect of the cross section of the slopes or hillsides.