Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Hess, Harry Hammond

(Encyclopedia)Hess, Harry Hammond, 1906–69, American geologist and oceanographer, b. New York City, B.S., Yale, 1931, Ph.D., Princeton, 1932. He taught at Rutgers (1932–33) and was a research associate at the G...

Vescovo, Victor Lance

(Encyclopedia)Vescovo, Victor Lance, 1966–, American private equity investor and adventurer, b. Dallas, Tex., M.B.A. Harvard, 1994. He was a principal at Lehman Brothers (1991–92), a senior manager at Bain and ...

tsunami

(Encyclopedia)tsunami tso͝onäˈmē [key], series of catastrophic ocean waves generated by submarine movements, which may be caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides beneath the ocean, or an asteroid ...

East China Sea

(Encyclopedia)East China Sea, arm of the Pacific Ocean, c.480,000 sq mi (1,243,200 sq km), bounded on the E by the Kyushu and Ryukyu islands, on the S by Taiwan, and on the W by China. It is connected with the Sout...

Fraser Island

(Encyclopedia)Fraser Island or Great Sandy Island, 66 sq mi (171 sq km), in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Queensland, Australia; on the west it borders Hervey Bay (NW) and the Great Sandy Strait (SW). Known as...

Gold Coast, city, Australia

(Encyclopedia)Gold Coast, city, Queensland, E Australia, on the Pacific Ocean. The city, a major resort, stretches for many miles along the coast and extends into New...

Minamitori

(Encyclopedia)Minamitori or Marcus Island, coral atoll, c.740 acres (300 hectares), W Pacific Ocean, 700 mi (1,125 km) SE of Japan; part of Tokyo prefecture, Japan. Triangular in shape and rising to 204 ft (62 m), ...

Lota

(Encyclopedia)Lota lōˈtä [key], city (1992 pop. 50,123), S central Chile, a port on the Gulf of Arauco, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. Founded in the 17th cent., the city grew rapidly after coal was discovered i...

Lerma

(Encyclopedia)Lerma lārˈmä [key], river, c.350 mi (560 km) long, rising in Mexico state, central Mexico. It flows NW and W through Guanajuato state to Lake Chapala, crossing the part of the central plateau known...

Aiea

(Encyclopedia)Aiea äˌēāˈä [key], city (2020 pop. 9,638), Honolulu co., Oahu, Hawaii, a residential suburb of Honolulu, on the eastern shore of Pearl Harbor. Once a quiet sugarcane...