U.S. Regions and Landforms Chapter 1, Lesson 1

U.S. Regions

A large area of mostly flat land that is often covered with grass

A very high landform, often with steep sides

A large, flat, raised area of land

An area that gets very little rain

A deep valley with steep rocky walls

Bay A bay is a body of water that forms an indentation of the shoreline. It is larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf.

Nantucket Bay, Massachuetts

Reservoir A large natural or sometimes artificial used as a water supply.

Hoover Dam Reservoir, Nevada

Waterfall A place in a river where water falls suddenly downward. Blackwater Falls, West Virginia

American Falls, New York

Marsh A marsh is a type of wetland, an area of land where water covers ground for long periods of time. Unlike swamps, which are dominated by trees, marshes are usually treeless and dominated by grasses and other leafy stemmed plants.

Everglades Marsh, Florida

Valley A valley is a low area of land between hills or mountains, typically with a river or stream flowing through it.

Sand dunes A sand dune is a mount, hill or ridge of sand that lies behind the part of the beach affected by tides. They are formed over many years when windblown sand is trapped by beach grass or other stationary objects.

Sand Dunes in North Carolina

Hill A hill is a naturally raised area of land. Not as a craggy, or rocky as a mountain.

Peninsula A peninsula is a piece of land almost surrounded by water or projecting out into a body of water.

Island An island is a piece of land surrounded by water.

Glacier A glacier is a slowly moving mass or river of ice formed by the accumulation and compaction of snow on mountains or near the poles.

Swamp A swamp is a forest wetland that is dominated by woody plants (shrubs and trees). Swamps are often near rivers or streams.swamp

Tundra A tundra is a large area of flat land in northern parts of the world where there are no trees and the ground is always frozen

Volcano A volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a pool of molten rock below the surface of the earth. When pressure builds up, eruptions occur. Gases and rock shoot up through the opening and spill over or fill the air with lava fragments.

Highland A highland is an area of high or mountainous land.

Ocean An ocean is a huge body of salt water. Oceans cover nearly 71 percent of Earth's surface. They contain almost 98 percent of all the water on Earth. There are four main oceans on Earth: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, and the Arctic.

Archipelago An archipelago is a cluster of islands.

Archipelago-Florida Keys