Earth’s Topography Landforms Based on Discover God’s Creation, ch. 2-5

What features make each landscape different? Obviously, the plants, climate, and soil make a difference in the landscape. But most important of all is the shape of the land. The shape of the land is called its topography. Four main features create the land’s shape: mountains, hills, plateaus, and plains.

Mountains Mountains are greatly elevated sections of Earth’s crust. They are at least 2000 feet high. Mountains often occur together in series called mountain chains. In the United States, the Rocky Mountains make up one chain. Another mountain chain runs along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and is called the mid-Atlantic chain. Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Hills Hills are similar to mountains but lower in elevation. Hills are usually less steep and less jagged than mountains.

Plateaus Plateaus are flat elevated lands. They may cover thousands of square kilometers, such as the Colorado Plateau. When rivers cut through plateaus, they form broad valleys and seep-sided canyons.

Other landforms

Plains Plains are level low-lying lands. Notice the difference between plateaus and plains is that they plateaus are high, while plains are low. They are both flat. Plains lie between mountain ranges and along the coasts of continents. They usually have rich soil, excellent for farming.