Topic –Major Landforms
Landforms are natural features of the landscape. Natural physical features of the
earth's surface, for example: valleys, plateaus, mountains, plains, hills, deserts
or glaciers.
A plateau is an elevated landform that is flat on the top. It is also called tableland
or highland. Plateaus have a rough and rocky terrain. Many plateaus have deep
canyons (a deep gorge) mostly with a river or stream flowing through it.
The central and southern part of India has a plateau region, known as the Southern
plateau. This region is comprised of the Central Highlands and Deccan Plateau.
The Central Highlands in central India is comprised of the Chota Nagpur plateau
and Malwa plateau.
Chota Nagpur Plateau in India is famous for coal, iron and manganese deposits.
Plateaus provides us with food materials and raw materials for our industries.
The leeward side of the mountains or plateaus are dry areas. This is the side of the
mountain sheltered from the monsoon winds and gets very little rainfall.
A plain is a flat lowland along the bottom of valleys or in the foothills of
mountains. Plains are formed by deposition of sand and silt by rivers. Plains are
thickly populated.
Plains are useful due to their flat terrain, and fertile soil support agriculture, which
are essential to support a human life. It is easy to build houses, setup industries,
develop roads, bridges etc. in the plains.
A desert is a dry, barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and
living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. Desert can be hot or dry.
Deserts have a dry climate and experiences very scarce rainfall which leads to
little vegetation.
A river often originates from mountains and flows in a V-shaped riverbed, and
flows quickly downhill over stones, and around big rocks. Young rivers often
have lots of small waterfalls and rapids.(part of a river where the water flows
very fast over rocks)
Delta is a triangular shaped land which is formed by the deposition of the silt from
the rivers. The largest delta in the world is the Sundarban Delta formed by the
Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers before they join the Bay of Bengal.
Mountains are high elevated land that are formed due the force of the Earth’s
tectonic plates that move, collide and rise upwards. It usually takes millions of
years to form mountains.
The highest point of a mountain is known as peak/summit The height and
shape of mountains helps us to determine the age of mountains. For Eg: The
Himalayas and The Alps(Europe) are young mountains with conical peaks. The
Aravallis and Appalachians (range of mountains in US) are very old mountains
with low and rounded peaks.
They act as barriers to wind and clouds. They help in bringing rainfall to nearby
areas. Thus they influence the climate of the nearby places.
Some of the types of mountains are:
[Link] mountains- These mountains are formed when the Earth’s tectonic
plates are pushed together and fold together.
[Link] Block mountains- These mountains are formed when the faults in the
Earth’s crust force some blocks of rocks up and others down.
[Link] (upwarped) mountains are formed from pressure under the earth's
crust pushing upward into a dome or peak.
[Link] mountains- An opening in the Earth's crust from which lava, ash,
and hot gases flow or are thrown out during an eruption.
Topic –Major Landforms
I. Answer the following questions.
1. Why do you think plains are densely populated as compared to mountains?
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2. How do mountains affect the rainfall of a place?
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3. How are mountains formed? Mention the different types of mountains.
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