MAJOR LANDFORMS-SELF STUDY

TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

1. Landform A landform is a natural

feature of the Earth’s
surface.

2. Weathering Wearing away from a

surface through a number
of factors or agents such as
heat, cold, frost action,
plants, animals and
chemical reactions helps in
weathering.

3. Erosion A process by which the

broken rock materials are
removed and deposited
elsewhere is called
erosion.

4. Mouth The place where the river

joins another water body
is called the mouth.
5. River Basin The area drained by the
river and its tributaries is
called the river basin.

6. Source The place where the river

originates is called the
source

7. Waterfall The waterfall is vertical

stream of water that flows
down the river.
The best example of
waterfalls are: -
-Angel Fall in Venezuela in
South America,
-Niagara Falls in North
America and
-Jog Falls at Karnataka in
India.

8. Rapid The steep sloping segment

of the swift-flowing river is
called a rapid.
9. Meanders When the river enters the
plain, it loses its swiftness
and the valley widens due
to the continuous erosion
of the banks of the river.
The river makes several
bends along its flow and
these bends and loops are
termed as meanders

10. Ox-bow lakes As a result of a continuous

flow of the river, in the
long run, the bends and
loops come closer and with
time, the river cuts across
and the loops separate
them from the
mainstream. These circular
loops that get separated
from the mainstream are
termed as oxbow lakes.

11. Flood plains During floods, rivers bring

with them a huge amount
of silt and alluvium that
gets deposited along the
bank of rivers raising their
height and forming fertile
flood plains

12. Natural Long ridges with relatively

levees lesser height formed at the
bank of rivers are termed
as natural levees due to
the coarse material
deposited by the river.
13. Sand bars These are the landforms
formed inside the river at
the mouth by the
deposition of large volume
of sand, pebbles, alluvium
and water.

14. Distributaries Due to the excessive load

of water and silt at the
mouth of the river, the
mainstream gets divided
into several small channels
of water known as
distributaries.

15. Delta When soil gets deposited

between the distributaries
in a triangular form, it is
referred to as Delta

Sundarbans is the world's

largest delta, located in
West Bengal, India.

16. Sea caves Strong sea waves dash

against the coast and
dissolve or break down the
rocks into fragments. In
due course of time, these
cracks become wide and
form large cavities. With
continuous action of sea
waves, these cavities
develop into sea caves.
17. Sea arch When a headland
projecting into the sea is
attacked by sea waves
from both the sides, a
thorough passage is
created. This is called sea
arch.

18. Stacks When the roof of arch is

further eroded, it
collapses. The pillars of
rocks are left standing in
the open water. These are
called stacks

19. Sea cliff A steep vertical wall facing

the sea is called sea cliff.

20. Lagoon Sometimes the sea water

is enclosed between the
coast and the sand bar. It
then becomes a partially
enclosed lake, which is
called a lagoon.

-Blue Lagoon is the world's

most famous Lagoon in
Iceland.
-Chilika Lake in Odisha is
the largest lagoon in India.
21. Beaches Beaches are the deposition
of sand, gravel and
pebbles on the shore.

22. Snowline A line above which there is

permanent deposition of
snow.

23. Glacier The river of snow and ice,

which moves very slowly is
called a glacier.

24. U-shaped When the moving ice

valley moves down the
mountains with the rocks,
rubs against the sides and
the valley floor. This
creates U-shaped valley.

Yosemite Valley, a glacial U-

shaped valley is located
California
25. Cirque The glacier carves out deep
hollows along the slope of
the mountains. It develops
an armchair-like
depression, called a cirque.

26. Tarn When the glacial ice melts,

the depression is filled up
with water and forms a
lake. This is called tarn.

27. Glacial When the glacier starts

Moraine melting, its capacity to
carry load is reduced. Thus,
rock materials are
deposited on the sides and
floor of the valley.

28. Mushroom Rocks with narrow base &

rocks a broad top.
29. Loess The dust and the silt blown
by the wind, blanket the
land and these fine dust
particles deposited
extensively are known as
loess.

China is known for

extensive loess deposits.

30. Sand dunes Winds carry sand over the

desert and the coarse
particles are deposited in
the form of hillocks known
as sand dunes.