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What Are Four Major
Landforms?

What Are Four Major
Landforms?

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Landforms are natural features of the
Earth's surface.

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Landforms are the physical features on the surface
of the Earth. They are created by natural forces such as wind, water, erosion
and tectonic plate movement. Landforms are typically categorized by their
physical attributes of slope, stratification, soil type, elevation and
orientation. The highest order of landforms are continents and ocean floors, but
there are also sub-categories of major landforms familiar to most people.

Mountains

Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

Mountains are perhaps the most spectacular and awe-inspiring of Earth's
major landforms. Mountains can be formed by geologic forces such as
volcanism and erosion, but geologists believe most mountains are formed as
the result of heat and pressure beneath the Earth's crust which causes
movement and uplift in the crust. This movement is called plate tectonics,
which also causes earthquakes. Though we cannot see most of them, there are
more mountains in the ocean than on land. Some islands are the tops of
underwater mountains. The Hawaiian Islands are an example of mountains
formed by volcanism.

Plateaus

Plateaus have steep sides and level top
surfaces. Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty
Images

A plateau is a large elevated or highland area with a relatively level or
flat surface. The most well-known plateau in the world, the Tibetan Plateau,
is located between mountain ranges, but others are higher than the
surrounding land. Plateaus are formed by a variety of forces. Some are
formed by upward folding of the Earth's crust, others by erosion of the
surrounding land. The Columbia Plateau of the Northwestern United States was
formed by repeated lava flows that covered thousands of square miles and
built up the land over millions of years.

Plains

Plains are broad expanses of land with litle
change in elevation. Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

Plains are broad expanses of land with little change in elevation, and
are usually lower than the land that surrounds them. Plains near the ocean
are called coastal plains. Coastal plains gradually rise from the ocean to
meet higher landforms such as plateaus and mountains. Some geologists
consider coastal plains an elevated portion of the ocean floor. Inland
plains are usually at higher elevations, such as the Great Plains of the
United States. Many inland plains were formed by receding ice-age glaciers
that left the land scoured and flat.

Glaciers and Ice Sheets

Glaciers are giant masses of ice that form in polar regions and high
mountains and flow over land like slow rivers. Huge, ancient ice sheets
cover all but the highest mountain peaks of Greenland and Antarctica.
Together these two massive landforms hold more than 75 percent of the
world's fresh water.

References

Worldlandforms: "Major Landforms of the
World"

SKC: "Landforms: Face of the Earth"

Tulane University: "Volcanic Landforms, Volcanoes, and Plate
Tectonics"

Photo Credit NASA/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

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