=) Different landforms with brief description
Answers
MAJOR TYPES OF LANDFORMS ON EARTH INCLUDE MOUNTAINS, VALLEYS, PLATEAUS, GLACIERS, HILLS, LOESS, PLAINS AND DESSERTS.
Mountains
Mountains are lands physical features protruding high beyond the hills and very high up the land surface with steep top commonly shaped up to a peak. They are created through the action of incredible forces in the earth such as volcanic eruptions. Often, mountains occur in the ocean compared to land and some are seen as mountain islands as their peaks protrude out of the water.
Mountain formation result from the forces of erosion, volcanism, or uplifts in the earth’s crust.
The forces of heat and pressure within the earth’s interior are the main influencing factors to these forces as stated by geologists. These forces can be summed up as the plate tectonic movements – theoretically defined as the division of the earth’s outmost layer into several plates which are in constant motion. Hence, the uplifts are cause by collision or pulling apart of the plates that also triggers other various geologic activities such as the ejection of magma onto the surface or volcanic eruptions.
The movements also contribute to horizontal compression that is the deformation of crustal strata which gives rise to folds. The Himalayas and the Europe’s Jura and Alps mountains are examples of mountains formed as a result of horizontal compression. Some mountain ranges are also formed as a result of wind, water, and ice erosion. Other mountains are created from volcanism.
Examples of volcanic mountains include Mount Fuji in Japan, Mount Vesuvius in Italy, Mount Erebus in Antarctica, and Mount Saint Helens in the United States. Majority of volcanic mountains have summit craters that still expel debris and steam.
Valleys
A valley is a lowland area or surface depression of the earth between higher lands such as mountains or hills. In simple terms, it can be defined as a natural trough bounded by mountains or hills on the surface of the earth sloping down to the lake, ocean or stream, which is created because of water or ice erosion. On this basis, the rivers or streams flowing through the valley empty the land’s precipitation into the oceans.
The lowest parts of the valleys are very fertile and make very good farmlands.
Majority of the valleys on land are made up of running streams and rivers and nearly all their floors slope downstream. Valleys within the mountains normally have narrow floors. The sides of a valley are termed as valley slopes or valley walls and the section of floor along riverbanks are referred to as flood plains.
Valleys physical features include U-shaped and V-shaped caused through the forces of erosion by the flowing masses that persistently widens and deepens the valley. The flowing masses are either water or glacier that carries away huge amounts of debris. Very narrow and deep valleys are known as canyons.
Plateaus
Plateaus are fairly flat areas higher than the land surrounding it. The surrounding areas may have very steep slopes. Some plateaus such as the Tibet are situated between mountain ranges. Plateaus cover wide land areas and together with their enclosed basins they cover approximately 45% of the entire earth’s land surface.
Some plateaus, for instance the Columbia Plateau of the United States and the Deccan of India are basaltic and were created because of lava flows spreading to thousands of square kilometers thereby building up the fairly flat land surfaces. Other plateaus form as a result of upward folding while some are due to the erosion of the nearby land that leaves them elevated. Because plateaus are elevated, they are subject to erosion.
Low plateaus make up good farming regions whereas high plateaus are considered great for grazing livestock. Most of the world’s high plateaus are deserts. Other typical examples of plateaus include the Bolivian plateau in South America, the Colorado plateau of the United States, the Laurentian Plateau and the plateaus of Iran, Arabia, and Anatolia.
Glaciers
Glaciers are the perennial ice sheets on the planet. They are huge masses of ice that slowly move over the land surface, predominant in high mountains and the cold Polar Regions. The very low temperatures in the regions are the enabling factor for the buildup of snow and densification into ice at depths of 15 meters or even more. Most glaciers have density thickness in the ranges of 91 to 3000 meters.
The movements begin when the compaction is so dense that it moves under the pressure of its weight. It is estimated that more than 75% of the world’s fresh water is currently locked away in these frozen reservoirs. The glaciers include the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Antarctic Ice Sheet. The Antarctic Ice sheets outlet glaciers comprise the steep and extensively long and narrow depression Beordmore Glacier, which is one of the longest outlets in the world. The gradual rice in continental temperatures has seen the glacial density grow smaller owing to melting.
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Explanation:
Different Major Landforms on Earth. Major types of landforms on earth include mountains, valleys, plateaus, glaciers, hills, loess, plains and desserts. Mountains are lands physical features protruding high beyond the hills and very high up the land surface with steep top commonly shaped up to a peak.