Various Landforms

Various Landforms

Mainly there are three types of landforms —
  » Mountains
  » Plateaus
  » Plains

Mountains

The height of mountains are over 600 m and have conical peaks. On the basis of origin there are four types of mountains: Block Mountains, Residual Mountains, Accumulated Mountains and Fold Mountains.

Block Mountains
» The middle part of such mountains is lower and the parts on both the sides are higher. The middle lower portion is called as Rift valley. The longest rift valley is the valley of the Jordan river.
» Black Forest (Germany), Vindhyachal and Satpura (India), Salt Range (Pakistan) are some examples of block mountains.


Residual Mountains
» Such mountains are formed as a result of weathering. Examples— Aravalli, Nilgiri, Parasnath, Hills of Rajmahal (India), Siera (Spain).


Accumulated Mountains
» These are formed due to accumulation of sand, soil, rocks, lava etc on the Earth's Crust., e.g. Sand Dunes.


Fold Mountains
» These are formed because of the folds in the rocks due to internal motions of the earth. These are wavelike mountains which have numerous peaks and lows, e.g. Himalayas, Ural, Alps, Rockies, Andes etc.

Plateaus

» Plateaus are extensive upland areas characterized by flat and rough top surface and steep walls which rise above the neighboring ground surface at least for 300 m.
» Generally the height of plateau ranges from 300 to 500 feet.
» Intermountainous Plateaus : Plateaus formed between mountain, Example- Tibetan Plateaus.
» Mountainstep Plateaus : The flat region between a plain and the base of a mountain.
» Continental Plateaus : These are formed when the Lacolith inside the Earth comes to the surface due to weathering, e.g. the Southern Plateau
» Bank Plateaus : These are the plateaus on the Columbian Plateau 7,800 ft banks of the oceans.
» Domelike Plateaus : These are formed due to the movement of man and animals on the surface, e.g. Ramgarh Plateau.

Plains

Plains can be defined as flat areas with low height (below 500 ft.)

» Loess Plains : These are formed by the soil and sands brought by winds.
» Karst Plains : Plains formed due to the weathering of limestone.
» Erosional Plains : Plains near the river banks formed by river erosion.
» Glacial Plains : Marshy plains formed due to the deposition of ice.
» Desert Plains : These are formed as a result of the flow of rivers.
» Deposition Plains : Large plains are formed due to the silt brought by the rivers. Such plains are plains of Ganga, Sutlej, Mississipi, Hwang-Ho.