A landform is a natural feature of the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary

body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the
landscape is known as topography. Typical landforms include hills, mountains, plateaus,
canyons, valleys, as well as sho

Different Major Landforms on Earth

1. 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 earths
crust.
The forces of heat and pressure within the earths 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 earths
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 Europes 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.

2. 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 lands 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.

3. 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 earths 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 worlds 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.

4. 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 worlds 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.

5. Hills
Hills are raised areas on the surface of the earth with distinctive summits, but are
not as high as mountains. Hills are created as a result of accumulation of rock
debris or sand deposited by wind and glaciers. They can also be created by faulting
when the faults go slightly upwards. Hills are generally present in low mountain
valleys and plains.
The Black Hills are the most known. Deep erosions of areas previously raised by the
earths crust disturbances carry most of the soil away leaving behind a hill. Human
activities may also create hill when soils are dug and piled giant masses. Volcanic
eruptions as well create hills after the eruption when the molten materials or lava
cools and hardens in a pile.

6. Loess
Loess is a fine-grained unstratified accumulation of clay and silt deposited by the
wind. It appears brown or yellowish in color and is brought about by past glacial
activity in an area. In precise, it is sedimentary deposits of clay and silt mineral
particles which take place on land in some parts of the world. The thickness of loess
deposits are just a few meters and one of their basic feature is known as the cat
steps.
Its held together by few clay particles and is mostly composed of quartz crystals
which readily slide against each other. This property makes it highly susceptible to
erosion which leads to the cat steps feature. Loess formed after the ice age when
the glaciers covering a relatively large portion of the earth melted and was carried
away, exposing the vast plains of mud.
Upon drying of the mud, the forces of wind blew away the mud and exposed
sediments and eventually deposited them as silt in stacks on top of each other to
create bold steep banks. Regions made of loess are witnessed in eastern China and
the northwestern region of the United States.

7. Plains
Plains are broad flat areas on the earths surface stretching over a wide area. Plains
are lower than the land in their surrounding and can be found both inland and
along the coast. Coastal plains rise from the seal level up to the point they meet
raised landforms such as plateaus or mountains. The Atlantic Coastal plain is a
prime example of a substantially populated and fertile coastal plain.
On the other hand, inland plains are generally found at high altitudes. Thick forests
normally flourish on plains in humid climates. A fairly large portion of plains are
covered by grasslands, for instance, the Great Plains in the United States. Human
populations prefer settling on plains because of the soil and the terrain which is
good for farming and building settlements such as cities, residential areas, and
transportation networks. Flood plains are also in this category and they are formed
as a result of continuous accumulation of sand, silt, and mud when rivers overflow
its banks.

8. Deserts
Deserts are the hot and dry areas of the world. They are the arid and semi-arid
lands with little or no vegetation. Deserts constitute approximately 20% of the
earths total land cover and are distinguished by little or no rainfall. The deserts are
divided into four major categories including the Semi-Arid Deserts, the Hot and Dry
Deserts, the Cold Deserts, and the Coastal Deserts.
These deserts are located in different areas of the world. Deserts experience very
high temperatures, less cloud cover, low humidity, low atmospheric pressure, and
very little rain, which makes them have very little vegetation cover. The soil cover is
also rocky and shallow and with very little organic matter and as such, it only
supports a few plants adapted to the conditions.

Different Types of Water Bodies

Ocean
estivillml/iStock/Getty Images

Oceans are large water bodies, made up of salt water. The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean
on earth, covering one-third of the earths surface. The Pacific Ocean is followed by the Atlantic
Ocean and the Indian Ocean in size. Oceans are important for providing food, through the many
fish species that populate the oceans, for air quality and for transport via ships.

Sea
Seas are smaller bodies of water than oceans, but still large water bodies, partly enclosed by a
land mass and connected to an ocean. The largest of the earths seas is the South China Sea,
which holds hundreds of islands in its waters. The Caribbean Sea, Mediterranean Sea and the
Bering Sea are some of the worlds largest seas. Like oceans, seas are a source of food, and
are also usually used extensively as transport lanes for ships.

Lake
A lake is a body of water completely encapsulated by land. When a lake is very large, it is
sometimes called a sea, despite not being connected to an ocean, such as the Caspian Sea in
central Asia. The Caspian Sea is the Worlds largest lake, followed by Lake Superior in the US,
Lake Victoria in Africa and Lake Aral in Russia . Lakes can be either salt or freshwater.

River

Rivers are large flowing water bodies that typically end in an ocean or sea. Rivers are
freshwater bodies of water that usually originate in mountains or areas of high elevations, and
are added to by smaller bodies of water such as creeks or streams, as well as by rainfall. Rivers
are historically very important for trade and transportation, and many settlements were built
alongside rivers for these reasons. Rivers also provide a source of energy generation. The
worlds longest river is the Nile in Egypt, followed by the Amazon River in South America, and
Chinas Yangtze and Yellow Rivers.

Glaciers
Glaciers are frozen rivers, which move very slowly. According to the National Snow and Ice Data
Center, glaciers store around 75 percent of the worlds freshwater, which means if they melt,
sea levels would rise by up to 230 feet. Glaciers are ancient bodies of water, with some, such as
the Arctic Ice Sheet being over 40 million years old.