Landforms

There are 3 main types of landforms (main

madely of what kind of rock?)
1. Plains:large, flat areas. They can be found
at both high and low elevations. ake up
more than half the !"#
Interior plains$ found in the middle of the
continent, often has grassy meadows % lots of
gra&ing animals
Coastal Plains$ flat areas found near ocean
'oastal and
interior plains
'oastal plains are
always low in
elevation. They
are the e(posed
part of the
continental shelf.
Landforms cont...
). Plateaus: flat, raised areas of land made of
nearly hori&ontal rocks that were uplifted .
* they are different from plains because
they have steep edges
#nother plateau.
any plateaus are
cut by rivers.
Landforms cont...
3. Mountains$ rocky landforms, high elevation
areas.
A. Folded mountains + formed by
continental plates getting pushed together
,ou can see the folds in
this picture + not covered
by vegetation.
B. Volcanic mountains +
* -orm when lava or magma piles up after
several eruptions
Location of major landforms in the United States
emote Sensin! "
Fi!urin! out #hat is #here
* "cience of ac.uiring information about
/arth0s surface without actually being in
contact with it.
* 1one by by sensing and recording reflected
or emitted energy and processing, analy&ing,
and applying that information.2
* 3ncludes$ "onar, "atellite 3maging, #erial
4hotos, icrowave imaging
How do we figure out what the ocean floor
looks like?
* need to map ocean floor using sonar
* send sound waves down to bottom, wait
for waves to return % calculate depth
* "ome underwater features indicate the
likelihood of finding particular minerals
Possi$le features %for la$ acti&it'(:
#. 5olcano 6. 7ift 5alley
'. "ea ount 1. 8uyot
5olcano
7ift 5alley
"ea ount
8uyot
This rift &alle' is
now e(posed but
there are many
similar ones
underwater.
9n land, they are
often associated with
fossils. !nderwater,
they are associated
with igneous rock
formation.
8uyots are sea mounts
that were e(posed,
eroded and subse.uently
covered by water again.
This is an illustration of how scientists used remote
sensing to find an under#ater &olcano off the coast of
#ntarctica in )::;. The volcano stands ),3:: feet (<::
meters) above the seafloor and e(tends to within
roughly =:: feet ()<> meters) of the ocean surface.