PENNSVALLEY
16
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Lesson 12:
What Are TheMajor Landforms?
Studying about the earth’s surface and its features is called physical geography.Without geogra-
phy, history and culture have no place to happen.Every place on earth can be described by its sights,
sounds, and natural and human-made features. Features are used to describe things such as land,
water, climate, people, cities, elevation, and so on.
Therearemany kindsof physical features that areused todescribehowplaces lookonour earth.
For the most part, natural and human-made physical features can be grouped under
landforms
or
waterforms
.We need to learn these terms so that we can better understand what places look like
when thewords areused.Wewill beusing thesewords that describe features throughout our study of
theWesternHemisphere.
ACTIVITY:
Printed in theboxaresomecommonwords for landforms. Inaseparate list aredescriptions thatmatch
each landform. Notice that each description or definition has a grid coordinate area. Using the words
for landforms in the box, match the definition or description to its correct grid coordinate area on the
next page.
Note:
Use an atlas, glossary, or dictionary to help you.The first one is done for you on the next page.
Only onewordwill be in each square.
BigNote:
Therewill be squares inwhich no answer appears. Save those spaces for other landforms
youmight learn about.
archipelago
bayou
butte
canyon
cape
coast
continent
dam
delta
desert
highland
hill
island
isthmus
key
mesa
mountain
mountain range peninsula
plain
plateau
ridge
savanna
valley
volcano
watershed
Descriptions
0
1.
D,2
a natural or human-made structure that holds backwater
0
2.
C,4
an isolated hill that rises sharply above the surrounding land inwesternUnitedStates;
has a flat top
0
3.
F,1
a narrow landform that connects two larger bodies of land
0
4.
A,1
a valleywith steep sides carved out of the earth’s surface bymovingwater
0
5.
A,5
an area of land that drains into a river, river system, or body of water
0
6.
E,5
a type of mountain created by a build up of rocks and lava from an opening in the
earth’s crust
0
7.
B,4
a long, narrow stretch of land that rises well above the surrounding land
0
8.
D,3
an area of lowland between twomountains
0
9.
E,2
amountainous or hilly section of a country or state
10.
C,2
a flat, treeless grassland of tropical or subtropical regions
11.
A,3
a flat-topped hill with cliff-like sides in southwesternUnitedStates
12.
F,2
land bordering the sea or ocean
Geography Skills
