Landform Facts
Landform Facts
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| Interesting Landform Facts: |
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| The landforms that exist today were not the same as they were millions of years ago. |
| Factors contributing to the formation of landforms include volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, tectonic plate shifts, and various weather phenomena. |
| It can take as little as a few years or several million years to create a landform under the right conditions. An earthquake or volcano can change the landscape and result in new or disappearing landforms in very short periods of time. |
| Mountains are the highest landforms on earth. Hey take millions of years to form. The Himalayan Mountain Range is home to the world's tallest mountains and many are still growing even taller each year as the tectonic plates push them upwards. |
| Landforms can provide protection from the weather. Mountains slow down the winds like walls, and gather water to be released to lower levels of land via streams and rivers. |
| There are three types of mountains: volcanic, fold, and block. Each type is a landform created by different factors. |
| Volcanoes create new land forms, sometimes underwater as they build up over time. They also release important nutrients to the world that help maintain a stable atmosphere. |
| Hills are a type of landform that tend to be covered in grass and are usually within a warmer climate than that on mountain tops, which are often covered in snow and ice at their peaks. |
| Valleys are a type of land form created by glaciers moving across the land, or by water eroding the rock and soil. A valley may be U-shaped or V-shaped. The shape is determined by how it is formed and the speed it is formed. |
| Canyons are a landform and a type of very narrow valley. |
| A plateau is a landform that looks like a table with steep sides. They are usually very high and cliffs make up their steep rock faces. Plateaus are created when magma is pushed upwards from under the earth's crust. The crust is raised to create the plateau but the magma remains below. |
| Plains are a type of landform that are made up of flat pieces of land, and when rivers run alongside them the land is usually good for growing crops and supporting life. The flat land makes plains perfect for building houses and other buildings to create cities. |
| Islands are landforms that have water on all sides. |
| Other types of landforms include peninsulas (water on three sides), isthmus (narrow strip of land that connects two larger landforms, and deserts (dry, sandy landforms that can be very hot during the day and very cold at night). |
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