Ch – 6 Major Landforms Of The Earth

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• The different landforms are formed as a result of internal or external process.
• Internal process leads to the upliftment and sinking of the earth’s surface at several places.
• External process is the continuous wearing down and rebuilding of the land surface.
• The wearing away of the earth’s surface is called erosion.
• The surface is rebuilt by the process of deposition.
• Based on the elevation and slope, the landforms are of three types: mountains, plateaus and plains.

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• Mountains:
• It is the natural elevation of the earth surface.
• The permanently frozen rivers on some mountains are known as “glaciers“.
• Less people live here because of harsh climate.
• They are storehouse of water.
• It can be arranged in a line known as “ranges“.

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• Three types of mountains are there:
  • Fold Mountains:
  • Aravali range in India is one of the oldest fold mountains in the world.
  • Some other old fold mountains are Appalachians in North America and Ural mountains in Russia.
  • Himalayan mountains and Alps are young fold mountains.
  • Block Mountains:
  • They are created when large areas are broken and displaced vertically.
  • Uplifted blocks are termed as “horsts“.
  • Lowered blocks are termed as “graben“.
  • Eg: Rhine valley and Vosges mountain in Europe.
  • Volcanic Mountains:
  • They are formed due to volcanic eruptions.
  • Eg: Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mt.Fujiyama in Japan.

• Plateaus:
• It is an elevated flat land.
• Its height often varies from few hundred metres to several thousand metres.
• Deccan plateau in India is one of the oldest plateaus of the world.
• Some other examples: East African plateau in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, Western plateau of Australia.
• Tibetan plateau is the highest (height-4,000 to 6,000 metres) plateau in the world.
• Plateaus are rich in mineral deposits. Eg: African plateau is famous for gold and diamond mining, Chhotanagpur plateau is is rich in iron, manganese and coal.
• Lava plateaus are good for cultivation as they have black soil.

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• Plains:
• They are stretch of flat land.
• They are generally not more than 200 metres above mean sea level.
• They are fertile.
• They are thickly populated.
• The largest plains made by rivers are found in Asia and North America.
• Eg: Ganga-Brahmaputra plains in India, Yangtze in China.

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