Landforms of Earth

Chapter 6; pages 156 – 172

“The Present Is The Key To The Past”

Learning Objectives:Describe differences between major

landforms of the U.S.A.Describe formation of folded, upwarped,

faultblock, and volcanic mountainsUnderstand how a regions landscape

influences human activity

Vocabulary:All that stuff above

I. Plains Not Planes

A. Large, flat areas, often found in the interior regions of continents.

1. Ideal for agriculture as they often have rich fertile soilB. Coastal & Interior Plains = half of the United

States land area.1. Atlantic Plain – formed 70 million years

ago2. Gulf Plain – sediments deposited in deltas

3. Interior – between Rockies & Applachian Mts.

a. Bread basket of the worldb. Rich soils & horizontal layers of rock

Lowlands 2:30

Plains 1:30

II. Plateaus

A. Flat, raised areas of nearly horizontal rock layers1. Uplifted from inside the earth.2. Steep edges3. Arid landscape = not much waterex. Colorado Plateau

Colorado Plateau 2:30

Great Basin & Plateaus 3:0 0

III. Mountains – 4 typesA. Folded, horizontal pressure usually from

continental plates colliding.Ex. Applachian, Northern Rockies,

B. Upwarped1. Blocks of land pushed up by

forces inside Earth.Ex. Southern Rockies & Black Hills

C. Fault -Block1. Form along faults. One block forced up and

another goes down.Ex. Sierra Nevada & Tetons Mts.

D. Volcanic1. Molten material reaches surface of Earth.2. Cooled rock builds up layer upon layer