Topography and Landforms

• In 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on an expedition to explore the land between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean just purchased from France.

• This purchase was called the Louisiana Purchase.

Section 1

Topography - the shape of the land, including elevation, relief, and landforms.

Elevation – height above sea level

Relief – difference in elevation between highest and lowest point

Landforms – feature of topography formed by the processes that shape Earth’s surface

• The highest elevation that Lewis and Clark’s expedition took them on was 2,200 meters.

• This location was the Lemhi Pass in the Rocky Mountains.

Landforms- a feature of topography such as a hill or valley formed by the processes that shape the earth’s surface.

There are three main types of landforms.

1. Plains- a landform made up of nearly flat or gently rolling land with low relief. A plain that lies along a seacoast is called a coastal plain.

2. Mountains- A landform with high elevation and high relief.

3. Plateaus- a landform that has high elevation and a

more or less level surface

The two plateau regions Lewis and Clark traveled throughWas the Columbia Plateau and Ozark Plateau

A landform region is a large area where the topography ismade up of one type of landform.

Two landform regions in the book are the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains.

Mountain range- a group of mountains that are closely related in shape, structure, and age.

Mountain system- the different mountain ranges in a region

Mountain belt- the largest unit of ranges and systems.

Interior Plains: plain that lies away from the coast

Plain

http://www.great-adventures.com/images/tanzania/Unending%20Plain.jpg

Mountain

www.cix.co.uk/~gidds/Snaps/America/index.html

Plateau

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hickerphoto.com/data/media/175/colorado_plateau_t3105.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hickerphoto.com/colorado-plateau-8874-pictures.htm&h=311&w=468&sz=54&hl=en&start=1&um=1&usg=__cjuZH4U6bOCA6wQLP6AoBXREWV0=&tbnid=eP-vwVgiXW_TcM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dplateau%26gbv%3D2%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

Valley