Five Key points About the Video
- Humans aren't the only things shaping and changing the earth
- Wind, rain and other elements slowly shape the earth into different landforms
- The earth has 4 spheres (Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere and Atmosphere)
- Landforms are natural features of the earths surface that slowly change over time
- some landforms can help shape others (lava from volcanoes can push up on the earths surface to create plateaus)
Island Desert Delta
Mountains/Valleys Plateau Volcano
Landform |
What is it? |
What Created it? |
Cool facts |
Mountain |
A large hill with sides much steeper than the surrounding surface. |
When two tectonic plates collide and are forced upwards |
any land mass that rises over 1000 feet is considered a mountain. The tallest mountain is mount Everest in the Himalayas, standing at 29029 feet. |
Island |
An area of land completely surrounded by water |
breaking off of a bigger piece of land, dirt and debris from ocean current build up, cooled lava of underwater volcanoes |
The world’s smallest island is Nauru in the south Pacific ocean with an area of 8.5 square miles. the most populated island in the world is Java, in Indonesia, with more than 150 million residents, this island makes up more than half of Indonesia's total population. |
Desert |
A landform that loses more water to the air than it gets through precipitation. |
Lack of precipitation |
Many people believe that a desert has to be a hot place but due to its lack of precipitation, Antarctica is also a desert. Around one third of the Earth's surface is covered in deserts. |
Valley |
a low area of land between two hills or mountains |
mountains forming around an area |
The Sydney harbour is a valley that has sunken below sea level. The grand canyon is around 6000 feet deep. |
Plateau |
A large area of high land that is relatively flat on top. |
Erosion of mountains or magma pushing up on the earth's surface |
The tallest plateau in the world is the Tibetan Plateau in East Asia. These land masses can start as a plateau and be worn down into mesas and buttes by wind and rain. |
Delta |
A triangle shaped piece of land that sits at the mouth of a river |
Dirt and debris accumulation that forms a piece of land |
a delta consists of multiple layers of sediment brought in by the flowing water. These layers are known as topsets, foresets, and bottomsets. |
Volcano |
A mountain through which molten earth, called lava, can flow |
when lava builds up and then cools to form a solid |
the biggest known volcano in our solar system is located on mars. This volcano called Olympus mons, measures 600km wide and 21 km tall. |
AtmosphereBiosphereHydrosphere |
A layer of gases surrounding the earth.
Parts of the earth occupying living organisms.(forests, animals, organisms) all the waters on the earth's surface, such as lakes, oceans and seas(clouds are also included) |
Geosphere
Regions of matter that make up the earth. (lava in the core of the earth and rocks that make up the ground we stand on)
![Picture](/uploads/1/0/0/3/100348072/published/untitled-pngfire.png?1487992507)
What do these have to do with understanding landforms?
Interactions within the geosphere can completely change our earth. It can create new landforms or destroy old ones. (tectonic plates colliding, creating a mountain or causing an earthquake). The hydrosphere changing could completely move an ocean to a different location.(flooding civilizations and creating space to start new ones). A forest fire in the biosphere has the capability to wipe out most of an animal species and its habitat as well as destroying our homes. (the forest fire in Fort Mcmurray). Understanding the four spheres of the earth helps us understand how landforms are created, destroyed and changed.
Interactions within the geosphere can completely change our earth. It can create new landforms or destroy old ones. (tectonic plates colliding, creating a mountain or causing an earthquake). The hydrosphere changing could completely move an ocean to a different location.(flooding civilizations and creating space to start new ones). A forest fire in the biosphere has the capability to wipe out most of an animal species and its habitat as well as destroying our homes. (the forest fire in Fort Mcmurray). Understanding the four spheres of the earth helps us understand how landforms are created, destroyed and changed.