Directions: As you view the slides, add
definitions and pictures of each region to
your notes or your landforms foldable.
Pay special attention to the blue,
underlined words.
WHAT ARE LANDFORMS?
Landforms are the kinds of land formations
a place has.
The types of landforms a place has are
influenced by its climate.
Physical Regions are often defined by the
landforms found there.
1. MOUNTAIN REGION
 A mountain is a
landform that rises at
least 2,000 feet above
surrounding land; wide
at the bottom and
narrowing at the top.
 Mountains form a
Mountain range, which
is several mountains in a
row.
 Often, mountain regions
include valleys.
Rocky Mountains,
Western United States
PLATEAU
 Plateaus are FLAT
landforms that are found
in mountain regions.
 Plateaus often come off of
mountains.
 The Great Plains are
located on a plateau that
comes off the Rocky
Mountains.
Great Plains
2. Valley Region
 Valleys are low lying areas,
often between mountains.
 Types of valleys:
 Mountain Valley ~ in
Appalachian Mountain Valley
between two mountains
(formed by a river)
 Glacial Valley (fjord) ~
formed by a glacier, found
in polar regions
Glacier Valley
3. RIVER BASIN REGION
 A river basin is a low-lying area of land, shaped kind of like a bowl
where rivers and their tributaries come together
 Basins are areas that are drained by rivers and their tributaries.
Water from the basins eventually reaches the river mouth (where
the river flows into a gulf, sea or ocean).
 A tributary is a smaller river or stream that flows into a larger one
 As a river flows into
a large body of water
a delta may form.
A delta is triangle
shaped and formed
from rock, sand and
other materials left
behind at the river
mouth.
 Rivers must begin at a
source, like a lake. A lake is a large
body of water surrounded by land.
Rivers flow from their source towards
the Equator.
Tributary
Mouth
and Delta
Mississippi River Basin, USA
4. DESERT REGION
 A desert is dry land that receives less than 10
inches of precipitation (rain or snow) a year
and has little to no vegetation.
 Deserts can be hot, like the Sahara in Africa,
or cold, like Antarctica.
Mesas and Buttes
 Some common landforms found in desert regions are
two types of plateaus: mesas and buttes.
Mesa ~ plateau with four
Steep sides and a flat top
Table Rock Mesa in Idaho
Butte ~ small mesa
Buttes in Monument Valley (Utah)
5. PLAINS REGIONS
 A plain is a large area of flat or gently
rolling land.
 Plains often include rolling hills, which are
raided landforms not as tall as mountains.
 Plains are often used by ranchers to graze
their cattle
 Plains have different names
depending on location:
 Plain ~ United States (also called a prairie)
 Pampas ~ South America
 Steppe ~ Russia/Siberia
 Savanna ~ Africa
6. COASTAL REGION
 The area of flat land along a sea or ocean is a
coastal plain.
 A beach is a type coastal plain, but not all
coastal plains are sandy.
PENINSULA
 A peninsula is part of a coastal plain that
has water on only 3 sides and is attached to
another piece of land.
 A good example of a peninsula is
Florida.
 A cape is like a peninsula, but is pointy
 A good example of a cape is
Cape Cod in Massachusetts
GULF and BAY




A gulf and a bay are parts of a coastal region.
They are bodies of water almost surrounded by land.
A gulf is larger than a bay.
Bays and gulfs are located
next to coastal plains
SEA
 A sea is a large body
of water that may be
partially enclosed by
land.
 A sea is larger than a
gulf and smaller than
an ocean. An ocean
is the largest body of
water.
7. ISLAND REGION
 An island is a body of land totally surrounded by water
 An archipelago is a series of islands
 The state of Hawaii and the country of Japan are
examples
8. Other Landforms
STRAIT
 A strait is a skinny
body of water that has
land on both sides.
 Two good examples of
straits are The Strait of
Hormuz in the Middle
East and the Bering
Strait that separates
Alaska and Russia.
One last word to know ~ ISTHMUS
 An isthmus is a
skinny piece of land
between two bodies
of water.
 It attaches two bigger
pieces of land.
 The country of
Panama is a perfect
example. It attaches
South America to
Central America.
9. POLAR (ARCTIC) REGION
(ADD THESE NOTES TO THE BACK OF YOUR FOLDABLE)
 Some landforms exist only in certain climate areas. These
landforms usually exist in cold, polar regions, close to the
North and South Poles.
 Glaciers are large bodies of ice that melt slowly over time
 Icebergs are floating bodies of ice
 Fjords are valleys formed by glaciers. They are sometimes
frozen
Glacier
Iceberg
Fjord