EARTH SCIENCE

EARTH •  The earth is a huge sphere •  It is covered by water and soil •  Surrounded by air

THE EARTH’S SURFACE

LANDFORMS • Mountains •  Plateaus •  Hills •  Valleys •  Plains

MOUNTAINS •  Large landforms •  Rise above the surrounding land •  Have steep slopes or rounded peaks • May have one peak • May be part of a mountain range

MOUNTAIN

VALLEYS •  Valleys are located between

mountains or hills •  They are lower places on earth •  Sometimes rivers run through

valleys

VALLEY

V-SHAPED OR U-SHAPED VALLEY? •  Formed by flowing water, such as a

river, are usually V-shaped •  Formed by glaciers – U-valley •  Fun Fact: A valley can also be called

a glen, vale, or dell.

PLATEAUS

•  Stands higher than surrounding land •  Has a flat top

PLATEAU

HILLS •  Raised area or mound of land •  Smaller than a mountain •  Have gentle rounded tops •  Do not have steep slopes

HILLS

PLAINS

• Wide, flat area of land •  Usually treeless •  Can be grassy or support scrub

brush •  Can be waterless deserts

PLAIN

CITATIONS •  denali lifts her skirts by Nic Mcphee, 7/23/06, Flickr.com – Attribution

share alike •  Point Imperial by Ken Lund, 7/18/09, Flickr.com – Attribution share alike •  Valley of Feneos by Leoindas Tsementzs, 6/15/08, Flickr.com –

Attribution •  Hills, grain elevator, and little yellow plain by Lynn Suckow, 5/17/06,

Flickr.com – Attribution share alike •  Wessex Ridgeway Walk Wiltshire Plain by Gavin Stewart, 3/39/06,

Flickr.com – Attribution •  Nasa Full Disk View by NASA Goddard Photo and Video, 9-24/10,

Flickr.com – Attribution •  Death Valley Landscape by Wendy, 11/29/08, Flickr.com – Attribution No

Derivatives •  Houserock Road – Vermillion Cliffs and Kaibab Plateau by Al Hikes AZ,

5/2/08, Flickr.com – Attribution Non commercial