• Tectonic plate movement under Earth can create landforms by
pushing up mountains and hills.
• Erosion by water and wind can wear down land and create
landforms like valleys and canyons.
• Both process happen over a long period of time, sometimes
millions of years.
5 Major Types of Landforms Minor Type of Landforms
1. Mountains 1. Buttes
2. Hills 2. Canyons
3. Plateaus 3. Valleys
4. Plains 4. Basins
5. Desert
MAJOR TYPES OF
MOUNTAINS
• These are lands which
physical features
protruding high beyond
the hills and very high up
the land surface with
steep top commonly
shape up to a peak.
MOUNTAINS
• They are created through
the action of erosion,
volcanism, or uplifts in the
earth’s crust.
• Often mountains occur in
the ocean compared to
land and some are seen
as mountain islands as
their peaks protrude out
of the water.
MOUNTAINS
• They are created through
the action of erosion,
volcanism, or uplifts in the
earth’s crust.
• Often mountains occur in
the ocean compared to
land and some are seen
as mountain islands as
their peaks protrude out
of the water.
1. MOUNTAINS
PLATE TECTONIC MOVEMENTS
1. Spreading – this is where
two plates move away
from each other.
2. Subduction – one plate will
move beneath the other.
3. Lateral sliding – plates
slide past each other.
MOUNTAINS
JURA OF EUROPE Switzerland and France
MOUNTAINS
ALPS MOUNTAINS of Europe
of ASIA
Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia
India, Nepal, China and Bhutan
MOUNTAINS
ALPS MOUNTAINS of Europe
Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia
2. VALLEYS
• It is a lowland area or surface
depression of the earth between
higher lands such as mountains or
hills.
• Natural trough bounded by
mountains or hills on the surface
of the earth slopping down to the
lake, ocean or stream, which
created because of water or ice
erosion.
2. VALLEYS
• Lowest part of the valleys are
very fertile and make very good
farmlands.
• Valleys within the mountains
normally have narrow floors.
• Valleys physical features include
U-shaped and V-shaped caused
through the forces of erosion by
flowing masses that persistently
widens and deepens the valley.
3. PLATEAUS
• Fairly flat areas higher than the
land surrounding it. The
surrounding areas have a very
steep slopes.
• Plateaus cover wide land areas
and together with their enclosed
basins they cover approximately
45% of the entire earth’s land
surface.
3. PLATEAUS
• Lava/ Basaltic Plateau were
created because of lava flows
spreading to thousand of square
kilometers building up a fairly flat
land surfaces.
• Other plateaus form as a result of
upward folding while some are
due to the erosion of the nearby
land that leaves them elevated.
3. PLATEAUS
• Low plateaus make up good
farming regions whereas high
plateaus are considered great for
grazing livestock.
4. PLAINS
• These are broad, nearly level
stretches of land that have no
great changes in elevation.
• Plains are generally lower than
the land around them.
• About 55% of the earth’s land
surface is occupied by plains.
4. PLAINS
• Most of the plain have been
formed by deposition of
sediments brought down by
rivers.
• Plains may be found along a
coast or inland.
• Coastal Plains, rise from sea
level until they meet higher
landforms.
5. DESERT
• It is a barren area of landscape
where little precipitation occurs
and consequently living
conditions are hostile for plant
and animal life.
• The lack of vegetation exposes
the unprotected surface of the
ground to the process of
denudation.
5. DESERT
• Deserts are formed by
weathering processes as large
variations in temperature
between day and night put
strains on the rocks which
consequently break in pieces.
5. DESERT
• There are occasional
downpours that can result in
flash floods.
• Rain falling in hot rocks can
cause them to shatter and the
resulting fragments and rubble
strewn over the dessert floor
and further eroded by the wind.
5. DESERT
• Wind blown sand grains
striking any solid objects in
their path can abrade the
surface. Rocks are smoothed
down, and the wind sorts sand
into uniform deposits.
• The grains end up as level
sheets of sand or are piled high
in billowing sand dunes.
MINOR TYPES OF
1. BUTTES
• It is similar to the hills in
elevation but isolated.
• They usually have vertical sides
and a small flat top.
• They are smaller than plateaus
and table landforms.
MITTEN BUTTES monument valley of ARIZONA
The West and East Mitten Buttes (also known as the Mittens)
are two buttes in the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in
northeast Navajo County, Arizona
2. CANYON
• Canyons - or gorges are deep
rifts between the pairs of cliffs.
• It is mostly created as the
result of erosive activity of
rivers.
• There are canyons that have a
single opening (opening only
on one side) and they are
known as box canyons.
GRAND CANYON of the PHILIPPINES
Bukidnon, Mindanao. Future massive attraction for tourism.
3. BASIN
• It consists of an area of land,
usually like a smaller prairie,
enclosed by higher land such
as hills and mountains.
• Structural basin are formed
through tectonic activity and
the natural process of
weathering and erosion also
contribute to the formation.
3. BASIN
• Oceanic basin are largest
depressions on Earth.
• These are caused by seafloor
subduction are the tectonic
activity that can shape the
basins.
4. VOLCANO
• Mountains that open downward
to a reservoir of molten rock
below the surface of the Earth.
• Unlike most mountains, which
are pushed up from below,
volcanoes are vents through
which molten rock escapes to
the Earth’s surface.
4. DUNES
• Is a hill of loose sand built by
aeolian processes (wind) or the
flow of water.
• Dunes occur in different
shapes and sizes, formed by
interaction with the flow of air
or water.
EXAMPLES
MOUNTAINS
JURA OF EUROPE Switzerland and France
MOUNTAINS
ALPS MOUNTAINS of Europe
of ASIA
Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia
India, Nepal, China and Bhutan
MOUNTAINS
ALPS MOUNTAINS of Europe
Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia
MOUNT FUJI OF JAPAN
MOUNT VESUVIUS OF ITALY
MOUNT EREBUS OF ANTARCTICA
MOUNT ST. HELENS OF WASHINGTON
MOUNT PULAG LUZON’S HIGHEST PEAK
MOUNT KANLAON VISAYA’S HIGHEST PEAK
HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN THE PHILIPPINES
CAGAYAN VALLEY/ NORTHEAST OF LUZON
GRAND CANYON OF MINDANAO
LA PAZ SAND DUNES IN LAOG OF ILOCOS