Important Questions Test: Major Landforms Of The Earth - UPSC MCQ

Erosion by Glaciers. Erosion is the wearing away of the land by forces such as water, wind, and ice. Erosion has helped to form many interesting features of the Earth's surface including mountain peaks, valleys, and coastlines.

A plateau is an elevated flat land. It is a flat-topped table land standing above the surrounding area. Plateaus are flattened highlands.

The second, or the external process is the continuous wearing down and rebuilding of the land surface. The wearing away of the earth's surface is called erosion. The surface is being lowered by the process of erosion and rebuilt by the process of deposition.

There are four main agents of erosion. Moving water, wind, gravity, and ice wear away or break up rocks, sediments, and soil from the land's surface. When these materials are deposited or dropped in new places, it is called deposition. Erosion and deposition work together.

Plains are large stretches of flat land. Most of the plains are formed by rivers and their tributaries. The rivers flow down the slopes of mountains and erode them.They carry forward the eroded material.

Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type.

The Himalayas are among the youngest mountain ranges on the planet and consist mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock. They stretch from theIndus river in the West to the Brahmaputra river in the East.

Mount Krakatoa is an example of a stratovolcano, a tall, conical volcano with multiple strata of solidified lava, tephra, as well as volcanic ash. These type of volcanoes typically have steep sides and usually erupt frequently & violently. Most of the popular eruptions have been made by stratovolcanoes.

Plateaus are the land masses that rise abruptly from the neighbouring areas with steep slopes. Their top is either rounded or flat. Owing to their large area, they are also known as tablelands.

In geography, a plain is a flat, sweeping landmass that generally does not change much in elevation.Plains occur as lowlands along the bottoms of valleys or on the doorsteps of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands.

Plain, any relatively level area of the Earth's surface exhibiting gentle slopes and small local relief. The Pampas have a gradual downward slope from northwest to  Konkan. Konkan, coastal plain of western India, lying between the Arabian Sea (west) and the Western Ghats (east).

Mauna Kea (Hawaii) in the Pacific Ocean is an undersea mountain. It is higher than Mount Everest being 10,205 metres high.

Tectonic plate movement under the 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 processes happen over a long period of time, sometimes millions of years.

The Correct Option is B: Tectonic and Gradational
Explanation:

• Tectonic forces originate from within the earth.
• These forces are responsible for the construction of the earth's crust.
• They lead to the formation of various landforms like mountains, plateaus, and plains.
• These forces can either be constructive, like volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, or destructive, causing landslides and avalanches.
• Gradational forces, on the other hand, originate from outside the earth. They are responsible for the shaping of the earth's surface features. These forces, mainly including wind, water, and ice, cause erosion, transportation, and deposition of the earth's materials, leading to the formation of various landforms like valleys, canyons, and deltas.

The main difference between a mountain and a plateau is that the mountain is an elevated, pointed structure whereas a plateau is an elevated area with a flat top. A plateau is generally lower in height than mountain, though there are plateaus higher than some mountains.

There are five basic kinds of mountains:

1. Fold Mountains (Folded Mountains)
2. Fault-block Mountains (Block Mountains)
3. Dome Mountains
4. Volcanic Mountains
5. Plateau Mountains

Water from the Mountains is also used for irrigation and generation of hydro-electricity. The river valleys and terraces are ideal for cultivation of crops. Also,mountains have a rich variety of flora and fauna. The forests provide fuel, fodder, shelter and other products like gum, raisins, etc.

Internal earth processes

Earth Movements is Vertical that is up and down movements cause faulting of the crustal rocks,movements cause folding of the crustal rocks.Internal processes induce some features like fold mountains,rift valley,basins,some types of escarpment,Horst mountain and block mountains.These might be weather, pressure, water, wind, moving sheets of ice.They are formed in the process of orogenesis.

External earth processes

The breakup of rocks by alternate heating and cooling,chemical actions, and the action of living organisms.features induced  are soil,earth pillars ‘by rain action’. Erosion terminate rocks by the action of rock particles being moved over the Earth’s surface by water, wind and ice.Due to the erosion this features may be created;: valleys,plains,cliffs, river and coastal terraces; escarpments (in) Transport .The movement of rock particles over the Earth's surface by water, wind and ice’.

A mountain range is a series of mountains ranging in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arisen from the same cause, usually an orogeny.

The second, or the external process is the continuous wearing down and rebuilding of the land surface. The wearing away of the earth's surface is called erosion. The surface is being lowered by the process of erosion and rebuilt by the process of deposition.