A landform can be shapes and formed in only a few years or millions of years.

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A quarter of the Earth's surface is land. Any natural physical feature of Earth's surface is called a landform. Landforms are classified a number of different ways, but one of the most common methods is based on position and formation. Slopes are formed by tectonic plate shifts and movements. They form "hill like" conditions. Common slope landforms include hills, cliffs, plains, and valleys. Coastal and Oceanic landforms form near seas and oceans. Common forms include coasts, coves, deltas, lagoons, capes, and peninsulas. There are landforms that relate to flowing water called fluvials. Common examples would be beaches, gullies, islands, marshes, oasis, rivers, streams, and swamps. Mountains and glacials include fjords, glaciers, mountains ranges, and summits. There are also landforms that relate to volcanic activity they are fittingly called volcanic landforms. Examples include geysers, mesas, and calderas.

The landforms that are present today are not the same as they were millions of years ago. Over time plate shifts, erosion, and weathering has a great deal of influence on how these structures are shaped. Something some people miss is that rivers, oceans, and even lakes are thought of as landforms. They are shaped by the land underneath them. Just under three-quarters of the Earth is ocean. These worksheets will help students learn about all types of different terrains across the span of the globe. You learn about the highest mountains and the steepest peaks. Students will also examine common everyday land structures that they take for granted like hills and plains. Everything in this section is presented in three-page worksheet series which includes a content based reading passage, multiple choice questions and free response questions. We provide answers to everything, where it is possible.

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Printable Landforms Worksheets

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Topography

A topographical map shows the physical features of the land. Topographical maps typically include the elevation of these areas. Manmade features of the land, like buildings, dams, and roads, are also sometimes taken into consideration as topography.

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Topography Questions

The information used to create these maps is gathered by either direct or indirect survey. Changes in elevation are shown on a topographical map using contour lines. Every area on a map touching one contour line is the same elevation.

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Types of Landforms

Buttes, canyons, valleys, and basins are all considered minor landforms. The largest and highest plateau in the world is the Tibetan Plateau. A plateau that has experienced a lot of erosion is called a dissected plateau.

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QUESTIONS: Types of Landforms

How high does an area of elevated land need to be to be considered a mountain?

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Mountains

A mountain is a landform that rises at least 1,000 feet above sea level. The highest mountain in the world is Mount Everest, which reaches 29,036 feet above sea level. An elevated landform less than 1,000 feet is called a hill.

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QUESTIONS: Mountains

What kind of mountain forms when two tectonic plates collide?

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Hills

A hill is a landform with a higher elevation than everything around it. Like a mountain, a hill has a summit, which is its highest point. Natural hills are formed by geologic events. One such event is called faulting. Faulting occurs because of the movement of the tectonic plates underneath the surface of the Earth.

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QUESTIONS: Hills

What Native American tribe is known as the mound-builders?

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Buttes

Buttes were originally part of flat areas of land at a very high elevation. These flat, elevated landforms are called mesas or plateaus.

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QUESTIONS: Buttes

Buttes are most common in arid regions. An arid region is characterized by extremely low levels of precipitation.

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Plains

A plain is a large, wide area of flat land. Over a third of the Earth's land area is made up of plains, and there are plains on every continent.

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QUESTIONS: Plains

What kinds of plains are not covered in grasses?

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Plateaus

A plateau or mesa is a flat, elevated landform. Plateaus form over long periods of time as geologic forces push the Earth's surface up and water, wind, and rain wear the sides of the formation down.

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QUESTIONS: Plateaus

Sometimes plateaus form when magma from deep down inside the Earth rises to the surface but is unable to break through the crust in a volcanic eruption.

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Canyons

The most well-known canyon in the U.S. is the Grand Canyon, which the Colorado River carved out of the Colorado Plateau.

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QUESTIONS: Canyons

Explain how weathering and erosion shape canyons.

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Valleys

Valleys are areas of land that have a lower elevation than the land surrounding them. Valleys form over time by a combination of gravity and erosion from water and ice.

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QUESTIONS: Valleys

Ancient civilizations often settled in valleys because of the fertile soil and the easy access to water from the river.

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Basins

Structural basins are basins that form as a result of earthquakes. Structural basins form when tectonic plates below the surface of the Earth shift.

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QUESTIONS: Basins

Describe how structural basins form.

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