Landform Facts for Kids

This conical hill in Salar de Arizaro, Salta, Argentina called Cono de Arita is a landform.

A landform is a part of the Earth's surface that is naturally part of the terrain. Each type of landform is defined by its size, shape, location, and what it is made of. Landforms do not include man-made features, such as canals, ports, and many harbors.

Many of the terms refer to features of more than just the planet Earth. They can be used to describe surface features of other planets and similar objects in the Universe. Examples are mountains, hills, polar ice caps, and valleys, which are found on all of the terrestrial planets.

Physical characteristics
Landform Examples
See also

Physical characteristics

Landforms are organized by physical characteristics such as elevation, slope, orientation (the location and direction something faces on a map), stratification, rock exposure (rock sticking out from the earth's surface), and soil type.

This panorama in Great Smoky Mountains National Park has the readily identifiable physical features of a rolling plain, actually part of a broad valley, distant foothills, and a backdrop of the old, much weathered Appalachian mountain range.

Landform Examples

Slope landforms

Inside a ravine in Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, Montana, United States

Coastal and oceanic landforms

Coastal dunes covered in grasses around the mouth of the Liver Å river in Denmark

Sognefjord in Norway, the longest fjord in Norway, is a popular tourist attraction.

Fluvial landforms

A sand and shingle beach

Peveril Castle Dale in England is a V-shaped valley made deeper by a small stream

Fluvial landforms are landforms that are related to flowing water.

Mountain and glacial landforms

A glacial erratic, Waterville Plateau, Washington

Karst towers landforms along Lijiang River, Guilin, China

Volcanic landforms

Spectacular and beautiful Koryaksky volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula, eastern Russia

Erosion landforms

The Grand Canyon, Arizona, at the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers

Landforms made by erosion and weathering usually occur in coastal or fluvial areas, and many are listed under those headings. Some other erosion landforms that are not listed in those categories include:

canyon
cave

Landform facts for kids

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