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Second-order landforms
Examples of second order Landforms
- Mountains
- Plateaus
- Plains
1. Mountains
- Mountains are landforms that are 600 meters above its surroundings.
- Made of steep slopes
- They are found as individual or in groups.
- Mountain ranges extends for a large area continuously (hundreds or thousands of kilometer).
Important!
Peak: The highest point of a mountain.
Examples:
Mountain Range | Continent |
| Himalaya | Asia |
| Rocky Mountains | North America |
| Andes | South America |
The longest mountain range in the world: The Andes (7,000 km)
The highest peak in the world: Mt. Everest (8,848 m)
- December 11 is noted as the International Mountain Day.
- Hill Stations in Tamil Nadu: Udhagamandalam, Kodaikanal, Kolli hills, Yercaud and Yelagiri.
2. Plateaus
Plateaus: the elevated portions of the Earth that have flat surfaces sorrounded by steep slopes.
- Elevation of plateaus: few hundred meters or several thousand meters
- The highest plateau in the world: Tibetan Plateau
- Tibetan plateau is also called as the ‘Roof of the world’.
- The flat-topped part of the plateau is called Tableland.
- The plateaus are generally mineral-rich in nature.
- The Chotanagpur Plateau is one of plateaus in India, i.e. rich in minerals.
- Mining is one of the major activities of the people living here.
- The Deccan Plateau is an example of volcanic plateau, i.e. volcanic origin.
Plateaus in Tamil Nadu: Dharmapuri Plateau, Coimbatore Plateau and Madurai Plateau
3. Plains
- Flat and relatively low-lying lands.
- Usually less than \(200\) meters above sea level.
- Maybe they are rolling or undulating sometimes.
- Most plains are formed byrivers and their tributaries and distributaries.
- Due to fertile soil deposited by rivers, they are extensively used for agriculture.
- Most suitable topography for human inhabitation, therefore highly populated.
- The plains have been the cradle of civilisations from the earliest times.
For example:
Civilisation | River | Country |
Indus | Indus | India |
Nile valley | Nile | Egypt |
Mesopotamian | Tigris–Euphrates | West Asia |
Important plains in Tamil Nadu: Cauvery and Vaigai.
Important!
Indo-Gangetic plain is one of the largest plains in the world.
Coastal plains: Low lying lands adjacent to oceans and seas
Third-order landforms
- These landforms are formed as a result of erosional and depositional activities of rivers, glaciers, winds, and waves on mountains, plateaus, and plains.
- Example: Valleys, beaches and sand dunes
Valley | Beach | Sand dunes |
 |  |  |
- The process of removal of surface material from the Earth's crust is known as erosion.
- The transportation and deposition of eroded materials on the low lying areas is known as deposition.
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