2. The shape of the land An area’s topography may be flat, sloping, hilly, or mountainous

3. The topography of an area includes the area’s elevation, relief, and landforms

4. Elevation- The height above sea level of a point on Earth’s surface Relief- the difference in elevation between the highest and lowest parts of an area Landforms- a feature of topography, such as a hill or valley formed by the processes that shape Earth’s surface

5. There are three main types of landforms: Plains Mountains Plateaus

6. Plains- a landform made up of nearly flat or gently rolling land with low relief Coastal plain- a plain lying along a seacoast Interior plain- a plain lying away from the coast The Great Plains- broad interior plains of North America

7. Mountains- a landform with high elevation and high relief, usually occur as part of a mountain range Mountain range- a group of mountains that are closely related in shape, structure and age Mountain system- the different mountain ranges in a region

8. Plateaus- a landform that has high elevation and a more or less level surface Rarely perfectly smooth on top

9. Landform region- a large area of land where the topography is made up mainly of one type of landform Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are major landform regions

10. Weathering Erosion

11. The following are landforms in Arkansas created by these external forces: Gulf Coastal Plain Arkansas River Valley Mississippi Alluvial Plain Crowley’s Ridge We will study these in more detail later!

12. Add the following to your paper: 14. How does weathering and erosion affect the ocean’s salinity? Weathering breaks down rock which contains salts, erosion moves these particles into the ocean. This increases the salinity of the ocean.