Major Landforms of the Earth Question Answers: NCERT Class 6 Social Science - The Earth Our Habitat

(a) Major landforms are:

1. Mountains
2. Plateaus
3. Plains

(b) Differences between Mountains and Plateaus are as follows:

(c) Different types of mountains are as follows:

1. Fold Mountains: Mountains formed by the folding of the strata are called Fold Mountains. For example: Himalayas and Alps are some fold mountains, The Aravalli range in India.
2. Block Mountains: Block Mountains are formed when large areas are broken and displaced vertically. The uplifted blocks are known as Horsts and the lowered blocks are called as graben. For example: The Rhine Valley and the Vogues mountain in Europe.
3. Volcanic Mountains: Volcanic Mountains are formed due to the volcanic activity. For example: Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa and Mt. Fujiyama in Japan.

(d) Mountains are useful to man in the following ways:

1. They are store house of water.
2. They provide water to rivers through glaciers.
3. River valleys and riven terraces are ideal agriculture.
4. Mountains have rich variety of flora and fauna.
5. Mountains provide good site for the tourists.
6. They are important sites for several games and sports like: Paragliding, hang gliding, skiing, river rafting etc.

(e) Rivers and their tributaries flows down the mountain slopes with sand and silt and deposited it in low lying areas and thus, form plains.

(f) River plains are thickly populated because:

1. Plains are fertile, so agriculture is the main occupation of the people. It can sustain a large population easily.
2. Roads and railways are easy to be constructed.
3. Ideal for human habitation due to flat land.

(g) Mountains are thinly populated because of following reasons:

1. Undulating topography
2. Harsh climate
3. Less land available for farming
4. Very few employment opportunities.
5. Less developed means of transport.

(a) (i) Elevation

The major difference between mountains and hills are in the terms of their elevation (height).

(b) (i) The mountains

Glaciers are found in mountains because the regions have high altitude and snow fall in winters and thus, forms glaciers.

(c) (iii) India

Deccan Plateaus is located in India in the Deccan region or the western and southern India which is more than 1000 meters in south and 100 meters in north.

(d) (iii) China

The Yangtze river probably flows in China and is the largest river of the China.

(e) (ii) The Alps

The Alps are the highest mountain range that are found in Europe. It is stretched approximately about 1200 km and across eight alpine countries.

1. Plains

Plains are the flat land or the low level lands.

2. Fold Mountains

Himalayas and Alps are young fold Mountains. They have a rugged relief and high conical peaks.

3. Plateau  

Plateaus are rich in mineral deposits such as Chota Nagpur Plateau: it is a store house of minerals like lime stone, copper, mica, coal, bauxite and iron ore.

4. Range

The range is a line of mountains which lies on different places.

5. Plains

Plains are fertile so they are most productive for farming.