Download Georgia Land Forms

Landforms of Georgia
Lesson 1: What are some of
Georgia’s landforms?
S5E1a: Students will identify features caused by constructive process
S5E1b: Students will identify and find examples of surface features caused by
destructive processes
Vocabulary Preview
Landform
Topography
Sand Dune
Vocabulary Preview
• Landform: a natural land shape or feature
• Topography: surface landforms of an area
• Sand Dune: a hill of sand, made and
shaped by wind
Mountains, Hills, and Plains
• What is the land around your town like? Does it
have rolling hills or steep mountains?
Land has many different shapes.
• A natural land shape or feature is called a
landform.
• When you describe the landforms around your
town, you’re describing the area’s topography.
Topography -all the kinds of landforms in a
certain area
Plains
Hills
Mountains
Landforms
Mountains, Hills, and Plains
• Look at the pictures on the next slide.
• How would you describe the topography of the two
areas? (skip to next slide)
• A mountain is a landform that is much higher than the
surrounding land. Often, mountains occur in groups
called ranges.
• Mountain ranges can be very different from each other.
• The Rocky Mountains, form tall, jagged peaks that rise
thousands of feet above the surrounding land.
• The Appalachian Mountains, are lower and more
rounded.
The jagged peaks of the Rocky
Mountains are many thousands of
feet higher than the surrounding land
The
Appalachians are
mountains, too,
but their peaks
are lower and
more rounded
than the peaks of
the Rockies.
Mountains, Hills, and Plains
• Hills are landforms that are like mountains, but not as
high. Most hills have rounded and gentle slopes.
• In the middle of the U.S is a very large plain known as
the GREAT PLAINS.
• Plains form in different ways, but all plains have the
same topography.
Georgia’s coastal plain covers
much of the state. Because
plains are flat, they are often
good farming areas.
Brasstown Bald is the
highest point in Georgia.
It measures over 1,400
m (about 4,700 ft) above
sea level.
Landforms of Sand
• Some landforms are made of sand and small bits of
rock. These landforms move and are shaped by both
wind and water.
• Landforms of sand are more easily changed than
landforms of rock.
• A sand dune is a sand hill that is made and shaped by
wind.
• As wind blows over a dune, the sand moves. This can
change the dune’s shape or even the whole dune. Some
dunes move as much as 100 (ft) a year!
Landforms of Sand
• Like wind, water can also move sand.
• Water waves and currents reshape beaches, forming barrier
islands and sand spits extending out into the water from the
ends of many islands.
• Sand spits and barrier islands are long, narrow piles of sand
that help protect the mainland from wave erosion. They are
found all along the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico.
Cumberland
Island is a
barrier
island on
Georgia’s
east coast.
Sand dunes form
where the wind is
strong and the sand
deposits are plentiful.
These sand dunes are
in the Oregon Dunes
Recreation Area.
Landforms of Sand
• Rivers, too, can make sand landforms.
• Rivers carry sand from the land they flow
through. When the flow of a river slows,
the sand settles. This makes a landform
called a sandbar. The Pacific coast have
many sandbars where rivers flow into the
ocean.
Sand Bar
Landforms from Water
• The topography of the southwestern U.S is
beautiful and different. There you will find
landforms such as Right Mitten, a mesa.
• A mesa is a tall, flat-topped rock feature.
• A mesa forms as running water erodes the
surrounding rock, Monument Valley, in
Utah, is home to many mesas.
MESA (means table in Spanish)
This is Providence Canyon, in
Georgia. Canyons form wherever
there is running water and land
that is being uplifted.
Monument Valley, along the ArizonaUtah border, was made by water and
wind.
Landforms from Water
• Canyons are deep valleys with steep
sides. They are found throughout the
Southwest.
• The Grand Canyon, in Arizona, is the
largest land canyon in the world. The
rushing water of the Colorado River
carved through many layers of rock to
make this mile-deep canyon.
Canyons
Landforms from Water
• Not all canyons are made
by rivers.
• The landforms in
Providence Canyon were
formed by water runoff
from nearby farms.
• It took thousands of years
to form the Grand
Canyon, but only took
about 200 years to form
the Providence Canyon.
Georgia’s Geologic Regions
• The landforms of Georgia can be divided into
different regions.
• Some geologists separate them into 4 groups,
while others separate them into 5 or 6.
• The features of the land sometimes overlap,
making it difficult to classify them into one group
only.
• However, the easiest way to separate them is to
see what Earth’s crust is like in each location.
King's Gap, in
Pine Mountain
Valley, is part of
the Piedmont
region of
Georgia.
Most of
northwestern
Georgia is in
the Valley &
Ridge region.
Georgia’s Geologic Regions
• The northwestern corner of Georgia is known as
the Valley and Ridge region. The rocks in this
area have been slowly pushed and folded many
times. As a result, there are many peaks and
valleys to see.
• The Valley and Ridge region is bordered by the
Appalachian Mountains in the north and the
Cartersville fault in the south. A fault is a break
in the Earth’s crust.
Georgia’s Geologic Regions
• In the east of the Valley and Ridge region is the
Blue Ridge region. The main feature in this area
is the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Blue Ridge
region is home to Georgia’s highest point,
Brasstown Bald.
• The Piedmont Region is found in the middle of
the state. The rolling hills in the Piedmont are
the remains of an ancient mountain range.
The Okefenokee
Swamp can be
found in the
Coastal Plain
region.
The highest mountains in
Georgia can be found in the Blue
Ridge region.
Georgia’s Geologic Regions
• Some of Georgia’s biggest cities, such as Athens and
Atlanta, are in the Piedmont. This is also where you will
find Georgia’s famous red clay.
• The largest region in Georgia is the Coastal Plains. The
low, flat land extend from the Piedmont to the Atlantic
Ocean. The Coastal Plain has many rivers and a great
deal of wet, marshy land. Because of the flatness and
the rivers, the Coastal Plain is ideal for growing crops.