Chapter 2 Landforms of Georgia

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Chapter 2Landforms of Georgia

• Lesson 1 What are some of Georgias landforms?

S5E1a Students will identify features caused by
constructive process S5E1b Students will
identify and find examples of surface features
caused by destructive processes
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Vocabulary Preview

• Landform Topography Sand Dune

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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

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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,
  youre describing the areas topography.
• Topography -all the kinds of landforms in a
  certain area

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Plains
Hills
Mountains
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Landforms
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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.

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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.
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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.

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Brasstown Bald is the highest point in Georgia.
It measures over 1,400 m (about 4,700 ft) above
sea level.
Georgias coastal plain covers much of the state.
Because plains are flat, they are often good
farming areas.
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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 dunes shape or even the whole
  dune. Some dunes move as much as 100 (ft) a year!

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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.

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Cumberland Island is a barrier island on
Georgias 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.
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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.

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Sand Bar
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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.

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MESA (means table in Spanish)
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This is Providence Canyon, in Georgia. Canyons
form wherever there is running water and land
that is being uplifted.
Monument Valley, along the Arizona-Utah border,
was made by water and wind.
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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.

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Canyons
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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.

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Georgias 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 Earths crust is like in each location.

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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.
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Georgias 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 Earths crust.

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Georgias 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 Georgias 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.

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The Okefenokee Swamp can be found in the Coastal
Plain region.
The highest mountains in Georgia can be found in
the Blue Ridge region.
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Georgias Geologic Regions

• Some of Georgias biggest cities, such as Athens
  and Atlanta, are in the Piedmont. This is also
  where you will find Georgias 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.