in this video we are going to quickly learn about all the geographical terms that one needs to know whether you have just completed school or you graduated decades ago there are likely many things you don't know about the extraordinary planet on which we live alright then without any further ado let's begin I'm going to use this picture as a reference and I will explain properly all the terms that you see in this picture please bear with me for the next few minutes I know you'll have many questions regarding these landforms and they're different types I'll keep my explanation strictly to all that you can see in this picture for the benefit of keeping it short and crisp so if you have any question put it down in the comment section if you look at a mountain they are formed due to the movements of tectonic plates they are formed by slow but gigantic movement of the Earth's crust this is called plate convergence when two continental plates collide it pushes the rocks upward and that forms a mountain range a good example is the Himalayan mountain range they were formed as a result of the collision between the Indian plate and the Eurasian Plate which began 50 million years ago and it still continues today so this is how the mountains are formed you will also find many mountains near coastal areas these are formed when heavy oceanic plate collides with a lighter continental plate the oceanic plate sinks beneath the lighter continental plate which results in coastal mountain ranges like the Andes Western cartes the Aleutians the Japanese and the Southern Alps now the next question is why there is a snow on top of the mountains these are called snow-capped mountains the top of the mountain is actually it's called a spot now you might have another question since the top of a mountain is closer to the Sun it should be warm and doesn't the heat rise so why is there snow now if you climb a mountain to a higher altitude the atmosphere gets thinner and thinner this is because air pressure decreases with altitude when warm air rises it expands and cools as the altitude increases due to that the warm air cannot absorb and retain the heat the way it does at the bottom of the mountain although mountaintops are closer to the Sun they're also further away from the thermal heat of the Earth's core that keeps the ground warm so the top of the mountain can be much colder than the bottom cooler temperatures at the top of a mountain also mean that there is less evaporation taking place this leads to greater amounts of moisture in the air more moisture means more rain but when you are at the top of a mountain instead of rain it snows and that's how you get a snow-capped Mountain by the way not all mountains have snow caps and not all mountains that get snow have snow caps throughout the year it all depends upon the location and how tall they are now coming to glaciers how are glaciers formed it is very easy to understand glaciers begin to form when snow remains in this same area for a very long time I'm talking about an entire year this way each year a new layer of snow is formed on the previous layers this compression forces the snow to recrystallize meaning those tiny snowflakes becomes tightly packed together as time passes the density of these accumulated snow increases if you go underneath a glacier you will notice that the bottom layer of a glacier slowly melts most of the water recrystallizes and forms like a rock here is a map that shows where in the world you will find glaciers mostly glaciers occur in high latitude and high altitude regions glaciers are usually formed on steep slopes I mean this is the place of their accumulation and if you look at the movement of glaciers the bottom layer of the glacier which is also called the glacier bed it starts to melt and that reduces the friction between the glacier and the bedrock making the entire glacier slowly move now when a big piece of ice breaks from a glacier and reaches open sea or ocean water that is known as iceberg by-the-way glacier is a freshwater source please keep that in mind so iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice floating in the open water if you ever see an iceberg only the tip of the iceberg is visible above water while nearly 90 percent of it is underwater after all it's a heavy piece of glacier glaciers are commonly found in high latitude regions like Antarctica and Arctic region which consist of places like Alaska which is in United States Finland Greenland Iceland northern Canada Norway Russia and Sweden the next one is jawed the f-word is silent when you pronounce it these are a long narrow deep Inlet of this sea between high cliffs how are they formed they are created by glaciers I just told you how glaciers are formed right glaciers move downslope very slowly over time and can greatly alter the landscape once they have moved through an area when a glacier starts to move it starts to carve the valley and forms a land depression this carving of this T Valley is known as jawed a jawed is often deeper than the open sea it can be thousands of meters deep as a result water fills up and forms a deep Inlet of the sea Georgia found mainly in Norway Chile New Zealand Canada Greenland and the state of Alaska in u.s. jords are home to several types of fish plankton and coral reefs now coming to a volcano volcanoes are found when magma comes out within the Earth's upper mantle now how does magma comes out of the Earth's crust it can happen in two ways when two tectonic plates collide or when two tectonic plate moves apart now you need to understand that tectonic plates are of two types one is a continental plate and the other is the oceanic plate when these two tectonic plates meet three types of boundaries are found convergent divergent and transform several events can occur the collision can occur between two continental plates two oceanic plates or between an oceanic plate and a continental plate Mountains are usually formed when two continental plates converge or collide if the same kind of plate collides they crash like cars they typically Bend break and crumble creating folds and mountain ranges like the Andes Swiss Alps and the Himalayas when it comes to a volcano it occurs in area where oceanic plate collides with continental plates or went to oceanic plates collide as well as move apart from each other when an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate since the oceanic plate is denser and heavier than the continental plate it sinks into the mantle beneath a lighter continental plate the mantle is the layer that has magma when the oceanic plate comes in contact with the magma it creates huge pressure that causes the magma to push through holes or cracks of the continental crust causing a volcanic eruption a good example is the Ring of Fire in the Pacific Ocean the Ring of Fire is a ring of volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean that result from collision of oceanic plates with lighter continental plates now coming to the second scenario when two tectonic plates move apart from each other it is called a divergent boundary it can occur between two oceanic plates or two continental plates when there is a divergent plate boundary in the ocean in other words when two oceanic plates are moving away from each other molten basaltic magma from mantle comes up and spreads on the ocean's surface it is also called a mid-oceanic ridge when magma comes out it forms underwater volcano or submarine volcano the most famous example is the mid-oceanic ridge of Atlantic Ocean which divides the Eurasian Plate and the North American plate divergence happens in two continental plates - that's how new ocean forms volcanoes are not formed oceans are formed the exact reasons as to why it happens and where it happens and how it happens are still being studied the best example on Earth today is the narrow Red Sea where the Arabian plate has pulled away from the African plate it is a perfect example of what happened when two continental plates are moving apart from each other the next one is Tamera region now these are places with low temperature and you will find them in the North Pole that is in the Earth's northern hemisphere and also places with high altitude the land area of the North America Europe and Asia together are often referred to as the tundra region in this picture you can see this region being located just at the bottom of snow-capped mountains or glaciers this is called the alpine tundra region the word alpine means mountain in this ecosystem you will rarely find trees mostly you will find small shrubs flowers sedges grasses mosses and lichens the wildlife in this region consists of musk ox ox mountain goats snowy owls arctic foxes polar bear etc the temperature of this region is mostly dry cold temperatures the next one is geezer now geezers are like hot spring where warm surface water comes out of the ground so how does the water become so warm when surface water comes in contact with rocks that are heated by magma this is called geothermally heated water it then rises towards the surface by the process of convection and this warm water comes out of the surface through porous and fractured rocks you will find many geezers around the world located near rivers because that is where the groundwater is adequate if you want to trace the source of these geezers you will have to go deep into the Earth's crust because the water in Geezer is heated by magma and that lies at least 500 meter beneath the surface of the earth at some places it is not because of the magma but it is because of the solidification of magma which turns into igneous rock and the heat of that rock makes the water boil one more point you will have to remember is that many geezers are located at the edges of tectonic plates the next one is desert when we think of desert this kind of a sandy picture comes to our mind right but then that's not the only desert there are basically four types of deserts the first one is hot and dry desert which exists in the subtropical region they are along the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn it's subtropical region it is due to pressure differences and circulation patterns of air masses hinders the formation of clouds that is why there is very little rainfall on the land which eventually causes subtropical deserts basically a subtropical region is a high-pressure zone if you want to know why it is then please watch this video in this I have explained why subtropical region has high pressure the link to this video will be there in the description the second type of desert is rainshadow desert I want you to watch a video where I have explained different types of rainfall in that I have explained about Oregon rainfall so there are two sides of a mountain one is the windward side and the other is a leave out side by looking at the name you can easily figure out that windward means the side of the mountain which faces a lot of wind as a result rainfall occurs and leave outside is the opposite side where it is dry and there is no wind that means there is very little or no rainfall at all on the leeward side of a mountain so these semi-arid and cold winter deserts are found on the leeward side of a mountain which are also known as rain shadow deserts when moisture hits a mountain range it is forced to rise as a result the air cools and forms cloud because of that it rains on the windward side of the mountain after that when the air moves over the mountain top and begins to descend on the other side there is very little moisture left that descending air warms up making it difficult to form clouds hence there is no rain on the leeward side of the mountain so the region on the leeward side of a mountain also becomes a desert some examples of rain shadow deserts are Mongolia's Gobi Desert the eastern part of western carts if you look at the state of Karnataka you will find many many deserts which are located on the eastern side of western cuts another example is the Sahara Desert where the northern part of the African continent is covered with Atlas Mountains that blocks the event from the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and that's what makes the Sahara Desert a rainshadow desert the third type of desert is coastal deserts when cold ocean currents blow towards the shore these winds are cold because they are in contact with cold water and they produce a layer of fog which is a thick cloud of tiny water droplets that are too small to fall as rain now this heavy fog moves on to the land but the sun's heat makes them disappear during the day since there is no rain the coastal region turns into a desert some examples of coastal desert includes the Namib Desert in southwestern Africa and Atacama Desert in Chile the fourth type of desert is called in polar desert examples of polar deserts are Antarctica Alaska Canada Greenland and Norway Sweden Finland Russia in India we have Ladakh which is a cold desert even Mongolia's Gobi Desert is a cold desert but it is also a range hydro desert Patagonian desert in Argentina is also a cool desert so the important point that you have to remember is that all these different types of deserts have one thing in common they lack humidity and moisture when there is less of humidity or moisture that's when there is a shortage of rain and deserts are areas that receive very little precipitation now that you know what is the desert in a desert you will also find oases oases can be naturally formed or man-made basically in a desert if you find a small region where there is water on the surface it is called oasis in a desert you will notice that the winds carry large amount of sand in many areas of desert this kind of natural action creates land depression water from the ground is basically obtained if you start digging the Earth's surface when it is manually done it is called a man-made oasis and when it occurs naturally you know due to wind blowing erosion or any kind of landslide which creates fault and that allows the water from the ground to reach the surface if you look at this picture you will see that the ground water rises due to change in land elevation if the ground water is closer to the surface then oases are easier to form due to natural reasons like strong wind blowing erosion landslides etc because all it requires is to breach the upper thin layer of the ground that covers the layer that has water once it's done the water comes out on the surface and that is how an oasis is formed the next one is Plateau a plateau is a flat elevated piece of land that is higher to the surrounding land area there are two kinds of plateau dissected plateaus and volcanic plateaus dissected plateau looks like this these are formed due to upward movement in the Earth's crust one side of this plateau will have a slope basically when two continental plates collide that is how mountains are formed right even plateaus are like mountains except it has a flattop so even dissected plateau is formed due to slow collision of tectonic plates a good example is the Colorado Plateau in the US then Tibetan Plateau then Mexican plateau in Mexico and Patagonia Plateau in Argentina and the second one is volcanic plateaus they are formed by numerous small volcanic eruptions that slowly build up over time forming a plateau anyhow a plateau is an elevated piece of land when lava continuously comes out of a volcano over time it accumulates in the form of layers and that is also another way how plateaus are formed some examples of volcanic plateaus are the Columbia Plateau in the northwestern United States of America the northern islands of New Zealand in India malva plateau and Deccan Plateau is a volcanic origin now erosion and rivers can influence the shape of a plateau even in the oceans you will find plateaus ocean plateaus are of two types one is made of continental crust and the other is made up of igneous rock due to solidification of lava the next one is Butte it is an isolated hill with sharp vertical sites and flat tops boots are smaller in size compared to a plateau if you see boots are also plateaus but due to continuous erosion by water rain and wind they have turned into tall flat-topped land form continuous flow of streams and wind activity cuts a plateau in such a way that from a plateau it turns into a butte they basically look like a tower and they're created by erosion and weathering buttes are found in Mexico and the southwestern side of the United States the next one is Mesa now Mesa is also a plateau basically an isolated flat top elevated land form but the only difference between a Mesa and a plateau is that Mesa is formed after weathering and erosion of a plateau if I have to put it in an order first comes a plateau after weathering and erosion a plateau gets converted into a Mesa and after that more and more weathering and erosion a Mesa gets converted into a Butte weathering and erosion basically cuts the rock in a plateau and turns them into Mesa and Butte now let's see what is the canyon first I want you to imagine a large plateau I have already explained how plateaus are formed so imagine a large plateau now try to carve this plateau with the help of rivers and glaciers so basically with time the river erodes the bedrock of a plateau by cutting deep channels in the bedrock continuous flow of rivers and wind activity carves out of steep valley walls to form a canyon and this kind of process takes many many years so that's how canyons are formed by the way canyons are formed in not only by cutting a plateau it also happens with mountains that is how valleys are created in a way valleys are also like canyons both of them are formed through erosion that is continuous wearing down of the land by wind and water now we'll see how rivers are formed rivers are basically water that moves from high elevation land to lower elevation land with the help of gravity the water on the higher elevation land can come both from rain as well as melting of snow after that the water either gets absorbed into the ground or starts to flow where there is land depression this kind of a downhill flow turns the water into a river and lake reverse eventually end up flowing into a sea or in the ocean along the way it causes massive erosion and weathering of the soil rock and sediment which in turn changes and alters the face of a landscape the next one is cave caves are formed by the dissolution of bedrock rainwater reacts with carbon dioxide from the air and as it penetrates through the soil the rainwater turns into a weak acid now this slowly dissolves the bedrock a bedrock consists of alternative rocks some where you will find shale rock and then some where you'll find sandstone then in between these two you will find limestone or dolomite when rainwater penetrates to the soil it turns into a weak acid and it starts dissolving the bedrock by reacting with rocks like dolomite and limestone as a result long hollow underground caves are formed the height of these underground caves depends on how thick Baracus so every cave has an opening through which water enters similarly there is also an end from where the water goes out but there are many caves that do not have an end because they may be still in their middle age where the water has not eroded the rock enough to create a complete tunnel the next one is Delta now this is called River Delta these are landforms created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river we know that when rivers flow it carries a lot of sediments and rocks the greater the flow the most sediment it will carry as soon as the flow of the river slows down sediments in rivers get deposited you will notice that large heavier particles like pebbles rocks and sand are deposited first after that lighter material like silt and clay gets deposited so what I'm trying to say is that you will find these Delta's where the speed of the river is slow when River starts to move slowly that is when the sediment gets accumulated deltas usually occur where rivers enter an ocean C estuary Lake Reservoir etc apart from these places you will find Delta's at places where the river moves slowly that's all you have to remember in India you will find Delta's at all those places where major rivers meets the Bay of Bengal for example the sooner 1 Delta Godavari River Delta Kaveri River Delta Mahanadi River Delta Krishna River Delta and Peter Nika Delta the next one is Gulf a gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass basically the shape of the landmass is such that some part of the ocean water forms an inlet now this kind of land form are purely natural and they are formed by the movement in Earth's crust whenever we talk about movement in the Earth's crust automatically remember those three types of plate boundaries convergence divergence and transform when Earth's tectonic plates crack or break apart or when one plate goes under nother these are the ways how a gulf is formed you must have heard many times that when people go to countries like Saudi Arabia UAE Qatar they call these countries as Gulf countries and the reason these can are called Gulf countries is because they are located around the Persian Gulf so Persian Gulf is a water inlet here the water is part of the Indian Ocean the Persian Gulf was formed due to the subduction of the Arabian plate under the Eurasian Plate and subduction means the downward movement of the plate into the mantle beneath another plate in India the Gulf of Kutch and Gulf of Khambhat are the two famous inlet of the Arabian Sea along the west coast of India in the state of Gujarat another important point to remember is that both a gulf and a bay are the same things the only difference is in these size a gulf is much larger than a bay and their way of formation is also different I'll tell you how a base formed when we reach that topic the next one is sand dune you will find them in desert sand beach by looking at the shape you can easily figure out that they are formed by the wind when wind blows and it gets accumulated at one place and forms a pile or stack of sand this is what is called as dunes every dune has a windward side and a slip face windward side is the side where the wind is blowing and pushing material up hay dunes slip face is simply the side without wind a slip face is usually smoother than a dunes windward side the next one is cliff if you look at a cliff they are vertical and exposed Rock basically an elevated piece of land form and they are found near coastal region and riverbed the major sedimentary rocks that form a cliff are dolomite sandstone and limestone even they are formed how mountains and plateaus are formed that is through tectonic activity now these rocks get hit by constant wind and water as a result they get eroded and weathered the force of the water wave continuously hits the cliff on top of it the water is salt water it dissolves the rocks easily then strong wind hits the cliff and erodes the rock particles slowly the bottom portion of the cliff faces maximum erosion due to continuous hit by the sea and ocean waves this creates a dent in the lower portion of the cliff which is called a wave got not as the notch increases in size the cliff becomes unstable and collapses and gets washed into the sea this continuous process will make the cliff collapse and move the entire cliff further and further inland leaving behind a wave cut platform when there is low tide you will be able to see the wave cut platform and during high tide this area's submerged the next one is Coast it is a boundary where land meets water it is also called as coastline waves tides and currents help create coastlines even reverse when they meet the sea or ocean rivers bring large amount of sediment that gets deposited near the mouth of a sea or ocean where it naturally forms deltas beaches dunes and barrier islands when waves crash on to shore they erode the land and take away large amount of sediment back into the sea or ocean leaving behind shells seaweeds etc now depending on what kind of land it is for example if it is a hard granite land then it is harder to erode just now we saw that at the bottom of cliffs you will find a rock hard surface which is also called a wave cut platform a kronite coastline takes hundreds of years to erode but the sandy coastlines on the other hand change almost daily the water slowly rises up over the shore and then slowly falls back again leaving material behind and taking a large volume of sand again big waves have lot of energy and small waves have less energy so based on the size of the wave and the land material the coastal landform varies the next one is Strait a Strait is a narrow body of water that connects to larger bodies of water in this picture you can see that a strait is connecting to large bodies of water one is here and the other one is here there are three ways by which a strait can be formed tectonic activity can be one reason if you look at the Strait of Gibraltar it is the only link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean it was formed by tectonic activity between the Eurasian and Africa plate when they drifted apart another way or straight can be formed is by human activity if it is done by humans then we also call them canals the Suez Canal is a good example it connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and the third way by which a strait can be formed is when a body of water overflows on the land and completely erodes the land and drowns it if you look at the Strait of Bosphorus it links the Black Sea and the agency the Strait of Bosporus is an extremely important strait separating the continents of Europe and Asia so this Strait was formed when the land at the southwestern edge of the Black Sea eroded and crumbled creating the Strait in India we have the park Strait which is between the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the island nation of Sri Lanka it connects the Bay of Bengal in the Northeast with Park Bay in the southwest the next one is channel a channel is a wider waterway that passes between two neighboring landmass now if you look at the difference between a straight and a channel a strait is a narrow waterway that connects two larger bodies of water while a channel is a wide waterway that passes between two neighboring land masses one connects two water bodies and the other creates a gap between two land masses around the world you will find both small as well as big channels that means channels are created both naturally as well as by humans natural processes include tectonic activity carving of land mass due to glaciers and overflowing of water bodies man-made processes include digging up the land so that large ships can pass through them a good example is the English Channel it separates southern England from northern France in India we have the 10-degree channel that separates the underman islands and in the coppa islands from each other in the Bay of Bengal let's go to the next landform Islands an island is a piece of land that is completely surrounded by water when we say water it can be a sea ocean River and lake when we try to look at its formation overall there are four general ways that can explain the formation of an island when you take a look at the islands of they were formed by underwater volcanoes volcanoes would keep erupting as a result land starts to form underwater this land would keep on rising up as the volcano erupted over thousands of years the land would go above the water forming a seamount and that is how an island is formed but if you go back a little and try to understand how volcanoes occur in the sea then you will realize that when two oceanic plates collide or move apart it leads to the formation of volcanic islands so even tectonic activity plays a role in island formation the third way by which an island is formed is through deposits of sand that came from erosion when rivers flow sand and other debris is picked up by the river current which is called erosion these sediments get deposited in certain areas over time it creates a landmass which is nothing but an island and then finally Islands can also be man-made the country of Qatar which is an island itself has made islands in many shapes to build communities on another one is the famous Palm Jumeirah it is an artificial island in Dubai UAE which is made in the shape of a palm tree in India the underman and nicobar islands are of volcanic origin the next one is archipelago they are also Islands but the only difference between an island and an archipelago is that archipelago is the plural form of an island in other words archipelago is the name given to a group of islands so an island is singular whereas archipelago is plural which means group of islands most archipelagos are of volcanic origin that means the islands were formed by volcanoes erupting from the ocean floor in the previous term I have explained how underwater volcanoes are formed these are basically sea mountains and the existent group the Hawaiian Islands are a good example of volcanic archipelago then islands of Japan is a good example there is another way archipelagos are formed that is through glacial activity we know that a glacier is a large piece of ice that moves very slowly when glaciers move they cut out the land creating a depression and then it fills in with water and this creates islands that weren't there before many archipelagos that are found in lakes and rivers were created by glacial activity thousands of islands of Indonesia and Malaysia are a part of the Malay Archipelago at least some of these islands and the straits that separate them of a part of mainland Asia during the last ice age then Finland's Coast has world's largest archipelago which are part of the Baltic Sea they also emerged after the last ice age the next one is at all and at all is a ring shaped coral reef island house it formed at first there is an underwater volcano that creates a sea Mountain we have already seen how a sea mount is formed we know that a volcano erupts underwater and piles up the sea floor with lava as the volcano continues to erupt the sea mounts elevation grows higher eventually breaking the surface of the water the top of the volcano becomes an oceanic island so this is how a volcanic island or a sea mount is formed now in the next stage tiny sea animals called corals begin to build a reef around this island these corals are very hard in nature it surrounds the island just below the ocean's surface over millions of years the volcanic island erodes and sinks to the seafloor this process is called subsidence the sea mount erodes into the sea and its top portion is made flat by the constant pounding of powerful ocean waves ultimately the island sinks below the sea and all you can see is a ring shaped island formed with coral reef this is what is known as an atoll and in between you'll have a pool of water which is called a lagoon the next one is lagoon the simple definition of a lagoon is when a shallow body of water is separated from a larger body of water like a sea or an ocean that is what is called a lagoon now the key point to remember is that this shallow body of water should be nearer to a sea or an ocean because the water of a lagoon has to come from a sea or an ocean otherwise a simple lake can also called as a lagoon but then if a lake is near to a sea or ocean and somehow the lake gets water from the nearby sea or an ocean then we call it a lagoon lagoons are of two types in the previous point we learned about at all at the center of an atoll you will find a lagoon and this type of lagoons are called at all lagoons however lagoons can also occur near coastlines suppose you are near to a coast usually you'll find a coastal Lagoon where the coastline has a gentle slope because the sediment gets continuously washed away by the sea or ocean and then the sediment churns and turns into a sandwich or a sand bar as a result a small pool of water gets separated from the ocean this is how a coastal Lagoon is formed now this coastal Lagoon is connected to the ocean by a small stream that's how the lagoon gets its water supply apart from this there's another way the coastal Lagoon gets its water and that is when the sea level rise but when the sea level rises it impacts the coastal lagoons landscape to a great extent the most famous lagoons in India include the Chilika Lake the Kalevala Lake the Kerala backwaters pulicat lake and member nured lake the next one is ocean when we think about the planet Earth we cannot forget oceans because the reason earth looks blue is due to the oceans the surface of the earth is approximately 71% water and contains five oceans including the Arctic Atlantic Indian Pacific and southern the most popular theory behind how earth got its ocean is that the ocean was formed four billion years ago with the continual degassing of the Earth's interior we all know that the earth was formed over 4.5 billion years ago when the earth was formed it was a hot molten rock there was no liquid water anywhere on earth but the ingredients that were required for what ever there when volcanic eruptions took place one of the gases that came out of the Earth's core was steam which is basically water vapour and when the planet slowly cooled this steam or water vapor turned into clouds then rain began to fall and continued to fall for thousands of years then the water started accumulating at the lower areas of the Earth's ground possibly creating the ocean and then it is also believed that some of the water also came from the outer space there are comets which are filled with water it is said that in the beginning years the earth was hit with thousands of comments and this kind of bombardment delivered half of the ocean water that we see today the next one is Peninsula now what is a peninsula it is a piece of land that is surrounded by water on three sides but the fourth side is connected to the mainland for example India is a peninsula country because it is surrounded by the Bay of Bengal in the East Arabian Sea in the West and the Indian Ocean in the South the fourth side is attached to a larger body of land how a peninsula is formed a peninsula can be formed by rising or falling of the sea level that may expose or cover portions of land to form a peninsula even due to tectonic activity upliftment or falling of landmass may also help to form a peninsula a separation of land masses over millions of years can create a peninsula again a good example is the Indian subcontinent which broke away from the ancient continent of Gondwana the next one is s Thomas it is a narrow strip of land with sea on either side forming a link between two larger areas of land one of the most famous example of the East immersed land form is the estamos of Panama the Panama estimates is a narrow strip of land that connects Costa Rica and Colombia essentially the islamists of Panama connects North and South America it is in between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean now coming to its formation and estimates can be formed by volcanic activity which then creates seamount which then forms a chain of islands and block water on either side forming an estimate this is how the estimates of Panama was formed another way an estimate is formed when there is a drop in the sea level which will then expose more land and this is also an estimate the next term is Marsh it is basically a wetland if you look at the area it is a low-lying land which gets filled with water during rainy season or from rising water levels of a river lake or stream and how does a land becomes a low-lying land through continuous erosion processes or through deposition of sediment on nearby lands during floods a marsh is always covered with water throughout the year you will mostly find marshes at the edges of rivers lakes and streams talking about the vegetation these places are dominated by grass and other herbaceous plants you will not find trees these plant roots holds the muddy soil tightly and slows down the flow of water this is how marshes are flooded with water all the time marshy area of land is also rich in biodiversity that is why these landforms are conserved and protected throughout the world the famous rancher Convention on wetlands is a good example of what I'm saying the next term is swamp if you look at their locations both are almost at a similar place closer to a water body so both a swamp and a marsh is a wetland both of them has similar characteristics in their land form however the only difference between a marsh and a swamp is that in a marsh area you will not find trees you will only find grass and herbaceous plants whereas in a swamp you will find trees and other woody plants otherwise both of them are a low-lying land which gets filled with water during rainy season or from rising water levels of a river lake or stream in India we know that soon Durban is a mangrove area the moment you think about mangrove you will find Buddha trees and plants that means this Winterburn wetland is a swamp and not a marsh plus it is next to the Bay of Bengal that means it is a saltwater swamp similarly if you look at the Harika wetland in punjab you will find grass and herbaceous plants that means it is a marsh so the only difference between a marsh and a swamp is the existence of trees if there are trees and wood Lance then it has to be a swamp please remember this point the next one is sound it is a geographical term please don't think of it as a sound wave a sound is a large sea or an ocean Inlet that separates two land masses now if you remember in the beginning we'd read about a term called jawed these are long narrow deep inlet of the sea between high cliffs and they're created by glacier by carving a whole valley and then water fills in that land oppression similarly a sound is a large depression of land which gets filled in with sea or ocean water plus it is much wider in size much wider than a jawed you will find a sound only near the coastlines of the world and the water is from sea or ocean that means it is a saltwater land form if you look at this land form you will find that this area has to be a low-lying land and that is how the water from the ocean or sea gets filled in now this kind of a land depression usually occurs through erosion processes or let's say a river that is coming from the land and joins the sea due to a rise in the sea level and since the flow of river has already created a depression in the land and now due to a rise in the sea level the river gets flooded with the sea water since it is a large sea or ocean Inlet it is much deeper in depth and wider in size that means it can also be called as a bay or a hopper the next one is Beach when you look at the beach you will notice that this kind of a land form is always next to a water body maybe a sea or an ocean even next to a large river you will find a beach on a beach if you look at the land you will find that it is composed of sand rocks shells and pebbles moving water constantly erodes the land and turns them into loose and additionally rivers and rain water also erode rocks located further inland these sediments flow through rivers and gets deposited along the coastline when the waves of the ocean or sea continuously hits the shore every time the wave hits the shoreline they erode the existing sediment and rolls them over and over again if the waves are strong it will spread the sediment along the coastline to create a beach by the way the shape of the beaches keeps on changing tides and weather can alter beaches every day bringing new shapes to the coastal landscape the next one is rainforest it can also be called a jungle the most common meaning of a jungle is a land filled with natural vegetation and has a vast lush green cover of trees plants grass herbs shrubs etc apart from natural vegetation you will also find a variety of animal species most of the jungles in the world can be found in the equatorial region in other words tropical region when we say topics it lies between the latitude lines of the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn and we also know the tropical region receives a very high amount of annual rainfall this is how the named rainforest came into existence if you look at the main characteristics of a tropical rainforest they are the first one is these regions receive very high annual rainfall because equatorial region is a low-pressure zone and the average temperature is very high which is ideal for rainfall the second one is they have high average temperatures which provides the necessary moisture and humidity while the Sun shines almost equally in all parts of the earth the equator is exposed to a high amount of direct sunlight which is the reason behind high average temperatures and the third point is these places have very little nutrients in the soil because high volume of rain washes the nutrients out of the soil plus the existence of large volume of trees sucks the nutrients out of the soil for the growth and the last point is equatorial region is rich in biodiversity that is why most of the biodiversity hotspots are located in the tropical region and the meaning of the word biodiversity is high level of existence in the variety of plant and animal life at a particular place the next one is waterfowl it is basically a stream of water or that flows over the edge of a cliff and then falls vertically downward waterfalls are formed when the riverbed changes from hard rock to soft rock so what happens is that the river flows on two different types of platform one is a hard layer of rock and the other one is a soft layer in other words you have a river or stream flowing over a hard rock where erosion is slow and also flowing over soft rock where erosion is rapid with time the soft rock layer gets eroded and becomes a low-lying land now when the water flows on top of the Hard Rock and falls on these soft rock layer it tends to form a plunge pool because the speed of the water increases due to the influence of gravity at the bottom you will notice that a plunge pool is formed further it begins to undercut this soft rock layer as the undercutting continues eventually the overhanging hard rock becomes unstable and collapses as a result the waterfall slowly retreats backwards to the remaining lip of the hard rock layer the next one is plane a plane is a broad area of flat land planes are one of the major landforms on earth planes form in many different ways when ice and water flow over high elevation land form they erode the dirt and rock on higher land water and ice carry D bits of dirt rock and other material called sediment down hillside as layer upon layer of the sediment is laid down planes are formed a good example is the North Indian clean river like Indus Ganga have been depositing this sediment in this plain over thousands of years in northeast of India the Brahmaputra plane or the Primeau Putra valley in Assam is another good example how the river Brahmaputra had been depositing sediments for thousands of years even volcanic activity can also form planes when lava flows out of a volcano it spreads across the land the color of the soil is mostly dark-colored mineral called basalt even this soil gets broken down into tiny particles over millions of years and that is how due to volcanic activity planes formed even flooding of rivers can form plane as a river floods it overflows its bank the flood carries mud sand and other sediment out over the land after the water withdraws the sediment remains if a river floods repeatedly over time this sediment will build up into a floodplain floodplains are often rich in nutrients and create fertile farmland the floodplain surrounding Africa's Nile River has helped Egyptian civilization thrive for thousands of years in India the regions near the Ganga river and Brahmaputra River are most prone to floods this state of Odisha also suffers from the flooding of the river Mahanadi the Mahanadi delta region just near to the eastern coast of India is the most prone area of flooding another kind of plane is the coastal plains many rivers deposited sediment in the ocean as the sediment builds up it slowly rises above the sea level forming a coastal plain a good example is the eastern coastal plain of India along the Bay of Bengal large rivers such as Mahadi the Godavari the Krishna and the Kaveri have deposited large volume of sediments near coastal area these coastal claims extend beneath the sea water and by the way these coastal plains are also referred to as Beach and then there are something called underwater plain which are also called abyssal plain you will find them at the bottom of the ocean these Plains are 5,000 to 7,000 metres below the sea level and that is why these Plains have not been thoroughly studied but scientists say that these underwater Plains are among the flattest smoothest places on earth the next one is prairie prairies are basically flat fertile lands dominated by crosses you can also call them grasslands you will find very few trees now grasslands are known by different names in different parts of the world in Asia and Europe it is called steppe ease or taiga in North America it is called prairies in South America it is called pampas Lanos and serra dos in Africa they are called Savannah's and wells and in Australia they are called Range lands or downs the grasses of these grasslands hold the soil firmly in its place that is why erosion is very minimal majority of the grasslands around the world are found between 40 degree and 60 degree north and south of the Equator that means you will find the grassland in temperate zone that is why they are called temperate grasslands if you look at the temperature in this region it is somewhere between minus 3 to 18 degree Celsius that means the average yearly temperature in this region are not extreme because the meaning of the word temperate is moderate even the precipitation is moderate here that is why these temperate grasslands are a difficult place for tall plants and trees in tropical region these grasslands are called savanna here the grasses are a little bit tall because they lie in the tropical region and here the rainfall is a little higher than temperate region because of warm temperature in India you will find grasslands near the lowland region of Himalayas the kanga and the Primeau Butera River Basin you will also find grassland on the eastern side of the Western cuts because the eastern side of the Western cuts is a rain shadow region mostly you will find these grassland very near to a hilly or mountainous region because these area are a perfect rain shadow region that means the amount of rainfall is very low as a result here the vegetation is in the form of grass and not in the form of tall trees the next one is valley valleys are one of the most common landforms on the earth and they are formed through erosion or the gradual wearing down of the land by venden water in river valleys for example the river act as an erosional agent by grinding down the rock or soil and creating a valley in between the mountains and hills valleys are usually in the form of U and V shape rivers and streams do most of the work in carving hills and mountains slopes to form valley hence forming a land form that looks like the letter V even glaciers do the same work what rivers and streams do as the glaciers move they grind the valley floor and carve it in the form of letter hew when the glacier melts a u-shaped valley marks the spot where the snow and ice once flowed in India you will find many v-shaped valleys in the northern states and northeastern states in these places most of the v-shaped valley are found in the lower and middle ranges of himalayas because the upper himalayas or the greater Himalayan ranges have glaciers and I already told you that with glaciers you will find a u-shaped valley apart from north and northeast India you will also find mountains in central as well as southern part of India since there is no ice or glacier in lower latitudes of India naturally you will find v-shaped valleys the next one is Hill we have already covered how mountains are formed plus there is no actual difference between hills and mountains the only difference you can see is the height Hills are not as high as mountains Hills can be both natural as well as man-made suppose if you dump piles of sand mud or earth material at one place eventually it will turn into a huge stack which is also Hill it is actually called a mound but when we talk about natural Hills they are formed by different types of geologic activity one is faulting a fault lies at the major boundaries between Earth's tectonic plates these Earth's tectonic plates are constantly moving and changing the landscape the Himalayas are a good example they were once tiny Hills the Himalayas continues to grow because of faulting activity beneath the earth's surface Hills can be created by erosion a mountain which is bigger than a hill it can be worn down by erosion what I'm trying to say is Hills may have once been mountains that were worn down by erosion over many thousands of years Hills can also be formed due to volcanic eruption when a volcano erupts it releases large amount of lava when this lava gets accumulated at one place in multiple layers it turns into Plateau if you see all plateaus or hills but not all hills or plateaus because plateaus are hills with a flat top that means these volcanic plateaus are also volcanic Hills even a sand dune in the desert is a hill it is called a hill of loose sand in Antarctica there are snow dunes that are formed by wind blowing snow into large piles as a result they turn into ice hills the next one is basin when you look at a basin basically it is a depression or a dip in the Earth's surface when you look at the shape it looks like a ball and its sides are higher than the bottom they are also in Overland circular in shape similar to a sink or a tub you might have seen in your bathroom some basins are filled with water and then there are ones that are empty they are formed over thousands of years or almost overnight if it is through erosion when a ground gets eroded it takes thousands of years a good example of overnight activity would be an earthquake earthquake makes the ground shake due to which a landslide is triggered and that's how a basin is created a river drainage basin is an area drained by a river and all of its tributaries heavy and continuous flow of water sinks some land and accumulates in other places this process is called erosion heavy and continuous flow of water picks up sand particles along the way causing land erosion the land that is taken away is now lower than the other land basins usually take thousands of years to form the Amazon basin in northern South America is the largest in the world in India we have Ganga river basin Brahmaputra River Basin Krishna River Basin Mauna Dee River Basin and Narmada River Basin even slow movement of glaciers forms basin glacial movement coughs the land creating a low-crowned or depression as a result you have an area of land which is lower compared to its surrounding and this is exactly called a basin and finally when you look at an ocean it is a large portion of Earth's crust that is filled with water let's take the example of Atlantic Ocean we have North and South America on left and your open Africa on the right in between them there is a lowland that is filled with water which we call the Atlantic Ocean that means an ocean is a lowland between two continental landmass that is filled with water so in a way it's a huge basin it is called as ocean basin the next one is lake a lake is a body of water that is surrounded by land most of the lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams which get water from rain snow melting ice and groundwater seepage that means a lake is a low-lying land which you can also call the basin that's how a lake will have water lakes are found in every kind of environment mountains deserts Plains and near coastlines lakes are both small as well as big in size small lakes are often referred to as ponds whereas a big lake can also be called as sea the Caspian Sea in Europe and Asia is the world's largest lake then there is RLC Dead Sea Lakes are both freshwater as well as salt water but most of them are freshwater you can figure that out by looking at the water source saltwater Lakes usually exist near coastal areas I have a playlist dedicated to lakes in India in that you will find videos describing Lakes that exist in different part of India have a look at it you'll learn a lot about Indian lakes lakes also vary greatly in depth the world's deepest lake is Lake Baikal in Russia it is nearly 2 kilometer below the surface lakes also exist at many different elevations one of the highest lake is Lake Titicaca in the Andes Mountains between Bolivia and Peru it is about 3810 metres above sea level all lakes are either open or closed if water leaves the lake by a river or other outlet it is said to be open all freshwater lakes are open if water only leaves a lake by evaporation the lake is closed closed lakes usually become saline or salty this is because as the water evaporates it leaves behind solids mostly salts as I've said lakes are basically basins in the previous point we saw how basins are formed they are formed by constant erosion processes of rivers and streams they are also formed due to tectonic activity like earthquake which triggers a landslide after a volcano becomes inactive its crater gets filled with rain or melted snow many lakes form as a result of volcanoes even glacial activities can contribute towards the formation of a basin then there is something called artificial lake people make lakes by digging basins or by building a dam on a river these artificial lakes can become reservoirs storing water for irrigation hygiene and industrial use the next term is Bay a Bay is a broad inlet of the sea where the land curves inverts a bay can also be called as a gulf but the only noticeable difference you will find is that a bay is semi circular in shape whereas a gulf is a deep Inlet for example have a look at the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Khambhat if you look at the landmass around the Bay of Bengal it is in semicircular shape on the other hand if you look at the Gulf of Khambhat the sea or ocean water goes deep inside the landmass that means a gulf has a deep inlet of the sea or ocean base form in many ways one of it is plate tectonics the process of continents drifting together and drifting apart causes the formation of many large bays the Bay of Bengal which is the largest Bay in the world was formed by plate tectonics millions of years ago the Indian subcontinent crashed and continues to crash into the massive Eurasian Plate near the Bay of Bengal region the Indian plate is subducting beneath the small Burma plate plate tectonics remain an active force in the Bay of Bengal today this region is home to underwater earthquakes and tsunamis bays are also formed when the ocean overflows a coastline the Kowloon Bay in Hong Kong was formed as the South China Sea overflowed the coastline of the Kowloon Peninsula bays are also formed due to erosion many times the ocean erodes the entire coastline forming a bay for example the Guanabara Bay it is located in Southeast Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro this Bay was formed as the Atlantic Ocean eroded an inlet in South America I want you to recollect odds if you remember they are formed by slow movement of glaciers a glacier slices through the bedrock of an area leaving a long steep Canyon which gets filled up with seawater so even the jawed is a bay the next one is Cape a Cape is a narrow portion of land that extends into a river lake or ocean now this narrow portion of land can be a part of a large landmass or it can also be a part of an island if you look at the shape of a cape carefully it does look like a peninsula isn't it many geographers consider capes to be smaller than peninsulas the only difference is that a cape is a narrow feature and a peninsula is a large since the land form is a narrow extension into the sea or ocean you can easily figure out that they are exposed to constant pressure of ocean currents reverse erosion and glaciers and that is how they are formed it's due to the constant weathering and erosion of a landmass either by constant hitting of the ocean currents or due to the slow movement of glaciers covering the landmass even reverse when they finally drain into the sea or ocean the rivers erode the landmass in such a manner that some part of the landmass remains high while some become low due to erosion and deposition and that's how a Cape is formed and the last one is see if you look at the difference between a sea and an ocean seas are usually smaller and less deeper than oceans whereas an ocean is a vast and a continuous body of water so basically sea is smaller than ocean another point to notice that a sea is partly surrounded by land although a sea is an extension of an ocean but the moment water meets a continental landmass the ocean water is called a sea a sea is usually surrounded by a landmass therefore the temperature of seawater is different from that of the ocean water if the ocean water is cold not necessarily the sea water will also be cold the temperature of the nearby landmass will greatly impact the temperature of the seawater now if you want to know from where the seawater came then please go back to the point where I've explained how the ocean got its water watch that and that is pretty much the same reason with this we have come to an end of this video I know it's a long video the timestamp of this videos available in the description in case you want to learn about any specific term please go and click on the timestamp and save your time alright then I hope you found this video informative thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one