Mountains are landforms that are physically characterized by their peaks.
There are eight major types of landforms, including valleys, mountains, glaciers, loess, plains, plateaus, deserts and hills, which shape the physical features of the world. Each can be described by its distinct features that distinguish that landform from the others. In mapping projects, each landform's physical characteristics are symbolically represented.
Valleys
A valley is described as a low, hollow surface that is surrounded by mountains or hills. These surrounding slopes may lead to a body of water such as a stream or lake located within the valley. It has been characterized as having fertile soil and those floors, or bottoms of valleys, surrounded by mountains are often narrow.
Plateaus
Plateaus are areas of high, flat land surrounded by steep slopes and are often among mountain ranges. The landform, depending on its height contains grass for animal grazing or soil suitable for farming although some of the world's highest plateaus are deserts.
Mountains
Mountains, formed by shifting plates under the Earth's surface, are peaks of what appears to be wrinkly rock. Some mountain ranges are higher than others, and those that reach high into the atmosphere may harbor snow on the peaks. Mountains have varying heights; Mount Everest in the Himalayas measures 29,035 feet high, while Mount Wycheproof in Australia is only 154 feet tall. Some experts believe that Mount Wycheproof should technically be a hill, but there are no height regulations that differentiate between the two landforms.
Plains
Plains are large flat lands that have no apparent changes in elevation and are often found near an ocean or inland. The foliage located on plains depends on the climate in the region and include forests and grasslands.
Hills
Slightly upward faults in the Earth's crust are what commonly form hills, which are raised elevations of land but are smaller than mountains. Hills have varying heights -- from those found in your own backyard to the great Black Hills. Although there are no height specifications separating a hill from a mountain, Paul Larson of the University of Utah says that varying vegetation distinguishes the two. The vegetation on the top of a hill is the same as it is on its slopes; the foliage on a mountain's peak differs from its slopes.
Loess
A deposit of sediment, silt and other geological material make up a loess. It may be brown or yellow in color due to the sediment, which may have been left by glacier activity or brought by wind. A loess appears as a long plateau but is more similar to the size of a hill. For example, China's Loess Plateau is a long highland approximately a mile high and covering more than 230,000 square miles.
Glaciers
Formed by packed ice and snow from layers of fallen icy precipitation in colder areas of the globe, glaciers may look like mountains but are made from ice, not earth and stone. Glaciers often appear to have peaks and crevices and are almost all white, with the exception of some peaks that have lost their snow. Many geologists say glaciers can be considered landforms because there is land underneath the compacted ice and snow; some geologists argue that glaciers shape landforms but aren't landforms themselves.
Deserts
Deserts have been recognized for their fine sand buildup and scarce vegetation and rainfall. Originally created by faulting, volcanism and erosion, deserts contain a hard surface of cobbles, pebbles and boulders to protect the fine sand from further erosion primarily due to wind. The Sahara is one example of a desert and is located in North Africa and covers approximately 3.3 million square miles.
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