You are on vacation and you want to take a long hike. The map you are using shows a direct route to where you want to go. As you walk, you find yourself talking to your friend and "splash!" You are in a lake. The map you had did not show landforms, so you weren’t paying attention to where you were going.

Understanding landforms can help you interpret maps. It is easy to walk up a gentle sloping mountain, but difficult to walk up a very steep canyon. A road can easily be built on flat land, but difficult to make a tunnel if you want to get through a mountain range.

Let’s learn more about different types of landforms and how they are created.