Landforms and Life | Social Science Grade 6 CBSE

Play with it

The shape of the land in six terms

Every part of the land has a name and a story. Tap each term to see what it means and how the ideas — mountains, plateaus, plains, valleys, how they form and how they shape life — fit together.

Explore · Shapes of the landtap a term

Learn

The three big ideas

Mountains are the highest landforms, with steep slopes and often pointed peaks. The Himalayas in the north of India hold the world’s tallest peaks; the Aravallis are among the oldest, worn down to low hills.
Plateaus are raised, flat-topped lands with steep sides — like a high table. The Deccan Plateau covers much of southern India and many plateaus are rich in minerals.
Plains are flat, low and usually very fertile. India’s Northern Plains, watered by the Ganga and other rivers, are among the most crowded and best-farmed lands in the world.
Valleys are the low ground between hills or mountains, often with a river running through them. Their sheltered, fertile floors make good places to settle.

Common mistake: confusing a plateau with a plain. Both have flat tops, but a plateau is raised high with steep edges, while a plain is low and level with the surrounding land.

Internal forces act from inside the Earth. Slow movements of the crust fold and lift the rock to raise mountains and plateaus. The Himalayas rose when two great pieces of the Earth’s crust pushed against each other.
External forces act on the surface — rivers, wind, glaciers and waves. They slowly wear away high land (erosion) and drop the worn material elsewhere (deposition).
Plains are built by deposition. Rivers carry fine soil called silt down from the mountains and spread it over the lowlands, making them deep and fertile.
So the land is shaped by a tug-of-war: internal forces build it up, external forces wear it down — which is why old mountains like the Aravallis are now low and rounded.

Worked example. Why are the Himalayas tall and jagged but the Aravallis low and rounded?

The Himalayas are young — still being pushed up by internal forces — so they stay high and sharp. The Aravallis are very old; millions of years of erosion by wind and water have worn their peaks down into smooth, low hills.

Mountains are thinly peopled — steep, cold and hard to travel. People use terrace farming on the slopes, herd animals, and welcome tourists and pilgrims. Mountains are also where rivers begin.
Plateaus often supply minerals, coal and stone, so mining and industry grow near them. Their grasslands suit grazing.
Plains are the most densely populated lands. Flat, fertile ground makes farming, building roads and railways, and raising big cities easy — which is why so many Indians live on the Northern Plains.
Valleys give sheltered, fertile, well-watered land, so people have long settled and farmed in them, such as the Kashmir Valley.

Common mistake: thinking landforms only matter to geographers. In fact they decide everyday life — what food a region grows, how people travel, and where towns can grow.

Where you'll meet it

Landforms at work

Terrace farms in the hills

In the hilly north-east and the Himalayan foothills, farmers cut step-like terraces into the slopes to grow rice and vegetables. The steps trap rain and soil that would otherwise wash away — a clever answer to a steep landform.

Mines on the plateau

The mineral-rich Chota Nagpur Plateau supplies coal and iron ore that feed India’s steel and power industries. The shape and rocks of the land decided where these mines and factory towns grew.

Cities on the plains

Most of India’s largest cities and busiest farms sit on the flat, fertile Northern Plains. Easy farming and easy transport let dense populations and great cities flourish where the land is level.

Check yourself

Competency quiz

Modelled on the competency-based pattern — MCQ, assertion–reason and a case study, testing whether you can use the ideas, not just recall them.

Score 0/12