Can You Name the Landform From a Definition?

By: Laura DeFazio
Estimated Completion Time
5 min
Can You Name the Landform From a Definition?
Image: © Marco Bottigelli / Moment / Getty Images

About This Quiz

A landform, in the broadest sense, is any feature of the Earth's surface. For this quiz, we're sticking to the naturally-occurring ones. They can be huge (think mountain ranges) or small (like a single rock formation.) They occur across regions and climates, from the frigid poles to the sweltering climes around the equator. There are desert landforms, coastal landforms and the landforms of the grassy plains. They range from the very broad to the infinitely specific, so the list of sub-types goes on and on. 

Landforms are created by various processes of weathering, erosion, and movement of the earth's tectonic plates. Weathering occurs when rock is worn down over time. This can be via organic weathering (think plants breaking up sediments with their roots), mechanical weathering (think wind, flowing water, and processes of freezing and thawing) or chemical weathering (when sediments disintegrate due to chemical processes, like limestone dissolving and forming caves). Erosion is the process by which particles that have been weathered off are transported elsewhere and deposited to make new landforms. Tectonic activity is the movement of the giant plates that make up the outer shell of the earth's surface. When these plates (there are seven principal ones) rub up against each other or break apart, mountains, rift valleys and other major landforms are created.

So, are you ready to test your knowledge of the geology of the earth's surface? See if you can rock this quiz.

archipelago
Photo ©Tan Yilmaz / Moment / Getty Images
Which of the following refers to a cluster of islands?
An atoll
An archipelago
A fjord
An estuary
Norwegian Fjord
kiszon pascal / Moment / Getty Images
Which of the following is a narrow ocean inlet bordered by steep cliffs?
A hoodoo
A fjord
A peninsula
A reef
Himalayan Mountain Range
thianchai sitthikongsak / Moment / Getty Images
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines this major landform as a "landmass that projects conspicuously above its surroundings and is higher than a hill." Can you name it?
Canyon
Island
Super hill
Mountain

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River Batture
Ngorse via WikiCommons
This alluvial landform (a landform composed of soils deposited by flowing water) is located between a river's low-tide line and its levees. What is it called?
A butte
An atoll
A batture
A reef
Wetlands
aldonis via WikiCommons
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines these as areas that are saturated by water "at a frequency and duration to support ... a prevalance of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soils." What are they?
Wetlands
Alluvial plains
Shoals
Barrier islands
Buttes
Alex Proimos via WikiCommons
These flat-topped, steep-sided rock or hill formations can be found in the deserts of Utah and Arizona. What are they called?
Buttes
Dunes
Glaciers
Straits

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Mountain Ridge
Anna Cervinkova / Moment / Getty Images
Do you know the term for a chain of mountains or hills that create a continuous span of elevated land?
An isthmus
A strath
A ridge
A plateau
Rice Fields / Plains
sakchai vongsasiripat / Moment / Getty Images
This broad, low-lying and nearly level landform is one of the major types of landforms. Can you name it?
A plateau
A plain
A badland
A drumlin
Farmland Hills
Edmund Lowe Photography / Moment / Getty Images
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines this as a "usually rounded natural elevation of land lower than a mountain." Do you know what it is?
A basin
A mesa
A hill
A levee

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Desert Dunes
Matteo Colombo / Moment / Getty Images
Hardly any rain falls on this arid landmass, and it supports limited vegetation or none at all. Can you name it?
A desert
A plateau
A loess
A dune
Sunset Valley
Cyril Gosselin / Moment / Getty Images
These depressions in Earth's surface are found between mountains and hills. Do you know what they're called?
Deserts
Plains
Loesses
Valleys
Loess on Mountain Trail
PATSTOCK / Moment / Getty Images
Do you know which word refers to a large deposit of fine, wind-blown sediment?
Glacier
Bight
Loess
Butte

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Glaciers
MB Photography / Moment / Getty Images
These large, slow-moving bodies of ice form from compacted snow. What are they?
Buttes
Mesas
Drumlins
Glaciers
Drumlins
Amaia Arozena & Gotzon Iraola / Moment Open / Getty Images
These low, oval-shaped mounds were formed by glacial drift and usually occur in "swarms" oriented in the same direction. What are they?
Drumlins
Gremlins
Ergs
Fjords
Grand Canyon
Dean Fikar / Moment / Getty Images
Do you know the term for this deep, steep-sided gorge that often has a river or stream flowing through it?
A canyon
A valley
A fjord
A bay

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Terraced Rice Fields
Jakkree Thampitakkull / Moment / Getty Images
This step-like landform is made up of one or more sections of "tread" (relatively level surface) bordered by one or more "scarps" (steeply ascending land). Do you know what it's called?
A mesa
Steppes
Badlands
A terrace
Everglades Swamp
Pola Damonte via Getty Images / Moment / Getty Images
This type of wetland is characterized by woody vegetation such as trees and shrubs. Can you name it?
Bog
Fen
Swamp
Marsh
Volcano
Sebastián Crespo Photography / Moment / Getty Images
This infamous landform looks like a cone-shaped mountain and periodically erupts with molten rock or steam. What's it called?
A geyser
A volcano
An archipelago
An arroyo

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Hoodoos
byakkaya / E+ / Getty Images
These tall, spindly rock spires potrude from drainage basins or badlands. Do you know what they're called?
Drumlins
Hoodoos
Ergs
Arroyos
River Delta
Aumphotography / Moment / Getty Images
This low-lying triangular area is found at the mouth of a river. What is it?
An island
A delta
A chenier
A fjard
Dunes
ZedamNabil Photography / Moment / Getty Images
These mounds of windblown sediment (usually sand) occur frequently along coasts and in deserts. Do you know what they're called?
Islets
Spits
Dunes
Coves

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Spanish Gulf
Matteo Colombo / DigitalVision / Getty Images
This term refers to a large ocean inlet cutting into the mainland. Which is it?
Gulf
Lagoon
Bayou
Canyon
Desert Plateau
Diana Robinson Photography / Moment / Getty Images
This major landform type is high in elevation and flat. Do you know what it's called?
A marsh
A plateau
A basin
A ridge
Ice Cave
Sam Spicer / Moment / Getty Images
These hollow spaces occur underground or within another landform such as a mountain. Can you name them?
Barrier islands
Basins
Watersheds
Caves

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Islet
Ruben Earth / Moment / Getty Images
This term refers to a small island, one that's too small to be habitable. Do you know what it is?
An islet
A reef
A peninsula
A karst
Escarpments
© Marco Bottigelli / Moment / Getty Images
These steep slopes or cliff edges extend greatly in length. Do you know what they're called?
Hoodoos
Mesas
Escarpments
Plateaus
Underwater Coral Reef
Amith Nag Photography / Moment / Getty Images
The true definition of this word is any kind of ridge, rock or other kind of landform that lies just below the surface of the water. Do you know what it is?
An island
A reef
An isthmus
A gorge

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Peninsula
@ Didier Marti / Moment / Getty Images
What is the term for a piece of land that juts out into the water and is nearly surrounded by water?
Peninsula
Strait
Isle
Isthmus
Bog
Instants / E+ / Getty Images
This type of wetland contains peat deposits and gets the bulk of its moisture from precipitation. Can you name it?
A bog
A marsh
A swamp
A rainforest
Badlands
Walter Bibikow / DigitalVision / Getty Images
This arid terrain is characterized by highly eroded rock formations. Can you name it?
A plateau
The plains
A gorge
The badlands

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Coastal Plains
Patricia Toth McCormick / Moment / Getty Images
This relatively flat, low-lying expanse of land is found next to a sea coast. Do you know what it is?
Coastal plains
Barrier islands
Rift valleys
Shoreline toeslopes
Savanna
Matt Champlin / Moment / Getty Images
This type of plain is characterized by coarse grasses and sparse trees and usually occurs in tropical or sub-tropical regions. Can you name it?
Steppes
Savanna
Prairie
Coastal plains
Barrier Islands
Photography by Mangiwau / Moment / Getty Images
These narrow, sandy islands parallel the shoreline and protect it from storm damage. Do you know what they are?
Tidal islands
Continental islands
Atolls
Barrier islands

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Knoll / Baby Hill
Jacobs Stock Photography Ltd / DigitalVision / Getty Images
Which of the following is a term for a small, rounded hill or mound?
Knoll
Butte
Scarp
Cape
Tundra
Eastimages / Moment / Getty Images
This expanse of treeless, relatively flat land is not *quite* barren and supports some shrubs, mosses and lichens especially adapted to frigid temperatures. Can you name it?
The tundra
The taiga
La pampa
The badlands