Q1.
Use the colour code in Fig. 3.8 to add a landform to each name. For instance, ‘Tibetan plateau’, ‘Rocky range’, ‘Nile plain’. (You do not have to remember the names in this map.)
Answer
The key in Fig. 3.8 gives three colours — brown = plateau, green = river plain, orange = mountain range. Match each name to the colour of the patch it labels:
| Name on the map | Colour | Full name | Where it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | orange | Alaska range | North-west corner of North America |
| Rocky | orange | Rocky range | Western North America |
| Mississippi | green | Mississippi plain | Central United States |
| Amazon | green | Amazon plain | Northern South America |
| Andes | orange | Andes range | Along the western edge of South America |
| Patagonian | brown | Patagonian plateau | Southern tip of South America |
| Atlas | orange | Atlas range | North-west Africa |
| Nile | green | Nile plain | North-east Africa |
| East African | brown | East African plateau | Eastern Africa — famous for gold and diamond mining |
| Ural | orange | Ural range | The usual dividing line between Europe and Asia |
| Mongolian | brown | Mongolian plateau | Central Asia, north of China |
| Tibetan | brown | Tibetan plateau | The largest and highest plateau in the world — the ‘Roof of the World’ |
| Indus | green | Indus plain | North-west of the Indian Subcontinent |
| Ganga & Brahmaputra | green | Ganga & Brahmaputra plain | Northern India and Bangladesh |
| Himalaya | orange | Himalaya range | Across the north of the Indian Subcontinent |
| Yangtze | green | Yangtze plain | Eastern China |
Ranges (orange): Alaska, Rocky, Andes, Atlas, Ural, Himalaya
Plateaus (brown): Patagonian, East African, Mongolian, Tibetan
River plains (green): Mississippi, Amazon, Nile, Indus, Ganga & Brahmaputra, Yangtze
Plateaus (brown): Patagonian, East African, Mongolian, Tibetan
River plains (green): Mississippi, Amazon, Nile, Indus, Ganga & Brahmaputra, Yangtze
A pattern worth noticing: every green patch is named after a river — Mississippi, Amazon, Nile, Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra, Yangtze. That is not a coincidence. River plains are built by rivers, out of the sediments they carry down from the mountains, so the plain naturally takes the river's name.
Another pattern: the orange ranges often sit right beside the green plains — the Himalaya beside the Ganga plain, the Andes beside the Amazon. Mountains supply the rock and silt; the river carries it; the plain is the result.