CHAPTER 5
Shaping Earth
Lesson 1: Earth
What does Earth’s land look like?
 Earth’s landforms include mountains, plains, canyons and other features
formed by water and wind
 Valleys and canyons are formed by water
 Beaches and sand dunes are formed by wind
 Vocabulary:
 Mountains – a tall landform that rises to a peak
 Plains – flattest kind of landform; vast areas of land without hills or mountains
 Canyons – narrow, steep sided valleys formed by rivers
 Sand dunes – found in deserts or on the beach formed by gusts of wind piling
sand into large mounds.
What does it look like where water meets land?
 The ocean has features similar to land.
 Earth’s water drains into rivers, channels, drainage basins and oceans.
 Vocabulary:
 Delta – a landform that is formed when a river meets an ocean; sometimes
shaped like a triangle
 Drainage basin – the area of land drained by flowing water; for example much of
central North America is a drainage basin for the Mississippi RIver
 Continental shelf – part of the land that is covered by sea
 Continental slope – located beyond the continental shelf, this land is the steeper
part of the continent that slopes down towards the ocean floor
 Continental rise – connects the continent and ocean floor
 Ocean ridges – long mountain ranges stretching along the bottom of the oceans
What is below Earth’s surface?
 The thickest crust is found under the continents and the thinnest is under
the oceans
 The mantle is the thickest layer of earth and the crust is the thinnest layer.
 Vocabulary:
 Crust – rock that makes up Earth’s outermost layer. It is brittle and can crack
easily. Earth’s landforms and underwater features are found on the crust.
 Mantle – layer of rock below the crust. It is solid, but can move or change shape
at high pressures and temperatures
 Outer core – liquid layer below the mantle. It is made mostly of melted iron.
 Inner core – Sphere of solid material at Earth’s center. It is the hottest part of
Earth. It is probably made or iron