By Dustin Watson
Updated Aug 30, 2022
A landform is a naturally occurring feature on Earth's surface that offers scientists a window into the planet's geological past. Geologists classify landforms by elevation, stratigraphy, slope, mineralogy, age, and more.
These structures arise from volcanic activity and include both volcanoes and associated features. Shield volcanoes, with their gentle slopes, produce some of Earth's tallest peaks—Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. Stratovolcanoes, the classic cone-shaped mountains, are prone to explosive eruptions and large avalanches. Calderas form when a magma chamber empties and the overlying rock collapses, creating a basin. Cinder cones are smaller, short-lived volcanoes that erupt modestly.
Slope landforms result from tectonic uplift and erosional processes rather than volcanism. A butte is a steep, isolated hill with a flat top, while a mesa is a larger, table‑top formation. When these features extend over vast areas, they become a plateau, typically created by tectonic uplift. Cliffs are steep rock faces found in mountainous and coastal settings.
Oceanic landforms describe the topography of the seafloor and adjacent coastal features. The continental shelf gently slopes from shore to the continental slope, which drops sharply into the abyssal plain. A continental rise lies at the base of the slope. Trenches are deep, narrow depressions, while the abyssal plain is a flat, extensive area of the deep ocean. Mid‑ocean ridges are submarine mountain chains that spread the ocean floor apart.
Mountain building and glacial activity leave distinct imprints on the landscape. A rift valley forms along divergent plate boundaries. Glaciers—massive ice sheets formed from compacted snow—sculpt valleys and leave behind features such as crevasses (deep fractures) and cirques (amphitheater‑shaped basins) at the head of glaciated valleys.
