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Grade 6 Geography — Mountains, plateaus and plains

Tell a mountain, a plateau and a plain apart by the shape and height of the land, and say why people live and farm where they do.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.Which of these is the best description of a plain?

    • a) Raised land with a flat top and steep sides
    • b) Land that rises much higher than everything around it
    • c) The low land lying between two mountains
    • d) A wide stretch of flat, low, level land

  2. 2.A river reaches the edge of a plateau and drops over it as a waterfall. Why does the waterfall form just there?

    • a) Because rivers can only flow on flat ground
    • b) Because a plateau is made of water underneath
    • c) Because the water is heavier at the edge than in the middle
    • d) Because the land falls away steeply at the edge, and the water goes with it

  3. 3.Sort each description under the kind of land it fits.

    Groups: A mountain · A plateau · A plain

    • Often called table land
    • Deep soil, easy to plow, and easy to build a road across
    • Raised land with a flat top and steep sides
    • A wide stretch of flat, low, level land
    • So cold at the top that snow may lie there all year
    • Rises much higher than the land around it, with steep sides and a narrow top

  4. 4.The low land lying between two mountains is called a ______.

  5. 5.Why do far more people live on plains than high in the mountains?

    • a) Nobody is allowed to build a house on a slope
    • b) Flat, level land with deep soil makes farming, roads and building easy
    • c) Plains are the only land where the sun reaches the ground
    • d) There is no water anywhere in the mountains

  6. 6.Match each word to what it means.

    • A peak
    • A range
    • A valley
    • A hill
    • The narrow top of a mountain
    • Land that rises above the ground around it, but lower and rounder than a mountain
    • A line of mountains standing in a row
    • The low land lying between two mountains

  7. 7.Raised land with a flat top and steep sides, standing above the country around it, is called a ______.

  8. 8.Put these three kinds of land in order, starting with the lowest and ending with the highest.

    • A mountain
    • A plain
    • A plateau

Answer key — Grade 6 Geography — Mountains, plateaus and plains

  1. 1. d) A wide stretch of flat, low, level land
  2. 2. d) Because the land falls away steeply at the edge, and the water goes with it
  3. 3. Rises much higher than the land around it, with steep sides and a narrow top → A mountain; Raised land with a flat top and steep sides → A plateau; A wide stretch of flat, low, level land → A plain; So cold at the top that snow may lie there all year → A mountain; Often called table land → A plateau; Deep soil, easy to plow, and easy to build a road across → A plain
  4. 4.
    • valley
    • a valley
  5. 5. b) Flat, level land with deep soil makes farming, roads and building easy
  6. 6. A peak → The narrow top of a mountain; A range → A line of mountains standing in a row; A valley → The low land lying between two mountains; A hill → Land that rises above the ground around it, but lower and rounder than a mountain
  7. 7.
    • plateau
    • a plateau
    • table land
    • tableland
  8. 8. 1. A plain 2. A plateau 3. A mountain