Landforms and Life – Class 6 Social Science Chapter 3 Notes & NCERT PDF

The Big Questions

"Free from the burden of human beings, may the Earth with many heights, slopes and great plains ... spread out for us and show us her riches! ... The Earth is my mother and I am her child." — Atharva Veda, Bhūmi Sūkta ('Hymn to the Earth')

Introduction

Imagine travelling by road from Chhota Nagpur (Jharkhand) to Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) and on to Almora (Uttarakhand). You pass through three different landforms: a plateau, a plain and mountains. A landform is a physical feature on the Earth's surface. Landforms take shape over millions of years. They are of three main types: mountains, plateaus and plains (Fig. 3.1).

Key Concepts

1. Mountains

Mountains are much higher than the surrounding land, with a broad base, steep slopes and a narrow summit. Lower highlands with gentler slopes and rounded tops are hills. At high altitude, snow may never melt; lower down, it melts in summer and feeds rivers.

Six mountains in Fig. 3.2–3.3:

Young and old mountains. Tall, sharp peaks like the Himalayas are young, formed recently in Earth's history (still millions of years ago), and they are still growing. Rounded ranges like the Aravalli are much older, worn down by erosion.

Mountain environment. Montane forests of conifers (pine, fir, spruce, deodar) cover the slopes. Higher up, the trees give way to grasses, mosses and lichen. Animals include the golden eagle, peregrine falcon, Canadian lynx, snow leopard, ibex, Himalayan tahr, mountain hare, yak, grey fox and black bear.

Kālidāsa's Kumārasambhava: "In the north rises Himālaya, the Lord of mountains, like a living god, who measures the Earth and stretches from the western to the eastern oceans."

The Ganga, nearly 2,500 km long, is the largest river from the Himalayas. Its tributaries Yamuna and Ghaghara also rise in the Himalayas, while the Son comes from the Vindhya Range.

Life in the mountains

2. Plateaus

A plateau rises above the surrounding land and has a more or less flat top, often with steep sides.

3. Plains

Plains are flat or gently undulating, usually not more than 300 m above sea level. Floodplains form when rivers carry sediments (rock particles, sand, silt) from the mountains and deposit them, making the soil very fertile.

Life in the plains

4. Deserts

Deserts are large, dry expanses with very little precipitation. Hot deserts include the Sahara (Africa) and the Thar (northwest of the Subcontinent). Cold deserts include the Gobi (Asia); some experts even call Antarctica a desert. Humans have adapted to deserts too, showing our resilience.

The five tiṇais of Tamil Sangam poetry:

- Kuriñji: mountains, hunting and gathering

- Mullai: grasslands and forests, cattle rearing

- Marudam: fertile plains, farming

- Neydal: coasts, fishing and seafaring

- Pālai: arid land, journeying and fighting

Activities in the Chapter

Key Terms

Connect to Today

Hill-station tourism, mining in Jharkhand, and groundwater worries in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are all landform stories you can see in the news.

Common Mistakes

Questions and Activities: Hints

True/False answers: Himalayas young with rounded tops (F); plateaus rise sharply on at least one side (T); mountains and hills are the same type of landform (T); Ganga tributary to Yamuna (F); deserts have unique flora and fauna (T); melting snow feeds rivers (T); sediments make plains fertile (T); all deserts hot (F). For the matching pairs, think Everest → climbing, Kilimanjaro → Africa, desert → camels, Ganga plains → rice fields, Yamuna → tributary.