Land and Water Forms

A butte is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top.

• An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.

A delta is a land form that is formed at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, lake, reservoir, or another river.

• An island is any piece of land that is surrounded by water.

A cape is a point or head of land projecting into a body of water.

A peninsula is a area of land almost completely surrounded by water except for an isthmus connecting it with the mainland.

A Isthmus is a narrow strip of land, bordered on both sides by water, connecting two larger bodies of land.

A basin is a area of land where surface water from rain melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another water body, such as a river lake reservoir, sea, or ocean.

A natural stream of water of fairly large size flowing in a channel or series of diverging and converging channels.

A mountain is a natural elevation of the earth's surface rising more or less abruptly to a summit.

A valley is a elongated depression between uplands, hills, or mountains, especially one following the course of a stream.

A hill is a natural elevation of the earth's surface, smaller than a mountain.

• Plains occur as lowlands and at the bottoms of valleys but also on plateaus at high elevations.

• A plateau is a area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain on the top.

A gulf is a large bay that is almost like an arm of an ocean or sea.