Page 11 - ICSE GEOGRAPHY
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Theme 1: Representation of Geographical Features
1 Representation of
Geographical Features
n Classes 6 and 7, we have learnt about can interpret the landforms, slopes and relief
Itopographical maps. We read about the features of that area.
diff erent features of the maps. In this chapter,
we shall learn about interpreting the diff erent
features of topographic sheets.
Topographic Maps 500
400
Imagine you are on vacation with your family
in a national park. You have a simple trail map 300
that shows you where to hike but it does not 200
100
tell you anything about what the land looks
like. It does not give you crucial information Contour lines
about having to cross any rivers or valleys or • Th e elevation of a place means the
how far uphill or downhill must you trek and
so on. Th ese questions are left unanswered. height of any place above the sea level. It
To be able to answer them, you need to know could range from a few metres to several
something about the topography of the area. thousand metres above the sea level. Th e
Topography is the shape or features of the numbers on the contour lines show the
land. Th ese features can be natural such as height of various places.
mountains, plateaus, and plains or man- • Th e slope of a landform or an area indicates
made such as dams and roads. To show the how steep the land is. Closely placed
topography of any area, cartographers draw a contour lines indicate that the height of
topographic map. land is changing fast, which means it is
A topographic map is a large-scale map that a slope. Flat lands have comparatively
uses various symbols to show the features of sparsely placed contour lines.
the Earth’s surface. Height or elevation is given • Th e relief of an area is the diff erence
in feet or metres. Take a look at the image on between its high and low points. For
the right. Th e wriggly lines are called contour example, subtracting the lowest elevation
lines. Contour lines are the lines that join the on the map from the highest elevation
points of equal height or elevation so that we gives you a measure of the area’s relief.
cartographer: a person who designs or prepares maps
wriggly: to move back and forth with quick irregular motions
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