Contour lines can indicate slope steepness and landforms. Gentle slopes have contour lines far apart, while steep slopes have lines close together. Terraced slopes alternate between steep and gentle sections. Concave slopes are steep at the top and gentle at the bottom, while convex slopes are the opposite. Common landforms include conical hills with concentric contour circles, V-shaped valleys pointing uphill, spurs opposite valleys, cliffs where contours touch, and saddles between high points in mountains.

1. Contour lines
Contour lines can show slopes or landforms.

2. A. SLOPE/GRADIENT
Gentle slopes: when contour lines
are far apart.
Steep slope: when contour lines
are close together
Click on the link to watch a video illustrating the difference between
gentle slopes and steep slopes Steel slope vs Gentle slope

3. A. SLOPE/GRADIENT
Stepped/Terraced slopes: pairs of
steeply spaced contour lines are
separated by areas of gentle slope.
http://slnavigation.weebly.com/grid-references.html
Concave slope: when contours are
close together (steep) at the higher
heights and far apart (gentle) at
the lower height
Convex slope: when contours are far
apart (gentle) at the higher heights
and close together (steep) at the
lower heights.

4. B. LANDFORMS
Conical hill/ pointed butte: A hill where the
slopes are similar in all directions. The contour
lines look like concentric circles with the
smallest circle in the centre, showing the
pointed top.
http://regents-earth-science-1.wikispaces.com
Valley: The contour lines are 'V'
shaped. Valleys are formed when contours
bend to form a 'V' and the 'V' points in the
direction of higher land. Rivers run in valleys -
always from a higher land.

5. B. LANDFORMS
Valley: The contour lines are 'V'
shaped. Valleys are formed when
contours bend to form a 'V' and
the 'V' points in the direction of
higher land. Rivers run in valleys -
always from a higher land.
http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/to
pics/river_upper_course.html

6. B. LANDFORMS
Spur: The opposite of a valley. When the contours
bend to form a 'V' and the 'V' points in the direction of
the lower land. A spur is normally next to the valleys.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com
Cliff/Waterfall: When contour lines seem to touch it is a cliff and where there is
a river running where the contours touch it is called a waterfall.
http://muskingum.edu
http://cnx.org/conthttp://cnx.org/contentent

7. B. LANDFORMS
Saddle: A low point between two or more higher points in a
mountain.
http://www.justtrails.com