One app for all your study abroad needs
Looking for NCERT Class 11 Geography Chapter 6 Landforms and their Evolution Solutions? This blog provides clear, well-explained answers to all the exercise questions from Chapter 6 of the Fundamentals of Physical Geography textbook. These easy explanations will help you prepare better for your exams. Whether you’re studying for a test or want to understand the chapter for class discussions, this guide will make everything easier to learn. You can also download a free PDF of the solutions to revise anytime you want.
Table of Contents
Explore Notes of Class 11 Fundamentals of Geography
NCERT Solutions Class 11 Geography Fundamentals of Geography Chapter 6 Landforms and their Evolution
These NCERT solutions for Class 11 Geography Fundamentals of Geography Chapter 6 Landforms and their Evolution will help you prepare effectively for your exams. By studying the explanations thoroughly and regularly revising the key concepts, you can score well.
1. Multiple Choice Questions
(i) In which of the following stages of landform development, downward cutting is dominated?
(a) Youth stage (b) Late mature stage (c) Early mature stage (d) Old stage
(ii) A deep valley characterised by steep step-like side slopes is known as
(a) U-shaped valley (b) Gorge (c) Blind valley (d) Canyon
(iii) In which one of the following regions the chemical weathering process is more dominant than the mechanical process?
(a) Humid region (b) Limestone region (c) Arid region (d) Glacier region
(iv) Which one of the following sentences best defines the term ‘Lapies’?
(a) A small to medium sized shallow depression
(b) A landform whose opening is more or less circular at the top and funnel shaped towards bottom
(c) A landform formed due to dripping water from surface
(d) An irregular surface with sharp pinnacles, grooves and ridges
(v) A deep, long and wide trough or basin with very steep concave high walls at its head as well as in sides is known as:
(a) Cirque (b) Glacial valley (c) Lateral Moraine (d) Esker
Solutions:
(i) (a) Youth stage
(ii) (d) Canyon
(iii) (a) Humid region
(iv) (d) An irregular surface with sharp pinnacles, grooves and ridges
(v) (a) Cirque
Also Read:
- NCERT Solutions and Notes for Class 7 Geography Chapter 7: Life in the Deserts (Free PDF)
- NCERT Class 6 Geography Chapter 2 Globe ‘Latitudes and Longitudes’: Notes and Solutions (Free PDF)
2. Answer the following questions in about 30 words
(i) What do incised meanders in rocks and meanders in plains of alluvium indicate?
(ii) Explain the evolution of valley sinks or uvalas.
(iii) Underground flow of water is more common than surface run-off in limestone areas. Why?
(iv) Glacial valleys show up many linear depositional forms. Give their locations and names.
(v) How does wind perform its task in desert areas? Is it the only agent responsible for the erosional features in the deserts?
Solutions:
(i) Incised meanders in hard rocks show land uplift and river cutting deeper due to more energy. In alluvial plains, meanders form as rivers age. Here, rivers erode sideways more than downwards, showing a mature stage with less vertical erosion.
(ii) Uvalas form in limestone areas when many sinkholes join due to chemical weathering. Rainwater slowly dissolves the rock, causing the ground to collapse. Over time, small sinkholes merge to make one large, irregular hollow called an uvala or compound depression.
(iii) Limestone has many cracks and joints, so rainwater easily seeps underground. This reduces surface runoff and creates underground drainage systems. As water moves below the surface, it forms features like caves, sinkholes, and underground streams, common in limestone or karst areas.
(iv) Glacial valleys have features made by glacier movement and deposition. Moraines form along sides and ends of glaciers. Eskers are long ridges of sand and gravel, while drumlins are smooth hills, all created from debris left behind as glaciers melt.
(v) Wind shapes deserts by deflation (removing loose particles) and abrasion (scraping surfaces), forming dunes and yardangs. Though rare, rain also erodes desert land. Flash floods and sheet wash during heavy rainstorms cause sudden changes and contribute to desert landscape formation.
3. Answer the following questions in about 150 words
(i) Running water is by far the most dominating geomorphic agent in shaping the earth’s surface in humid as well as in arid climates. Explain.
(ii) Limestones behave differently in humid and arid climates. Why? What is the dominant and almost exclusive geomorphic process in limestone areas and what are its results?
(iii) How do glaciers accomplish the work of reducing high mountains into low hills and plains?
Solutions:
(i) Running water is considered the most powerful and continuous geomorphic agent on Earth. It shapes the land in both humid and arid regions, although in different ways. In humid areas, where rainfall is frequent, rivers and streams flow regularly, leading to continuous erosion, transportation, and deposition of sediments. This process gradually forms valleys, river terraces, floodplains, meanders, and deltas. Over time, rivers carve V-shaped valleys and help in soil formation and land development.
In arid and semi-arid regions, rainfall is rare but often intense. When it does rain, it causes sudden flash floods. These floods carry large volumes of water and sediments, eroding the landscape quickly. The result is the formation of landforms like wadis (dry stream beds that flood during rains), canyons, and alluvial fans at the base of hills. Whether it is through the steady flow of water in humid areas or the sudden rush of water in dry areas, running water significantly shapes the Earth’s surface.
Also Read:
- NCERT Class 6 Geography Chapter 5 ‘Major Domains of the Earth’: Notes and Solutions (Free PDF)
- NCERT Class 7 Geography Chapter 3 ‘Our Changing Earth’: Notes and Solutions (Free PDF)
(ii) Limestone is a sedimentary rock mostly made of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), which is easily affected by chemical weathering, especially solution. When rainwater, slightly acidic due to dissolved carbon dioxide, falls on limestone, it reacts with the calcium carbonate and slowly dissolves it. This process is called carbonation. It is most effective in humid regions with high rainfall and moisture.
Over time, the solution process creates a unique landscape called karst topography. Common karst features include sinkholes (small depressions where the ground collapses), dolines, caves, underground rivers, and larger depressions called uvalas. Inside caves, water deposits minerals to form stalactites (hanging from ceilings) and stalagmites (rising from the floor).
In contrast, in arid regions, chemical weathering is very slow due to the lack of water. So, karst features are rare in deserts and dry areas. Therefore, chemical weathering through solution plays a key role in shaping limestone landscapes, especially in regions with high rainfall and moisture.
(iii) Glaciers are huge, slow-moving masses of ice that form in high mountain regions and polar areas. They are powerful agents of erosion, transportation, and deposition. Glaciers erode the land mainly through two processes—plucking and abrasion. Plucking happens when the glacier freezes onto rocks and pulls them away as it moves. Abrasion occurs when rock debris embedded in the ice grinds against the valley floor, scraping and polishing the surface.
This erosion changes V-shaped river valleys into broad, U-shaped valleys. Glaciers also form cirques (bowl-shaped hollows), arêtes (sharp ridges), and hanging valleys (smaller valleys that meet the main valley at a height). When glaciers melt and retreat, they deposit the material they carried, forming depositional landforms like moraines (ridges of debris), eskers (long winding ridges), and drumlins (oval-shaped hills).
Over long periods, glaciers can reduce rugged mountain terrain into smoother hills and plains, significantly reshaping the landscape. These landforms provide evidence of past glacial activity even where glaciers no longer exist.
Download NCERT Solutions Class 11 Geography Fundamentals of Geography Chapter 6 Landforms and their Evolution
Download NCERT Solutions Class 11 Geography Fundamentals of Geography Chapter 6 Landforms and their Evolution to prepare well for your exams. These solutions explain all the questions and important concepts in simple language, making it easier for you to understand and score better in your exams.
Download NCERT Solutions of Class 11 Fundamentals of Geography here:
Related Reads
For more topics, follow LeverageEdu NCERT Study Material today!
