Main landforms of the Earth’s surface

Relief on the Earth’s surface is shaped by internal forces (uplift, volcanoes, earthquakes) and external forces (water, wind, glaciers, sunlight, organisms); internal forces create highs and lows and external ones level them. Continents are the largest raised blocks of the Earth’s crust; there are six: Eurasia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica and Australia. Land surrounded by water on all sides is an island (the largest is Greenland, then New Guinea, Kalimantan, Madagascar); land surrounded by water on three sides and joined to the mainland on one is a peninsula (Arabia, Hindustan, Indochina). About 71 % of the Earth’s surface is World Ocean and 29 % is land. The main landforms on land are plains and mountains: plains are lowlands 0–200 m, hills 200–500 m and plateaus above 500 m; mountains are low (500–1000 m), medium (1000–2000 m), medium-high (2000–3000 m) and high (above 3000 m). The highest peak in the world is Chomolungma (Everest) at 8849 m; in Uzbekistan it is Hazrati Sulton (4643 m) in the Hissar range.