Geography Topic
Height, Contours, and Relief
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- Confident
Study focus - 3 things
- Height on maps is usually shown by spot heights, trigonometrical stations, layer colouring, or contour lines
- Contour lines join places of equal height above sea level
- Contour interval means the vertical difference between neighbouring contour lines
Section 1Height on maps
Maps show height so you can understand relief, which means how high, low, steep, or flat the land is. Height is measured above sea level. Common methods include spot heights, trigonometrical stations, layer colouring, and contour lines.
Section 2Contour lines
A contour line joins points of equal height above sea level. If a line is labelled 200 m, every point on that line is 200 m above sea level. Contours never cross because one point cannot have two different heights.
Section 3Contour interval
The contour interval is the height difference between neighbouring contour lines. If the lines are 100 m, 120 m, 140 m, and 160 m, the contour interval is 20 m. Always check the interval before reading height.
Section 4Steep and gentle slopes
Close contour lines show a steep slope because height changes quickly over a short horizontal distance. Contours far apart show a gentle slope. In Jamaica, steep contour patterns are common around upland areas such as the Blue Mountains.
Examples
Contour lines are labelled 50 m, 100 m, 150 m, and 200 m. What is the contour interval?
The difference between each neighbouring line is 50 m, so the contour interval is 50 m.
On a map of a hilly part of Jamaica, the contour lines are very close together. What does that tell you about the slope?
The slope is steep because the height is changing quickly over a short distance.
Now let's water it
Session runs notes to flashcards to quiz back-to-back.