Library Guides: Landscapes & Landforms: Types of Landscapes

Source: Silas Baisch (2019)

Our planet is made up of a wide number of elements that have come together to create amazing shapes and features/ To better understand these formations, geographers organise them into groups based on characteristics that are similar. These different groups are referred to as landscapes. Read through the resources below to learn about the different landscapes on our earth.

Landscape (National Geographic, n.d.)
A landscape is part of the Earth’s surface that can be viewed at one time from one place. Read this article to learn more.
Natural landscapes (EC Step, n.d.)
Natural landscapes are the original landscapes existing without the influence of human culture. There are many types of natural landscapes. Read through this website to learn more about some of these types.
Landscapes and their distinctive landform features (Esri Australia, 2021, May 25)
The term landscape is used to describe the visible features of an area of land, the landforms that are in it, and how these landforms characterise the geography of the particular area. Read through this Story Map to learn more about the different types of landscapes.
What are human and physical features? (BBC, n.d.)
Human and physical features are things that you can see all around you. Physical features like seas, mountains and rivers are natural. They would be here even if there were no people around. Human features like houses, roads and bridges are things that have been built by people. Watch the video on this website and complete the activity afterwards to learn more about human landscapes.
Desert (National Geographic, n.d.)
Deserts are areas that receive very little precipitation. Read through this article to learn more.
Coast (Britannica Kids, 2024.)
A comprehensive website on coasts and coastlands.
Taiga (National Geographic, n.d.)
The taiga is a forest of the cold, subarctic region. The subarctic is an area of the Northern Hemisphere that lies just south of the Arctic Circle. The taiga lies between the tundra to the north and temperate forests to the south. Read through this article to learn more about this landscape.
Plain (National Geographic, n.d.)
A plain is a broad area of relatively flat land. Plains are one of the major landforms, or types of land, on Earth. They cover more than one-third of the world’s land area. Plains exist on every continent. Read through this article to learn more about this landscape.
What is the landscape of the tundra? (Sciencing, 2019, November 22)
The word “tundra” comes from a Lappish word meaning “treeless land” or “barren land”. Most of the tundra biome’s 3.3 million square miles is located in the Arctic region of the world, above the northernmost limit for tree growth. Even though the tundra landscape is defined by rhythmic freezing and thawing, it still supports an extensive array of wildlife and vegetation. This post will go over the tundra definition as well as details of what to expect in the tundra.
Wetland (National Geographic, n.d.)
A wetland is an area of land that is either covered by water or saturated with water. The water is often groundwater, seeping up from an aquifer or spring. A wetland’s water can also come from a nearby river or lake. Seawater can also create wetlands, especially in coastal areas that experience strong tides. Read through this article to learn more about this landscape.
Mountain biomes: life at high elevation (Treehugger, 2017, March 17)
Mountains are a constantly changing environment, in which plant and animal life varies with changes in elevation. Climb up a mountain and you may notice that the temperatures get colder, tree species change or disappear altogether, and the plants and animal species are different than those found on lower ground. Want to learn more about the world's mountains and the plants and animals that live there? Read on.
Rainforest (National Geographic, n.d.)
A rainforest is an area of tall, mostly evergreen trees and a high amount of rainfall. Rainforests are Earth’s oldest living ecosystems, with some surviving in their present form for at least 70 million years. They are incredibly diverse and complex, home to more than half of the world’s plant and animal species—even though they cover just 6% of Earth’s surface. This makes rainforests astoundingly dense with flora and fauna; a 10-square-kilometre (4-square-mile) patch can contain as many as 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies. Read through this article to learn more about this landscape.

Australia's rainforests by Greg Pyers
Publication Date: 2004
Australia is a diverse continent, with vast areas of desert, pockets of lush rainforest, rugged mountain ranges and countless waterways. Each landscape supports a wide range of plants and animals. In this volume find out about Australia's rainforests, how they formed and changed, the amazing diversity of the life they support.
Rainforests by Richard C. Vogt
Publication Date: 2008
Venture deep inside the dark rainforest and travel upward to the sunlight of the canopy. Find out about the amazing species that make their homes there. Rainforests is packed with accessible and fascinating facts that will engage and inspire you..." Insiders brings rainforests to life, with the most up-to-date information and state-of-the-art 3D illustrations that practically leap off every page, stimulating minds and imaginations in a whole new way.
Planet Earth : a journey from pole to pole by Ben Morgan
Publication Date: 2006
In this accessible reference, biome-based chapters are interspersed with detailed maps featuring particularly famous and ecologically rich examples of the biome, from the Saharan and Gobi deserts, Amazon rainforest and Arctic tundra, to the Himalayan heights. Panels and fact files provide fascinating information on each biome, including details on aspects of climate and wildlife.
Wild Australasia by Neil Nightningale
Australia is like no other continent on Earth. Isolated from the rest of the world for a staggering 45 million years, this enormous island contains a breathtaking array of distinctive and bizarre species. 90 per cent of its reptiles and 70 per cent of its birds are unique to the country. As well as wombats and wallabies, kookaburras and koalas, there are mammals that can lay eggs, huge birds that can't fly, marsupials that can, and a greater concentration of deadly reptiles and venomous snakes than anywhere else. The landscape looks remarkably different too. This is the flattest and driest inhabited continent on Earth, with some of the oldest rocks and dramatic time-worn landscapes. Dazzling colourful reefs lie off Australia's coastline, including the Great Barrier Reef, one of the wonders of the natural world. The surrounding seas support an astonishing diversity of marine life and are dotted with thousands of fabulous islands.
Wild habitats : a natural history of Australian ecosystems by Allan Fox & Steve Parish
Publication Date: 2007
Fully illustrated journey through the Australian landscape from the Steve Parish team, featuring stunning photography depicting the Australian continent in all its wild glory.