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Contour Intro

The document discusses physiography, focusing on the physical characteristics of land surfaces, including elevation, slope, and various landforms. It explains the importance of terrain analysis and the use of topographical maps to represent relief features through methods like contours and shading. Additionally, it emphasizes the significance of site inventory and analysis in design decisions related to topography and vegetation.

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PREETHI M A
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27 views32 pages

Contour Intro

The document discusses physiography, focusing on the physical characteristics of land surfaces, including elevation, slope, and various landforms. It explains the importance of terrain analysis and the use of topographical maps to represent relief features through methods like contours and shading. Additionally, it emphasizes the significance of site inventory and analysis in design decisions related to topography and vegetation.

Uploaded by

PREETHI M A
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Physiography deals with the physical

conditions of the surface of the land.


The broad Physiography of an area can
be determined by the knowledge of the
physiographic region in which it lies.

The important aspects of Physiography


are elevation and slope.

•Slope
•soils,
•Geology,
•Hydrology,
•Microclimate,
•Vegetation /Flora
•Fauna

Strongly related to elevation. This


means that elevation is an important
feature in analyzing landscapes.
Terrain analysis

Topographical maps of Greek origin Topos (place) and graphics (lines formed
figure) is formed from the word, used for lines shows created in the forms.

These are the natural and cultural aspects of the land, the horizontal and
vertical cases, show a horizontal plane and under a certain scale.

Relief /Elevation Map :

The earth’s surface is not uniform and it varies from mountains to hills to
plateaus and plains. The elevation and depressions of the earth’s surface are
known as physical features or relief features of the earth. The map showing
these features is called a relief map.

The general topography of the area is studied to identify the plains, plateaus,
hills or mountains along with peaks, ridges, spur and the general direction of
the slope. These features are studied under the following heads :

° Hill : With concave, convex, steep or gentle slope and shape.


° Plateau : Whether it is broad , narrow, flat, undulating or dissected.
° Plain : Its types, i.e. alluvial, glacial, coastal, marshy, etc.
° Mountain : General elevation, peak, passes, etc.
•Elevation /Relief maps are easily constructed by selecting intervals from the
base maps.

• Altitudes can be represented by coloring spaces between topographic


intervals.

•Elevation changes are depicted in shades of browns, yellows, or grays with


felt markers, colored pencils, crayons, or through the use of computer
technology, becoming lighter or darker as elevation increases

•A number of methods have been used to show the relief features of the
Earth’s surface on maps, over the years.

•These methods include hachure, hill shading, layer tints, benchmarks and
spot heights and contours. However, contours and spot heights are
predominantly used to depict the relief of an area on all topographical maps.
Hachure Map

Tint Layers Hill Shading


Water in this sink defines a line of equal elevation.
The edges of these terraced tea plantation also define lines of equal
elevation.
The edge of this detention pond defines a line of equal elevation.
Rows of seating in an athletic stadium or amphitheater provide an excellent
way to visualize a series of contours that define a bowl-shaped form.
Types of slope

The slopes can broadly be classified into gentle, steep, concave, convex and
irregular or undulating. The contours of different types of slopes show a
distinct spacing pattern

Gentle Slope Steep Slope


When the degree or angle of When the degree or angle
slope of a feature is very low, of slope of a feature is high
the slope will be gentle. The and the contours are closely
contours representing this type spaced, they indicate steep
of slope are far apart. slope.
Concave Slope
A slope with a gentle gradient in
the lower parts of a relief feature
and steep in its upper parts is
called the concave slope. Contours
in this type of slope are widely
spaced in the lower parts and are
closely spaced in the upper parts.

Convex Slope
Unlike concave slope, the convex
slope is fairly gentle in the
upper part and steep in the
lower part. As a result, the
contours are widely spaced in
the upper parts and are closely
spaced in the lower parts.
Types of Landform

Conical Hill Plateau


It rises almost uniformly from the A widely stretched flat–topped high
surrounding land. A conical hill land, with relatively steeper slopes,
with uniform slope and narrow rising above the adjoining plain or
top is represented by concentric sea is called a plateau. The contour
contours spaced almost at lines representing a plateau are
regular intervals. normally close spaced at the
margins
with the innermost contour showing
wide gap between its two sides
Valley
A geomorphic feature lying between two hills or ridges and formed as a
result of the lateral erosion by a river or a glacier is called a valley.

‘V’-shaped Valley ‘U’ – shaped Valley


It resembles the letter V. A V- A U–shaped valley is formed by strong
shaped lateral erosion of glaciers at high
valley occurs in mountainous altitudes. The flat wide bottom and
areas. steep sides makes it resemble the
The lowermost part of the V– letter ‘U’. The lowermost part of the
shaped U–shaped valley is shown by the
valley is shown by the innermost innermost contour line with a wide
contour line with very small gap between its two sides. The cont
gap value increases with uniform intervals
between its two sides and the for all other contour lines outward.
lowest
value of the contour is assigned to
it.
The contour value increases with
uniform intervals for all other
contour
lines outward.
Gorge Spur
In high altitudes, gorges form in A tongue of land, projecting from
the higher ground into the lower is
areas where the vertical erosion called
by a spur.
river is more prominent than
the
lateral erosion. They are deep
and
narrow river valleys with very
steep
sides. A gorge is represented by
very
closely-spaced contour lines on a
map
with the innermost contour
showing
small gap between its two sides.
Cliff Waterfall and Rapids
It is a very steep or almost A sudden and more or less
perpendicular face of landform. perpendicular descent of water from a
On a map, a cliff may be identified considerable height in the bed of a river
by the way the contours run very is called a waterfall. Sometimes, a
close to one another, ultimately waterfall succeeds or precedes with a
merging into one. cascading stream forming rapids
upstream or downstream of a waterfall.
The contours representing a waterfall
merge into one another while crossing a
river stream and the rapids are shown
by relatively distant contour lines on a
map.
(a) Ridge. (b) Valley. (c) Summit. (d) Depression.
(a) Concave slope.
(b) Convex slope.
(c) Summit.
A small-scale urban ridge. Contours are
delineated with black dashed lines, while white
arrows show the direction of water flow.
A small-scale urban valley. Contours are delineated with black dashed lines, while white
arrows show the direction of water flow.

The contour pattern is similar for both the ridge and the valley;
The Great Mound at Gasworks Park in Seattle, Washington, is a summit with complex
curvilinear topography..
Steps act as contours tracing this depression in
an urban plaza..
The profile of this hill in Gasworks Park contains both concave and convex slopes.
•Site Inventory and analysis of the site is important for making
design decisions and developing the best design for the site and
the user.

•Any condition on the site that affects Topography, Vegetation,


Hydrology and Users should be noted on the inventory and
analyzed to make the best design decisions.

•To understand the difference between an inventory and an


analysis, remember that the inventory is simply a list of all
existing conditions.

•The analysis is a judgment about the condition plus the action


items (activities) to take place to achieve the desired design.
Table includes all of the inventory
items that should be noted and
described.

Use the table as a checklist and make


notes on the information listed for
each item.

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