ShmoopTube

00:04

[Coop and Dino singing]

00:13

Geographical features…no, that doesn't refer to a river's pointy nose, or a tree's piercing [Pointy nose floating down a river]

00:18

blue eyes…

00:19

It simply refers to the different shapes and forms of all the water and land on earth!

00:23

So what might some geographical features of Earth be? [Man fills cup with water]

00:26

Well, let's begin with water.

00:27

Ah. Refreshing.

00:29

Water comes in tons of different forms on Earth.

00:31

Oceans, for instance, are large bodies of salt water, like the Atlantic and Pacific. [Oceans highlighted on a map of Earth]

00:35

Lakes, on the other hand, are bodies of fresh water surrounded by land, like Lake Ontario

00:40

and Lake Michigan.

00:41

Rivers are bodies of water that flow in a channel to another river, ocean or lake – like

00:45

the mighty Mississippi River or the Missouri River. [Mississippi and Missouri river highlighted]

00:48

Okay, so you probably knew all of those already, but did you know about…

00:52

Inland Seas!?

00:54

If you said yes, then man, are you smart!

00:56

Maybe you should be narrating this video… [Two guys in class and one guy collapses to the floor]

00:59

Anyway, inland seas are large bodies of either salt or fresh water that are entirely surrounded

01:03

by land, like Hudson Bay.

01:06

And how about gulfs?

01:07

A gulf is a part of an ocean that is partly surrounded by land, like the Gulf of Mexico. [Gulf part of ocean in Mexico]

01:11

So much water, so many different geographic features.

01:14

And we haven't even gotten to land yet!

01:16

Seriously, can someone help us out here? [Woman wading through water]

01:18

We've been stuck at sea for a while…toss us a surfboard, or something…

01:21

Phew!

01:22

Okay, now that we're on land…what kind of geographical features are we lookin' at….

01:26

Well, there are deltas, which are pieces of land shaped like triangles and created by

01:29

a split in a river. [Delta example of land]

01:31

There are islands, like Hawaii, which are pieces of land surrounded by water on all

01:35

sides….and also where we'd love to be right now, munching on a shave ice…yum. [Man eating an ice cream]

01:40

We've got plateaus– these are large flat areas of land that are higher than the areas

01:44

around it.

01:45

One famous example is the Colorado plateau.

01:47

And we've got deserts like the Mojave, which are areas of land that are dry and with little [The mojave desert]

01:52

vegetation.

01:53

Hm…maybe someone should open a shave ice stand there…

01:56

There are mountains – like Mount Denali - which are large natural elevations

02:00

of the surface of Earth…. [Mount Denali in the distance]

02:01

…And valleys like the Central Valley– which are low dips of land between hills or mountains.

02:06

So there ya have it!

02:07

The entire Earth is covered in a whole variety of different sorts of geographical features. [Coop discussing the different geographical features]

02:11

Can you think of any geographical features near your home or school?

02:15

Maybe a river, a lake, or even a mountain? [Mountain appears behind a house]

02:17

And no, your dad's belly doesn't count as a mountain, no matter how impressive it might be. [Dad with two ice creams walks through door]

Full Transcript