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Terrain (from Latin: terra 'earth'), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientation of terrain features. Terrain affects surface water flow and distribution.
Terrain or relief is an essential aspect of physical geography, and as such its portrayal presents a central problem in cartographic design, and more recently geographic information systems and geovisualization.
In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large-scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but historically using a variety of methods.
Topography in a narrow sense involves the recording of relief or terrain, the three-dimensional quality of the surface, and the identification of specific landforms; this is also known as geomorphometry. In modern usage, this involves generation of elevation data in digital form .
Flat – Relatively level surface of land within a region of greater relief; Flatiron – Steeply sloping triangular landform; Floodplain – Land adjacent to a water body which is flooded during periods of high water; Foothills – Hills before a mountain range; Fluvial island – Exposed landmass within a river
The relief is represented by a set of heights (elevations or depths) that refer to some height reference surface, often the mean sea level or the geoid. Global relief models are used for a variety of applications including geovisualization , geologic , geomorphologic and geophysical analyses, gravity field modelling as well as geo-statistics.
When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used. In cartography, many different techniques are used to describe relief, including contour lines and triangulated irregular networks. Elementary landforms (segments, facets, relief units) are the smallest homogeneous divisions of the land surface, at the given scale/resolution.
Fjords are characterized by steep high relief cliffs carved by glacial activity and often have split or branching channels. Fjards are glacial depressions or valleys that have much lower reliefs than fjords. Fjards fill with eroded local materials which assist in "filling", along with rising sea levels since the last ice age contributing as well.