NCERT Class 6 Social Science Chapter 3 Questions and Answers

The Big Questions (Page 41)

Q1. What are the major types of landforms and their significance to life and culture?

Ans: The three major types of landforms are mountains, plateaus, and plains.

  • Mountains influence climate, act as sources of rivers, and are home to forests and wildlife. They also hold great cultural and religious importance, as many sacred places and pilgrimage sites are located in mountain regions.

  • Plateaus are rich in mineral resources and support mining and industrial activities. Lava plateaus provide fertile black soil for agriculture.

  • Plains are flat and fertile, making them ideal for agriculture, settlements, transport, and trade. Many early civilizations developed in plains along rivers.

Thus, landforms strongly influence human life, occupations, settlement patterns, and cultural traditions.

Q2. What are the challenges and opportunities of life associated with each landform?

Ans: Each landform offers both opportunities and challenges:

  • Mountains provide water, forests, tourism, and scenic beauty but pose challenges such as steep slopes, cold climate, landslides, and limited farming land.

  • Plateaus offer minerals, waterfalls, and grazing lands but often have rocky soil and limited agricultural productivity.

  • Plains support agriculture, dense population, and transport networks but face problems like floods, pollution, and overpopulation.

Human beings have adapted their lifestyles to overcome these challenges and benefit from the opportunities provided by each landform.

PAGE 42 – LET’S EXPLORE

Q1. As a class activity, form groups of four or five students and observe the school’s surroundings. What kind of landscape do you see? Will the landscape change a few kilometres away? Or within some 50 kilometres? Compare with other groups.

Ans: The surroundings of our school show a plain landscape with flat land, roads, houses, fields, and easy transport facilities. The soil is fertile and suitable for agriculture. Within a few kilometres, the landscape remains mostly the same, but within 50 kilometres, changes such as rivers, canals, forests, or slightly elevated land can be seen. Other groups also observed similar or slightly different features depending on their location.

Q2. In the same groups, discuss a journey that any of you has made through a region of India. List the different landscapes seen on the way. Compare with other groups.

Ans: In our group discussion, one student shared their journey from a plateau region to a plain and then to a mountain region. At the beginning of the journey, the plateau area had rocky land, sparse vegetation, and mining activities. As the journey continued into the plains, the landscape changed to flat land with fertile fields, rivers, towns, and dense population.

Further travel towards the hills showed steep slopes, winding roads, forests, and cooler climate. Other groups shared different journeys but also observed similar changes in landforms, climate, vegetation, and human activities. This comparison helped us understand how landforms change gradually over distance and strongly influence human life.

 

PAGE 49– LET’S EXPLORE

Q1. These images (Fig. 3.6 on page 50) depict a few challenges that people living in the mountains may face. Discuss them in groups in the class and write one paragraph on each. Also discuss why, despite many such challenges, people still choose to live in the mountains.

Ans: Life in the mountains is closely connected with nature. Mountain regions are known for their scenic beauty, clean air, and rich natural resources. However, due to steep slopes, harsh climate, and fragile environment, people living in the mountains face several natural and human-made challenges. The images in Fig. 3.6 highlight some of the major difficulties faced by mountain communities in their daily lives.

(i) Flash Floods: Flash floods occur suddenly due to heavy rainfall or cloudbursts in the mountains. The fast-flowing water rushes down steep slopes, destroying houses, roads, bridges, and crops. These floods cause loss of life and property and give people very little time to escape.

(ii) Uncontrolled Tourism: Uncontrolled and unplanned tourism increases pollution, waste, deforestation, and pressure on water resources. This damages the fragile mountain ecosystem and increases the chances of landslides and environmental degradation.

(iii) Avalanches: An avalanche is the sudden movement of a large mass of snow and ice down a mountain slope. Avalanches can destroy villages, block roads, and cause heavy loss of life and property in high-altitude areas.

(iv) Heavy Snowfall: Heavy snowfall blocks roads and mountain passes, cutting off villages from nearby towns. It disrupts transport, communication, and the supply of essential goods, making daily life difficult.

(v) Cloudbursts: Cloudbursts cause extremely heavy rainfall in a short period of time. In mountainous regions, they often lead to landslides and flash floods, resulting in severe damage to life and infrastructure.

(vi) Cold Weather: Extremely cold weather affects people’s health and limits agricultural activities. People require special clothing, heating facilities, and strong shelters to survive harsh winters.

Despite these challenges, people continue to live in the mountains because of clean air, natural beauty, tourism-based livelihoods, forest resources, cultural attachment, and religious importance. Generations of families remain emotionally connected to their homeland.

LET’S EXPLORE (Page 54) 

Q1. Which colour is the Ganga Plain?

Ans: The Ganga Plain appears green due to fertile soil and extensive agriculture.

Q2. What does the white expanse represent?

Ans: The white expanse represents the snow-covered Himalayan mountains.

Q3. What does the brown expanse at the bottom left represent?

Ans: The brown expanse represents the plateau or desert-like regions, such as parts of the Deccan Plateau or arid areas.

LET’S EXPLORE (Pages 55–56)

Q1. Can you give examples of river sources or confluences from your region that are regarded sacred by any community?

Ans: In India, many river sources and confluences are considered sacred by different communities. Some important examples are:

  • Gangotri – The source of the River Ganga, located in the Himalayan mountains.

  • Yamunotri – The source of the River Yamuna in the Himalayas.

  • Prayagraj (Triveni Sangam) – The confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati rivers.

  • Devprayag – The meeting point of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers, from where the Ganga begins.

These places are important pilgrimage centres where people perform religious rituals and festivals.

Q2. Visit a nearby river and observe all activities there, whether economic or cultural. Note them down and discuss with your classmates.

Ans: A nearby river supports many economic and cultural activities.

  • Economic activities include agriculture using river water for irrigation, fishing, boat transport, washing clothes, and sand collection.

  • Cultural activities include religious bathing, worship, prayer ceremonies, festivals, and fairs held on riverbanks.

Thus, rivers play an important role in supporting both livelihood and cultural traditions of people.

Q3. Name some popular tourist destinations in India and identify the category of landform they are associated with.

Ans: Popular tourist destinations in India and their associated landforms are given below:- 

  • Shimla – Mountain landform

  • Manali – Mountain landform

  • Leh–Ladakh – Mountain and plateau landform

  • Varanasi – Plain (Ganga Plain)

  • Agra – Plain

  • Rameswaram – Coastal plain

  • Goa – Coastal plain

  • Ooty – Hills (mountain region)

These examples show that tourist destinations in India are closely linked to different landforms.

NCERT Class 6 Social Science SST Chapter 3 Landforms and Life Questions and Answers Solutions

Q1. In what type of landform is your town / village / city located? Which features mentioned in this chapter do you see around you?

Ans: My town/city is located in a plain region. Plains are flat or gently sloping landforms and are generally found at low altitudes. In my surroundings, I can see wide roads, fertile agricultural fields, rivers, canals, and dense human settlements, which are typical features of plains. The soil here is fertile due to river deposits, making agriculture easy and productive. Transport and communication facilities are also well developed, which is another important feature of plains.

Q2. Describe the three landforms you came across on the journey from Chhota Nagpur to Prayagraj and Almora.

Ans: On the journey from Chhota Nagpur to Prayagraj and then to Almora, three different landforms are observed.

  • Chhota Nagpur represents a plateau region, which has rocky land, mineral resources, and waterfalls.
  • Prayagraj lies in the Gangetic Plain, which is flat, fertile, and densely populated, with agriculture as the main occupation.
  • Almora is located in the mountain region of the Himalayas, characterised by steep slopes, cold climate, forests, and scenic beauty.

Thus, the journey clearly shows plateaus, plains, and mountains.

Q3. List a few famous pilgrimage spots in India along with the landforms in which they are found.

Ans:- A few famous pilgrimage spots in India along with the landforms in which they are found are:- 

  • Badrinath – Mountain landform (Himalayas)

  • Kedarnath – Mountain landform

  • Vaishno Devi – Mountain landform

  • Varanasi – Plain (Ganga Plain)

  • Prayagraj – Plain (river confluence area)

  • Rameswaram – Coastal plain

These places show how landforms are closely connected with religious and cultural life in India.

Q4. State whether true or false —

1. The Himalayas are young mountains with rounded tops. [ FALSE ]
2. Plateaus usually rise sharply at least on one side. [ TRUE ]
3. Mountains and hills belong to the same type of landform. [ TRUE ]
4. Mountains, plateaus and rivers in India have the same types of flora and fauna. [ FALSE ]
5. Ganga is a tributary of the Yamuna. [ FALSE ]
6. Deserts have unique flora and fauna. [ TRUE ]
7. Melting snow feeds rivers. [ TRUE ]
8. Sediments from rivers deposited in the plains make the land fertile. [ TRUE ]
9. All deserts are hot. [ FALSE ]

Q5. Match words in pairs:

Column AColumn B
1. Mount Everest(a) Africa
2. rafting(b) roof of the world
3. camels(c) rice fields
4. plateau(d) desert
5. Gangetic plains(e) river
6. waterway(f) Ganga
7. Mount Kilimanjaro(g) tributary
8. Yamuna(h) climbing

Ans :

Column AColumn B
1. Mount Everest(b) roof of the world
2. rafting(e) river
3. camels(d) desert
4. plateau(a) Africa
5. Gangetic plains(c) rice fields
6. waterway(f) Ganga
7. Mount Kilimanjaro(h) climbing
8. Yamuna(g) tributary
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