would a topographic map of the great plains have a large or small contour interval?explain!?

Answer 1

Probably small.

The contour interval is the difference in elevation between consecutive contour lines. So with a 10-foot contour interval, a circular hill shown by 4 concentric contour lines rising above otherwise flat terrain is about 40 feet high.

The Great Plains are very flat, and what few topographical features there are, generally do not have much difference in elevation. Therefore, the contour interval would have to be small to be able to show such small differences, or in places even to show any contours at all.

Answer 2

say A topographic map of the whole great plains would have a large contour interval because it is a large area of land . Also it depends on how large the piece of paper you print this on. An 81/2 by 11 would be a small scale map and have a larger interval then one that is 100x100 inches would be a medium scale map, say like1:1,000,000 and different contour interval. To show a lot of land area (100 to 1,000's of miles), to cover the land from Canada to Texas, Rockies's to east of Mississippi river. The elevation near St. Louis is about 600 feet, and Denver is 5280 feet. A large scale map of say miles to 3.5x7 miles would be a large scale map, and have a smaller land area and contour interval. Especially the flatter the land the closer you get to the mountains.

Answer 3

It depends on the map, not on the terrain. You're probably looking for contour lines which are closer for steep places and far apart for flat places, like plains.

1) Contour lines appear closely packed together on the steep bluffs or cliffs. In the flat or gently-regions, they are widely-spaced. This is because on steep slopes elevation increases occur with greater frequency per unit of horizontal map distance and thus appear closer together.

4) The contour interval is constant on any map. Every fourth or fifth contour line is labeled with their elevation for reference; on actual topographic maps, the contour lines representing every 50 feet of elevation are commonly labeled, while those in between are not. Spot elevations are sometimes shown for specific points on the map. All elevations are relative to mean sea level, which is taken to be the "0" foot elevation contour.



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