Relief of the UK: uplands and lowlands
Relief means the height and shape of the land. On a relief map the UK looks tilted: high in the north and west, low in the south and east.
Main upland areas
- Scottish Highlands and Grampian Mountains: Ben Nevis, 1,345 m, the highest point.
- Southern Uplands of Scotland.
- Lake District: Scafell Pike, 978 m, the highest in England.
- Pennines: a long chain of hills called the backbone of England.
- Snowdonia and the Cambrian Mountains in Wales: Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), 1,085 m.
- Dartmoor and Exmoor in the south-west; the Mourne Mountains and Sperrins in Northern Ireland.
Main lowland areas
- The Fens and East Anglia: flat, some land below sea level.
- The London Basin and the chalk downs (gentle ridges).
- The Midlands plain, the Central Lowlands of Scotland, the land around Lough Neagh.
Why the north-west is high: rocks and history
- Igneous rocks (formed from cooled magma, like granite and basalt) and metamorphic rocks (changed by heat and pressure, like slate and schist) are hard and old. They are found mostly in the north and west and resist erosion, so they stand high.
- Sedimentary rocks (made of layers of sand, mud or shells, like clay, sandstone, limestone and chalk) are younger and mostly softer. They are found mostly in the south and east and wear down into lowlands.
- Tectonic history: hundreds of millions of years ago plate collisions pushed up mountains in the north-west and volcanoes erupted (Lake District, Snowdonia, the basalt of the Giant's Causeway).
- Ice ages: glaciers covered the north, carved U-shaped valleys, corries and lakes in the uplands and dropped till (boulder clay) on lowlands further south.
River systems of the UK
Most UK rivers start in the uplands, where it rains most, and flow to the sea through the lowlands.
- Upper course (uplands): steep, narrow V-shaped valleys, waterfalls, rapids.
- Lower course (lowlands): wide valleys, meanders, floodplains and estuaries.
Main rivers: the Severn (about 354 km, the longest, from the Welsh mountains to the Bristol Channel), the Thames (through London), the Trent, the Tyne and Tees (from the Pennines eastward), the Tay (largest flow of water in the UK), the Clyde and the Mersey. A drainage basin is the area drained by a river and its tributaries; the ridge between basins is the watershed, and the Pennines form a major one.
How relief affects climate and land use
- Rain: westerly winds from the Atlantic rise over the western uplands and drop rain (relief rainfall); parts get over 2,000 mm a year. The east lies in a rain shadow and can get under 600 mm.
- Temperature: it gets about 6 °C colder for every 1,000 m you climb, so uplands are cooler with snow in winter.
- Uplands: thin, acidic soils; sheep farming, forestry, reservoirs for water supply, wind farms, tourism and national parks (Lake District, Snowdonia, Cairngorms).
- Lowlands: deep fertile soils, flat land; arable farming (wheat, barley, vegetables), most towns, roads and industry.
Try it at home
Put a sugar cube and a small pebble in a jar of water and shake for one minute. The soft cube wears away; the hard pebble stays. That is why hard rock stands high as uplands and soft rock wears down into lowlands. Then use the landscape picker in the last 3D step.
Key formulas and definitions
- Uplands: mostly > 600 m; lowlands: mostly < 200 m
- Highest point: Ben Nevis 1,345 m
- Longest river: Severn ≈ 354 km
- Temperature falls ≈ 6 °C per 1,000 m of height
- Tees–Exe line: hard upland rock to the north-west, soft lowland rock to the south-east
- Igneous + metamorphic = hard, old; sedimentary = mostly softer, younger
Worked examples
1. A town at sea level has 12 °C. What is the likely temperature on a hill top 900 m above it?
Drop ≈ 6 °C per 1,000 m, so 900 m gives 6 × 0.9 = 5.4 °C. Temperature ≈ 12 − 5.4 = 6.6 °C. Uplands are much cooler.
2. Explain why the Lake District is upland but East Anglia is lowland.
The Lake District is made of old, hard volcanic and slate rocks that resist erosion, and it was pushed up long ago. East Anglia is made of young, soft clay, sand and chalk that erode easily, so it has been worn down to low, flat land.
3. Why do most UK rivers start in the west and north?
The highest land is there, and westerly winds from the Atlantic rise over it and drop the most rain. Water then flows downhill toward lower land and the sea, many rivers heading east and south.
Common mistakes
- Saying all of Scotland is mountains. The Central Lowlands, where most Scots live, are low.
- Thinking chalk is hard because it makes white cliffs. Chalk is a fairly soft sedimentary rock; it forms downs and cliffs only where it is harder than the clay around it.
- Mixing up the Severn and the Thames. The Severn is the longest; the Thames is the best known because it flows through London.
- Thinking uplands are high because they were not eroded. They were eroded a lot, especially by ice; hard rock just wears much more slowly.