Landforms

Aconcagua

The stone sentinel, highest peak in the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere

Alps

Europe's great arc of high peaks, glaciers, and Alpine valleys

Altiplano

The high plain of the central Andes, second only to Tibet

Anatolian Plateau

The high heartland of Asia Minor

Andes

The world's longest continental mountain range, the 7,000-km spine of South America

Aoraki / Mount Cook

New Zealand's highest peak, the cloud piercer of the Southern Alps

Apennine Mountains

The 1,200-km mountain spine running the length of Italy

Appalachian Mountains

Eastern North America's ancient, worn-down range

Arabian Desert

The vast sand sea of the Arabian Peninsula, home to the largest unbroken sands on Earth

Atacama Desert

The driest place on Earth, a high Chilean desert where some places have never seen rain

Atlas Mountains

The 2,500-km barrier between the Sahara and the Mediterranean

Bali

Indonesia's Island of the Gods, a Hindu enclave of temples and terraces

Borneo

The world's third-largest island, shared by three nations and ancient rainforest

Carpathian Mountains

The great sweeping arc of central and eastern Europe

Caucasus Mountains

The high range between the Black and Caspian seas, home to Europe's tallest peak

Chihuahuan Desert

The largest desert in North America, a high grassland-and-shrub basin straddling the Rio Grande

Colca Canyon

A Peruvian gorge twice the depth of the Grand Canyon, patrolled by condors

Colorado Plateau

The canyon country of the American Southwest

Cotopaxi

Ecuador's near-perfect glaciated cone, among the world's highest active volcanoes

Deccan Plateau

The great volcanic tableland of peninsular India

Denali

The high one, North America's tallest mountain in the Alaska Range

Drakensberg

Southern Africa's great basalt escarpment, the Dragon Mountains

Ethiopian Highlands

The rugged roof of Africa, the Horn's great mountain massif

Eyjafjallajokull

The Icelandic volcano whose 2010 ash cloud grounded Europe

Fish River Canyon

Africa's largest canyon, a vast ravine in Namibia's arid south

Galapagos Islands

The Pacific archipelago that inspired the theory of evolution

Gobi Desert

A cold rain-shadow desert of Mongolia and northern China, famed for its dinosaur fossils

Grand Canyon

The Colorado River's mile-deep masterpiece carved through northern Arizona

Great Britain

Europe's largest island, cradle of an empire and the industrial age

Great Dividing Range

Australia's 3,500-km eastern cordillera

Great Victoria Desert

Australia's largest desert, a sweep of red sand and spinifex in the continent's heart

Greenland

The world's largest island, a vast ice-sheet realm in the Arctic

Guiana Highlands

The land of tepuis, the table mountains of northern South America

Hawaiian Islands

A volcanic chain in the central Pacific, the most isolated archipelago on Earth

Himalayas

The planet's highest mountain system, a 2,400-km wall between the subcontinent and Tibet

Hindu Kush

The rugged 800-km range dividing Central from South Asia

Honshu

Japan's main island, heartland of a nation and home to Tokyo

Java

The world's most populous island, the crowded core of Indonesia

K2

The savage mountain, Earth's second-highest peak in the Karakoram

Kalahari Desert

A semi-arid sand basin of southern Africa, more savanna than empty waste

Kangchenjunga

The five treasures of the snows, third-highest mountain on Earth

Karakoram

The most glaciated range outside the poles, home to K2

Kilauea

Hawaii's shield volcano, among the most active on Earth

Krakatoa

The Indonesian volcano whose 1883 eruption was heard across the world

Matterhorn

The iconic horn of the Pennine Alps on the Swiss-Italian border

Mauna Kea

Hawaii's sacred shield volcano, the tallest mountain measured from base

Mojave Desert

A high North American desert of Joshua trees and the searing floor of Death Valley

Mont Blanc

The white mountain, highest summit of the Alps

Mount Ararat

Turkey's highest peak, the snow-crowned volcano of biblical fame

Mount Elbrus

Europe's highest summit, a dormant volcano in the Caucasus

Mount Etna

Europe's tallest and most restless volcano, towering over eastern Sicily

Mount Everest

Earth's highest mountain, the crown of the Himalaya on the Nepal-Tibet border

Mount Fuji

Japan's sacred symmetrical volcano

Mount Kenya

An eroded equatorial volcano, Africa's second-highest peak

Mount Kilimanjaro

Africa's highest peak, a snow-capped volcano on the equator

Mount Kosciuszko

Mainland Australia's highest summit in the Snowy Mountains

Mount Olympus

Greece's highest peak, the mythic home of the gods

Mount Pinatubo

The Philippine volcano whose 1991 eruption cooled the entire planet

Mount St. Helens

The Cascade volcano whose 1980 blast tore off its own summit

Mount Tambora

The Indonesian volcano behind the 1816 Year Without a Summer

Mount Teide

Spain's highest peak, a volcanic giant rising from the Atlantic on Tenerife

Mount Vesuvius

The volcano that buried Pompeii, looming over the Bay of Naples

Namib Desert

The world's oldest desert, where towering dunes meet the Atlantic fog on Africa's coast

New Guinea

The world's second-largest island, a wall of rainforest and glaciated peaks

Nyiragongo

The Congolese volcano cradling one of the world's great lava lakes

Patagonian Desert

Argentina's windswept cold-desert steppe at the southern tip of the Americas

Popocatepetl

Mexico's smoking mountain, a restless giant beside Mexico City

Puncak Jaya

Oceania's highest summit, an equatorial glacier peak in New Guinea

Pyrenees

The natural border between France and Spain, with Andorra tucked in its heights

Rocky Mountains

North America's continental backbone, stretching nearly 4,800 km

Sahara

The world's largest hot desert, an ocean of sand and stone across North Africa

Scandinavian Mountains

The Scandes, the glaciated spine of the Scandinavian Peninsula

Sicily

The largest island in the Mediterranean, crossroads of civilisations

Sonoran Desert

The lush North American desert of the towering saguaro cactus

Stromboli

The Mediterranean's lighthouse, erupting almost without pause for millennia

Sumatra

A vast volcanic island anchoring western Indonesia

Table Mountain

The flat-topped sandstone landmark above Cape Town

Taklamakan Desert

A vast cold sand sea in western China, ringed by mountains and crossed by the Silk Road

Tasmania

Australia's wild island state, a refuge of ancient forests and rare creatures

Thar Desert

The Great Indian Desert, a densely peopled sand region straddling India and Pakistan

Tian Shan

The Celestial Mountains of Central Asia, a 2,500-km system of glaciated ranges

Tibetan Plateau

The roof of the world, Earth's highest and largest plateau

Ural Mountains

The worn 2,500-km range that divides Europe from Asia

Verdon Gorge

The turquoise canyon of Provence, the Grand Canyon of Europe

Vinson Massif

Antarctica's highest mountain, deep in the Ellsworth range

Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon

The deepest canyon on Earth, where a Tibetan river knifes through the Himalaya

Zagros Mountains

Iran's great folded range, a 1,600-km wall above the Persian Gulf

Zanzibar

The spice island of the Swahili coast, off the shore of Tanzania