


Their origins lie with Charles Hutton, a British mathematician whose ambitious 1774 survey of a Scottish peak called Schiehallion marked their first known use. * This is because one location on the surface of Earth cannot be at two different elevations! Who invented contour lines?īut as with most things in this human-built world, contour lines had to be invented. along a cliff), but by definition they may never cross each other. They may come very close to each other (e.g. Do contour lines cross?Ĭontour lines never cross. For example, if the distance 200 is divided by the number of lines, where the number of lines is 5.

To find contour interval divide the difference in elevation between the index lines by the number of contour lines from one index line to the next. They show the general shape of the terrain. Each contour is a line of equal elevation therefore, contours never cross. Topographic contours are shown in brown by lines of different widths. Which of the following is the best definition for contour line?Ĭontour-line definition A line on a map or chart connecting all points of the same elevation (or depth) in a particular area. And the method of representing the height on the map by using contour lines is called Contouring. What is contour line in Class 9?Ĭontour lines are Imaginary lines joining places that have the same height above the sea level. While all these words mean “the line that bounds and gives form to something,” contour stresses the quality of an outline or a bounding surface as being smooth, jagged, curving, or sharply angled. Some common synonyms of contour are outline, profile, and silhouette. The contour line represented by the shoreline separates areas that have elevations above sea level from those that have elevations below sea level. If we walk along contour line we neither gain or lose elevation. What is a contour line class 7?Ĭontour lines are lines drawn on a map connecting points of equal elevation. On a steep slope, the lines are close together. They also tell us about the slope of the land. Contour lines show all the places that are the same height above sea level. These contour lines are an important way of showing the rise and fall of the land on a map.
