Identify Terrain Features on a Map Quiz

All 10 features on the diagram

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Major features 5

Hill High ground that slopes down in every direction. The smallest closed line is the hilltop.
Saddle A dip with higher ground on two sides. Its contour lines make an hourglass.
Valley A long groove in the land, usually with a stream. Its U or V points upstream.
Ridge High ground in a sloping line. Its U or V points away from high ground.
Depression A low point with higher ground all around. Tick marks point toward the low ground.

Minor features 3

Draw A small stream course, less developed than a valley. Its U or V points toward high ground.
Spur A short line of higher ground jutting from a ridge. Its U or V points away from high ground.
Cliff A vertical or nearly vertical drop. The contour lines run together or touch.

Cut and fill 2

Cut A man-made cutting through raised ground for a road or railroad. Its ticks point toward the roadbed.
Fill A man-made bank built across low ground for a road or railroad. Its ticks point toward lower ground.

How this list was compiled: Every name and pattern checked on 2026-10-02 in two independent sources. (1) United States Army, Training Circular 3-25.26, Map Reading and Land Navigation (2013), chapter 9, paragraphs 9-25 to 9-37, read in the Internet Archive copy, https://archive.org/details/map-reading-and-land-navigation-tc-3-25-26 : the ten terrain features in three groups (major: hill, saddle, valley, ridge, depression; minor: draw, spur, cliff; supplementary: cut, fill) and the contour pattern of each. (2) National Wildfire Coordinating Group, Basic Land Navigation, PMS 475 (2016), https://www.nwcg.gov/publications/pms475 : concentric circles of contour lines indicate a hill; V-shaped contours indicate stream beds and narrow valleys, the point of the V uphill; U-shaped contours indicate ridges, the bottom of the U pointing down the ridge; a saddle; circles with hachures indicate a depression; contours close together or touching indicate a cliff. (3) US Geological Survey, Topographic Map Symbols, https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/TopographicMapSymbols/topomapsymbols.pdf : the contour symbols depression, cut and fill. (4) US Geological Survey, GNIS Domestic Names Feature Classes, https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names/gnis-domestic-names-feature-classes : a draw as the valley of an ephemeral stream, a spur as a kind of ridge, a saddle as a kind of gap, cliff. (5) Wikipedia, Spur (topography), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spur_(topography) : a lateral ridge dropping from a mountain, hill or main crest. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-02 from an invented height function. Nothing is traced or copied from a map. Licence: own work

How it works

Identify terrain features on a map: this quiz lights one contour pattern at a time on an invented map, and you name it. All ten features of a map reading course are here, under a sketch of the same ground.

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Major features

A hill is a set of closed lines, one inside the other. A saddle is the hourglass between two hills. A valley and a ridge both bend the lines into a U or V: in a valley the closed end points upstream, on a ridge it points away from high ground. A depression is a closed line with ticks pointing in.

Minor features, cut and fill

A draw is a small valley and a spur a short ridge, so they bend the lines the same way on a smaller scale. At a cliff the lines run together. A cut and a fill are man-made: the ticks of a cut point to the roadbed, the ticks of a fill toward lower ground.

Draw or spur? Find the high ground first. The V of a draw points toward it; the U of a spur points away from it.

Questions and answers

What are the 10 terrain features on a map?

Five major features (hill, saddle, valley, ridge, depression), three minor features (draw, spur, cliff) and two supplementary features (cut, fill).

What is the difference between a draw and a spur?

A draw is low ground: a small stream course where the ground rises on three sides. Its contour lines point toward high ground. A spur is high ground jutting out from a ridge, and its contour lines point away from high ground.

How can you tell a valley from a ridge on a contour map?

Both bend the contour lines into a U or V. In a valley the closed end points upstream, toward high ground. On a ridge it points away from high ground.

How is a depression different from a hill on a map?

Both are closed contour lines. The lines of a depression carry tick marks that point toward the low ground inside. The lines of a hill have none, and the ground rises toward the smallest one.