Importance of highlands

Highlands are geomorphologically important regions. A large part of a river’s discharge and nearly all of its sediment may come from mountainous areas. These elevated areas also impact on the regional climate, especially precipitation. Precipitation arrives as snow at high altitudes, even in the tropics, and as rain on the lower windward slopes. Such precipitation can be very high in a tropical storm or when winds converge near the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Highlands may therefore supply a large proportion of a river’s discharge.