Question

What distinguishes an Index Contour from an Intermediate Contour?

• A. Index contours are blue; intermediate are brown.
• B. Index contours are only used for mountains.
• C. Index contours are thicker, darker, and labeled with elevation numbers.
• D. Intermediate contours represent sea level only.

Answer 1

Answer:

C. Index contours are thicker, darker, and labeled with elevation numbers.

• They serve as primary reference points for the reader to quickly identify height. • An Index Contour is a bolded, heavy-weight line typically placed every fifth contour line. I • t contains a numerical label (elevation) broken into the line itself. • An Intermediate Contour is a thinner, lighter line that represents the smaller increments of height between the indexes. • These intermediate lines are never labeled because doing so would make the map geographically unreadable due to "text clutter."