Which map shows land or submarine bottom relief in terms of height above a datum, using contours, hachures and shading?

• A. Cylindrical map projection
• B. Hypsometric map
• C. Conic map projection
• D. Cassini map projection

Answer: (B)

This question focuses on how relief is shown on a map to express height above a reference level using contour lines, hachures, and shading. A hypsometric map is built to depict elevations and depths relative to a datum, often sea level, and communicates vertical differences across the terrain or seafloor through shading or color bands and by drawing contour lines. This approach lets you read not just where features are, but how high or deep they rise or fall, which is exactly what is meant by height above a datum and is why contours, hachures, and shading appear together on this type of map.

The other options describe map projections—ways of transferring the curved surface of the Earth onto a flat map. Cylindrical, conic, and Cassini projections determine geometric distortion patterns for depicting geographic space, but they don’t by themselves encode elevation or depth with contours and shading. Hence, the hypsometric map best fits the idea of showing land or submarine bottom relief in terms of height above a datum using those relief-visualization techniques.