All Topics  
Alluvial plain

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Alluvial plain
 
 
  Topics Alluvial plain Topic Home

An alluvial plain is a relatively flat landform
Landform

In the earth sciences and geology sub-fields a landform or physical feature comprises a geomorphology unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such, is typically an element of topography....
 created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial
Alluvium

Alluvium is soil or sediments deposited by a river or other running water. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel....
 soil forms. A floodplain
Floodplain

||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||}A floodplain, or flood plain, is flat or nearly flat land adjacent to a stream or river that experiences occasional or periodic flooding....
 is part of the process, being the smaller area over which the rivers flood at a particular period of time, whereas the alluvial plain is the larger area representing the region over which the floodplains have shifted over geological time.

As the highlands erode
Erosion

For morphological image processing operations, see Erosion 'For use of in dermatopathology, see Erosion Erosion is the removal of solids in the natural environment....
 due to weathering
Weathering

Weathering is the decomposition of earth Rock , soils and their minerals through direct contact with the planet's atmosphere. Weathering occurs in situ, or "with no movement", and thus should not be confused with erosion, which involves the movement of rocks and minerals by agents such as water, ice, wind, and gravity....
 and water flow the sediment
Sediment

Sediment is any particulate matter that can be sediment transport by fluid dynamics, and which eventually is deposited.Sediments are most often transported by water transported by wind and glaciers....
 from the hills is transported to the lower plain
Plain

In geography, a plain is an area of landscape with relatively high relief, as well as flat. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or vegetation may be absent in the case of sandy or...
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Alluvial plain'
Start a new discussion about 'Alluvial plain'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


An alluvial plain is a relatively flat landform
Landform

In the earth sciences and geology sub-fields a landform or physical feature comprises a geomorphology unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such, is typically an element of topography....
 created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial
Alluvium

Alluvium is soil or sediments deposited by a river or other running water. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel....
 soil forms. A floodplain
Floodplain

||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||}A floodplain, or flood plain, is flat or nearly flat land adjacent to a stream or river that experiences occasional or periodic flooding....
 is part of the process, being the smaller area over which the rivers flood at a particular period of time, whereas the alluvial plain is the larger area representing the region over which the floodplains have shifted over geological time.

As the highlands erode
Erosion

For morphological image processing operations, see Erosion 'For use of in dermatopathology, see Erosion Erosion is the removal of solids in the natural environment....
 due to weathering
Weathering

Weathering is the decomposition of earth Rock , soils and their minerals through direct contact with the planet's atmosphere. Weathering occurs in situ, or "with no movement", and thus should not be confused with erosion, which involves the movement of rocks and minerals by agents such as water, ice, wind, and gravity....
 and water flow the sediment
Sediment

Sediment is any particulate matter that can be sediment transport by fluid dynamics, and which eventually is deposited.Sediments are most often transported by water transported by wind and glaciers....
 from the hills is transported to the lower plain
Plain

In geography, a plain is an area of landscape with relatively high relief, as well as flat. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or vegetation may be absent in the case of sandy or...
. Various creek
Stream

A stream is a body of water less than 60 feet wide with a current , confined within a stream bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as brook, beck, Burn , creek, crick, kill, lick , rill, river syke, bayou, rivu...
s will carry the water further to a river, lake
Lake

A lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all....
, bay
Bay

A bay is an area of water bordered by land on three sides. Bays generally have calm waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some ocean surface wave and often reducing winds....
, or ocean
Ocean

An ocean is a major body of Seawater, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a World Ocean that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas....
. As the sediment
Sediment

Sediment is any particulate matter that can be sediment transport by fluid dynamics, and which eventually is deposited.Sediments are most often transported by water transported by wind and glaciers....
s are deposited during flood conditions in the floodplain
Floodplain

||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||}A floodplain, or flood plain, is flat or nearly flat land adjacent to a stream or river that experiences occasional or periodic flooding....
 of a creek, the elevation of the floodplain will be raised. As this reduces the channel floodwater capacity, the creek will over time seek new, lower paths, forming meander
Meander

A meander in general is a bend in a sinuosity watercourse, also known as an oxbow loop, or simply an oxbow. A meander is formed when the moving water in a river erodes the outer banks and widens its valley creating a meander....
s (a curving sinuous path). The leftover higher locations, typically natural levee
Levee

A levee, lev?e, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels....
s at the margins of the flood channel, will themselves be eroded by lateral stream erosion and from local rainfall and possibly wind transport if the climate is arid and does not support soil-holding grasses. These processes over geologic time will form the plain - a region with little relief
Relief

A relief is a sculptured artwork where a modelled form is raised, or in sunken-relief lowered, from a flatish background plane without being disconnected from it....
 (local changes in elevation), yet with a constant but small slope.

Examples

  • Mississippi River alluvial plain
    Mississippi Alluvial Plain

    The Mississippi River Alluvial Plain is an alluvial plain created by the Mississippi River on which lies parts of seven states, from southern Louisiana to southern Illinois....
  • Punjab
    Punjab region

    Punjab , also Panjab , is a region straddling the border between India and Pakistan. The "Five Rivers" are Beas River, Ravi River, Sutlej, Chenab and Jhelum River; all these are tributaries of the Indus river, Jhelum being the biggest one....
     alluvial plain
  • List of alluvial sites in Switzerland
    List of alluvial sites in Switzerland

    This is a list of alluvial sites in Switzerland. It is based on the Federal Inventory of Alluvial sites of National Importance, part of a 1992 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage....


See also

  • Alluvial desert
    Alluvial desert

    "Alluvial" describes rich, fertile soil deposited by rivers and streams. The alluvial desert is one created from large rivers leaving behind their rich, fertile sediments....
  • Alluvial fan
    Alluvial fan

    An alluvial fan is a fan -shaped deposition formed where a fast flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain....
  • Alluvium
    Alluvium

    Alluvium is soil or sediments deposited by a river or other running water. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel....
  • River delta
    River delta

    A delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river....