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Plain

December 05, 2023

For other uses, see Plain (disambiguation) and Plains (disambiguation).

In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. Plains are one of the major landforms on earth, being present on all continents and covering more than one-third of the world's land area. Plains in many areas are important for agriculture. There are various types of plains and biomes on them.

The Kakanui Range dominates the eastern horizon of the Maniototo Plain of New Zealand
Montane plains as seen in Horton Plains in Sri Lanka.

Description edit

A plain or flatland is a flat expanse of land with a layer of grass that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands.[1] Plains are one of the major landforms on earth, where they are present on all continents, and cover more than one-third of the world's land area.[2]

In a valley, a plain is enclosed on two sides, but in other cases a plain may be delineated by a complete or partial ring of hills, by mountains, or by cliffs. Where a geological region contains more than one plain, they may be connected by a pass (sometimes termed a gap). Coastal plains mostly rise from sea level until they run into elevated features such as mountains or plateaus.[3] Plains can be formed from flowing lava; from deposition of sediment by water, ice, or wind; or formed by erosion by the agents from hills or mountains.

Biomes on plains include grassland (temperate or subtropical), steppe (semi-arid), savannah (tropical) or tundra (polar). In a few instances, deserts and rainforests may also be considered plains.[4]

Plains in many areas are important for agriculture because where the soils were deposited as sediments they may be deep and fertile, and the flatness facilitates mechanization of crop production; or because they support grasslands which provide good grazing for livestock.[5]

Types of plain edit

 
A small, incised alluvial plain from Red Rock Canyon State Park.
 
A flood plain in the Isle of Wight.

Depositional plains edit

 
Curry County, eastern New Mexico, on the North American Great Plains

The types of depositional plains include:

  • Abyssal plains, flat or very gently sloping areas of the deep ocean basin.[6][7]
  • Planitia /pləˈnɪʃiə/, the Latin word for plain, is used in the naming of plains on extraterrestrial objects (planets and moons), such as Hellas Planitia on Mars or Sedna Planitia on Venus.
  • Alluvial plains, which are formed by rivers and which may be one of these overlapping types:
    • Alluvial plains, formed over a long period of time by a river depositing sediment on their flood plains or beds, which become alluvial soil. The difference between a flood plain and an alluvial plain is: a flood plain represents areas experiencing flooding fairly regularly in the present or recently, whereas an alluvial plain includes areas where a flood plain is now and used to be, or areas which only experience flooding a few times a century.[8]
       
      Chengdu Plain, Sichuan
    • Flood plain, adjacent to a lake, river, stream, or wetland that experiences occasional or periodic flooding.
    • Scroll plain, a plain through which a river meanders with a very low gradient.
  • Glacial plains, formed by the movement of glaciers under the force of gravity:
    • Outwash plain (also known as sandur; plural sandar), a glacial out-wash plain formed of sediments deposited by melt-water at the terminus of a glacier. Sandar consist mainly of stratified (layered and sorted) gravel and sand.[9][10]
    • Till plains, plain of glacial till that form when a sheet of ice becomes detached from the main body of a glacier and melts in place depositing the sediments it carries. Till plains are composed of unsorted material (till) of all sizes.
  • Lacustrine plains, plains that originally formed in a lacustrine environment, that is, as the bed of a lake.[11]
  • Lava plains, formed by sheets of flowing lava.[12]

Erosional plains edit

Erosional plains have been leveled by various agents of denudation such as running water, rivers, wind and glacier which wear out the rugged surface and smoothens them. Plain resulting from the action of these agents of denudation are called peneplains (almost plain) while plains formed from wind action are called pediplains.[13]

Structural plains edit

Structural plains are relatively undisturbed horizontal surfaces of the Earth. They are structurally depressed areas of the world that make up some of the most extensive natural lowlands on the Earth's surface.[14]

Notable examples edit

See also: Category: Plains by country
 
The Pampas are a huge area of fertile grasslands in the southeastern area of South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean
 
Nineveh Plains (Bozan, Iraq)
 
A field plain in Liminka, Finland
 
View of Fields at Biccavolu, Eastern coastal plains, Andhra Pradesh, India
 
Yilan Plain, Taiwan
 
View of the South Småland peneplain at Store Mosse National Park in Sweden.
 
North Somerset Levels taken from Dolebury Warren, England, UK
 
Terrain near the central German town of Fulda.
 
The Wallachian Plain, in the southern part of Argeș County.
 
View of Messara from the hill of Phaestus, Greece.
 
Cumberland Plain bushland in Western Sydney, Australia.
 
Looking southeast across the Taieri Plain, Otago, New Zealand.

America edit

North America edit

South America edit

Asia edit

East Asia edit

North Asia edit

Southeast Asia edit

South Asia edit

West Asia edit

Europe edit

Central Europe edit

Eastern Europe edit

Northern Europe edit

Southern Europe edit

Oceania edit

Australia edit

New Zealand edit

See also edit

  • Field – Area of land used for agricultural purposes
  • Flooded grasslands and savannas – Terrestrial biome consisting of flooded grasslands and savannas
  • Flood-meadow – Land adjacent to a river subject to seasonal flooding
  • Machair – Fertile low-lying grassy plain
  • Meadow – Open habitat vegetated primarily by non-woody plants
  • Pasture – Land used for grazing
  • Prairie – Ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome
  • Rangeland – Biomes which can be grazed by animals or livestock (grasslands, woodlands, prairies, etc)
  • Water-meadow – Artificially irrigated meadow
  • Wet meadow – type of wetland

References edit

  1. ^ Rood, Stewart B.; Pan, Jason; Gill, Karen M.; Franks, Carmen G.; Samuelson, Glenda M.; Shepherd, Anita (2008-02-01). "Declining summer flows of Rocky Mountain rivers: Changing seasonal hydrology and probable impacts on floodplain forests". Journal of Hydrology. 349 (3–4): 397–410. Bibcode:2008JHyd..349..397R. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.11.012.
  2. ^ Geoff C. Brown; C. J. Hawkesworth; R. C. L. Wilson (1992). Understanding the Earth (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-521-42740-1. from the original on 2016-06-03.
  3. ^ Whittow, John (1984). Dictionary of Physical Geography. London: Penguin. p. 467. ISBN 978-0-14-051094-2.
  4. ^ Gornitz, Vivien, ed. (2009). Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology And Ancient Environments. Dordrecht: Springer. p. 665. ISBN 9781402045516.
  5. ^ Powell, W. Gabe. 2009. Identifying Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) Using National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) Data as a Hydrologic Model Input for Local Flood Plain Management. Applied Research Project, Texas State University.
  6. ^ Goudie, A. S., ed. (2004). "Denudation chronology". Encyclopedia of Geomorphology. pp. 244–248.
  7. ^ Vinogradova, N.G. (1997). "Zoogeography of the Abyssal and Hadal Zones". The Biogeography of the Oceans. Advances in Marine Biology. Vol. 32. pp. 325–387. doi:10.1016/S0065-2881(08)60019-X. ISBN 9780120261321.
  8. ^ "Glossary of Landform and Geologic Terms" (PDF). National Soil Survey Handbook—Part 629. National Cooperative Soil Survey. April 2013. from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  9. ^ Magilligan F.J., Gomez B., Mertes L.A.K., Smith, L.C. Smith N.D., Finnegan D., Garvin J.B., Geomorphic effectiveness, sandur development, and the pattern of landscape response during jökulhlaups: Skeiðarársandur, southeastern Iceland, Geomorphology 44 (2002) 95–113
  10. ^ Smith L.C., Sheng Y., Magilligan F.J., Smith N.D., Gomez B., Mertes L., Krabill W.B., Garven J.B., Geomorphic impact and rapid subsequent recovery from the 1996 Skeiðarársandur jökulhlaup, Iceland, measured with multi-year airborne lidar. Geomorphology vol. 75 Is. 1–2 (2006) 65–75
  11. ^ United States. Department of Conservation. Division of Geology. Glacial Sluceways and Lacustrine Plains of Southern Indiana. By William D. Thornburry. Bloomington: n.p., 1950. Web. <"Archived copy" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2015-12-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)>.
  12. ^ "Lava Plateaus". from the original on 2013-11-14. Retrieved 2014-01-26.
  13. ^ Migoń, Piotr (2004). "Planation surface". In Goudie, A.S. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Geomorphology. pp. 788–792.
  14. ^ "Pediplain". Encyclopedia Britannica.

External links edit

 
Look up plain in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  •   Media related to Plains at Wikimedia Commons

December 05, 2023
plain, other, uses, disambiguation, disambiguation, this, article, require, cleanup, meet, wikipedia, quality, standards, specific, problem, consistency, clarity, relevant, discussion, found, talk, page, please, help, improve, this, article, april, 2021, learn. For other uses see Plain disambiguation and Plains disambiguation This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia s quality standards The specific problem is consistency and clarity Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page Please help improve this article if you can April 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message In geography a plain commonly known as flatland is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation and is primarily treeless Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains as coastal plains and as plateaus or uplands Plains are one of the major landforms on earth being present on all continents and covering more than one third of the world s land area Plains in many areas are important for agriculture There are various types of plains and biomes on them The Kakanui Range dominates the eastern horizon of the Maniototo Plain of New ZealandMontane plains as seen in Horton Plains in Sri Lanka Contents 1 Description 2 Types of plain 2 1 Depositional plains 2 2 Erosional plains 2 3 Structural plains 3 Notable examples 3 1 America 3 1 1 North America 3 1 2 South America 3 2 Asia 3 2 1 East Asia 3 2 2 North Asia 3 2 3 Southeast Asia 3 2 4 South Asia 3 2 5 West Asia 3 3 Europe 3 3 1 Central Europe 3 3 2 Eastern Europe 3 3 3 Northern Europe 3 3 4 Southern Europe 3 4 Oceania 3 4 1 Australia 3 4 2 New Zealand 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksDescription editA plain or flatland is a flat expanse of land with a layer of grass that generally does not change much in elevation and is primarily treeless Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains as coastal plains and as plateaus or uplands 1 Plains are one of the major landforms on earth where they are present on all continents and cover more than one third of the world s land area 2 In a valley a plain is enclosed on two sides but in other cases a plain may be delineated by a complete or partial ring of hills by mountains or by cliffs Where a geological region contains more than one plain they may be connected by a pass sometimes termed a gap Coastal plains mostly rise from sea level until they run into elevated features such as mountains or plateaus 3 Plains can be formed from flowing lava from deposition of sediment by water ice or wind or formed by erosion by the agents from hills or mountains Biomes on plains include grassland temperate or subtropical steppe semi arid savannah tropical or tundra polar In a few instances deserts and rainforests may also be considered plains 4 Plains in many areas are important for agriculture because where the soils were deposited as sediments they may be deep and fertile and the flatness facilitates mechanization of crop production or because they support grasslands which provide good grazing for livestock 5 Types of plain edit nbsp A small incised alluvial plain from Red Rock Canyon State Park nbsp A flood plain in the Isle of Wight Depositional plains edit nbsp Curry County eastern New Mexico on the North American Great PlainsThe types of depositional plains include Abyssal plains flat or very gently sloping areas of the deep ocean basin 6 7 Planitia p l e ˈ n ɪ ʃ i e the Latin word for plain is used in the naming of plains on extraterrestrial objects planets and moons such as Hellas Planitia on Mars or Sedna Planitia on Venus Alluvial plains which are formed by rivers and which may be one of these overlapping types Alluvial plains formed over a long period of time by a river depositing sediment on their flood plains or beds which become alluvial soil The difference between a flood plain and an alluvial plain is a flood plain represents areas experiencing flooding fairly regularly in the present or recently whereas an alluvial plain includes areas where a flood plain is now and used to be or areas which only experience flooding a few times a century 8 nbsp Chengdu Plain Sichuan Flood plain adjacent to a lake river stream or wetland that experiences occasional or periodic flooding Scroll plain a plain through which a river meanders with a very low gradient Glacial plains formed by the movement of glaciers under the force of gravity Outwash plain also known as sandur plural sandar a glacial out wash plain formed of sediments deposited by melt water at the terminus of a glacier Sandar consist mainly of stratified layered and sorted gravel and sand 9 10 Till plains plain of glacial till that form when a sheet of ice becomes detached from the main body of a glacier and melts in place depositing the sediments it carries Till plains are composed of unsorted material till of all sizes Lacustrine plains plains that originally formed in a lacustrine environment that is as the bed of a lake 11 Lava plains formed by sheets of flowing lava 12 Erosional plains edit Erosional plains have been leveled by various agents of denudation such as running water rivers wind and glacier which wear out the rugged surface and smoothens them Plain resulting from the action of these agents of denudation are called peneplains almost plain while plains formed from wind action are called pediplains 13 Structural plains edit Structural plains are relatively undisturbed horizontal surfaces of the Earth They are structurally depressed areas of the world that make up some of the most extensive natural lowlands on the Earth s surface 14 Notable examples editSee also Category Plains by country nbsp The Pampas are a huge area of fertile grasslands in the southeastern area of South America bordering the Atlantic Ocean nbsp Nineveh Plains Bozan Iraq nbsp A field plain in Liminka Finland nbsp View of Fields at Biccavolu Eastern coastal plains Andhra Pradesh India nbsp Yilan Plain Taiwan nbsp View of the South Smaland peneplain at Store Mosse National Park in Sweden nbsp North Somerset Levels taken from Dolebury Warren England UK nbsp Terrain near the central German town of Fulda nbsp The Wallachian Plain in the southern part of Argeș County nbsp View of Messara from the hill of Phaestus Greece nbsp Cumberland Plain bushland in Western Sydney Australia nbsp Looking southeast across the Taieri Plain Otago New Zealand America edit North America edit Atlantic coastal plain United States Caroni Plain Trinidad and Tobago Carrizo Plain California United States Great Plains Canada and United States Gulf Coastal Plain Mexico and United States Interior Plains Canada and United States Lake Superior Lowland Wisconsin United States Laramie Plains Wyoming Mississippi Alluvial Plain Mississippi Oxnard Plain Ventura County California Snake River Plain Idaho South America edit Altiplano Bolivia Chile Altiplano Cundiboyacense Colombia Chilean Central Valley Cancha Rayada Los Llanos Gran Chaco Argentina Bolivia Paraguay Llanos Colombia and Venezuela Pampas Argentina Uruguay Brazil Coastal plains of ChileAsia edit East Asia edit Chianan Plain Taiwan Depsang Plains China and India Honam Plain South Korea Kantō Plain Japan Kedu Plain Indonesia Kewu Plain Indonesia Nōbi Plain Japan North China Plain China Osaka Plain Japan Pingtung Plain Taiwan Sarobetsu plain Japan Yilan Plain Taiwan North Asia edit West Siberian Plain Russia Southeast Asia edit Mallig Plains Philippines South Asia edit Bhuikhel Nepal Depsang Plains India and China Dooars India and Bhutan Eastern coastal plains India Indo Gangetic Plains Bangladesh India Nepal and Pakistan More plains India North Bengal plains Bangladesh and India Punjab Plains Pakistan and India Terai India and Nepal Utkal Plains India Western coastal plains India West Asia edit Al Ghab Plain Syria Aleppo plateau Syria Ararat Plain Armenia and Turkey Israeli coastal plain Israel Khuzestan Plain Iran Mugan plain Azerbaijan and Iran Nineveh Plains Iraqi Kurdistan Shiraki Plain Georgia Europe edit Central Europe edit Limagne France North German Plain Ochsenfeld France Pannonian Basin Central Europe Parndorf Plain Austria Westphalian Lowland Germany Eastern Europe edit Bărăgan Plain Romania Danubian Plain Bulgaria Dnieper Lowland Ukraine East European Plain European Plain Great Hungarian Plain Kosovo field Kosovo Little Hungarian Plain Austria Hungary and Slovakia Pannonian Steppe Hungary Polesian Lowland Ukraine and Belarus Upper Thracian Plain Bulgaria Wallachian Plain Romania Northern Europe edit Cheshire Plain England Hardangervidda Norway Kaffioyra Svalbard Norway Muddus plains Sweden North European Plain North Northumberland Coastal Plain Northern England North Somerset Levels North Somerset England Salisbury Plain England Solway Plain Cumbria England Somerset Levels Somerset England South Coast Plain Hampshire and Sussex England South Smaland peneplain Sweden Stora Alvaret Oland Sweden Strandflat Norway Sub Cambrian peneplain Nordic countries Central Swedish lowland Ostrobothnian Plain Finland The Fylde Lancashire England Southern Europe edit Agro Nocerino Sarnese Italy Campidano Italy Lelantine Plain Greece Mesaoria Cyprus Messara Plain Greece Nurra Sardinia Italy Po Valley Italy Rieti Valley Central Italy Tavoliere delle Puglie Southern Italy Oceania edit Australia edit Bogong High Plains Victorian Alps Australia Cumberland Plain Sydney Australia Esperance Plains Western Australia Molonglo Plain Australian Capital Territory Mulga Lands eastern Australia Nullarbor Plain Southern Australia Ord Victoria Plain Northern Australia Swan Coastal Plain Perth Australia New Zealand edit Awarua Plains Southland Canterbury Plains Canterbury Hauraki Plains Waikato Maniototo Otago Taieri Otago See also edit nbsp Geography portalField Area of land used for agricultural purposes Flooded grasslands and savannas Terrestrial biome consisting of flooded grasslands and savannas Flood meadow Land adjacent to a river subject to seasonal flooding Machair Fertile low lying grassy plain Meadow Open habitat vegetated primarily by non woody plants Pasture Land used for grazing Prairie Ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands savannas and shrublands biome Rangeland Biomes which can be grazed by animals or livestock grasslands woodlands prairies etc Water meadow Artificially irrigated meadow Wet meadow type of wetlandPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallbackReferences edit Rood Stewart B Pan Jason Gill Karen M Franks Carmen G Samuelson Glenda M Shepherd Anita 2008 02 01 Declining summer flows of Rocky Mountain rivers Changing seasonal hydrology and probable impacts on floodplain forests Journal of Hydrology 349 3 4 397 410 Bibcode 2008JHyd 349 397R doi 10 1016 j jhydrol 2007 11 012 Geoff C Brown C J Hawkesworth R C L Wilson 1992 Understanding the Earth 2nd ed Cambridge University Press p 93 ISBN 978 0 521 42740 1 Archived from the original on 2016 06 03 Whittow John 1984 Dictionary of Physical Geography London Penguin p 467 ISBN 978 0 14 051094 2 Gornitz Vivien ed 2009 Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology And Ancient Environments Dordrecht Springer p 665 ISBN 9781402045516 Powell W Gabe 2009 Identifying Land Use Land Cover LULC Using National Agriculture Imagery Program NAIP Data as a Hydrologic Model Input for Local Flood Plain Management Applied Research Project Texas State University Goudie A S ed 2004 Denudation chronology Encyclopedia of Geomorphology pp 244 248 Vinogradova N G 1997 Zoogeography of the Abyssal and Hadal Zones The Biogeography of the Oceans Advances in Marine Biology Vol 32 pp 325 387 doi 10 1016 S0065 2881 08 60019 X ISBN 9780120261321 Glossary of Landform and Geologic Terms PDF National Soil Survey Handbook Part 629 National Cooperative Soil Survey April 2013 Archived from the original on 22 October 2016 Retrieved 17 August 2016 Magilligan F J Gomez B Mertes L A K Smith L C Smith N D Finnegan D Garvin J B Geomorphic effectiveness sandur development and the pattern of landscape response during jokulhlaups Skeidararsandur southeastern Iceland Geomorphology 44 2002 95 113 Smith L C Sheng Y Magilligan F J Smith N D Gomez B Mertes L Krabill W B Garven J B Geomorphic impact and rapid subsequent recovery from the 1996 Skeidararsandur jokulhlaup Iceland measured with multi year airborne lidar Geomorphology vol 75 Is 1 2 2006 65 75 United States Department of Conservation Division of Geology Glacial Sluceways and Lacustrine Plains of Southern Indiana By William D Thornburry Bloomington n p 1950 Web lt Archived copy PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2016 03 03 Retrieved 2015 12 16 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link gt Lava Plateaus Archived from the original on 2013 11 14 Retrieved 2014 01 26 Migon Piotr 2004 Planation surface In Goudie A S ed Encyclopedia of Geomorphology pp 788 792 Pediplain Encyclopedia Britannica External links edit nbsp Look up plain in Wiktionary the free dictionary nbsp Media related to Plains at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Plain amp oldid 1188138542, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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