Alluvial plain: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Region on which rivers have deposited sediment}} | {{Short description|Region on which rivers have deposited sediment}} | ||
{{About||the glacial feature|Outwash plain}}{{ | {{About||the glacial feature|Outwash plain}} | ||
{{More citations needed|date=November 2024}} | |||
[[File:Waimakariri02 gobeirne.jpg|thumb|Floodplain (centre) within the alluvial plain of the [[Waimakariri River]], [[New Zealand]] (part of the [[Canterbury Plains]]).]] | |||
[[Image:AlluvialPlain.JPG|thumb|A small, [[River incision|incised]] alluvial plain from [[Red Rock Canyon State Park (California)]].]] | [[Image:AlluvialPlain.JPG|thumb|A small, [[River incision|incised]] alluvial plain from [[Red Rock Canyon State Park (California)]].]] | ||
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* [[Santa Clara Valley]] in [[San Jose, California]]<ref>[https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Bulletin-118/Files/2003-Basin-Descriptions/2_009_04_East-BayPlainSubbasin.pdf Santa Clara Valley Groundwater Basin, East Bay Plain Subbasin] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225204616/https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Bulletin-118/Files/2003-Basin-Descriptions/2_009_04_East-BayPlainSubbasin.pdf}}</ref> | * [[Santa Clara Valley]] in [[San Jose, California]]<ref>[https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Bulletin-118/Files/2003-Basin-Descriptions/2_009_04_East-BayPlainSubbasin.pdf Santa Clara Valley Groundwater Basin, East Bay Plain Subbasin] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225204616/https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Bulletin-118/Files/2003-Basin-Descriptions/2_009_04_East-BayPlainSubbasin.pdf}}</ref> | ||
* [[Tempisque River]] plain in [[Costa Rica]] | * [[Tempisque River]] plain in [[Costa Rica]] | ||
* [[Solimões River|Middle Amazon]], Brazil<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The Holocene alluvial plain of the middle Amazon River, Brazil |journal=[[Geomorphology (journal)|Geomorphology]] |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X01001775 |last=Latrubesse |first=Edgardo M. |issue=3-4 |volume=44 |pages= | * [[Solimões River|Middle Amazon]], Brazil<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The Holocene alluvial plain of the middle Amazon River, Brazil |journal=[[Geomorphology (journal)|Geomorphology]] |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X01001775 |last=Latrubesse |first=Edgardo M. |issue=3-4 |volume=44 |pages=241–257 |last2=Franzinelli |first2=Elena |doi=10.1016/S0169-555X(01)00177-5 |year=2002|url-access=subscription }}</ref> | ||
===Asia & Oceania=== | ===Asia & Oceania=== | ||
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* [[Mesopotamia]] in [[Iraq]] | * [[Mesopotamia]] in [[Iraq]] | ||
* [[North China Plain]] in [[China]] | * [[North China Plain]] in [[China]] | ||
===Europe=== | ===Europe=== | ||
* [[Baetic Depression]] in [[Andalusia]], [[Spain]] | * [[Baetic Depression]] in [[Andalusia]], [[Spain]] | ||
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==References== | ==References== | ||
{{Reflist}} | {{Reflist}} | ||
{{Commons category | {{Commons category}} | ||
{{River morphology}} | {{River morphology}} | ||
Latest revision as of 08:32, 22 June 2025
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "about". Template:More citations needed
An alluvial plain is a plain (an essentially flat landform) created by the deposition of sediment over a long period by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the smaller area over which the rivers flood at a particular time. In contrast, the alluvial plain is the larger area representing the region over which the floodplains have shifted over geological time.
As the highlands erode due to weathering and water flow, the sediment from the hills is transported to the lower plain. Various creeks will carry the water further to a river, lake, bay, or ocean. As the sediments are deposited during flood conditions in the floodplain 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 a meander (a curved path). The leftover higher locations, typically natural levees at the margins of the flood channel, will be eroded by lateral stream erosion, 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 (local changes in elevation) yet with a constant but slight slope.
The Glossary of Landform and Geologic Terms, maintained by the United States National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS), defines an "alluvial plain" as "a large assemblage of fluvial landforms (braided streams, terraces, etc.) that form a low gradient, regional ramps along the flanks of mountains and extend great distances from their sources (e.g., High Plains of North America)". Use of "alluvial plain" as a general, informal term for a broad flood plain or a low-gradient delta is explicitly discouraged. The NCSS glossary instead suggests "flood plain".[1]
Alluvial plains have similar traits to a river delta; however, the river delta will flow into a larger body of water. Alluvial plains generally don't have this.
Examples
Americas
- Mississippi Alluvial Plain, Oxnard Plain, and Laguna de Santa Rosa in the United States[2]
- Santa Clara Valley in San Jose, California[3]
- Tempisque River plain in Costa Rica
- Middle Amazon, Brazil[4]
Asia & Oceania
- Canterbury Plains, Southland Plains, and Waikato Plains in New Zealand
- Chianan Plain in Taiwan
- Indo-Gangetic Plain and Punjab in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh[5]
- Mekong Delta in Vietnam
- Mesopotamia in Iraq
- North China Plain in China
Europe
- Baetic Depression in Andalusia, Spain
- Lower Danubian Plain, Bulgaria and Romania
- Iskar (river) valleys in Bulgaria
- Mesaoria in Cyprus
- Multiple sites in Switzerland
- Palakaria Valley in Bulgaria
- Po Valley in Italy
- Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt in the Netherlands
- Haute vallée de la Sarthe in France
- Struma Valley in Bulgaria
- Tundzha valleys in Bulgaria
- Upper Thracian Plain in Bulgaria
See also
References
Template:Reflist Template:Sister project
Template:River morphology Template:Authority control
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Mississippi River alluvial plain Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Santa Clara Valley Groundwater Basin, East Bay Plain Subbasin Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Punjab Plain, Encyclopædia Britannica