Pediplain

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
View of a scarpment and pediment in Namibia. The somewhat flat area in the foreground is an incipient pediplain.
Oudalan
pediplain, between Gorom and Oursi, Burkina Faso.

In geology and geomorphology a pediplain (from the Latin pes, genitive case pedis, meaning "foot") is an extensive plain formed by the coalescence of pediments.[1] The processes through which pediplains forms is known as pediplanation.[2] The concepts of pediplain and pediplanation were first developed by geologist Lester Charles King in his 1942 book South African Scenery. The concept gained notoriety as it was juxtaposed to peneplanation.[3][A]

The coalesced pediments of the pediplains may form a series of very gentle concave slopes.[B] Pediplains main difference to W. M. Davis’ peneplains is in the history and processes behind, and less so in the final shape. Perhaps the most notable difference in form that may be present is that of residual hills which in Davis’ peneplains are to have gentle slopes while in pediplains they ought to have the same steepness as the slopes in the early stages of erosion leading to pediplanation.[4]

Pediplanation is linked to

etchplanation resulting in the formation of flattish surfaces (peneplains) of mixed origin (polygenetic).[6]

Cryoplanation is a variant of pediplanation that is restricted to cold climates.[2]

Examples

See also

  • Erosion surface – Natural surface created by rock erosion
  • Etchplain – Plain where the bedrock has been subject to considerable subsurface weathering
  • Paleosurface – Surface made by erosion of considerable antiquity
  • Planation surface – Large-scale surface that is almost flat

Notes

  1. ^ King himself held that: : A peneplain in the Davisian sense, resulting from slope reduction and downwearing, does not exist in nature. It should be redefined as "an imaginary landform."[4]
  2. ^ It is argued by T.J. Fair that peneplains also have these gentle concave forms, but W. M. Davis’ view on the issue is not clear, meaning possibly that he might have held that peneplains had very gentle convex slopes.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Jones, David K.C. (2004). "Denudation chronology". In Goudie, A.S. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Geomorphology. pp. 244–248.
  2. ^ a b c Migoń, Piotr (2004). "Planation surface". In Goudie, A.S. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Geomorphology. pp. 788–792.
  3. ^
    doi:10.1016/0169-555x(92)90021-f
    .
  4. ^
    doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1953)64[721:cole]2.0.co;2
    .
  5. ^ "Pediplain". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  6. doi:10.1086/628474
    .
  7. ^ Muñoz-Farías, Sebastián; Ritter, Benedikt; Dunai, Tibor J.; Morales-Leal, Jorge; Campos, Eduardo; Spikings, Richard; Riquelme, Rodrigo (2023). "Geomorphological significance of the Atacama Pediplain as a marker for the climatic and tectonic evolution of the Andean forearc, between 26° to 28°S". Geomorphology. 420.
  8. ^ Fölster, Horst (1964). "Morphogenese der südsudanischen Pediplane". Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie (in German). 8 (4): 393–423.


Stub icon

This article about geography terminology is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pediplain&oldid=1219882046"