Alluvial plain

Alluvial plain

A wide, flat, gently sloping plain created by the long-term deposition of alluvium from one or more rivers flowing from highland regions, and typically characterized by various fluvial landforms such as braided streams, terraces, and meanders. Alluvial plains encompass the larger area over which a river's floodplain has shifted through geological time.

Floodplane (centre) within the alluvial plain of the Waimakariri River, New Zealand (part of the Canterbury Plains).

A small, incised alluvial plain from Red Rock Canyon State Park (California).

Examples

• Canterbury Plains, Southland Plains, and Waikato Plains in New Zealand
• Chianan Plain in Taiwan
• Lower Danubian Plain, Bulgaria and Romania
• Indo-Gangetic Plain and Punjab in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh
• Iskar (river) valleys in Bulgaria
• Mekong Delta in Vietnam
• Mesaoria in Cyprus
• Mesopotamia in Iraq
• Mississippi Alluvial Plain, Oxnard Plain, and Laguna de Santa Rosa in the United States
• North China Plain in China
• Palakaria Valley in Bulgaria
• Po Valley in Italy
• Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt in the Netherlands
• Struma Valley in Bulgaria
• Tundzha valleys in Bulgaria
• Multiple sites in Switzerland
• Upper Thracian Plain in Bulgaria
• Baetic Depression in Andalusia, Spain

See also

• Alluvial fan
• Alluvium
• Coastal plain
• Desert pavement
• River delta

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