Denudation Surfaces

(surfaces of denudation planation), level or slightly undulating surfaces that were smoothed out by exogenous processes during a period of the protracted stabilization of the denudation base and that cut rocks of varying ages to the same level. A necessary condition for the formation of denudation surfaces is the compensation of tectonic manifestations by processes of denudation and aggradation. In mountainous regions where there have been repeated changes in the denudation base, several denudation surfaces of varying ages may be formed, which can often be reconstructed only from fragments such as mountain peaks and crests of uniform elevation. The denudation surfaces are always younger than the latest rocks, in terms of the period of their formation, cut by the given surface. Denudation surfaces include peneplains, pediplains, and equiplains.