Definition of peneplain in English:
peneplain
noun ˈpiːnɪpleɪnˈpinəˌpleɪn
Geology A more or less level land surface produced by erosion over a long period, undisturbed by crustal movement.
Example sentencesExamples
- The south slope is generally planar except where incised by glacial or fluvial valleys and is a remnant peneplain of late Cretaceous-early Tertiary age, which is well developed in western Mongolia and adjacent regions of China.
- Here the sequence of processes and landforms which exists between the tectonic uplift of an area and its reduction to a peneplain or erosion surface close to base level is believed to have occurred many times in certain regions.
- Possibly this was the time of exhumation of the Augenstein peneplain in the Northern Calcareous Alps, formed during Priabonian-Early Kiscellian time.
- It occupies the high-lying peneplain between South Africa and Swaziland, and borders against the low-lying, older greenstone terrane in the north along a prominent, 500-700 m high escarpment.
- the Palaeozoic Urals were eroded down to a peneplain by the end of Jurassic time, with platform sediments covering most of the orogen.
Origin
Late 19th century: from Latin paene 'almost' + plain1.
Definition of peneplain in US English:
peneplain
(also peneplane)
nounˈpinəˌpleɪnˈpēnəˌplān
Geology A more or less level land surface produced by erosion over a long period, undisturbed by crustal movement.
Example sentencesExamples
- Here the sequence of processes and landforms which exists between the tectonic uplift of an area and its reduction to a peneplain or erosion surface close to base level is believed to have occurred many times in certain regions.
- The south slope is generally planar except where incised by glacial or fluvial valleys and is a remnant peneplain of late Cretaceous-early Tertiary age, which is well developed in western Mongolia and adjacent regions of China.
- Possibly this was the time of exhumation of the Augenstein peneplain in the Northern Calcareous Alps, formed during Priabonian-Early Kiscellian time.
- the Palaeozoic Urals were eroded down to a peneplain by the end of Jurassic time, with platform sediments covering most of the orogen.
- It occupies the high-lying peneplain between South Africa and Swaziland, and borders against the low-lying, older greenstone terrane in the north along a prominent, 500-700 m high escarpment.
Origin
Late 19th century: from Latin paene ‘almost’ + plain.