alluvial plain from
Red Rock Canyon State Park (California). . ,
Carmagnola, countryside near the
Po river,
Italy Depositional plains The types of depositional plains include: •
Abyssal plains, flat or very gently sloping areas of the deep ocean basin. •
Planitia , the
Latin word for plain, is used in the naming of plains on extraterrestrial objects (planets and moons), such as
Hellas Planitia on
Mars or
Sedna Planitia on
Venus. •
Alluvial plains, which are formed by rivers and which may be one of these overlapping types: •
Alluvial plains, formed over a long period of time by a
river depositing sediment on their flood plains or beds, which become
alluvial soil. The difference between a flood plain and an alluvial plain is: a flood plain represents areas experiencing flooding fairly regularly in the present or recently, whereas an alluvial plain includes areas where a flood plain is now and used to be, or areas which only experience flooding a few times a century. Plain,
Sichuan •
Flood plain, adjacent to a lake, river, stream, or wetland that experiences occasional or periodic
flooding. •
Scroll plain, a plain through which a river
meanders with a very low gradient. •
Glacial plains, formed by the movement of glaciers under the force of gravity: •
Outwash plain (also known as sandur; plural sandar), a glacial out-wash plain formed of sediments deposited by melt-water at the terminus of a glacier. Sandar consist mainly of stratified (layered and sorted) gravel and sand. •
Till plains, plain of
glacial till that form when a sheet of
ice becomes detached from the main body of a
glacier and melts in place depositing the
sediments it carries. Till plains are composed of unsorted material (till) of all sizes. •
Lacustrine plains, plains that originally formed in a lacustrine environment, that is, as the bed of a
lake. •
Lava plains, formed by sheets of flowing
lava.
Erosional plains Erosional plains have been leveled by various agents of denudation such as running water, rivers, wind and glacier which wear out the rugged surface and smoothens them. Plain resulting from the action of these agents of denudation are called
peneplains (almost plain) while plains formed from wind action are called
pediplains.
Structural plains Structural plains are relatively undisturbed horizontal surfaces of the Earth. They are structurally depressed areas of the world that make up some of the most extensive natural lowlands on the Earth's surface. , eastern
New Mexico, on the North American
Great Plains ==Notable examples==