alluvial plain

American  

noun

1. a level or gently sloping surface formed of sediments laid down by streams, generally during flooding.

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Etymology

Origin of alluvial plain

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

Sediment from the Midwest, distributed through the alluvial plain by regular floods over millions of years, created Louisiana.

From Slate • Jun. 18, 2019

Bangladesh has far and away the highest population density of any sizable nation — around 3,000 people per square mile pack the alluvial plain that spans most of the country.

From Washington Post • Sep. 29, 2017

Ferme Descoubet lies at the far western edge of the Gers, near where the dense hills of the Gascon heartland flatten out into the alluvial plain of the Adour River.

From New York Times • Mar. 15, 2017

An alluvial fan spreads out into a broad alluvial plain.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

Antiquity of the delta.—The vast size of the alluvial plain both above and below the head of the delta, or the branching off of the uppermost arm of the Atchafalaya, has been already alluded to.

From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir