claypan

American  

[kley-pan] / ˈkleɪˌpæn /

noun

1. hardpan.

2. Australian.  a shallow, normally dry depression in the ground that holds water after a heavy rain.

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claypan British  

/ ˈkleɪˌpæn /

noun

1. a layer of stiff impervious clay situated just below the surface of the ground, which holds water after heavy rain

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Etymology

Origin of claypan

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40; clay + pan ¹

Example Sentences

A colleague had mistakenly taken them to a site they'd never visited before, a nondescript-looking claypan lost among the pale dunes in the Willandra Lakes region of far western New South Wales.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sometimes they found a sufficiency in a natural well or claypan; or again they struck for some creek towards the west or north, whose irregular curves were outlined on the plain by the gum-trees growing closely on its banks.

From Project Gutenberg

Camped on claypan with little and bad water.

From Project Gutenberg

SEE     Upfield, Arthur W.   Wings above the claypan.

From Project Gutenberg

The ground was at first hard and even like the bottom of a claypan, but at a mile or so, we came on cracked earthy ground, intersected by numberless small channels running in all directions.

From Project Gutenberg