peneplain

American  

[pee-nuh-pleyn, pee-nuh-pleyn] / ˈpi nəˌpleɪn, ˌpi nəˈpleɪn /

Or peneplane

noun

Geology.

1. an area reduced almost to a plain by erosion.

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peneplain British  

/ ˈpiːnɪˌpleɪn, ˌpiːnɪˈpleɪn /

noun

1. a relatively flat land surface produced by a long period of erosion

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Other Word Forms

• peneplanation
  noun

Etymology

Origin of peneplain

First recorded in 1885–90; pene- + plain ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

peneplain

Peace does not reign in a science, they say, until its peaks and valleys have worn to a featureless peneplain grazed by placid ruminants.

From Time Magazine Archive

Such are the dissected cores of lofty mountains, as the Alps, and the worn-down bases of ancient ranges, as in New England, large areas in the Piedmont Belt, and the Laurentian peneplain.

From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon

At a stage shortly preceding the base-level stage the surface would be a peneplain.

From The Geography of the Region about Devils Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin by Atwood, Wallace W.

Along the Atlantic coast the Mesozoic peneplain may be traced shoreward to where it disappears from view beneath an unconformable cover of early Tertiary marine strata.

From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon

How may a plain of marine abrasion be expected to differ from a peneplain in its mantle of waste?

From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon