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

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

Should you expect the velocity of an earthquake to be greater in a peneplain or in a river delta?

From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon

This peneplain was later upraised into a plateau and its downward inclination towards the east increased.

From North America by Russell, Israel C. (Cook)

It is not intended by this statement to imply that all of the 70 Atlantic plateau was ever a single great peneplain, but the same general history seems to apply to the entire region.

From North America by Russell, Israel C. (Cook)

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