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.

---

peneplain British  

/ ˈpiːnɪˌpleɪn, ˌpiːnɪˈpleɪn /

noun

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

---

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

This barrier is not likely to be crossed by any stream until the whole region has been reduced to a peneplain.

From Drainage Modifications and Glaciation in the Danbury Region Connecticut State of Connecticut State Geological and Natural History Survey Bulletin No. 30 by Sawyer-Harvey, Ruth

A few other points in the vicinity failed to be reduced to the level of the peneplain.

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

Thus a new cycle of erosion was begun, and the uplifted peneplain was dissected by the quickened streams which sank their valleys promptly into the slightly resistant sandstone.

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

We have already studied a very ancient peneplain whose edge is exposed to view deep on the walls of the Colorado Canyon.

From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon