Editing Plain (section)

==Types of plain==
[[File:AlluvialPlain.JPG|thumb|A small, [[river incision|incised]] alluvial plain from [[Red Rock Canyon State Park (California)]].]]
[[File:floodislewight.jpg|thumb|right|A flood plain in the [[Isle of Wight]].]]
[[File:Borgo San Michele e Grato Uccelli Carmagnola Miele.jpg|thumb|[[Po Valley]], [[Carmagnola]], countryside near the [[Po (river)|Po river]], [[Italy]]]]

===Depositional plains===
The types of depositional plains include:
* [[Abyssal plain]]s, flat or very gently sloping areas of the deep ocean basin.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Goudie|editor-first=A. S. |editor-link=Andrew Goudie (geographer) |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Geomorphology |title=Denudation chronology |year=2004 |pages=244–248}}</ref><ref name=Vino1997>{{Cite book |first=N.G. |last=Vinogradova |title=The Biogeography of the Oceans |chapter=Zoogeography of the Abyssal and Hadal Zones |volume=32 |pages=325–387 |year=1997 |doi=10.1016/S0065-2881(08)60019-X |series=Advances in Marine Biology |isbn=9780120261321}}</ref>
* {{anchor|Planitia}}[[Planitia]] {{IPAc-en|p|l|ə|'|n|ɪ|ʃ|i|ə}}, the [[Latin language|Latin]] word for plain, is used in the naming of plains on extraterrestrial objects (planets and moons), such as [[Hellas Planitia]] on [[Mars]] or [[Sedna Planitia]] on [[Venus]].
* '''Alluvial plains''', which are formed by rivers and which may be one of these overlapping types:
** [[Alluvial plain]]s, formed over a long period of time by a [[river]] depositing sediment on their flood plains or beds, which become [[alluvial]] soil. The difference between a flood plain and an alluvial plain is: a flood plain represents areas experiencing flooding fairly regularly in the present or recently, whereas an alluvial plain includes areas where a flood plain is now and used to be, or areas which only experience flooding a few times a century.<ref name="LandformGloss">{{cite web | url=https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/PA_NRCSConsumption/download?cid=nrcs142p2_053182&ext=pdf | title=Glossary of Landform and Geologic Terms | publisher=[[National Cooperative Soil Survey]] | work=National Soil Survey Handbook—Part 629 | date=April 2013 | format=PDF | access-date=17 August 2016 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022224040/http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/PA_NRCSConsumption/download/?cid=nrcs142p2_053182&ext=pdf | archive-date=22 October 2016 }}</ref>[[File:雪山下的成都市天际线 Chengdu skyline with snow capped mountains.jpg|thumb|[[Chengdu]] Plain, [[Sichuan]]]]
** [[Flood plain]], adjacent to a lake, river, stream, or wetland that experiences occasional or periodic [[flooding]].
** [[Scroll plain]], a plain through which a river [[meander]]s with a very low gradient.<!--NOTE this may be merged with flood plain or alluvial plain in the near future.-->
* '''Glacial plains''', formed by the movement of glaciers under the force of gravity:
** [[Outwash plain]] (also known as sandur; plural sandar), a glacial out-wash plain formed of sediments deposited by melt-water at the terminus of a glacier. Sandar consist mainly of stratified (layered and sorted) gravel and sand.<ref>Magilligan F.J., Gomez B., Mertes L.A.K., Smith, L.C. Smith N.D., Finnegan D., Garvin J.B., ''Geomorphic effectiveness, sandur development, and the pattern of landscape response during jökulhlaups: [[Skeiðarársandur]], southeastern Iceland'', Geomorphology 44 (2002) 95–113</ref><ref>Smith L.C., Sheng Y., Magilligan F.J., Smith N.D., Gomez B., Mertes L., Krabill W.B., Garven J.B., ''Geomorphic impact and rapid subsequent recovery from the 1996 Skeiðarársandur jökulhlaup, Iceland, measured with multi-year airborne lidar''. Geomorphology vol. 75 Is. 1–2 (2006) 65–75</ref>
** [[Till plain]]s, plain of [[glacial till]] that form when a sheet of [[ice]] becomes detached from the main body of a [[glacier]] and melts in place depositing the [[sediment]]s it carries. Till plains are composed of unsorted material (till) of all sizes.
* [[Lacustrine plain]]s, plains that originally formed in a lacustrine environment, that is, as the bed of a [[lake]].<ref>United States. Department of Conservation. Division of Geology. Glacial Sluceways and Lacustrine Plains of Southern Indiana. By William D. Thornburry. Bloomington: n.p., 1950. Web. <{{cite web |url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/205/B04.pdf?sequence=1 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-12-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230354/https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/205/B04.pdf?sequence=1 |archive-date=2016-03-03 }}>.</ref>
* [[Lava plain]]s, formed by sheets of flowing [[lava]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/LavaPlateaus/description_lava_plateaus.html|title=Lava Plateaus|access-date=2014-01-26|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114161356/http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/LavaPlateaus/description_lava_plateaus.html|archive-date=2013-11-14}}</ref>

===Erosional plains===
'''Erosional plains''' have been leveled by various agents of denudation such as running water, rivers, wind and glacier which wear out the rugged surface and smoothens them. Plain resulting from the action of these agents of denudation are called ''[[peneplain]]s'' (almost plain) while plains formed from wind action are called ''[[pediplain]]s''.<ref name=Migon>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Migoń|first=Piotr|author-link=Piotr Migoń|editor-last=Goudie|editor-first=A.S.|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Geomorphology|title=Planation surface|year=2004|pages=788–792}}</ref>

===Structural plains===
'''Structural plains''' are relatively undisturbed horizontal surfaces of the Earth. They are structurally depressed areas of the world that make up some of the most extensive natural lowlands on the Earth's surface.<ref name=Brit>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|title=Pediplain|url=http://global.britannica.com/science/pediplain}}</ref>

[[File:Curry County Eastern New Mexico 2010.jpg|thumb|[[Curry County, New Mexico|Curry County]], eastern [[New Mexico]], on the North American [[Great Plains]]]]