In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of

mountains A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher th ...

, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or

uplands Upland or Uplands may refer to: Geography *Hill, an area of higher land, generally *Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points *Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level *I ...

. In a valley, a plain is enclosed on two sides, but in other cases a plain may be delineated by a complete or partial ring of hills, by mountains, or by cliffs. Where a geological region contains more than one plain, they may be connected by a

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland *Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits *Mountain pass, a lower place in a mountai ...

(sometimes termed a gap). Coastal plains mostly rise from sea level until they run into elevated features such as mountains or plateaus. Plains are one of the major

landform A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, ...

s on earth, where they are present on all continents, and cover more than one-third of the world's land area. Plains can be formed from flowing lava; from deposition of sediment by water, ice, or wind; or formed by erosion by the agents from hills and mountains. Biomes on plains include grassland ( temperate or

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

( semi-arid),

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

( tropical) or tundra (

polar Polar may refer to: Geography Polar may refer to: * Geographical pole, either of two fixed points on the surface of a rotating body or planet, at 90 degrees from the equator, based on the axis around which a body rotates * Polar climate, the c ...

). In a few instances,

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

s and

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s may also be considered plains. Plains in many areas are important for agriculture because where the soils were deposited as sediments they may be deep and

fertile Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertilit ...

, and the flatness facilitates mechanization of crop production; or because they support grasslands which provide good grazing for livestock.

Types of plain

Depositional plains

The types of depositional plains include: * Abyssal plains, flat or very gently sloping areas of the deep ocean basin. *

Planitia In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. ...

, the 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 Sedna Planitia is a large lowland area of Venus, south of Ishtar Terra. It is thought to be lava-covered and similar to a lunar mare The lunar maria (; singular: mare ) are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient aster ...

on Venus. * Alluvial plains, which are formed by rivers and which may be one of these overlapping types: **

Alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the sma ...

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. **

Flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

, adjacent to a lake, river, stream, or wetland that experiences occasional or periodic flooding. **

Scroll plain A scroll plain occurs where a river meanders across an area with a very low gradient, usually with a fairly continuous discharge. In addition to meanders, scroll plains are also characterised by many oxbow lakes. See also *Strath A strath is a ...

, a plain through which a river meanders with a very low gradient. * 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. **

Till plain Till plains are an extensive flat plain of glacial till that forms when a sheet of ice becomes detached from the main body of a glacier and melts in place, depositing the sediments it carried. Ground moraines are formed with melts out of the glacie ...

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 sediments it carries. Till plains are composed of unsorted material (till) of all sizes. * Lacustrine plains, plains that originally formed in a lacustrine environment, that is, as the bed of a lake. * Lava plains, formed by sheets of flowing lava.

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 '' peneplains'' (almost plain) while plains formed from wind action are called '' pediplains''.

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. Maniototoevening

Notable examples

View of the South Småland peneplain at Store Mosse National Park in Sweden. Nsomersetlevels

Western Sydney (Badgerys Creek) Airport site - Anton Rd

America

Caribbean and South America

* Altiplano (Bolivia, Chile) * Altiplano Cundiboyacense (Colombia) * Caroni Plain ( Trinidad and Tobago) *

Chilean Central Valley The Central Valley ( es, Valle Central), Intermediate Depression, or Longitudinal Valley is the depression between the Chilean Coastal Range and the Andes Mountains. The Chilean Central Valley extends from the border with Peru to Puerto Montt in s ...

** ** Los Llanos * Gran Chaco (Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay) *

Llanos The Llanos (Spanish ''Los Llanos'', "The Plains"; ) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America. It is an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, sav ...

(

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and Venezuela) * Pampas (Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil) *

Coastal plains of Chile The coastal plains of Chile ( es, Planicies litorales) are a series of discontinuous coastal plains found over much of Chile. Together with the Chilean Coast Range, the Chilean Central Valley and the Andes proper the coastal plains are one of the ...

North America

Atlantic coastal plain The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

( United States) *

Carrizo Plain The Carrizo Plain ( Obispeño: ''tšɨłkukunɨtš'', "Place of the rabbits") is a large enclosed grassland plain, approximately long and up to across, in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, California, about northwest of Los Angeles. It con ...

( California, United States) *

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

( Canada and United States) * Gulf Coastal Plain ( Mexico and United States) *

Interior Plains The Interior Plains is a vast Physiographic province, physiographic region that spreads across the Laurentia, Laurentian craton of central North America, extending along the east flank of the Rocky Mountains from the Gulf Coast region to the Arcti ...

(Canada and United States) * Lake Superior Lowland ( Wisconsin, United States) *

Laramie Plains The Laramie Plains is an arid highland at an elevation of approx. in south central Wyoming in the United States. The plains extend along the upper basin of the Laramie River on the east side of the Medicine Bow Range. The city of Laramie is the ...

( Wyoming) * Mississippi Alluvial Plain ( Mississippi) * Oxnard Plain ( Ventura County, California) *

Snake River Plain image:Snake River view near Twin Falls, Idaho.jpg, The Snake River cutting through the plain leaves many canyons and Canyon#List of gorges, gorges, such as this one near Twin Falls, Idaho The Snake River Plain is a geology, geologic feature ...

( Idaho)

Asia

Eastern Asia

Chianan Plain Chianan or Jianan may refer to: Taiwan * Chianan Plain, largest plain in Taiwan * Chianan Irrigation, canals of Chianan Plain of Taiwan Han Dynasty *Jian'an, name for the period of rule (196—220) of the Emperor Xian of Han *Seven Scholars of J ...

( Taiwan) *

Depsang Plains The Depsang Plains represent a high-altitude gravelly plain at the northwest portion of the disputed Aksai Chin region of Kashmir, divided into Indian and Chinese administered portions across a Line of Actual Control. India controls the we ...

(

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and India) *

Honam Plain Honam (; literally "south of the lake") is a region coinciding with the former Jeolla Province in what is now South Korea. Today, the term refers to Gwangju, South Jeolla and North Jeolla Provinces. The name "Jeonla-do" is used in the names of th ...

(South Korea) * Kantō Plain (

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

) * Kedu Plain ( Indonesia) *

Kewu Plain Kewu Plain, also known as Prambanan Plain or Opak River valley, is a fertile volcanic plain that lies between Merapi-Merbabu complex in the north, Bantul lowlands and Sewu karst limestone range in the south, Bengawan Solo river valley in the east ...

(Indonesia) *

Mallig Plains Mallig Plains Region is a region in the western part of the province of Isabela in the Philippines. Its name was acquired from the rolling terrains in western Isabela. The municipality of Roxas serves as the region's business hub. Component lo ...

( Philippines) * Nōbi Plain (Japan) *

North China Plain The North China Plain or Huang-Huai-Hai Plain () is a large-scale downfaulted rift basin formed in the late Paleogene and Neogene and then modified by the deposits of the Yellow River. It is the largest alluvial plain of China. The plain is bord ...

(China) * Osaka Plain (Japan) *

Pingtung Plain Pingtung Plain () is a plain area including parts of Pingtung County and Kaohsiung City in Taiwan. It includes the alluvial fan of Kaoping River, which forms the largest drainage area of rivers in Taiwan, and also passed by other shorter rivers s ...

(Taiwan) * Sarobetsu plain (Japan) * Yilan Plain (Taiwan)

North Asia

* West Siberian Plain ( Russia)

South Asia

Bhuikhel Bhuikhel ( ne, भुइखेल) is a large plain located in the western part of Kathmandu at the foot of Swayambhu hill. Also known as Bhukhel (भुखेल), it is famed for the Buddhist Samyak festival held here. The field is one of t ...

( Nepal) *

( India and

) * Dooars ( India and Bhutan) * Eastern coastal plains ( India) *

Indo-Gangetic Plain The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the North Indian River Plain, is a fertile plain encompassing northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, around half of Pakistan, virtually all of Bangla ...

s ( Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan) *

More plains More plains, originally called Kiang Chu Thang in the local language, is a plateau on the Leh–Manali Highway. Kiang Chu Thang means a plain where the kiang (Tibetan wild ass) does not find water. It occupies 40 km of the highway between L ...

( India) *

North Bengal plains North Bengal plains starts from the south of Terai region and continues up to the left bank of the Ganges. The southern parts of the district Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur baring some extreme northern regions, South Dinajpur, Malda and Cooch Behar ...

( Bangladesh and India) *

Punjab Plain The Punjab Plain is a large alluvial plain in Eastern Pakistan and Northwestern India. The plain includes the Pakistani province of Punjab and the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, and parts of Rajasthan. This plain is around 200–300 meters ...

s ( Pakistan and India) * Terai ( India and Nepal) * Utkal Plains ( India) * Western coastal plains ( India)

Western Asia

Al-Ghab Plain The Ghab Plain ( ar, سَهْلُ ٱلْغَابِ, Sahl al-Ġāb, literally: Forest Plain) is a fertile depression lying mainly in the Al-Suqaylabiyah District in northwest Syria. The Orontes River, flowing north, enters the Plain near Muhradah, ...

(

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

) *

Aleppo plateau The Aleppo plateau ( ar, هضبة حلب ) is a low, gently undulating plateau of northern Syria. It lies at the northern end of the junction between the Arabian Plate and the African Plate at the Dead Sea Rift. The plateau lies mostly in the Ale ...

(Syria) * Ararat Plain ( Armenia and Turkey) * Israeli coastal plain ( Israel) *

Khuzestan Plain The Khuzestan Plain is the relatively flat region of Iran where the Khuzestan province and the cities of Ahvaz, Susa and Abadan are located. It is the largest plain in Iran and one of the richest agricultural areas in the world. It is irrigated by ...

( Iran) * Mugan plain ( Azerbaijan and Iran) * Nineveh Plains ( Iraqi Kurdistan) *

Shiraki Plain The Shiraki ( ka, შირაქის ვაკე, ) is a plain on the Iori Plateau in Georgia (country), Georgia, an interfluve between the river valleys of the Iori (river), Iori in the south and the Alazani in the north; its steep slopes i ...

( Georgia)

Europe

Central Europe

Limagne The Limagne () is large plain in the Auvergne region of France in the valley of the Allier river, on the edge of the Massif Central. It lies entirely within the ''département'' of Puy-de-Dôme. The term is sometimes used to include this, and t ...

( France) * North German Plain *

Ochsenfeld The Ochsenfeld is a plain in the Alsatian region of France. It extends from the outlet of the upper Thur valley in the west to the Hardt Forest, and from Sundgau in the south to Ensisheim in the north. The name is derived from the German words " ...

(France) * Pannonian Basin ( Central Europe) *

Parndorf Plain Parndorf Plain (german: Parndorfer Platte, hu, Parndorfi-fennsík, Pándorfalvi-fennsík, sk, Parndorfská plošina) also called Parndorf Heath (german: Parndorfer Heide) in the northern part of Burgenland, Austria, at an altitude of 160– ...

(Austria) * Westphalian Lowland (Germany)

Eastern Europe

Bărăgan Plain The Bărăgan Plain ( ro, Câmpia Bărăganului ) is a steppe plain in south-eastern Romania. It makes up much of the eastern part of the Wallachian Plain. The region is known for its black soil and a rich humus, and is mostly a cereal-growing are ...

( Romania) * Danubian Plain ( Bulgaria) * Dnieper Lowland ( Ukraine) * East European Plain *

European Plain The European Plain or Great European Plain is a plain in Europe and is a major feature of one of four major topographical units of Europe - the ''Central and Interior Lowlands''.

* Great Hungarian Plain * Kosovo field ( Kosovo) * Little Hungarian Plain ( Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia) * Pannonian Steppe (Hungary) * Polesian Lowland (Ukraine and Belarus) * Upper Thracian Plain (Bulgaria) * Wallachian Plain (Romania)

Northern Europe

* Cheshire Plain ( England) * Hardangervidda ( Norway) *

Kaffiøyra Kaffiøyra (Coffee Plain) is a coastal plain in Oscar II Land at Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The plain has a length of about thirteen kilometers, extending from Aavatsmarkbreen southwards to Oliverbreen. Kaffiøyra is crossed by several brooks or ...

(

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

, Norway) *

Muddus plains The Muddus plains is a landscape type in northern Sweden characterized by its flat topography dotted with inselbergs. The topographic character of the Muddus plains was first described in detail by Walter Wråk in 1908. The Muddus plains are part ...

(

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

) * North European Plain * North Northumberland Coastal Plain ( Northern England) *

North Somerset Levels The North Somerset Levels is a coastal plain, an expanse of low-lying flat ground, which occupies an area between Weston-super-Mare and Bristol in North Somerset, England. The River Banwell, River Kenn, River Yeo and Land Yeo are the three prin ...

( North Somerset, England) *

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...

(England) * Solway Plain ( Cumbria, England) * Somerset Levels ( Somerset, England) *

South Coast Plain The South Coast Plain is a natural region in England running along the central south coast in the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex and Hampshire. It has been designated as National Character Area No. 126 by Natural England. The NCA h ...

( Hampshire and

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, England) *

South Småland peneplain 300px, upright=1.35, View of the South Småland peneplain at inselberg.html"_;"title="Store_Mosse_National_Park._Note_the_residual_hill_or_inselberg">Store_Mosse_National_Park._Note_the_residual_hill_or_inselberg_in_the_background. The_South_Smål ...

(Sweden) * Stora Alvaret ( Öland, Sweden) *

Strandflat Strandflat ( no , strandflate) is a landform typical of the Norwegian coast consisting of a flattish erosion surface on the coast and near-coast seabed. In Norway, strandflats provide room for settlements and agriculture, constituting important ...

(Norway) *

Sub-Cambrian peneplain The sub-Cambrian peneplain is an ancient, extremely flat, erosion surface (peneplain) that has been exhumed and exposed by erosion from under Cambrian strata over large swathes of Fennoscandia. Eastward, where this peneplain dips below Cambrian an ...

(

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

) ** Central Swedish lowland **

Ostrobothnian Plain The Ostrobothnian Plain or Pohjanmaa is a large lowland in Finland along the Bothnian Sea being arguably the largest plain in the Nordic countries. The plain is made up smaller individual sand and clay plains alternated with rivers and peat bog ...

(Finland) * The Fylde ( Lancashire, England)

Southern Europe

* Agro Nocerino Sarnese ( Italy) * Campidano (Italy) *

Lelantine Plain The Lelantine Plain (Ancient Greek: Ληλάντου πεδίον or Λήλαντον πεδίον; Modern Greek: Ληλάντιο πεδίο) is a fertile plain on the Greek island of Euboea, between Chalcis and Eretria. In the late eighth centu ...

( Greece) *

Mesaoria The Mesaoria ( el, Μεσαορία, tr, Mesarya) is a broad, sweeping plain which makes up the north centre of the island of Cyprus. Geography The Mesaoria is the name given to the broad tract of plain which extends across the island from the ...

( Cyprus) *

Messara Plain The Messara Plain or simply Messara ( el, Μεσσαρά) is an alluvial plain in southern Crete, stretching about 50 km west-to-east and 7 km north-to-south, making it the largest plain in Crete. On a hill at its west end are the ruin ...

(Greece) *

Nurra The Nurra is a geographical region in the northwest of Sardinia, Italy. It is the second largest plain of the island, located between the towns of Sassari, Porto Torres and Alghero. It covers a surface of 700 km² and is bounded by the S ...

( Sardinia, Italy) *

Po Valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...

(Italy) * Rieti Valley ( Central Italy) * Tavoliere delle Puglie (

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

)

Oceania

Australia

* Bogong High Plains ( Victorian Alps, Australia) * Cumberland Plain (

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia) * Esperance Plains ( Western Australia) * Molonglo Plain ( Australian Capital Territory) * Mulga Lands ( eastern Australia) * Nullarbor Plain (

Southern Australia The term Southern Australia is generally considered to refer to the states and territories of Australia of New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. The part of Western Australia south of lati ...

) * Ord Victoria Plain ( Northern Australia) *

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

( Perth, Australia)

New Zealand

Awarua Plains The Awarua Plain is a large area of wetland to the east of Bluff, New Zealand. Covering an area of around 600 km², the plain stretches for 35 kilometres along the coast of Foveaux Strait. This stretch of coast includes the peninsula of T ...

( Southland) * Canterbury Plains ( Canterbury) * Hauraki Plains ( Waikato) * Maniototo (

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

) * Taieri (

)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Slope landforms Agricultural land Grasslands Meadows Geography terminology