Formation of different types of plains

By Muhammad Salar Mir

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WHAT ARE
PLAINS
 In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a
flat expanse of land that generally does not change much
in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as
lowlands along valley or at the base of mountains, as
coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. Plains are one
of the major landforms on earth, being present on all
continents and covering more than one-third of the
world's land area. Plains in many areas are important
for agriculture. There are various types of plains and
biomes on them.

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TYPES OF PLAINS
 Plains can be divided into two categories based on their physical features
and their formation. But in this presentation we are only going to discuss
four types from the formation categories and explain in detail about their
formation. We are going to discuss:
Structural plains.
Erosional plains.
Depositional plains.
Abyssal plains.

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Structural
Plains
 These type of plains are formed when a part of the ocean
floor or land is uplifted through tectonic plate movement.
They can be found on the borders of all the major
continents.
 They 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.

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Erosional
Plains
Erosional plains are developments due to natural weathering
of glacier activity, wind movement or water torrent on the
earth’s surface and are partitioned on the principle of the
erosional agent type.

After weathering processes have had their actions on the

earth materials making up the surface of the earth, the
geomorphic agents like running water, ground water, wind,
glaciers, waves perform erosion.

Deposition follows erosion and the depositional surfaces too

are ultimately subjected to erosion.

Many varieties of land-forms develop by the action of each

of the geomorphic agents.

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Depositional Plains
This type of plain landform is formed from materials deposited
by rivers, glaciers, waves and wind. The type of sediment which
constitutes this plain landform has a significant impact on the
fertility and economic relevance of the consequent plain formed
by deposition.

There are many categories under this type of plain.

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 A plain located at great depths on the floor of the ocean is called an

ABYSSAL abyssal plain. Such plains can be found at depths ranging between
9,800 ft and 20,000 ft. Abyssal plains comprise about 50% of the
surface of our planet. These regions are some of the world’s least
explored areas as well as the flattest and smoothest ones. The abyssal

PLAINS plains are massive in size. For example, the Sohm Plain of the North
Atlantic Ocean covers an area of about 900,000 square km. Such
plains are most common in the Atlantic Ocean but quite rare in the
Pacific Ocean. Such plains are considered to be formed by the
deposition of sediments, derived from land, in the abyssal
depressions. Such deposition occurs in many layers till the underlying
irregular features are smoothened out to result in a flat plain.

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