Peneplain in the context of "Planation surface"

In geology and geomorphology, an erosion surface is a surface of rock or regolith that was formed by erosion and not by construction (e.g. lava flows, sediment deposition) nor fault displacement. Erosional surfaces within the stratigraphic record are known as unconformities, but not all unconformities are buried erosion surfaces. Erosion surfaces vary in scale and can be formed on a mountain range or a rock. Particularly large and flat erosion surfaces receive the names of peneplain, paleoplain, planation surface or pediplain. An example of erosion surface is road surface erosion which is caused by natural and anthropogenic factors. Erosion surface can be measured through direct, contact measurement methods and indirect, non-contact measurement methods.

In geology and geomorphology a base level is the lower limit for the vertical position of an erosion process. The modern term was introduced by John Wesley Powell in 1875. The term was subsequently appropriated by William Morris Davis who used it in his cycle of erosion theory. The "ultimate base level" is the surface that results from horizontal projection of the sea level under landmasses (the geoid). It is to this base level that topography tends to approach due to erosion, eventually forming a peneplain close to the end of a cycle of erosion.

There are also lesser structural base levels where erosion is delayed by resistant rocks. Examples of this include karst regions underlain by insoluble rock. Base levels may be local when large landmasses are far from the sea or disconnected from it, as in the case of endorheic basins. An example of this is the Messinian salinity crisis, in which the Mediterranean Sea dried up making the base level drop more than 1000 m below sea level.

The Central European Highlands consist of the high mountains of the Alpine Mountains and the Carpathian Mountains systems and also mountainous ranges of medium elevation (between about 1,000–2,000 m (3,300–6,600 ft) a.s.l.), e.g. those belonging to the Bohemian Massif, still prevailingly of mountainous character.

Both types of mountains act as "water towers". Their high elevation brings about high precipitation and low evaporation, and the resulting surplus of water balance feeds large European rivers and other important water sources. Beside the mountains, large areas of Central Europe are occupied by highlands or peneplains of lower altitude (400–800 m (1,300–2,600 ft)) in which the surplus of annual water balance is less noticeable.

In geology and geomorphology a pediplain (from the Latin pes, genitive case pedis, meaning "foot") is an extensive plain formed by the coalescence of pediments. The processes through which pediplains forms is known as pediplanation. The concepts of pediplain and pediplanation were first developed by geologist Lester Charles King in his 1942 book South African Scenery. The concept gained notoriety as it was juxtaposed to peneplanation.

The coalesced pediments of the pediplains may form a series of very gentle concave slopes. Pediplains main difference to W. M. Davis’ peneplains is in the history and processes behind, and less so in the final shape. Perhaps the most notable difference in form that may be present is that of residual hills which in Davis’ peneplains are to have gentle slopes while in pediplains they ought to have the same steepness as the slopes in the early stages of erosion leading to pediplanation.

The Glaciated Allegheny Plateau is the portion of the Allegheny Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains that lies within the area covered by the last glaciation. As a result, this area of the plateau has lower relief and gentler slopes than the relatively rugged Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau. It lies to the north and west of the unglaciated plateau, and forms an arc in northeastern to southeastern Ohio lying between the glacial till plains and the Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau. The Glaciated Allegheny Plateau extends into a belt of southern New York State and the central Susquehanna River basin. Major cities on the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau are Akron and Youngstown.

A small area of the Allegheny Plateau was glaciated during the Wisconsin Stage, the late Illinoian Stage, and Pre-Illinoian B and G glaciations of the Pre-Illinoian Stage. This area – only a few hundred square kilometers owing to the blockage the steep relief of the mountains provides at the edge of the ice sheet – contains only old drift now buried by long periods of soil development.

The geographic cycle, or cycle of erosion, is an idealized model that explains the development of relief in landscapes. The model starts with the erosion that follows uplift of land above a base level and ends, if conditions allow, in the formation of a peneplain. Landscapes that show evidence of more than one cycle of erosion are termed "polycyclical". The cycle of erosion and some of its associated concepts have, despite their popularity, been a subject of much criticism.

The Ore Mountain Basin or Erzgebirge Basin (German: Erzgebirgsbecken) is a natural region in the German federal state of Saxony, that is part of the Saxon Lowland. To the north it borders on the Mulde Loess Hills and to the south on several natural regions in the Saxon Highlands and Uplands.

The basin is a structural depression running from northeast to southwest in the Ore Mountain peneplain that is filled with Devonian and Carboniferous sediments. The main communications from the Ore Mountains follow the valleys downhill and are collected by a major routeway to the north that follows this furrow and passes through the cities of Zwickau and Chemnitz.

The Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, also known as the Polish Jurassic Highland or Polish Jura (Polish: Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska), is part of the Jurassic System of south–central Poland, stretching between the cities of Kraków, Częstochowa and Wieluń. The Polish Jura borders the Lesser Polish Upland to the north and east, the foothills of the Western Carpathians to the south and Silesian Upland to the west.

The Polish Jura consists of a hilly landscape with Jurassic limestone rocks, cliffs, valleys and vast limestone formations, featuring some 220 caves. The relief of the upland developed since the Paleogene, under climatic conditions changing considerably. Its main component is a peneplain, crowned by monadnocks, rocky masses that resisted erosion, generated as hard rock on Late Jurassic buildup surrounded by less resistant bedded limestone of the same age. The Polish Jura is visited by roughly 400,000 visitors a year. Part of it belongs to the Ojców National Park, the smallest of Poland's twenty national parks, ranking among the most attractive recreational areas of the country.