Formation of Erosional Plains
- As the rivers flow the strong force of the water strikes the rocks and causes the rock material to erode away which forms these plains.
- The combined action of wind and water develops deep cracks in the rocks. As time passes, the cracks deepen and the rocks break into smaller and smaller rocks which are easily carried away by water and, further erosion of rocks transforms them into fine particles which can be easily carried away by the wind. In both cases, the upper rock material is eroded away and the underlying plain is exposed.
- Glaciers take away a large amount of the rocks and other material along with them as they melt and expose the soft soil below it which form the erosional plains. The material carried away by the glaciers is called glacial moraines.
- Erosional Plains can be further classified into 2 types based on the agents of erosion or the agents responsible for their formation. These are as follows:
- Peneplains: Peneplains are the result of the different agents of erosion such as rivers and glaciers but not wind.
- Pediplains: The plains that are formed only by the action of wind are termed the Pediplains.
- The Plains of Canada and Niagara Plains of the USA are an example of the erosional plains in the world.
Describe the Formation of Erosional Plains.
Plains are large, flat and level pieces of land. They are generally very fertile in nature and support the growth of crops and other plants which are useful to humans. Plains generally have a large amount of population due to various reasons such as easy terrain, more opportunities, fertile land and availability of good lifestyle and climate. Thus plains are an important landform in geography. India has plains to its North and North-East parts which are called the Northern Plains. These plains are very fertile and are formed by the Ganga and Brahmaputra along with their tributaries. These plains stretch from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Northern plains have nearly 60% of the total population of India. Apart from these India also has coastal plains along the Western and Eastern coasts called the Western and Eastern coastal plains respectively.