PHOTO PATTERN DATA ELEMENTS: FLOOD PLAIN/TERRACE
The Interior Lowlands- The plains of this lowland are formed in large stream valleys
where the Interior Lowlands is joined to the east by the Appalachian Plateau. The stream
noted in photo flows easterly into the Ohio Basin. This broad river valley is characterized
by level plains, ridges, and belts of small hills; the alluvial plains have terraces or ridgelike uplands surrounding them. (Humid)
Form
Plain; broad, flat terrace is level, bench-like, bordered by
rolling uplands.
Drainage
Abandoned channels and few meandering tributaries,
internal on benches.
Gully Characteristics
Short, U-shaped to saucer-shaped; V-shaped on benches.
Special Features
Oxbow lakes, channel scars, meander channels, point bars,
natural levees in floodplain.
Color (Photo Gray Tones) Light gray on terrace; dark on channel scars and meander
channels of floodplain.
Land Use
Agriculture on floodplain; agriculture and residential on
terrace.
Vegetation
Scattered trees along levees, channels and terrace face.
Source: Terrain analysis procedural guide for surface configuration, US Army engineer
topographic laboratories, p. 7-43