Online Encyclopedia

PLATEAU (a French term, older platel,...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 804 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PLATEAU (a French
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term, older platel, for a flat piece of wood, metal, &c., from plat, flat)
  , in
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physical geography, an elevated region of level or gently undulating
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land-
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surface, the
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term being synonymous with " table-land." The most clearly defined plateaus have steep flanks in contrast with their level summits, but the term does not necessarily connote a steep ascent from the surrounding country . Indeed, it is applied to such diverse forms as the high-lying plains encircled by the higher elevations of the
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Andes, and to those of the west of North
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America, which rise almost imperceptibly from the low central plains . A plateau may have its origin either in the upheaval of strata which preserve their
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original
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horizontal position during the
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process, or in the prolonged denudation of an originally broken surface . The two forms are distinguished respectively as Plateaus of Deposition and Plateaus of Erosion .

End of Article: PLATEAU (a French term, older platel, for a flat piece of wood, metal, &c., from plat, flat)
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JOSEPH ANTOINE FERDINAND PLATEAU (1801-1883)

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