Floodplain
Also called: Flood plain · Topic: Landforms and their Evolution: Rivers, Groundwater, Glaciers, Waves and Wind · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 3 "Landforms and Life"; Class 9, Ch 2 "Shaping of the Earth's Surface"; Class 11, Ch 3 "Drainage System"; Class 11, Ch 6 "Natural Hazards and Disasters: Causes, Consequences and Management"; Class 11, Ch 6 "Landforms and their Evolution"
Meaning
A floodplain is the flat land beside a river. It is built from silt and sand that the river drops when it floods. The active floodplain is the river bed, which is flooded often. The inactive floodplain lies above the banks and is flooded less often. Floodplains have fertile soil, so many people live and farm on them. This also puts them at high risk of floods.
Example
The Yamuna floodplain in Delhi is low land along the river that floods in heavy monsoon years. Building on it raises the city's flood risk.
Don't confuse with
- River terrace: a terrace is an old floodplain left high above the river after the river cut down. Ordinary floods no longer reach it.
- Natural levee: a levee is a low ridge right along the bank. The floodplain is the wide, flat land beyond it.
Related concepts
- Alluvial fan
- Distributary
- Delta
- Estuary
- Natural levee
- Point bar
- Meander
- Slip-off slope and undercut bank
- Oxbow lake
- Braided channel