Terrace

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-027834",
  "term": "Terrace",
  "field": "Environment",
  "definition": "1. A low-gradient surface formed by fluvial aggradation or erosion when the stream flowed at a higher elevation in the landscape. The term usually implies that the surface is rarely, if ever, inundated by floods in the current climate.\n\n2. A broad channel, bench, or embankment constructed across the slope to intercept runoff and detain or channel it to protected outlets, thereby reducing erosion from agricultural areas.\n\n3. A level or nearly level plain, generally narrow in comparison with its length, from which the surface slopes upward on one side and downward on the other side. Terraces and their bounding slopes are formed in a variety of ways, some being aggradational and others degradational.\n\n4. Any long, narrow, relatively level or gently inclined surface, generally less broad than a plain, but broader than a ledge and bounded along one edge by a steeper descending slope and along the other by a steeper ascending slope. Terraces may border a valley floor or shoreline, and they can represent the former position of a flood plain, lake, or sea shore. Terraces may be created by erosion, wave action, uplift, currents, or any other process.",
  "subject": "Water",
  "references": [
    "Watershed Protection Glossary",
    "Drinking Water Technical & Legal Terms",
    "EPA Mountaintop Mining Valley Fills Draft Environmental Impact Statement Glossary at http://www.epa.gov/region3/mtntop/pdf/VIII_Glossary.pdf",
    "Federal Geographic Data Committee Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard, June 2012 FGDC-STD-018-2012"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/terrace/"
}