backshore
the upper or inner, usually dry, zone of the shore or beach, lying between the high-water line of mean spring tides and the upper limit of shore-zone processes; it is acted upon by waves or covered by water only during exceptionally severe storms or unusually high tides. it is essentially horizontal or slopes gently landward, and is divided from the foreshore by the crest of the most seaward berm. compare - washover fan. GG

backshore terrace
(not preferred) refer to berm.

backslope
the hillslope profile position that forms the steepest and generally linear, middle portion of the slope. in profile, backslopes are commonly bounded by a convex shoulder above and a concave footslope below. they may or may not include cliff segments (i.e. free faces). backslopes are commonly erosional forms produced by mass movement, colluvial action, and running water. compare - summit, shoulder, footslope, toeslope. GSST & HP

backswamp
a flood-plain landform. extensive, marshy or swampy, depressed areas of flood plains between natural levees and valley sides or terraces. compare - valley flat. HP

backswamp deposit
laminated of silt and clay deposited in the floodbasin between valley sides or terraces and the natural levees of a river. compare - slackwater. GG

backwearing
slope erosion that causes the parallel retreat of an escarpment or the slope of a hill or mountain or the sideways recession of a slope without changing its general slope; a process contributing to the development of a pediment. GG

badlands
a landscape which is intricately dissected and characterized by a very fine drainage network with high drainage densities and short, steep slopes with narrow interfluves. badlands develop on surfaces with little or no vegetative cover, overlying unconsolidated or poorly cemented materials (clays, silts, or in some cases sandstones) sometimes with soluble minerals such as gypsum or halite. GG

bajada
(colloquial: southwestern U.S.A.) a broad, gently inclined, alluvial piedmont slope extending from the base of a mountain range out into a basin and formed by the lateral coalescence of a series of alluvial fans. typically it has a broadly undulating transverse profile, parallel to the mountain front, resulting from the convexities of component fans. the term is generally restricted to constructional slopes of intermontane basins. synonym - coalescent fan piedmont. compare - colluvial apron. HP & SW

bald
(not preferred; colloquial: southeastern USA; use summit, mountaintop, etc.) an ecological term for the grass or shrub covered (naturally tree-less) summit of a high elevation hill or mountain, flanked by forested slopes; not above the local tree-line. compare - glade. SW & GG

ballena
(colloquial: western U.S.A.) a fan remnant having a distinctively-rounded surface of fan alluvium. the ballena's broadly-rounded shoulders meet from either side to form a narrow summit and merge smoothly with concave sideslopes and then concave, short pediments which form smoothly-rounded drainageways between adjacent ballenas. a partial ballena is a fan remnant large enough to retain some relict fan surface on a remnant summit. compare - fan remnant. SW & FFP

ballon
(colloquial: western U.S.A.) a rounded, dome-shaped hill, formed either by erosion or uplift. GG

bar
[streams] a general term for a ridge-like accumulation of sand, gravel, or other alluvial material formed in the channel, along the banks, or at the mouth of a stream where a decrease in velocity induces deposition; e.g. a channel bar or a meander bar. [coast] - a generic term for any of various elongate offshore ridges, banks, or mounds of sand, gravel, or other unconsolidated material submerged at least at high tide, and built up by the action of waves or currents, especially at the mouth of a river or estuary, or at a slight distance offshore from the beach. compare - longshore bar. GG & GSST

bar [Microfeature]
a small, sinuous or arcuate, ridge-like lineation on a flood plain and separated from others by small channels or troughs; caused by fluvial processes and common to flood plains and young alluvial terraces; a constituent part of bar and channel topography. compare - meander scroll. SW

bar and channel topography
a local-scale topographic pattern of recurring, small, sinuous or arcuate ridges separated by shallow troughs irregularly spaced across low-relief flood plains(slopes generally 2 -6 %); the effect is one of a subdued, sinuously undulating surface that is common on active, meandering flood plains. micro-elevational differences between bars and channels generally range from <0.5 to 2 m and are largely controlled by the competency of the stream. the ridge-like bars often consist of somewhat coarser sediments compared to the finer textured sediments of the micro-low troughs. compare - meander scroll, meander belt. SW

barchan dune
a crescent-shaped dune with tips extending leeward (downwind), making this side concave and the windward (upwind) side convex. barchan dunes tend to be arranged in chains extending in the dominant wind direction. compare - parabolic dune. HP

barrier bar
(not recommended) use longshore bar.

barrier beach
a) a narrow, elongate, coarse-textured ridge rising slightly above high-tide level and generally parallel with the shore, but separated from it by a lagoon or marsh; it is rarely more than several kilometers long. compare - barrier island.
b) [relict] (colloquial: western U.S.A.) a wide, gently-sloping portion of a bolson floor comprising numerous, parallel, closely-spaced, relict longshore-bars and lagoons built by a receding pluvial lake. synonym, offshore barrier, offshore beach, bar beach. compare - bar [coast], barrier island. GG and FFP

barrier flat
a relatively flat area, often occupied by pools of water, separating the exposed or seaward edge of a barrier beach or barrier island from the lagoon behind it. GG

barrier island
a long, narrow, sandy island, representing a broadened barrier beach that is above high tide and parallel to the shore, and that commonly has dunes, vegetated zones, and swampy terrains extending lagoonward from the beach. also a long series of barrier beaches. compare - barrier beach. GG

barrow pit
(not preferred) refer to borrow pit.

basal till
a) (not preferred; obsolete) refer to subglacial till. unconsolidated material of mixed composition deposited at the base (bottom) of a glacier [ the term emphasizes only the relative position of deposition; e.g. subglacial till]. types of basal till include lodgement, melt-out, and flow till. GG & SW
b) [obsolete- use lodgement till] - a firm, dense, clay-rich till containing many abraded stones (coarse fragments) dragged along beneath a moving glacier and deposited upon bedrock or other glacial deposits. GG

base level
the theoretical limit or lowest level toward which erosion of the earth's surface constantly progresses but seldom, if ever, reaches; especially the level below which a stream cannot erode its bed. the general or ultimate base level for the land surface is sea level, but temporary base levels commonly exist locally. GG

base slope [geomorphology]
a geomorphic component of hills consisting of the concave to linear slope (perpendicular to the contour) which, regardless of the lateral shape is an area that forms an apron or wedge at the bottom of a hillside dominated by colluvial and slope wash processes and sediments (e.g., colluvium and slope alluvium). distal base slope sediments commonly grade to, or interfinger with, alluvial fills, or gradually thin to form pedisediment over residuum. compare - head slope, side slope, nose slope, interfluve, free face. SW

basin
a) drainage basin;
b) a low area in the Earth's crust, of tectonic origin, in which sediments have accumulated. GG
c) (colloquial: western USA) a general term for the nearly level to gently sloping, bottom surface of an intermontane basin (bolson). landforms include playas, broad alluvial flats containing ephemeral drainageways, and relict alluvial and lacustrine surfaces that rarely, if ever, are subject to flooding. where through-drainage systems are well developed, flood plains are dominant and lake plains are absent or of limited extent. basin floors grade mountainward to distal parts of piedmont slopes. FFP

basin floor
a general term for the nearly level, lower-most part of intermontane basins (i.e. bolsons, semi-bolsons). the floor includes all of the alluvial, eolian, and erosional landforms below the piedmont slope. compare - basin, piedmont slope. FFP

basin-floor remnant
(colloquial: western U.S.A.) a relatively flat, erosional remnant of any former landform of a basin floor that has been dissected following the incision of an axial stream. FFP

batholith
a large, generally discordant plutonic rock body exposed at the land surface, with an aerial extent > 40 sq. mi. (100 km2) and no known bottom (e.g. Idaho batholith). compare - stock. SW & GG

bay [coast]
a) a wide, curving open indentation, recess, or arm of a sea (e.g. Chesapeake Bay) or lake (e.g. Green Bay, WI) into the land or between two capes or headlands, larger than a cove [coast], and usually smaller than, but of the same general character as, a gulf.
b) a large tract of water that penetrates into the land and around which the land forms a broad curve. by international agreement a bay is a water body having a baymouth that is less than 24 nautical miles wide and an area that is equal to or greater than the area of a semicircle whose diameter is equal to the width of the bay mouth. compare - gulf. GG

bay [geom.]
a) any terrestrial formation resembling a bay of the sea, as a recess or extension of lowland along a river valley or within a curve in a range of hills, or an arm of a prairie extending into, or partly surrounded by, a forest.
b) a Carolina Bay. GG & GSST

bayou
a term applied to many local water features in the lower Mississippi River basin and in the Gulf Coast region of the U.S. its general meaning is a creek or secondary watercourse that is tributary to another body of water; especially a sluggish and stagnant stream that follows a winding course through alluvial lowlands, coastal swamps or river deltas. compare - oxbow, slough. GG

beach
a) a gently sloping zone, typically with a concave profile, of unconsolidated material extending landward from the low-water line to the place where there is a definite change in material or physiographic form (such as a cliff) or to the line of permanent vegetation (usually the effective limit of the highest storm waves); a shore of a body of water, formed and washed by waves or tides, usually covered by sand or gravel;
b) the relatively thick and temporary accumulation of loose water-borne material (usually well-sorted sand and pebbles) accompanied by mud, cobbles, boulders, and smoothed rock and shell fragments, that is in active transit along, or deposited on, the shore zone between the limits of low water and high water. GG

beach plain
a continuous and level or undulating area formed by closely spaced successive embankments of wave-deposited beach material added more or less uniformly to a prograding shoreline, such as to a growing compound spit or to a cuspate foreland. compare - wave-built terrace, cheneir plain. GG

beach ridge
a low, essentially continuous mound of beach or beach-and-dune material heaped up by the action of waves and currents on the backshore of a beach, beyond the present limit of storm waves or the reach of ordinary tides, and occurring singly or as one of a series of approximately parallel deposits. the ridges are roughly parallel to the shoreline and represent successive positions of an advancing shoreline. GG

beach sands [soil survey]
sand-sized, clastic material transported, sorted and deposited primarily by wave action and deposited in a shore environment. compare - eolian sands. SW

beach terrace
a) a landform that consists of a wave-cut scarp and wave-built terrace of well-sorted sand and gravel of marine and lacustrine origin.
b) (colloquial: western U.S.A.) relict shorelines from pluvial lakes, generally restricted to valley sides. compare - strandline, shoreline. FFP

beaded drainage pattern
(not recommended; use beaded stream pattern.)

beaded stream pattern
a characteristic pattern of small streams in areas underlain by ice wedges. the course of the stream channel is controlled by the pattern of the wedges, with beads (pools) occurring at the junctions of the wedges. NRC

bed [stratigraphy]
the layer of sediments or sedimentary rocks bounded above and below by more or less well-defined bedding surfaces. the smallest, formal lithostratigraphic unit of sedimentary rocks. the designation of a bed or a unit of beds as a formally named lithostratigraphic unit generally should be limited to certain distinctive beds whose recognition is particularly useful. coal beds, oil sands, and other layers of economic importance commonly are named, but such units and their names usually are not a part of formal stratigraphic nomenclature. compare - formation. GG

bedded
formed, arranged, or deposited in layers or beds, or made up of or occurring in the form of beds; especially said of a layered sedimentary rock, deposit, or formation. GG

bedding plane
a planar or nearly planar bedding surface that visibly separates each successive layer of stratified sediment or rock (of the same or different lithology) from the preceding or following layer; a plane of deposition. it often marks a change in the circumstances of deposition, and may show a parting, a color difference, a change in particle size, or various combinations. a term commonly applied to any bedding surface even when conspicuously bent or deformed by folding. SW & GG

bedrock
a general term for the solid rock that underlies the soil and other unconsolidated material or that is exposed at the surface. compare - regolith, residuum. GG

bench
(not preferred) refer to structural bench.

berm
[beach] a low, impermanent, nearly horizontal or landward-sloping shelf, ledge, or narrow terrace on the backshore of a beach, formed of material thrown up and deposited by storm waves; it is generally bounded on one side or the other by a beach ridge or beach scarp. some beaches have no berms, others have one or several. GG

beveled base
the lower portion of a canyon wall or escarpment marked by a sharp reduction in slope gradient from the precipitous cliff above, and characteristically composed of thinly mantled colluvium (e.g. < 1 m) and / or carapaced with a thin surficial mantle of large rock fragments from above, which overly residuum of less resistant rock (e.g., shale) whose thin strata intermittently outcrop at the surface; a zone of erosion and transport common in the canyonlands of the semi-arid, southwestern USA. compare - talus slope. SW

beveled cut
a bank or slope portion of a cut excavated into unconsolidated material (regolith) or bedrock as in a roadcut, whose slope gradient has been mechanically reduced to a subdued angle (e.g. to < 33 %) to increase slope stability, reduce erosion, or to facilitate revegetation. compare - cut, cutbank, roadcut. SW

blind valley
a valley, commonly in karst, that ends abruptly downstream at the point at which its stream disappears underground. GG

block [volcanic]
a pyroclast that was ejected in a solid state; it has a diameter greater than 64 mm. compare - bomb, cinder, lapilli, tephra. GG

block field
a thin accumulation of stone blocks, typically angular, with only coarse fragments in the upper part, over solid or weathered bedrock, colluvium, or alluvium, without a cliff or ledge above as an apparent source. block fields occur on high mountain slopes above tree-line, or in polar or paleo-periglacial regions; they are most extensive along slopes parallel to the contour; and they generally occur on slopes of less than 5%. synonym - felsenmeer. compare - block stream, talus, scree. GG

block glide [mass movement]
the process, associated sediments (block glide deposit) or resultant landform characterized by a slow type of slide, in which largely intact units (blocks) of rock or soil slide downslope along a relatively planar surface, such as a bedding plane, without any significant distortion of the original mass. compare - rotational landslide, debris slide, lateral spread, landslide. SW & DV

block lava
lava having a surface of angular blocks; it is similar to a'a lava but the fragments are larger and more regular in shape, somewhat smoother, and less vesicular. compare - a'a lava, pahoehoe lava, pillow lava. GG

block lava flow
a lava flow dominated by block lava. compare - a'a lava flow, pahoehoe lava, pillow lava. SW

block stream
an accumulation of boulders or angular blocks, with no fine sizes in the upper part, overlying solid or weathered bedrock, colluvium, or alluvium, and lying below a cliff or ledge from which coarse fragments originate. block streams usually occur at the heads of ravines as narrow bodies that are more extensive downslope than along the slope. they may exist on any slope angle, but ordinarily not steeper than 90 percent slope (approx. 40 degrees). compare - block field. GG

blowout
a saucer-, cup-, or trough-shaped depression formed by wind erosion on a preexisting dune or other sand deposit, especially in an area of shifting sand, loose soil, or where protective vegetation is disturbed or destroyed; the adjoining accumulation of sand derived from the depression, where recognizable, is commonly included. commonly small, some blowouts may be large (kilometers in diameter). compare - deflation basin. GG

blue rock [volcanic]
(colloquial - Hawaii) the very dense (e.g. 2.75 g/cc), extremely hard and massive, nominally vesicular lava that commonly forms the inner core of an a'a lava flow. SW

bluff
a) a high bank or bold headland, with a broad, precipitous, sometimes rounded cliff face overlooking a plain or body of water, especially on the outside of a stream meander; ex. a river bluff.
b) (not preferred) use cliff. any cliff with a steep, broad face. GG

bog
waterlogged, spongy ground, consisting primarily of mosses, containing acidic, decaying vegetation such as sphagnum, sedges, and heaths, that may develop into peat. compare - fen, marsh, swamp. GG

bolson
(colloquial: western USA.) a landscape term for an internally drained (closed) intermontane basin into which drainages from surrounding mountains converge inward toward a central depression. bolsons are often tectonically depressed areas and, according to Peterson, include alluvial flat, alluvial plain, beach plain, barrier beach, lake plain, sand sheets, dunes, and playa. the piedmont slope includes slopes of erosional origin adjoining the mountain front (pediments) and complex construction surfaces (fans). a semi-bolson is an externally drained (open) bolson. synonym - intermontane basin. GG and FFP

bomb [volcanic]
a pyroclast > 64 mm in at least one dimension that was ejected while still viscous and solidified into it's rounded form in flight. compare - block, cinder, lapilli, tephra. GG

borrow pit
an excavated area from which earthy material has been removed typically for construction purposes offsite; also called barrow pit. GG

bottomland
(not recommended) use flood plain. an obsolete, informal term loosely applied to varying portions of a flood plain. SW

boulder field
(not recommended) use block stream. compare - block field.

bowl [gilgai]
a cup-or trough- shaped subsurface feature centered under and surrounding the depressional component (micro-low) of gilgai, commonly 3 - 5 m across and 1.5 to 3 m thick, containing numerous slickensides (oblique slip / shear faces) within it and bounded along its base by master slickensides. it is composed of turbated material associated with soils containing substantial amounts of smectitic clays (e.g. Vertisols). its morphology is distinct from that found in adjacent micro-highs (chimney); underlying substratum material and morphology is not preserved within the bowl. compare - chimney [gilgai], intermediate position [gilgai], gilgai. SW

box canyon
a) a narrow gorge or canyon containing an intermittent stream following a zigzag course, characterized by high, steep rock walls and typically closed upstream by a similar wall, giving the impression, as viewed from its bottom, of being surrounded or "boxed in" by almost vertical walls.
b) A steep-walled canyon heading against a cliff a dead-end canyon. GG

braided channel
(not recommended) use braided stream.

braided stream
a channel or stream with multiple channels that interweave as a result of repeated bifurcation and convergence of flow around inter-channel bars, resembling (in plan view) the strands of a complex braid. braiding is generally confined to broad, shallow streams of low sinuosity, high bedload, non-cohesive bank material, and a steep gradient. at a given bank-full discharge, braided streams have steeper slopes and shallower, broader, and less stable channel cross sections than meandering streams. compare - meandering channel, flood-plain landforms. HP

break
(slopes) an abrupt change or inflection in a slope or profile. compare - knickpoint, shoulder, escarpment. (geomorphology) a marked variation of topography, or a tract of land distinct from adjacent land, or an irregular or rough piece of ground. compare - breaks. GG

breaks
(colloquial: western USA) a landscape or large tract of steep, rough or broken land dissected by ravines and gullies and marks a sudden change in topography as from an elevated plain to lower hilly terrain, or a line of irregular cliffs at the edge of a mesa or a river (e.g., the Missouri River breaks). SW & GG

breccia
a coarse-grained, clastic rock composed of angular rock fragments (larger than 2 mm) commonly bonded by a mineral cement in a finer-grained matrix of varying composition and origin. the consolidated equivalent of rubble. compare - conglomerate. GSST

broad interstream divide
(colloquial: southeastern USA) a type of very wide, low gradient (level to nearly level) interfluve that lacks a well developed drainage network such that large portions of the local upland lack stream channels or other drainageways; extensive in lower coastal plains and some lake plains, till plains and alluvial plain remnants. compare - interfluve. SW & RD

brook [streams]
(not preferred, refer to ephemeral stream) generally a very small, ephemeral stream, especially one that issues from a spring or seep and conducts less water volume and over shorter distances than a creek. compare - ephemeral stream, intermittent stream. GG

burial mound
a small human-made hill, composed of debris accumulated during successive occupations of the site, or of earth heaped up to mark a burial site; also called mound. GG

buried
(adjective) landforms, geomorphic surfaces, or paleosols covered by younger sediments (e.g. eolian, glacial, and alluvial). compare - exhumed, relict. HP

buried soil
soil covered by an alluvial, loessal, or other earthy mantle of more recent material, typically to depths exceeding 50 cm; recent surface deposits < 50 cm thick are generally considered as part of the ground soil. compare - ground soil, exhumed, relict,. GSST & ST

butte
an isolated, generally flat-topped hill or mountain with relatively steep slopes and talus or precipitous cliffs and characterized by summit width that is less than the height of bounding escarpments, commonly topped by a caprock of resistant material and representing an erosion remnant carved from flat-lying rocks. compare - mesa, plateau, cuesta. HP & GG