Expose Pediment
Pediment Technical Terms
Pediment: A gently sloping erosional surface developed at the foot of a receding hill or mountain slope, commonly with a slightly concave-upward profile, that cross-cuts rock or sediment strata that extend beneath adjacent uplands. The erosion surface may be essentially bare bedrock (i.e. rock pediment), or it may be thinly mantled (e.g. 1 to 3 m) with debris (i.e. pediment) such as colluvium, pedisediment, or alluvium that is ultimately in transit from an upland front to basin or valley lowland. In hill-footslope terrain the debris mantle (over an erosional contact) is designated "pedisediment." The term has been used in several geomorphic contexts: Pediments may be classed with respect to (a) landscape positions (e.g. intermontane-basin piedmont = apron pediment, or valley-border footslope surfaces ( = terrace pediment); Cooke and Warren, 1973); (b) type of material eroded (e.g. bedrock = rock pediment, or regolith = pediment); or (c) combinations of the above. Compare – rock pediment, Piedmont slope, structural bench. SW, HP, RR