Pediment (geology)

[2] It is typically a concave surface sloping down from the base of a steeper retreating desert cliff, escarpment,[3] or surrounding a monadnock or inselberg,[4][5] but may persist after the higher terrain has eroded away.

[3] It may be thinly covered with fluvial gravel that has washed over it from the foot of mountains produced by cliff retreat erosion.

[6] Pediments were originally recognized as the upper part of smoothly sloping (0.5°-7°) concave piedmont surfaces surrounding mountains in arid regions.

[14] More recently, it has been recognized that pediments are formed in temperate and humid climates and in a variety of tectonic settings, and that the character of the bedrock is not critical to their formation.

[22] In numerical models that couple granitic bedrock weathering and episodic stream transport of sediments, pediments emerge spontaneously.

Pediment formation is promoted by arid conditions that hinder vegetation, reduce soil cohesion, and contribute to channel bank instability.

Gilbert believed the origin of pediments in the Henry Mountains are due to stream planation and active erosion of deserts.