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Gondwana Landscapes in southern South America pp 47–59Cite as

Some Principles in the Study of Planation Surfaces

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Abstract

Despite the efforts of some workers to deny their very existence, planation surfaces are real and worthy of study. Drainage patterns provide insights into their age and deformation. They provide valuable information on the evolution of passive continental margins. Their frequent thick cover of weathering products tells us of past hydrology and climate. Several different mechanisms can cause planation, such as pedimentation and relief inversion and so lead to valuable process studies. Successive planation surfaces may indicate tectonic or climatic histories. Above all, they show that landscape formation and regolith history are on the same timescale as global tectonics and biological evolution.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Environment, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

    Cliff Ollier

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  1. Cliff Ollier
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Correspondence to Cliff Ollier .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Geomorfología y Cuaternario, CADIC-CONICET, Ushuaia, Tierra de Fuego, Argentina

    Jorge Rabassa

  2. School of Earth and Environment, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

    Cliff Ollier

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Ollier, C. (2014). Some Principles in the Study of Planation Surfaces. In: Rabassa, J., Ollier, C. (eds) Gondwana Landscapes in southern South America. Springer Earth System Sciences. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7702-6_3

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