Bolson
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.5|View from the International Space Station of [[Lake Lucero in the Tularosa Basin, an example of a bolson.]] A bolson is a desert valley or depression, usually draining into a playa or salt pan, and entirely surrounded by recently uplifted hills or mountains. Bolsons are sites of active deposition of sediments (aggradation). They are a type of endorheic basin characteristic of basin and range topography.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- landform
- Subclass of
- valley
- Location
- Southwestern United States
- Has parts of class
- Basin
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thumb|upright=1.5|View from the International Space Station of [[Lake Lucero in the Tularosa Basin, an example of a bolson.]] A bolson is a desert valley or depression, usually draining into a playa or salt pan, and entirely surrounded by recently uplifted hills or mountains. Bolsons are sites of active deposition of sediments (aggradation). They are a type of endorheic basin characteristic of basin and range topography.
The term was an Americanism originating in the 1830s and 1840s during the explorations of the far west of North America, particularly of what became the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It was derived from the Spanish bolsón (large purse).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Bolson” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.