bajada
(bəˈhɑːdə)
Also bahada.
[a. Sp. bajada descent, slope.]
In the south-west of N. America, a descent or slope; spec. that section of a piedmont slope formed by aggradation and composed of rock debris (detritus).
| 1866 New Mexican 17 Nov. 2/3 The road from here to Algodones by way of the Bajada is being worked. 1909 C. F. Tolman in Jrnl. Geol. XVII. 141 The bajada: Extending down from the rock surfaces are flanking detrital slopes, built up by terrestrial deposition. 1933 Amer. Speech Oct. 8/2 Special types of plant life..which can best be described as bahada inhabiting. 1937 Wooldridge & Morgan Physical Basis Geogr. xx. 311 Gently sloping surfaces... The first type is the ‘bajada’, plainly due to aggradation by floods debouching from the mountain valleys. Bajada plains are underlain by thick accumulations of coarse alluvia. 1960 B. W. Sparks Geomorphology xi. 256 The whole slope from the range to the infilled playa lake is usually termed a piedmont. The upper part is often, but not always, a rock-cut surface, normally termed a pediment, while the lower part is an aggradation feature formed of detritus from the ranges and termed a bahada. |