Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

floodplain

(Encyclopedia)floodplain, level land along the course of a river formed by the deposition of sediment during periodic floods. Floodplains contain such features as levees, backswamps, delta plains, and oxbow lakes. ...

Lop Nur

(Encyclopedia)Lop Nur lôp nûr [key], salt basin, SE Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China, in the Tarim River basin. Since 1964, Lop Nur has been used by the China for its nuclear test explosions. Once a large ...

Roman roads

(Encyclopedia)Roman roads, ancient system of highways linking Rome with its provinces. Their primary purpose was military, but they also were of great commercial importance and brought the distant provinces in touc...

Turin

(Encyclopedia)Turin to͝orˈĭn, tyo͝orˈ–, tyo͝orĭnˈ [key], Ital. Torino, city (1991 pop. 962,507), capital of Piedmont and of Turin prov., NW Italy, at the confluence of the Po and Dora Riparia rivers. It i...

Padua

(Encyclopedia)Padua pădˈyo͞oə [key], Ital. Padova, city (1991 pop. 215,137), capital of Padova prov., in Venetia, NE Italy, connected by canal with the Brenta, Adige, and Po rivers. It is an agricultural, comme...

Browse by Subject