floodplainThe flat land either side of a river that is made of alluvium deposited by the river in times of flood. 
This is part of the upper Amazon showing water spilling out over the floodplain.
Because floodplains are formed by the action of rivers and floods, they are liable to regular flooding.
A wide strip of land is low enough to be flooded. Here, in this small valley, flooding has covered all of the fields in the valley bottom. This is how you tell which areas are on a floodplain.
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