Ravine

ravine

a deep narrow steep-sided valley, esp one formed by the action of running water

---

ravine [rə′vēn]

(geography)

A small and narrow valley with steeply sloping sides.

---

Ravine 

(in Russian, balka), a dry valley or one in which a stream flows at times. The bottom is sloping and concave, often without a morphologically articulated bed; the sides are convex, merging smoothly into watershed areas. Ravines vary in length from hundreds of meters to 20 and 30 kilometers; they vary in depth from a few meters to dozens of meters; their width may reach hundreds of meters. The sides and bottom are covered with turf and often with shrubs or trees. When the vegetative cover is removed, ravines become nuclei of erosion. They most often develop from gulches, but may also arise without a gulch stage. They are characteristic of highlands and plains of the forest-steppe and the steppe type.

---

Ravine 

(Russian, log), an erosional excavation in flat country in the accumulation stage, with gentle slopes overgrown with vegetation, a flat bottom, and a small drainage basin on the side.