A river terrace is geological term for a flat platform of land created on either side of a river where, at some time in the past, the river has cut itself a deeper channel. The former floodplain of the river is therefore at a higher point and is known as a terrace. Rivers can create a sequence of terraces over millennia as they erode away more material. The Blue Marble: The famous photo of the Earth taken en route to the Moon by Apollo 17s Harrison Schmitt on December 7, 1972. ... The Murray River in Australia. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Flood plain. ...

Terraces are formed during river rejuvenation, when the river gains in gravitational potential energy. The terraces themselves are often made from fluvial material previously dumped by the river to create the earlier floodplain, These terrace deposits are broadly horizontal layers of gravel, sand and finer sediments that can sometimes contain prehistoric archaeological finds. A river which is said to be rejuvenated when the base level that it is flowing down to, is lowered. ... Potential energy (U, or Ep), a kind of scalar potential, is energy by virtue of matter being able to move to a lower-energy state, releasing energy in some form. ... Gravel being unloaded from a barge Gravel is rock that is of a certain grain size range. ... Patterns in the sand Sand is an example of a class of materials called granular matter. ... Prehistory (Greek words προ = before and ιστορία = history) is the period of human history prior to the advent of writing (which marks the beginning of recorded history). ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ...

Another notable source of stream terracing is the agradation of legacy sediments behind dams. These sediment deposits can accumulate very radidly, in under 300 years, and can be observed to be in excess of 5m in height.

River Terrace is also a neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Thhis is the only neighborhood in the District of Columbia in which there is no connection to another neighbohood.