scabland

[ skab-land ]

noun

, Physical Geography.

1. rough, barren, volcanic topography with thin soils and little vegetation.

Word History and Origins

Origin of scabland¹

An Americanism dating back to 1920–25; scab + land

Example Sentences

It took two days to cross that ashen scabland.

From Literature

“No one with an eye for land forms can cross eastern Washington in daylight without encountering and being impressed by the “scabland.”

From Scientific American

But Bretz’s idea was intriguing enough that in 1977 the Geological Society of Washington organized a meeting to discuss the “Channeled Scabland and the Spokane Flood“.

From Scientific American

It is 150 miles north by car from Las Vegas, in a vast expanse of utterly empty scabland, desert and mountain, and signs reading “No gas station next 150 miles.”

From New York Times

From Flood Myth to Martian Megafloods “No one with an eye for land forms can cross eastern Washington in daylight without encountering and being impressed by the “scabland.”

From Scientific American