(c) _Reproductive Power._--So long as a stream flows over a steep declivity its velocity suffices to keep the sediment in suspension, but when from any cause, such as a diminution of slope, the velocity is checked, the transporting power is lessened and the sediment begins to fall to the bottom and to remain there. Hence various river-formed or "alluvial" deposits are laid down. These sometimes cover considerable spaces at the foot of mountains. The floors of valleys are strewn with detritus, and their level may thereby be sensibly raised. In floods the ground inundated on either side of a stream intercepts some part of the detritus, which is then spread over the flood-plain and gradually heightens it. At the same time the stream continues to erode the channel, and ultimately is unable to reach the old flood-plain. It consequently forms a new plain at a lower level, and thus, by degrees, it comes to be flanked on either side by a series of successive terraces or platforms, each of which marks one of its former levels. Where a river enters a large body of water its current is checked. Some of its sediment is consequently dropped, and by slow accumulation forms a delta (q.v.). On land, every lake in mountain districts furnishes instances of this kind of alluvium. But the most important deltas are those formed in the sea at the mouths of the larger rivers of the globe. Off many coast-lines the detritus washed from the land gathers into bars, which enclose long strips of water more or less completely separated from the sea outside and known as lagoons. A chain of such lagoon-barriers stretches for hundreds of miles round the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern shores of the United States.