In geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

, upper plane bed refers to the configuration of the bed

Stream bed

A stream bed is the channel bottom of a stream, river or creek; the physical confine of the normal water flow. The lateral confines or channel margins, during all but flood stage, are known as the stream banks or river banks. In fact, a flood occurs when a stream overflows its banks and flows onto...

 (or bedform

Bedform

A bedform is a depositional feature on the bed of a river or other body of flowing water that is formed by the movement of the bed material due to the flow. Bedforms are characteristic to the flow parameters, and are particularly to flow depth and velocity, and therefore the Froude...

) of a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 that is flat and characterized by a unidirectional flow high with rates of sediment transport

Sediment transport

Sediment transport is the movement of solid particles , typically due to a combination of the force of gravity acting on the sediment, and/or the movement of the fluid in which the sediment is entrained...

 as both bed load

Bed load

The term bed load or bedload describes particles in a flowing fluid that are transported along the bed. Bed load is complementary to suspended load and wash load.Bed load moves by rolling, sliding, and/or saltating ....

 and suspended load

Suspended load

Suspended load is the portion of the sediment that is carried by a fluid flow which settle slowly enough such that it almost never touches the bed...

. Upper plane bed conditions can produce current lineations (a.k.a. parting laminations), or streaks on the surface due to the rapid motion of grains in the strong current.