coulee

noun3

1. •
   A stream, especially one in the western US or Canada, generally smaller than a bayou; it may (or may not) run dry in summer, may be sluggish, shallow, and wide (forming in effect a pond or slough), or may have formerly cut a deep gulch or ravine, but at present run dry.

   • The small streams and coulees which flow into the Mississippi River in the area are firmly entrenched by the natural topography, and little lateral migration is possible. — 1982
2. •
   A reach of water in a bayou that is like a slough but deeper.

   • We were in a coulee, which is like a slough but deeper and with slushier muds at the bottom. — 1989
3. •
   A lava flow (whether molten or solidified).

   • The edge of a coulee, or stream of solidified lava, though ordinarily a very low escarpment, is exceptionally of such size as to deserve attention in the present connection. — 1928