chenier, beach ridge, usually composed of sand-sized material resting on clay or mud. Chenier is the Louisiana French term for the oak tree belts that mark the distribution of the ridges in the Mississippi Delta region. In that area there are several sets of cheniers, each separated from, and slightly unconformable to, the next. Some of the ridges have been reworked by waves, and several show a blanket of peat growth (indicating a regression of sea level) covered by marine sediments. The arrangement and composition of these cheniers are taken as evidence of a fluctuation in sea level and have been correlated in time with similar evidence in other areas of the world.