Depression - Terminology used in technical reports

[Tiatodd]

Have recently had a technical report done on adriveway we completed in aug04.Area330m2 of tegula.a very eminent member of the blockpaving community compiled said report(previously referred 2 as a sad bastard who needs a shag) and i was appalled by his terminology. Is there a technical term for the juncture of where 2 gradients meet and if so could someone tell me.The expert involved used the word depression on numerous occasions to describe such a juncture.Surely better terminology exists as the whole idea of the report was to inform the court if everything had been done to British standards(as it had been) and i found the wordage extremely misleading.As it happens 2 areas of the drive had depressions.one was 11mm over a distance of 3m and the other he negated to inform us of.Have i got an argument that lack of maintenance could have contributed to these 2 areas as sand was missing from joints. client has admitted no resanding has occured and the sand laying course was found to be saturated.Help

[Tony McC]

When two gradients meet, it's either a "summit" or a "valley". These terms apply whether it's block paving, concrete, blacktop or anything else.

A "depression" is an area of paving that has settled to a level below that of the majority of the pavement. To use it to describe a valley point is pejorative (means it gives an impression that is excessively negative)

11mm over a 3m run is excessive but there might be a case to say loss of jointing sand has exacerbated the problem. The fact that the assessor has not quantified the second 'depression' means it should be disregarded: if s/he can't back up their comments with facts and figures, they should say nowt!