steppeland

The countryside was mostly grassy steppeland or tundra-treeless plains on land with frozen subsoil that thawed to a black mucky surface in summer.

The Plains of Passage Auel, Jean M. 1990

The island rose no more than twenty-five feet above the water, then leveled out into a long field that was a steppeland in miniature with fescues and feather grasses turning gold in the sun.

The Plains of Passage Auel, Jean M. 1990

The steppeland east of the valley where Ayla had lived alone for three years had been more accessible, and the young woman hadn't bothered to take the difficult roundabout way to the west out of the valley very often, and was largely unfamiliar with that area.

The Mammoth Hunters Auel, Jean M. 1985

And when you seehis here-and-now, you’ll understand why he’d want to merge it with thenetherworld: Bagi’s stark but serene steppeland world of sheep andshepherds is being invaded by industrial modernity.

On the Scene at Toronto: Anthony Minghella, Todd Field, and more | EW.com 2006