A Lot, known in various dialects as bagkingklat, caón (Mexico & Hidalgo), paaklaat, parkinglot, or párquin (Espanglésh), refers to a flat expanse of land with a layer of asphalt or concrete at or near its surface ("Rind"). The Rind is often broken at regular intervals due to various natural processes, most frequently plant erosion, heating cycles, tectonic activity, or collapse due to long-term parking of large vehicles. The Parking Stratum is a geological stratum and anthropological horizon that refers to the continental pattern of Lots and Highway falling into ruin and becoming part of the landscape, creating a distinct layer in the Earth's crust.

The cracks in the Rind are almost always hosts to varied types of vegetation, insects, and burrowing creatures. These often contribute to further breakup of the Rind, chunks of which sink relatively quickly into the earth.

Substrata

Most lots constructed in the 20th and early 21st century did not last long - thin layers of asphalt were enough to service their relatively small vehicles. The advent of the Double-Wide for American consumers marked the expansion of parking lots not only in the horizontal area they occupied, but in their thickness as well. The new heavier vehicles required asphalt to be laid in layers almost twice as thick as before. Geologists distinguish the two as Early Parking and Late Parking substrata.