This is Caamas before the Imperial bombardment. it is a misnomer, popularized in later works and slowly the misconception seeps into canon. It denoted the most severe of several levels of destruction that could be directed against a center of resistance, and involved laying waste to an entire planet by orbital bombardment, reducing the upper crust of a planet to molten slag or in extreme cases going so far as to atomize the planet's top-soil.Now, 'slagging' or 'glassing' a planet is the popular conception of a Base Delta Zero. It was easier to terraform a new world than to try fixing it. The planet Caamas, a target-and arguably, the only proper example of an Imperial-issued Base Delta Zero command-was rendered an uninhabitable, toxic, radioactive wasteland. This is an 'extravagant' waste energy and military resources after all, conquering a planet avails its riches to the conquerer. This serves no military function: the purpose is to teach a lesson to the remainder of the Galaxy. It is scorched-earth, on a planetary scale. You burn into the deepest mines and obliterate valuable resources. You kill all life, but you do not stop there. Now, what is a Base Delta Zero (BDZ)? According to the beginning of the Wookieepedia article: Base Delta Zero was the naval code used by the Sith Empire, Galactic Republic, Galactic Empire, and Confederacy of Independent Systems to order the complete surface destruction of a planetary target, eliminating all life, industry, and natural resources.In other words, it is the utter and complete destruction of a planet's usefulness as an asset. 'cause we're doing some PHYSICS, BITCHES! This better get nominated for most intelligent thread of 2011.

Base delta zero vs glassing