Escarpment

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Escarpment face of a cuesta, broken by a fault, overlooking Trenton, Cloudland Canyon State Park, and Lookout Mountain in the U.S. state of Georgia

An escarpment is a steep

faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations
.

The terms scarp and scarp face are often used interchangeably with escarpment.[citation needed] Some sources differentiate the two terms, with escarpment referring to the margin between two landforms, and scarp referring to a cliff or a steep slope.[1][2] In this usage an escarpment is a ridge which has a gentle slope on one side and a steep scarp on the other side.

More loosely, the term scarp also describes a zone between a coastal lowland and a continental plateau which shows a marked, abrupt change in elevation[3] caused by coastal erosion at the base of the plateau.

Formation and description

Scarps are generally formed by one of two processes: either by differential

strike-slip fault
brings a piece of high ground adjacent to an area of lower ground.

Schematic cross section of a cuesta, dip slopes facing left, and harder rocklayers in darker colors than softer ones

Earth is not the only planet where escarpments occur. They are believed to occur on other planets when the crust contracts, as a result of cooling. On other Solar System bodies such as Mercury, Mars, and the Moon, the Latin term rupes
is used for an escarpment.

New Zealand's Southern Alps
. Northeast is towards the top.

Erosion

When sedimentary beds are tilted and exposed to the surface,

geological time. The mélange tendencies of escarpments results in varying contacts between a multitude of rock types. These different rock types weather at different speeds, according to Goldich dissolution series
so different stages of deformation can often be seen in the layers where the escarpments have been exposed to the elements.

Significant escarpments

Africa

Antarctica

Asia

Australia and New Zealand

Europe

The Sierra Escarpment in California

North America

Florida Escarpment
, seen in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the sea bed drops precipitously from less than 300 to 3,000 m (1,000 to 10,000 ft) over a short distance.

South America

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-13-860958-0.[page needed
    ]
  2. ^ Summary: Escarpments, US Army Corps of Engineers.
  3. ^ "Scarps and Terraces". Physiography. Radford University. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  4. JSTOR 521267
    .
  5. doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(01)00212-8
    .
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