Inselberg
An inselberg or monadnock (/məˈnædnɒk/ mə-NAD-nok) is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite[citation needed] is known as a koppie, an Afrikaans word ("little head") from the Dutch diminutive word kopje.[1] If the inselberg is dome-shaped and formed from granite or gneiss, it can also be called a bornhardt, though not all bornhardts are inselbergs. An inselberg results when a body of rock resistant to erosion, such as granite, occurring within a body of softer rocks, is exposed by differential erosion and lowering of the surrounding landscape.[2]
Etymology
Inselberg
The word inselberg is a
In a 1973 study examining the use of the term, one researcher found that the term had been used for features in
Monadnock
Monadnock is derived from an Abenaki term for an isolated hill or a lone mountain that stands above the surrounding area, typically by surviving erosion. Geologists took the name from Mount Monadnock in southwestern New Hampshire.[6] It is thought to derive from either menonadenak (transl. smooth mountain) or menadena (transl. isolated mountain).[7] In this context, monadnock is used to describe a mountain that rises from an area of relatively flat and/or lower terrain. For instance, Mount Monadnock rises 610 metres (2,000 ft) above its surrounding terrain and stands, at 965 m (3,165 ft), nearly 300 m (1,000 ft) higher than any mountain peak within 48 km (30 mi).[8]
Geology
Geological and geographical patterns
Inselbergs are common in eroded and weathered shields.[9] The presence of an inselberg typically indicates the existence of a nearby plateau or highland, or their remnants. This is especially the case for inselbergs composed of sedimentary rock, which will display the same stratigraphic units as this nearby plateau. However once exposed, the inselbergs are destroyed by marginal collapse of joint blocks and exfoliation sheets. This process leaves behind tors perched at their summits and, over time, a talus-bordered residual known as a castle koppie appears.[10][11] By this association various inselberg fields in Africa and South America are assumed to be the vestiges of eroded etchplains.[12][13]
Clusters of inselbergs, called inselberg fields and inselberg plains, occur in various parts of the world, including Tanzania,[14] the Anti-Atlas of Morocco,[12] Northeast Brazil,[15] Namibia,[16] the interior of Angola,[17] and the northern portions of Finland[18][19] and Sweden.[20][A]
The classification of Anthony Young (1969) distinguishes six types of inselbergs; buttes, conical hills, convex-concave hills, rock crest over regolith-covered slope, rock dome (sugarloaf) and kopje or tor.[22]
The types of rock of which inselbergs are made of include granite, gneiss and gabbro.[B]
Origin and development
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Summarizing the understanding on the origin of inselbergs in 1974, geomorphologist Michael Thomas writes "Hypotheses for the development of inselbergs have been advanced, refuted and reiterated over a period of more than seventy years."[24] Volcanic or other processes may give rise to a body of rock resistant to erosion, inside a body of softer rock such as limestone, which is more susceptible to erosion. When the less resistant rock is eroded away to form a plain, the more resistant rock is left behind as an isolated mountain. The strength of the uneroded rock is often attributed to the tightness of its jointing.[25][C]
Inselbergs can be reshaped by
Ecology
The inselbergs of Eastern Africa tend to be a refuge for life in the
Gallery
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Mount Mulanje, a large inselberg in southeastern Malawi
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A conical sandstone koppie in the Free State, South Africa
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An inselberg in the rainforest of Suriname
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Devils Tower, an archetypal example of an inselberg in Wyoming, US
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Vinyard Knob (high point 960') in the central portion of the Knobs Region of Kentucky
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Cono de Arita, a conical sandstone inselberg in the middle of Salar de Arizaro, Argentina
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Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire, US
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Peña de Bernal in Bernal, Querétaro, México
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An inselberg in Western Sahara
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Peñón de Guatapé, Antioquia Department, Colombia
See also
- Bornhardt – A large dome-shaped, steep-sided, bald rock
- Caprock – Rock overlying a less resistant type
- Dissected plateau – Plateaus area that has been severely eroded so that the relief is sharp
- List of inselbergs
- Mesa – Elevated area of land with a flat top and sides
- Mogote – Steep-sided residual hill of limestone, marble, or dolomite on a flat plain
- Sky island – Geographic or environmental feature
- Table (landform) – Raised landform with a flat top
- Tuya – Flat-topped, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet
Notes
- ^ Albeit its not the usual way of describing it the strandflat of Norway was held by Julius Büdel to be an etchplain with inselbergs.[21]
- ^ Cliff Ollier has noted that in Uganda inselbergs are commonly made of granite rock, sometimes of gneiss and never of amphibolite or volcanic rock.[2] According to Ollier protuding quartzite hills tend to form ridges rather than "true inselbergs".[2] Dundret in northern Sweden is made of gabbro.[23]
- ^ Twidale (1981) "Granitic Inselbergs: …"[26] is a review that follows the Willis 1936 works and Twidale 1971, a series of papers available in 1970 and rock weathering strata and structure reviewed U.C.W. well worth reading as they show by theory and materials the importance of preceding structures, internal solution, subsurface weathering, slips, exfoliation, basal weathering (Young, A. Soils), biological effects, plants, solutes and salt plain catena associations, possible lake rise, but mainly the stripping of rock mass leaving resistant units, sometimes volcanic plugs.
References
- ^ Webster's New Explorer Dictionary of Word Origins (2004). Federal Street Press: New York.
- ^ a b c Ollier, C.D. (1960). "The Inselbergs of Uganda". Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie. 4 (1): 43–52.
- ISBN 978-0-17-771299-9.[page needed]
- ^ Gerrard, John (1988). Rocks and Landforms Routledge: Florence, Kentucky.
- .
- Raymo, Maureen E.(1989) Written in Stone: A Geologic History of the Northeastern United States. Globe Pequot, Chester, Connecticut.
- ^ "Vermont Soils with Names of American Indian Origin Archived 2009-03-20 at the Wayback Machine" United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Retrieved January 6, 2008.
- ^ Baldwin, Henry I. (1989). Monadnock Guide 4th edition. Concord, New Hampshire: Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
- .
- ^ "Summary: Inselbergs/Hills/Knobs". Desert Processes Working Group. Knowledge Sciences, Inc. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
- ^ Easterbrook, Don J. (1999). "Chapter Three: Weathering". Surface Processes and Landforms (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- ^ .
- ISBN 978-3-319-11800-0.
- ^ Sundborg, Å.; Rapp, A. (1986). Erosion and Sedimentation by Water: Problems and prospects. Ambio. pp. 215–225.
- hdl:11336/6639.
- ^ "Production of an agro-ecological zones map of Namibia (first approximation)" (PDF). nbri.org.na.
- ^ "Development of a soil and terrain map/database for Angola" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-03-09. Retrieved 2016-07-11.
- ^ Kaitanen, Veijo (1 February 1985). "Problems concerning the origin of inselbergs in Finnish Lapland". Fennia. 163 (2): 359–364.
- .
- JSTOR 521068.
- S2CID 226225485.
- ^ Young, Anthony (1969). Clayton, K.M. (ed.). Slopes. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd. p. 209.
- ^ Ebert, Karin; Hall, Adrian M.; Hättestrand, Clas (2012). "Pre-glacial landforms on a glaciated shield: The inselberg plains of northern Sweden". Norwegian Journal of Geology. 92: 1–17.
- ^ Thomas, Michael (1974). Tropical Geomorphology. The Macmillan Press Ldt. p. 136.
- ^ "A Dictionary of Ecology" (2004). Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved November 28, 2009
- JSTOR 633409.
- ISBN 978-0-340-58431-6.
- OCLC 943395499. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
External links
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.