Dictionary:

escarpment

  (ĭ-skärp'mənt)

1. A steep slope or long cliff that results from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.
2. A steep slope in front of a fortification.

A long line of cliffs or steep slopes that break the general continuity of the land by separating it into two level or sloping surfaces. Some very high escarpments, or scarps, may form by vertical movement along faults. Often a whole block of land may be forced upward while the adjacent block is downfaulted. See also Fault and fault structures.

Other types of escarpments form by differential weathering and erosion of contrasted rock types. Less resistant rocks, such as clay or shale, are often eroded from beneath resistant cap rocks, such as sandstone and limestone. With support removed from below, the cap rock fails and the escarpment retreats. Escarpments are often very prominent in arid regions, where hardened weathering products may form extensive cap rocks known as duricrusts.

Some of the largest known escarpments occur on the planet Mars, where erosion has presumably been much slower than on the Earth in reducing primary structural relief. See also Mars.

A more or less continuous line of steep slopes, facing in the same direction and caused by the erosion of folded rock. Some writers use the term as a synonym for cuesta.

A steep slope in front of a fortification to impede the approach of an enemy.

In geomorphology, an escarpment is a transition zone between different physiogeographic provinces that involves an elevation differential, often involving high cliffs. Most commonly, an escarpment, also called a scarp (from the Italian scarpa^[1]), is a transition from one series of sedimentary rocks to another series of a different age and composition. In such cases, the escarpment usually represents the line of erosional loss of the newer rock over the older (see also Cuesta).

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

Escarpment face of a cuesta, broken by a fault. Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee.

Escarpments are also frequently formed by faults. These are called fault scarps. In some cases land may be lifted to an elevation above the surrounding area by a thrust fault, or the reverse with a normal fault. A strike-slip fault may bring a piece of high ground adjacent to an area of lower ground. The latter is common in California along the San Andreas fault and the many other strike-slip faults in the area.

In England, escarpments are found in a diagonal line across the country from the Yorkshire coast on the North Sea to the Hampshire coast on the English Channel. There the features of an escarpment include the scarp slope (the leading edge); the dip slope, dry valleys, coombes (both found in chalk downland), and clay vales occur on the side away from the scarp.

There are escarpments on other planets besides Earth. They are believed to be created when the crust contracts; as a result of cooling.

More loosely the term is used to describe the zone between coastal lowlands and continental plateau which have a marked change in altitude.

Map of the Alpine Fault escarpment, beside New Zealand's Southern Alps. About 500 km (300 mi) long.

Significant escarpments

• Africa
  • God's Window (South Africa)
  • Bandiagara Escarpment (Mali)
  • Zambezi Escarpment (Zambia)
  • Scarp of Angola (Angola)
• Australia
  • Darling Scarp
  • Illawarra Escarpment
• Canada and the United States
  • Niagara Escarpment (Ontario, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Wisconsin)
  • Onondaga (geological formation) (Ontario and New York)
  • Devil's Rock (Lake Temiskaming, Ontario)
• England
  • Cotswold escarpment
  • North Downs
  • South Downs
  • A colloquial adjective to describe escarpments in England is "edge" as in
    • Alderley Edge
    • Edge Hill famous as the place of the first battle of the English Civil War.
    • Kinver Edge
    • The Lincoln Edge
    • Wenlock Edge
• France
  • La Côte d'Or is famous for its wines and has given its name to a département, Côte-d'Or.
  • Le Pays de Bray, a clay vale enclosed by chalk escarpments.
• Germany
  • Swabian Alb
• New Zealand
  • The western slope of the Southern Alps (along the Alpine Fault)
• United States
  • Allegheny Front (Pennsylvania-Maryland-West Virginia)
  • Caprock Escarpment (Texas)
  • Catskill Escarpment (New York)
  • Cody Scarp (Florida)
  • Pottsville Escarpment (Kentucky-Tennessee; see Cumberland Plateau)
  • Highland Rim encircling the Nashville Basin (actually a geologic dome) in Middle Tennessee
  • Pine Ridge (Nebraska and South Dakota)
  • Missouri Escarpment (North Dakota)
  • Muldraugh Hill (Kentucky)
  • Balcones Fault (Texas)
  • Mogollon Rim (Arizona)
  • Sierra Nevada range (eastern slope) in California.

The Sierra Escarpment in California

See also

• Cuesta
• Fall line
• List of scarps on Mercury

References

1. ^ http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=scarp

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - stejl skrænt, voldskråning

Nederlands (Dutch)
steile rotswand, vestingwal

Français (French)
n. - escarpement, falaise

Deutsch (German)
n. - Steilhang

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (γεωγρ.) γκρεμός, (στρατ.) πρανές (οχύρωσης)

Italiano (Italian)
dirupo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - escarpamento (m)

Русский (Russian)
вертикальное обнажение породы

Español (Spanish)
n. - escarpa, precipicio, despeñadero

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - brant sluttning

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
悬崖, 绝壁, 断崖

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 懸崖, 絕壁, 斷崖

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 급경사면

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 断崖, 急斜面

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) جرف, خندق‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מתלול, מדרון‬

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