Escarpment
In geology, 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, 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.
broken by a fault
Cumberland Plateau Tennessee
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 in chalk country) 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.
Significant escarpments
- Canada and the United States
- United States
- Africa