An escarpment is an area of the Earth where elevation changes suddenly.
Escarpment usually refers to the bottom of a cliff or a steep slope. (
Scarp
refers to the
cliff
itself.)
E
scarpments
separate two level land surfaces. For example, an
e
scarpment
could be the area separating the lower parts of the coast from higher plateaus. An
e
scarpment
also usually indicates two different types of land, such as the area on a rocky beach where tall
cliffs
become
rocky
sand.
One side of an
e
scarpment
could be
rock
from one geologic era, while the other side of the
e
scarpment
could be
rock
from a different
geologic era
.
E
scarpments
are formed by one of two processes: erosion and faulting.
Erosion
creates an
e
scarpment
by wearing away
rock
through wind or water. One side of an
e
scarpment
may be eroded more than the other side. The result of this unequal
erosion
is a transition zone from one type of sedimentary rock to another. One example is the Niagara
E
scarpment
, which runs in an arc from the U.S. state of New York, through the Canadian province of Ontario, and down to the U.S. state of Illinois. All along the Niagara
E
scarpment
, hard, resistant
rock
sat on top of soft
rock
. As
wind
and water eroded the soft
rock
underneath, the hard
rock
tumbled down, creating
cliffs
and
e
scarpments
. The most dramatic example of this unequal
erosion
is the waterfalls at Niagara Falls.
The other process by which
e
scarpments
are formed is faulting.
Faulting
is movement of the Earths top layer, or crust, along a crack called a
fault
. The same process often results in earthquakes.
Faulting
creates
e
scarpments
as it moves pieces of the Earth around. The Elgeyo
E
scarpment
, part of Kenyas Great Rift Valley, was formed by
faulting
millions of years ago. The
faulting
that resulted in the Elgeyo
E
scarpment
turned seabeds into nearly vertical
cliffs
.
E
scarpments
are found on every continent, even Antarctica.
Fast Fact
Rupes
Earth isn't the only place on which you'll find escarpments. Rupes, created by faulting, erosion, or the impact of a meteorite, are escarpments on other planets or moons. Rupes is the Latin word for cliff. There are rupes on Mercury, Mars, our own moon, and the rocky moons of other planets.