An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations .
19-456: The Lincoln Cliff or Lincoln Edge is a portion of a major escarpment that runs north–south through the historic divisions of Lindsey and Kesteven in central Lincolnshire and is a prominent landscape feature in a generally flat portion of the county. Towards its northern end, near Scunthorpe , it is sometimes referred to as the Trent Cliff . The name preserves an obsolete sense of
38-460: A fault displaces the ground surface so that one side is higher than the other, a fault scarp is created. This can occur in dip-slip faults , or when a strike-slip fault brings a piece of high ground adjacent to an area of lower ground. 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
57-425: Is the third or vertical dimension of land surface . Topography is the study of terrain, although the word is often used as a synonym for relief itself. When relief is described underwater , the term bathymetry is used. In cartography , many different techniques are used to describe relief, including contour lines and triangulated irregular networks . Elementary landforms (segments, facets, relief units) are
76-653: The Humber Estuary , and is broken only twice by river gaps at Ancaster and Lincoln , through which the rivers Slea and Witham respectively flow. To the west of the Cliff north of Lincoln lies the River Trent, with the valley of the Witham to the west south of Lincoln. The top of the Cliff is followed by two historically significant roads. Closely following the escarpment is an ancient trackway, loosely known as
95-805: The Jurassic Way , which in large parts now consists of the A607 south of Lincoln and the B1398 to the north. The second road is the Roman Ermine Street , the modern A15 , that runs parallel a few miles to the east of the Edge. North of Lincoln, the name Lincoln Cliff, or simply the Cliff, is locally used to refer to the entire ridge of Jurassic Limestone, not just its steep western scarp. This can be seen in placenames such as Welton Cliff, Saxby Cliff and Caenby Cliff, reflecting parish-based divisions of
114-577: The Moon , the Latin term rupes is used for an escarpment. When sedimentary beds are tilted and exposed to the surface, erosion and weathering may occur. Escarpments erode gradually and over 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
133-509: The Universe . Examples are mountains, hills, polar caps, and valleys, which are found on all of the terrestrial planets . The scientific study of landforms is known as geomorphology . In onomastic terminology, toponyms (geographical proper names) of individual landform objects (mountains, hills, valleys, etc.) are called oronyms . Landforms may be extracted from a digital elevation model (DEM) using some automated techniques where
152-472: The base of the plateau . Scarps are generally formed by one of two processes: either by differential erosion of sedimentary rocks , or by movement of the Earth's crust at a geologic fault . The first process is the more common type: the escarpment is a transition from one series of sedimentary rocks to another series of a different age and composition. Escarpments are also frequently formed by faults. When
171-467: The county, Lincoln Cliff or Edge is formed from a series of sedimentary rocks which dip very gently to the east. The older rocks to the west of the scarp are of Early Jurassic age whilst those to the east are of Middle Jurassic origin; Parts of this sequence of rocks have gone by different names in the past indicated above by italicised names in brackets, and these continue to be found in older geological literature and maps. The Charmouth Mudstones form
190-643: The four major types of landforms. Minor landforms include buttes , canyons, valleys, and basins. Tectonic plate movement under the Earth can create landforms by pushing up mountains and hills. Oceans and continents exemplify the highest-order landforms. Landform elements are parts of a high-order landforms that can be further identified and systematically given a cohesive definition such as hill-tops, shoulders, saddles , foreslopes and backslopes. Some generic landform elements including: pits, peaks, channels, ridges, passes, pools and plains. Terrain (or relief )
209-596: The great ocean basins . Landforms are categorized by characteristic physical attributes such as elevation, slope, orientation, structure stratification , rock exposure, and soil type. Gross physical features or landforms include intuitive elements such as berms , mounds , hills , ridges , cliffs , valleys , rivers , peninsulas , volcanoes , and numerous other structural and size-scaled (e.g. ponds vs. lakes , hills vs. mountains ) elements including various kinds of inland and oceanic waterbodies and sub-surface features. Mountains, hills, plateaux , and plains are
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#1732779794824228-538: The layers where the escarpments have been exposed to the elements. Landform A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body . Landforms together make up a given terrain , and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography . Landforms include hills , mountains , canyons , and valleys , as well as shoreline features such as bays , peninsulas , and seas , including submerged features such as mid-ocean ridges , volcanoes , and
247-639: The lower ground to the west and the lowest part of the "cliff" whilst the Lincolnshire Limestone forms the plateau surface to the east of the scarp. The two gaps in the ridge at Lincoln and at Ancaster are interpreted as indicating the former course of the eastward flowing proto-Trent . The river flowed from the Nottingham area towards the North Sea via the Vale of Belvoir and the gap in
266-665: The ridge at Ancaster . At a later stage it used the Lincoln Gap before assuming its present northerly course to join with the Yorkshire Ouse to form the Humber . From north to south the "towns, villages and city (Lincoln)" are as follows along the cliff: 53°12′N 0°32′W / 53.20°N 0.53°W / 53.20; -0.53 Escarpment The terms scarp and scarp face are often used interchangeably with escarpment . Some sources differentiate
285-580: The ridge. This use of the name is not found south of Lincoln, where the term Cliff refers only to the scarp itself, as distinct from the limestone plateau (which is here called the Lincoln Heath). To minimise confusion, some people prefer the name Lincoln Edge or Lincolnshire Edge for the scarp that runs from Grantham to the Humber, reserving the name Lincoln Cliff for the section of limestone ridge north of Lincoln. One of several west-facing scarps within
304-492: The role of vegetation in the development of dune systems and salt marshes , and the work of corals and algae in the formation of coral reefs . Landforms do not include several man-made features, such as canals , ports and many harbors ; and geographic features, such as deserts , forests , and grasslands . Many of the terms are not restricted to refer to features of the planet Earth , and can be used to describe surface features of other planets and similar objects in
323-644: The smallest homogeneous divisions of the land surface, at the given scale/resolution. These are areas with relatively homogeneous morphometric properties, bounded by lines of discontinuity. A plateau or a hill can be observed at various scales, ranging from a few hundred meters to hundreds of kilometers. Hence, the spatial distribution of landforms is often scale-dependent, as is the case for soils and geological strata. A number of factors, ranging from plate tectonics to erosion and deposition (also due to human activity), can generate and affect landforms. Biological factors can also influence landforms—for example, note
342-439: The two terms, with escarpment referring to the margin between two landforms , and scarp referring to a cliff or a steep slope. 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 caused by coastal erosion at
361-584: The word " cliff ", which could historically refer to a hillside as well as a precipitous rock face. The scarp is formed by resistant Jurassic age rocks, principally the Lincolnshire Limestone Formation , and is remarkable for its length and straightness. However it is modest in height, rising about 50 metres or less above the surrounding landscape. It runs for over 50 miles from the Leicestershire border near Grantham to
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