Rock face
A steep, vertical or overhanging continuously rocky mountain flank is referred to as a rock wall or rock slope. Their angle of inclination is between 65 ° and 90 °, but can also be overhanging (greater than 90 °).
The mightiest rock faces in the Alps extend vertically over 500 to 1000 meters, in the Himalayas and the Andes even more.
Famous steep faces in the Alps include the Eiger north face (Switzerland), the Dachstein south face (Austria) and the east face of the Rosengartenspitze (South Tyrol). The 4500 m high Rupal wall on Nanga Parbat is considered the highest steep face on earth .
At the foot of larger rock faces, large amounts of rock debris are usually deposited as talus in the form of heaps of rubble or rock glaciers , which are caused by constant erosion and isolated landslides .
The planet Mars also has numerous steep rock faces, including in the area of the large canyon Valles Marineris .
The formation of rock faces is not limited to solid, dense rocks such as granite , gneiss or dolomite , but can also occur with slate and sandstone (for example in the Hohe Tauern and the Elbe Sandstone Mountains ). Their structure depends crucially on the redistribution of the rock layers during folding and thrusting in the course of mountain formation , their durability, among other things, on the crevices that occur in the natural rock . Some loess terraces in wine-growing regions that do not consist of natural rock also have steep slopes up to ten meters high .
Steep, partially overhanging rock crashes, there is also in alpine gorges and canyons , formed by the erosion of the water in tectonically precreased lineaments arise. Various smaller rock walls serve as a practice object for climbers and are known as climbing gardens .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Geotopes in the Stuttgart region - Glossary - Baden-Württemberg (accessed on November 14, 2018)
