Cryoplanation
Cryoplanation is a technical term in geography that is made up of the following parts of the word:
- "Kryo", from Greek κρύος [kryos] "cold" and
- “Planation”, which in the geographical sense describes a planing, ie a leveling removal.
A synonym is the term "Altiplanation" , the beginning of which is derived from the Latin adjective "Altus" ( high, sublime ). Another expression with a comparable meaning is “Gole (t) z leveling” , which is used more for rather small-scale gradations of the mountain slopes in the Urals and Siberia . This name goes back to the Russian word "Гольцы" (from Russian goly for naked, bald ), which is used as part of the name of many mountains and as a general generic term.
With frequent changes in frost, ice thaws in initially fine cracks in the rock and then freezes again. When the water expands, the rock is broken up by frost blasting and crevasses that are getting deeper and deeper are created . Loose material is shredded even more by further weathering processes and finally transported downhill by the so-called soil flow ( solifluction ).
The extensive erosion, commonly known as denudation , took place particularly under periglacial conditions during the various Ice Ages and led to a flattening of the area, which is characterized by cryoplanar terraces and rock heaps . In the further course of these erosive processes, troughs and depressions arise, favored by nivation, or terraces are formed that run parallel to the slope. The Giant Mountains, with their gently rounded peaks, rocky seas and free-standing rock outcrops, are an example of the resulting landscape . Similar examples can also be found in other geologically ancient mountains, such as the Sajan Mountains or the mountainous region of Dauria in eastern Russia .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Lexicon of Geography
- ↑ SG Botsch, JJ Krassnow: "The process of the Goletz leveling and the formation of the mountain terraces " . Priroda Magazine, 1951.
- ↑ a b Jürgen Ehlers, The Ice Age, page 190 ff.