Tafone

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Pronounced tafoni on the California coast near San Mateo

As tafoni (plural Tafoni ; from the Corsican ., See pietra tafunata "perforated stone") is a weathering form in the medium to coarse-grained rocks called, the "crumbling caves" structures located on honeycomb remember. When tafonizing, chemical weathering from the inside out ("core weathering") forms spherical to kidney-shaped cavities with a diameter of a few centimeters up to half a meter and more. Sometimes weathering bark is retained and forms overhangs.

Occurrence

The Capo d'Orso is a famous Tafoni rock on the northeast coast of Sardinia

Tafoni is found worldwide on different types of rock - above all sandstone , greywacke , granite , granodiorite and gneiss , but also limestone , lava and tuff - as well as in different climates , but mainly near the coast of temperate climates and in cold and hot dry desert areas .

In Europe, tafoni can be found mainly in the Mediterranean area. a. on Elba , Ischia , Sardinia (at Capo Testa ), Corsica (in the Restonica Valley and around the Bavella Pass ) and on Sicily . The cavities of the Corsican tafoni (including in the Calanche of Piana) are mostly spherical or elliptical. Outside of the Mediterranean area, this form of weathering occurs in Europe, for example on the Externsteinen in the Teutoburg Forest, in the southern Palatinate or near Fels in Luxembourg.

Emergence

Honeycomb-shaped tafoni in red sandstone rocks in the southern Palatinate

Tafoni belong to the geomorphological dwarf forms in the nano relief (extension: 10 cm, area: 100 cm²). How exactly it originated is controversial, but is probably related to differences in mountain moisture in the rock: seepage water in the rock evaporates and deposits its solution load on the surface; Gradually the stone decomposes from the inside and the small round hollow spaces are formed. Mechanisms of salt weathering can also contribute to the formation of tafoni.

There are similarities to the merely net-like "stone lattice" or " honeycomb weathering ".

use

Towards the end of the Neolithic , the culture of the Tafoni tombs appeared in Corsica . They were closed burial places in the smallest natural caves that have so far been discovered in three places on the island in the Sartenais and near Porto-Vecchio . Grave goods were clay pots with feet and decorated handles.

Oriu (plural Orii ) are buildings that were erected in Corsica under an abri or in tafonis.

The Tafoni offer climbers an exceptionally grippy rock formation that is quite fragile and therefore requires a lot of experience and caution.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e Hans Murawski, Wilhelm Meyer: Geological dictionary . 11th edition. Elsevier / Spektrum, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-8274-1445-8 , pp. 218 .
  2. ↑ a b http://www.tafoni.com/Lithology.html
  3. ↑ http://www.tafoni.com/Locations.html
  4. ↑ Frank Ahnert: Introduction to Geomorphology . 1st edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-8252-8103-5 , p. 117 .
  5. ↑ http://www.tafoni.com/Salt-Weathering.html
  6. ↑ Corsica's prehistory after Grosjean. Retrieved August 14, 2010 .
Tafoni

literature

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