TheWhite Cliffs of DoverTheTrango Towers in Pakistan. Their vertical faces are the world's tallest cliffs. Trango Tower center; Trango Monk center left; Trango II far left; Great Trango right.Europe's highest cliff,Troll Wall in Norway, a famousBASE jumping location for jumpers from around the world.
In geography and geology, acliff orrock face is an area ofrock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes ofweathering anderosion, with the effect ofgravity. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas,escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually composed of rock that is resistant to weathering and erosion. Thesedimentary rocks that are most likely to form cliffs includesandstone,limestone,chalk, anddolomite.Igneous rocks such asgranite andbasalt also often form cliffs.
Anescarpment (or scarp) is a type of cliff formed by the movement of ageologic fault, a landslide, or sometimes by rock slides or falling rocks which change the differential erosion of the rock layers.
Most cliffs have some form ofscree slope at their base. In arid areas or under high cliffs, they are generally exposed jumbles of fallen rock. In areas of higher moisture, a soil slope may obscure thetalus. Many cliffs also feature tributary waterfalls orrock shelters. Sometimes a cliff peters out at the end of a ridge, withmushroom rocks or other types of rock columns remaining. Coastal erosion may lead to the formation of sea cliffs along a receding coastline.
The BritishOrdnance Survey distinguishes between cliffs (continuous line along the topper edge with projections down the face) and outcrops (continuous lines along lower edge).
The far southwestern aspect ofNanga Parbat's Rupal face, highest cliff (rock wall/mountain face) in the world. The steepest part of the face is 2 km to the northeast. Cliffs are very common in areas where there are river banks and oceans.
Cliff comes from the Old English wordclif of essentially the same meaning, cognate with Dutch, Low German, and Old Norseklif 'cliff'.[1] These may in turn all be from aRomance loanword into Primitive Germanic that has its origins in the Latin formsclivus /clevus ("slope" or "hillside").[2][3]
Given that a cliff does not need to be exactly vertical, there can be ambiguity about whether a givenslope is a cliff or not and also about how much of a certain slope to count as a cliff. For example, given a truly vertical rock wall above a very steep slope, one could count just the rock wall or the combination. Listings of cliffs are thus inherently uncertain.
Some of the largest cliffs on Earth are found underwater. For example, an 8,000 m drop over a 4,250 m span can be found at a ridge sitting inside theKermadec Trench. Or, some of the largest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere exist both above (300 m) and below the waterline on the south-eastern edge of the island state of Tasmania, Australia: these are of the hard, igneous rockdolerite.
According to some sources, the highest cliff in the world, about 1,340 m high, is the east face ofGreat Trango in theKarakoram mountains of northern Pakistan. This uses a fairly stringent notion of cliff, as the 1,340 m figure refers to a nearly vertical headwall of two stacked pillars; adding in a very steep approach brings the total drop from the East Face precipice to the nearby Dunge Glacier to nearly 2,000 m.
The location of the world's highest sea cliffs depends also on the definition of 'cliff' that is used.Guinness World Records states it isKalaupapa, Hawaii,[5] at 1,010 m high. Another contender is the north face ofMitre Peak, which drops 1,683 m toMilford Sound, New Zealand.[6] These are subject to a less stringent definition, as the average slope of these cliffs at Kaulapapa is about 1.7, corresponding to an angle of 60 degrees, and Mitre Peak is similar. A more vertical drop into the sea can be found at Maujit Qaqarssuasia (also known as the 'Thumbnail') which is situated in theTorssukátak fjord area at the very tip of South Greenland and drops 1,560 m near-vertically.[7]
Considering a truly vertical drop,Mount Thor onBaffin Island in Arctic Canada is often considered the highest at 1370 m (4500 ft) high in total (the top 480 m (1600 ft) is overhanging), and is said to give it the longest vertical drop on Earth at 1,250 m (4,100 ft). However, other cliffs on Baffin Island, such asPolar Sun Spire in theSam Ford Fjord, or others in remote areas of Greenland may be higher.
Los Gigantes,Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 637 m (2,090 ft) above Atlantic Ocean
Table Mountain,Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, 1,086 m (3,563 ft) above Atlantic Ocean
Above Land
Innumerable peaks in theDrakensberg mountains of South Africa are considered cliff formations. The Drakensberg Range is regarded, together with Ethiopia'sSimien Mountains, as one of the two finest erosional mountain ranges on Earth. Because of their near-unique geological formation, the range has an extraordinarily high percentage of cliff faces making up its length, particularly along the highest portion of the range.[citation needed] This portion of the range is virtually uninterrupted cliff faces, ranging from 600 m (2,000 ft) to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in height for almost 250 km (160 mi). Of all, the "Drakensberg Amphitheatre" (mentioned above) is most well known.[citation needed] Other notable cliffs include theTrojan Wall,Cleft Peak,Injisuthi Triplets,Cathedral Peak,Monk's Cowl,Mnweni Buttress, etc. The cliff faces of theBlyde River Canyon, technically still part of the Drakensberg, may be over 800 m (2,600 ft), with the main face of the Swadini Buttress approximately 1,000 m (3,300 ft) tall.
Drakensberg Amphitheatre, South Africa 1,200 m (3,900 ft) above base, 5 km (3.1 mi) long. TheTugela Falls, the world's second tallest waterfall, falls 948 m (3,110 ft) over the edge of the cliff face.
Karambony, Madagascar, 380 m (1,250 ft) above base.
Several big granite faces in theArctic region vie for the title of 'highest vertical drop on Earth', but reliable measurements are not always available. The possible contenders include (measurements are approximate):
Mount Thor,Baffin Island, Canada; 1,370 m (4,500 ft) total; top 480 m (1600 ft) is overhanging. This is commonly regarded as being the largest vertical drop on Earth[1][2][citation needed]ot:leapyear at 1,250 m (4,100 ft).
ofBaffin Island, rises 4,300 ft above the flat frozen fjord, although the lower portion of the face breaks from the vertical wall with a series of ledges and buttresses.[8]
The west face ofNotch Peak in theHouse Range of southwestern Utah, U.S.; acarbonate rock pure vertical drop of about 670 m (2,200 ft), with 4,450 feet (1,356 m) from the top of the cliff to valley floor (bottom of the canyon below the notch)
All faces ofAuyan Tepui, along with all otherTepuis, Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana, Auyan Tepui is about 1,000 m (location ofAngel Falls) (the falls are 979 m, the highest in the world)
All faces ofCerro Chalten (Fitz Roy), Patagonia, Argentina-Chile, 1200 m
Qingshui Cliff,Xiulin Township,Hualien County, Taiwan averaging 800 m above Pacific Ocean. The tallest peak, Qingshui Mountain, rises 2408 m directly from the Pacific Ocean.
Qingshui Cliff,Xiulin Township,Hualien County, Taiwan averaging 800 m above Pacific Ocean. The tallest peak, Qingshui Mountain, rises 2408 meters directly from the Pacific Ocean.
Shispare Sar southwest face, Karakoram, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, 3,200 m
Spantik northwest face, Karakoram, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, 2,000 m
Trango Towers: East Face Great Trango Tower,Baltoro Muztagh, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, 1,340 m (near vertical headwall), 2,100 m (very steep overall drop from East Summit to Dunge Glacier). Northwest Face drops approximately 2,200 m to the Trango Glacier below, but with a taller slab topped out with a shorter overhanging headwall of approximately 1,000 m. The Southwest "Azeem" Ridge forms the group's tallest steep rise of roughly 2,286 m (7,500 ft) from the Trango Glacier to the Southwest summit.
Cliff landforms provide unique habitatniches to a variety of plants and animals, whose preferences and needs are suited by the vertical geometry of this landform type. For example, a number of birds have decided affinities for choosing cliff locations for nesting,[21] often driven by the defensibility of these locations as well as absence of certain predators.Humans have also inhabitedcliff dwellings.
^Max Pfister:Altromanische Relikte in der östlichen und südlichen Galloromania, in den rheinischen Mundarten, im Alpenraum und in Oberitalien. In : Sieglinde Heinz, Ulrich Wandruszka [ed.]:Fakten und Theorien : Beitr. zur roman. u. allg. Sprachwiss.; Festschr. für Helmut Stimm zum 65. Geburtstag, Tübingen 1982, pp. 219 – 230,ISBN3-87808-936-8
^Jon Roberts:Agdlerussakasit (1750 m), east face, new route on east face; The Butler (900 m) and Mark (900 m), first ascents.American Alpine Journal (AAJ) 2004, pp. 266–267
