 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Massif" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Amassif (/mæˈsiːf,ˈmæsɪf/) is a principalmountain mass,[2] such as a compact portion of amountain range, containing one or moresummits (e.g. France'sMassif Central). Inmountaineering literature, a massif is frequently used to denote the main mass of an individual mountain.
As a purely scientific term ingeology, however, a "massif" is separately and more specifically defined as a section of a planet'scrust that is demarcated byfaults orflexures. In themovement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. A massif is a smaller structural unit than atectonic plate and is considered the fourth-largest driving force ingeomorphology.[3]
The word "massif" originates from French (in which the word also means "massive"), where it is used to refer to a large mountain mass or compact group of connected mountains forming an independent portion of a range. TheFace on Mars is an example of an extraterrestrial massif.[4] Massifs may also form underwater, as with theAtlantis Massif.[5]
 |
