Escarpment

Steep slope or cliff separating two relatively level regions / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.

Cuesta_-_Lookout_Mountain%2C_Georgia.png
Escarpment face of a cuesta, broken by a fault, overlooking Trenton, Cloudland Canyon State Park, and Lookout Mountain in the U.S. state of Georgia

The terms scarp and scarp face are often used interchangeably with escarpment.[citation needed] Some sources differentiate the two terms, with escarpment referring to the margin between two landforms, and scarp referring to a cliff or a steep slope.[1][2] In this usage an escarpment is a ridge which has a gentle slope on one side and a steep scarp on the other side.

More loosely, the term scarp also describes a zone between a coastal lowland and a continental plateau which shows a marked, abrupt change in elevation[3] caused by coastal erosion at the base of the plateau.