Escarpment face of a cuesta broken by a fault. In Geomorphology, an escarpment is a transition zone between different physiogeographic provinces that involves a sharp steep Elevation differential characterized
Lookout Mountain Georgia. Lookout Mountain, actually a Plateau, is located at the northwest corner of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southern border The State of Georgia ( is a state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule

Schematic cross section of three cuestas, dipslopes facing left, and harder rocklayers in darker colors than softer ones

In structural geology and geomorphology, a cuesta (from Spanish: "slope") is a ridge formed by gently tilted sedimentary rock strata in a homoclinal structure^[1][2]. Structural geology is the study of the three dimensional distribution of rock bodies and their planar or folded surfaces and their internal fabrics Geomorphology (from Greek: γη ge, "earth" μορφή morfé, "form" and λόγος Logos, "knowledge" A ridge is a geological feature that features a continuous elevational crest for some distance Sedimentary rock is one of the three main rock types (the others being igneous and Metamorphic rock) In Structural geology, a uniclinal structure, homoclinal structure, unicline or homocline (from old homo  = same cline Cuestas have a steep slope, where the rock layers are exposed on their edges, called an escarpment or, if more steep, a cliff. In Geomorphology, an escarpment is a transition zone between different physiogeographic provinces that involves a sharp steep Elevation differential characterized In Geography and Geology, a cliff is a significant vertical or near vertical rock exposure Usually an erosion-resistant rock layer also has a more gentle slope on the other side of the ridge called a 'dip slope'. Erosion is the carrying away or displacement of solids ( Sediment, Soil, rock and other particles usually by the agents of currents such as wind A dip slope is a geological formation often created by Erosion of tilted strata.

Two well-known cuestas in western New York and southern Ontario are the Onondaga escarpment and the Niagara escarpment. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec The Onondaga Formation is a group of hard Limestones and Dolostones of Devonian age that form an important geographic feature in the area of outcrop The Niagara Escarpment is a long Escarpment, or Cuesta, in the United States and Canada that runs westward from New York State, through The dip of the Onondaga is about 40 feet per mile to the south. Strike and dip refer to the orientation or attitude of a Geologic feature The escarpment edge faces north and, in its most populated section, runs roughly parallel to the southern Lake Ontario shoreline. Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America.

Most Coastal Plains around the world are punctuated by a series of cuestas that parallel the coast. ^[3] The cuestas have gentle slopes over resistant strata at the surface and steeper slopes where these resistant strata are cut. That means that steeper slopes face inside anticlinals and outside eroded sinclinals. The Reynosa Plateau is the most coast-ward cuesta, which sees surface expression with the Bordes-Oakville escarpment, on the northwest side and a low ridge on the eastern boundary, called the Reynosa cuesta, where the deposits dip below later Pliocene-Pleistocene deposits of the Willis and Lissie Formation. The Pliocene epoch (spelled Pleiocene in some older texts is the period in the Geologic timescale that extends The Pleistocene ('plaɪstəsin is the epoch from 18 million to 10000 years BP covering the world's recent period

Cuestas have less dramatic expression in the United Kingdom, with two notable examples being the northwest-facing escarpment of the Jurassic chalk White Horse Hills and the similarly-aligned escarpment of the Cotswolds. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Ma (million years ago to  Ma that is from the end of the Triassic to the beginning Chalk (ʧɔːk is a soft white porous Sedimentary rock, a form of Limestone composed of the Mineral Calcite. Geography It is the valley of the Ock, a stream which joins the Thames from the West at Abingdon See also Cotswold The Cotswolds is a range of Hills in west-central England, sometimes called the "Heart of England" In continental Europe, the Swabian Alb offers particularly good views of cuestas in Jurassic rock. The Swabian Alb (Schwäbische Alb is a low mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending 220 km from southwest to northeast and 40 to 70 km The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Ma (million years ago to  Ma that is from the end of the Triassic to the beginning In France, the term for a cuesta is the same as for a coastline: "côte". This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Notable French cuestas are the wine-growing regions of Côte d'Or and Côtes du Rhône. The Côte d'Or (English Golden hillside is a limestone Escarpment in Burgundy, France that lends its name to the department which Côtes du Rhône (Rhone Hills is a Wine -growing Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC for the Rhône wine region of France

References

1. ^ Monkhouse, F. J. A Dictionary of Geography. London: Edward Arnold, 1978
2. ^ Cuesta, or homoclinal ridge (geology). Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2008-03-16. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 597 BC - Babylonians capture Jerusalem, replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king  “Cuestas with dip slopes of 40°–45° or higher are usually called hogback ridges. ”
3. ^ Strahler, Arthur N. Physical Geography. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1960 (second edition), p. 450

See also

• Escarpment
• Dip slope
• Strike and dip
• Hogback

External links

• Escarpment geology