3.7.12 Escarpment (skrent)
3.7.12.1 An escarpment is a long, more or less continuous, steep slope facing in one main direction. It usually separates two more gently sloping surface segments and is produced by faulting or erosion, or by both agencies in combination. An escarpment may be a present-day or former landform, or a structural form element (Figs. 9, 10).
3.7.12.2 An escarpment is a form element which, as regards height, is located between a high and a depression (Fig. 8).
3.7.12.3 No limitations are placed on the extent of an escarpment.
3.7.12.4 An escarpment is mappable with the help of geomorphological, geological and/or geophysical methods.
3.7.12.5 An escarpment of regional extent will be divisible into segments which may have different strikes and dips.
3.7.12.6 An escarpment can be given a formal or an informal name in accordance with the "general rules for naming and defining geological units" (Chap. 2) and the rules for naming geological form units (Section 3.7.1). An escarpment can be given a geographical name (or an alternative name on the continental shelf) that can be identical to the proper name of the fault that it follows, or the platform or plateau that it delimits. The proper name (Section 2.2.2) is placed between the words "the ... Escarpment" (formal) in the compound name.
3.7.12.7 An escarpment can become geomorphologically expressed along a fault, be a steep slope bounding a plateau or platform, or be a terrace slope. An escarpment can be a "rock escarpment", or a "superficial deposit escarpment" where the rock surface is covered by superficial deposits. An escarpment can also be a structural feature that is provable seismically.
3.7.12.8 Example: Gabrielsen et al. (1984) defined the Vøring Plateau Escarpment (Vøringplatåets brattkant). According to this Code, this should be called the Vøring Escarpment (Vøringskrenten). This is a structural form element.
3.7.12.9 Key references: Gjessing (1978), Bates & Jackson (1980).
