Klippe
Geological feature
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A klippe (German for cliff or crag; plural klippen or klippes[1]) is a geological feature of thrust fault terrains. The klippe is the remnant portion of a nappe after erosion has removed connecting portions of the nappe. This process results in an outlier of exotic, often nearly horizontally translated strata overlying autochthonous strata.[2]
Examples
- Chief Mountain, Montana
- Mount Yamnuska, Alberta
- The Rock of Gibraltar
- Acropolis of Athens, Greece
- Bac Grillera, Catalonia, Spain. The nappe of which this klippe once formed part had its root in the northern part of the Pyrenees mountain range.[3][4]
Klippes may also be found in the Pre-Alps of Switzerland and some of the isolated mountains in Assynt, Sutherland, in NW Scotland.[5]
Beckov Castle, Slovakia, perched on a limestone klippe
