Dissected plateau

Dissected Plateau

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Dissected plateau

A dissected plateau is a plateau

Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau, also called a high plateau or tableland, is an area of highland , usually consisting of relatively flat terrain....
area that has been uplifted, then severely eroded so that the relief is sharp. Such an area may be referred to as mountainous, but dissected plateaus are distinguishable from orogenic mountain belts by the lack of folding, metamorphism

Metamorphic rock

Metamorphic rock is the result of the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form"....
, extensive faulting, or magma

Magma

Magma is molten Rock that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and may also exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and gas bubbles....
tic activity that accompanies orogeny

Orogeny

Orogeny refers to natural mountain building, and may be studied as a tectonic structural event, as a geographical event, and a chronological event: orogenic events cause distinctive structural phenomena and related tectonic activity, affect certain regions of rocks and crust, and happen within a specific period of time....
.

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A dissected plateau is a plateau

Plateau

Metamorphic rock

Metamorphic rock is the result of the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form"....
, extensive faulting, or magma

Magma

Orogeny

Allegheny Plateau

The Allegheny Plateau is a large dissected plateau area in western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, and eastern Ohio....
, the Cumberland Plateau

Cumberland Plateau

The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia, part of Tennessee, and a small portion of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia ....
, the Ozark Plateau

The Ozarks

The Ozarks are a Physiography, Geology, and culture highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the Ordinal directions half of Missouri and an extensive portion of Ordinal directions and North central Arkansas....
, the Catskill Mountains

Catskill Mountains

The Catskill Mountains , a natural area in New York northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, New York, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief....
, and the Blue Mountains are examples of dissected plateaus.

In Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
and Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
a similar landform

Landform

In the earth sciences and geology sub-fields a landform or physical feature comprises a geomorphology unit, and is largely defined by its surface form and location in the landscape, as part of the terrain, and as such, is typically an element of topography....
type is known as syrt

Syrt

A syrt is a kind of an upland landform in Russia and Central Asia.The word means "Highland ", "ridge" or "backbone" in Turkic languages and is present in Turkic toponymy in the mentioned areas: in Tien Shan, Pamirs, South Urals, such as Obshchiy Syrt by Urals, Uzun-Syrt plateau by Koktebel in Crimea....
.

These older uplift

Uplift

Uplift may refer to:* Biological uplift, the theoretical prospect of upgrading the capacities of a species or a civilization.** Uplift Universe, the setting for a series of novels by David Brin in which Biological Uplift is a central aspect...
s have been eroded by creeks and river

River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
s to develop steep relief not immediately distinguishable from mountain

Mountain

A mountain is a landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill....
s. Many areas of the Allegheny Plateau and the Cumberland Plateau, which are at the western edge of the Appalachian Mountains

Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains or , often called the Appalachians, are a vast mountain range in eastern North America. Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians....
of eastern North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, are called "mountains" but are actually dissected plateaus. One can stand on a high "mountain" and note that all the other tops are at the same height, which represents the original plain

Plain

In geography, a plain is an area of landscape with relatively high relief, as well as flat. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or vegetation may be absent in the case of sandy or...
before uplift.

A dissected plateau may also be formed, or created, usually on a comparatively small scale, by the levelling of terrain by planing and deposition beneath an ice sheet

Ice sheet

An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 square kilometer . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the last glacial period at Last Glacial Maximum the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of Canada and North America, the Wisconsin glaciation ice sheet covered n...
or perhaps, an ice cap

Ice cap

An ice cap is an ice mass that covers less than 50 000 km? of land area . Masses of ice covering more than 50 000 km? are termed an ice sheet....
. Subsequently, during the same or a later glacial, the margins of the glacial till

Till

Till is unsorted glacier sediment. Glacial drift is a general term for the coarsely graded and extremely heterogeneous sediments of glacial origin....
plain are removed by glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large, slow-moving mass of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity and high pressure....
s, leaving the plateau into which erosion by water

Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
incises valley

Valley

In geology, a valley is a Depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge....
s. Such a plateau may be level or gently sloping but may be distinguished by the till caps on its hills. Glacial till is still widely known in Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
by the older name of boulder clay.

Dissected plateau

See also