28 March 2010

The grikes of Tsingy de Bemaraha

This is a very cool graphic from National Geographic showing how these most unusual rock formations of western Madagascar formed (carved by groundwater erosion, not by precipitation).

I've embedded a smaller gif to save my bandwidth; those interested in the process can read the details in this larger version.

(I'll bet when you woke up this morning you didn't even know what a grike was.  Neither did I.)

Via Geology Rocks.

A tip of the hat to Randomscrub, who notes that Titan also has karst topography!

3 comments:

  1. TimeshadowsMarch 28, 2010 at 1:00 PM

    Beautiful.
    --Thank you. :)

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  2. RandomscrubMarch 28, 2010 at 1:24 PM

    Looks like a similar phenomenon on Titan:
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100308124809.htm

    Yes, I'm a geek.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JulieOMarch 28, 2010 at 1:48 PM

    There's an impressive limestone pavement in Malham, Yorkshire - England. While the grikes are the fissures, the remaining pavement rock is called a 'clint'. Some pictures here: http://www.gowilder.org.uk/geog/WASP/malham.htm

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