350px, Schematic overview of a thrust system. The shaded material is called a window or fenster. The klippe is the isolated block of the nappe overlying autochthonous material.">window_(geology).html" ;"title="nappe. The erosional hole is called a window (geology)">window or fenster. The klippe is the isolated block of the nappe overlying autochthonous material.
A klippe (
German for cliff">German language">German for cliff or crag; plural klippen or ''klippes''
) 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.
Examples
*
Chief Mountain, Montana
*
Mount Yamnuska
Mount John Laurie is a mountain in the Canadian Rockies, in Alberta's Municipal District of Bighorn No. 8.
Various names
Officially named Mount John Laurie in 1961, it is also known as Mount Laurie, or by its original Nakoda language, Stoney N ...
, Alberta
*The
Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq , meaning "Mountain of Tariq ibn Ziyad, Tariq") is a monolithic limestone mountain high dominating the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated near the end of a nar ...
*
Acropolis of Athens
The Acropolis of Athens (; ) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several Ancient Greek architecture, ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, ...
, Greece
* Bac Grillera,
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
, Spain. The nappe of which this klippe once formed part had its root in the northern part of the Pyrenees mountain range.
Klippes may also be found in the
Pre-Alps of Switzerland and some of the isolated mountains in
Assynt, Sutherland, in NW Scotland.
[Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, p. 294. .
]
Beckov Castle, Slovakia, from below.jpg, Beckov Castle, Slovakia, perched on a limestone klippe
Serra Bac de Grillera.jpg, Serra de Bac Grillera, Catalonia, Spain (Lower Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...
limestone resting on younger autochthonous Tertiary formations)
References
Structural geology
{{struct-geology-stub