Terracettes below Morgan's Hill - geograph

A terracette is a landform consisting of a hillside ridge arranged as part of sub-parallel "step-like sequences" of such ridges. Terracette occur on step hillsides and are regularly spaced. Various causes have been suggested to explain their origin including: animal trampling,

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic charact ...

and regolith behaviour, soil creep and solifluction including gelifluction. One explanation holds that terracettes are formed when saturated soil particles expand, then contract as they dry, causing them to move slowly downhill. An example of this is the manger near the Uffington White Horse. It may also be described as a small, irregular step-like formation on steep hillslopes, especially on those used for pasture which are formed by soil creep or erosion of surface soils exacerbated by the trampling of

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to anima ...

such as sheep or cattle. Synonyms are: catstep cattle terracing, sheep or cattle track. Early investigators such as C. Darwin (1904) believed that animals grazing the hillsides caused terracettes, but further examination revealed places where they abruptly end at steep rock faces or at soils of different composition. Other sites show livestock trails cutting across terracettes. Geomorphologists Vincent and Clarke have also cast doubt about the ability of animals alone to create such regular steps or ridges.

References

External links

Geology and geomorphology
Slope landforms Soil landforms {{geology-stub

See also

References

External links