A terracette is a

landform A landform is a land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. They may be natural or may be anthropogenic (caused or influenced by human activity). Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement ...

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

vegetation Vegetation is an assemblage of plants and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular Taxon, taxa, life forms, structure, Spatial ecology, spatial extent, or any other specific Botany, botanic ...

and

regolith Regolith () is a blanket of unconsolidated, loose, heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid rock. It includes dust, broken rocks, and other related materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestria ...

behaviour, soil creep and

solifluction Solifluction is a collective name for gradual processes in which a mass moves down a slope ("mass wasting") related to freeze-thaw activity. This is the standard modern meaning of solifluction, which differs from the original meaning given to i ...

including

gelifluction Gelifluction, very similar to solifluction, is the seasonal freeze-thaw action upon waterlogging topsoil Topsoil is the upper layer of soil. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Eart ...

. 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 __NOTOC__ A manger or trough is a rack for fodder, or a structure or feeder used to hold food for animals. The word comes from the Old French ''mangier'' (meaning "to eat"), from Latin ''mandere'' (meaning "to chew"). Mangers are mostly used in ...

near the

Uffington White Horse The Uffington White Horse is a Prehistoric Britain, prehistoric hill figure, long, formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk. The figure is situated on the upper slopes of Whitehorse Hill in the English civil parishes in En ...

. 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 Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

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.

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

See also

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