Литица

Клифови Мохера, пример литица у Ирској

The White Cliffs of Dover

Клиф (енгл. cliff) или литица је назив за стрму абразиону падину насталу приликом разарања високе основне обале под утицајем таласа. Настанак клифа инициран је маринским процесом, док, по механизму процеса, припада колувијалном процесу. Временом се повлачи на рачун мора и тако повећава ширину абразионе обалске терасе, која лежи у његовом подножју. Висина и нагиб клифа зависе од иницијалног рељефа, литолошког састава и склопа обале. Клифови често достижу висине и хектометарског реда величина, а њихов нагиб може бити скоро вертикалан. У случају ниских, заравњених обала, које су изграђене од меких и растреситих стена, клиф је готово неприметан у рељефу.

An escarpment (or scarp) is a type of cliff, formed by the movement of a geologic fault or landslides, or maybe by rock slides by falling rock which biologically changes the differential erosion of rock layers of selectioning or deforming hardness.

The far southwestern aspect of Nanga Parbat's Rupal face, highest cliff (rock wall/mountain face) in the world. The steepest part of the face is 2 km to the northeast.

Етимологија

The Trango Towers in Pakistan. Their vertical faces are the world's tallest cliffs. Trango Tower center; Trango Monk center left; Trango II far left; Great Trango right.

Europe's highest cliff, Troll Wall in Norway, a famous BASE jumping location for jumpers from around the world.

Cliff comes from the Old English word clif of essentially the same meaning, cognate with Dutch, Low German, and Old Norse klif 'cliff'. These may in turn all be from a Romance loanword into Primitive Germanic that has its origins in the Latin forms clivus / clevus ("slope" or "hillside").

Велике и познате литице

Vihren’s 460 m north face seen from Golemiya Kazan, Pirin Mountain, Bulgaria

Cliffs along the north shore of Isfjord, Svalbard, Norway.

Kaliakra cape cliffs, Bulgaria

The Matengai in Oki Islands, Japan

The Cliffs of Moher in Ireland

Cliffs on the western shoreline of Sam Ford Fjord, Canada

Cliffs near Sortavala, Russia

Close-up view of Verona Rupes, a 20 km high fault scarp on Miranda, a moon of Uranus.

Vratsata gorge, Vrachanski Balkan Mountains, Bulgaria

Given that a cliff does not need to be exactly vertical, there can be ambiguity about whether a given slope is a cliff or not and also about how much of a certain slope to count as a cliff. For example, given a truly vertical rock wall above a very steep slope, one could count just the rock wall or the combination. Listings of cliffs are thus inherently uncertain.

Some of the largest cliffs on Earth are found underwater. For example, an 8,000 m drop over a 4,250 m span can be found at a ridge sitting inside the Kermadec Trench.

The highest very steep non-vertical cliffs in the world are Nanga Parbat's Rupal Face and Gyala Peri's southeast face, which both rise approximately 4,600 m, or 15,000 ft, above their base. According to other sources, the highest cliff in the world, about 1,340 m high, is the east face of Great Trango in the Karakoram mountains of northern Pakistan. This uses a fairly stringent notion of cliff, as the 1,340 m figure refers to a nearly vertical headwall of two stacked pillars; adding in a very steep approach brings the total drop from the East Face precipice to the nearby Dunge Glacier to nearly 2,000 m.

The location of the world's highest sea cliffs depends also on the definition of 'cliff' that is used. Guinness World Records states it is Kalaupapa, Hawaii, at 1,010 m high. Another contender is the north face of Mitre Peak, which drops 1,683 m to Milford Sound, New Zealand. These are subject to a less stringent definition, as the average slope of these cliffs at Kaulapapa is about 1.7, corresponding to an angle of 60 degrees, and Mitre Peak is similar. A more vertical drop into the sea can be found at Maujit Qaqarssuasia (also known as the 'Thumbnail') which is situated in the Torssukátak fjord area at the very tip of South Greenland and drops 1,560 m near-vertically.

Списак

The following is an incomplete list of cliffs of the world.

Африка

Изнад мора

• Anaga's Cliffs, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 592 m (1.942 ft) above Atlantic Ocean
• Cape Hangklip, Western Cape, South Africa, 4.531 m (14.865 ft) above False Bay, Atlantic Ocean
• Cape Point, Western Cape, South Africa, 249 m (817 ft) above Atlantic Ocean
• Chapman's Peak, Western Cape, South Africa, 596 m (1.955 ft) above Atlantic Ocean
• Karbonkelberg, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, 653 m (2.142 ft) above Hout Bay, Atlantic Ocean
• Kogelberg, Western Cape, South Africa, 1.289 m (4.229 ft) above False Bay, Atlantic Ocean
• Los Gigantes, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 637 m (2.090 ft) above Atlantic Ocean
• Table Mountain, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, 1.086 m (3.563 ft) above Atlantic Ocean

Изнад копна

• Innumerable peaks in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa are considered cliff formations. The Drakensberg Range is regarded, together with Ethiopia's Simien Mountains, as one of the two finest erosional mountain ranges on Earth. Because of their near-unique geological formation, the range has an extraordinarily high percentage of cliff faces making up its length, particularly along the highest portion of the range. This portion of the range is virtually uninterrupted cliff faces, ranging from 600 m (2.000 ft) to 1.200 m (3.900 ft) in height for almost 250 km (160 mi). Of all, the "Drakensberg Amphitheatre" (mentioned above) is most well known. Other notable cliffs include the Trojan Wall, Cleft Peak, Injisuthi Triplets, Cathedral Peak, Monk's Cowl, Mnweni Buttress, etc. The cliff faces of the Blyde River Canyon, technically still part of the Drakensberg, may be over 800 m (2.600 ft), with the main face of the Swadini Buttress approximately 1.000 m (3.300 ft) tall.
  • Drakensberg Amphitheatre, South Africa 1.200 m (3.900 ft) above base, 5 km (3,1 mi) long. The Tugela Falls, the world's second tallest waterfall, falls 948 m (3.110 ft) over the edge of the cliff face.
• Karambony, Madagascar, 380 m (1.250 ft) above base.
• Mount Meru, Tanzania Caldera Cliffs, 1.500 m (4.900 ft)
• Tsaranoro, Madagascar, 700 m (2.300 ft) above base

Америка

Север

Mount Thor, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada, commonly regarded as the highest vertical drop on Earth

Southwest face of El Capitan from Yosemite Valley

Several big granite faces in the Arctic region vie for the title of 'highest vertical drop on Earth', but reliable measurements are not always available. The possible contenders include (measurements are approximate):

Mount Thor, Baffin Island, Canada; 1,370 m (4,500 ft) total; top 480 m (1600 ft) is overhanging. This is commonly regarded as being the largest vertical drop on Earth са 1,250 m (4,100 ft).

1. The sheer north face of Polar Sun Spire, in the §74:MTAtoFa

of Baffin Island, rises 4,300 ft above the flat frozen fjord, although the lower portion of the face breaks from the vertical wall with a series of ledges and buttresses.

1. Ketil's and its neighbor Ulamertorsuaq's west faces in Tasermiut, Greenland have been reported as over 1,000 m high. Another relevant cliff in Greenland is Agdlerussakasit's Thumbnail.

Хабитат

Cliff landforms provide unique habitat niches to a variety of plants and animals, whose preferences and needs are suited by the vertical geometry of this landform type. For example, a number of birds have decided affinities for choosing cliff locations for nesting, often driven by the defensibility of these locations as well as absence of certain predators.

Флора

The population of the rare Borderea chouardii, during 2012, existed only on two cliff habitats within western Europe.

Види још

• Таласна поткапина
• Марински процес

Литература

• Марковић М., Павловић Р., Чупковић Т. 2003. Геоморфологија. Београд: Завод за уџбенике и наставна средства
• Мастило, Наталија (2005): Речник савремене српске географске терминологије, Географски факултете, Београд
• „Catalogue of place names in northern East Greenland”. Geological Survey of Denmark. Приступљено 20. 9. 2019. CS1 одржавање: Формат датума (веза)
• „Backpacking - Kootenay National Park”. National Park Service. Архивирано из оригинала 2019-09-29. г. Приступљено 2020-09-23. 
• „Geology Fieldnotes”. National Park Service. Архивирано из оригинала 2013-05-22. г. Приступљено 2010-11-28. 

Спољашње везе

•  „Cliff”. Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.