limestone pavement

The physical weathering and erosion of a limestone landscape. The freezing and thawing of rain and its mild acidic properties cause cracks and joints to enlarge, forming limestone pavements, potholes, caves, and caverns.

The limestone pavement at Malham, North Yorkshire. It is an excellent example of this particular geological feature. More or less horizontal, the pavement has a bare limestone surface, cut into by grikes (deep fissures) running at right angles to each other, leaving clints (the slabs of limestone) between them.

Bare rock surface resembling a block of chocolate, found on limestone plateaus. It is formed by the weathering of limestone into individual upstanding blocks, called clints, separated from each other by joints, called grykes. The weathering process is thought to entail a combination of freeze-thaw (the alternate freezing and thawing of ice in cracks) and carbonation (the dissolving of minerals in the limestone by weakly acidic rainwater). Malham Tarn in North Yorkshire is an example of a limestone pavement.