Characteristics and foundations - Landforms and Geology of Granite Terrains - page 3

(d)

(e)

Figure 1.1. (d) Granite platform, central Namibia, with traces of orthogonal fracture system, but with the edges

of the blocks defined by raised rims, due to toughening by recrystallisation associated with fault
dislocation. (e) Fracture system with raised rims due to crystallisation of infilling fluids (quartz)
disintegration of the rock mass. Cavallers Dam, Pyrenees, northeastern Spain.

as well-developed in granite as elsewhere, glaciated granite landscapes bear the clear and characteris-
tic imprint of ice sheets and glaciers ( Fig. 1.1f) , and where capped by a resistant carapace of laterite or
silcrete, for example, plateau forms are developed ( Fig. 1.1g). No landform is entirely peculiar to, and
developed only on, granite. All are also found on outcrops of other rocks (see Chapter 13).
On the other hand, numerous landforms, major and minor, are more commonly developed on
granite than on any other rock type, and can thus be regarded as characteristic of such terrains.
Indeed, many of the landforms and landform assemblages developed on granite are so distinctive
as to allow a high probability identification of granite exposures on the basis of distant views, or