The Formation Of Granite Tors

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The formation of granite tors.

Over time the material above the batholith was weathered and removed by rivers and glaciers. It is a flat topped moorland. Most commonly granites but also schists dacites dolerites ignimbrites coarse sandstones and others. Alternate contraction and expansion of the rock cause the joints or cracks present in the rock to be widen.

It has a high drainage density due to the impermeable nature of the granite. Tors usually overlie unaltered bedrock and are thought to be formed either by freeze thaw weathering or by groundwater weathering before exposure. Tors are mostly less than 5 meters 16 ft high. Kit mikayi a celebrated tor near kisumu kenya.

During daytime rocks are expose to the baking sun they expand due to the increase in temperature. The processes resulting in the formation of the dartmoor tors started about 280 million years ago as the granite forming dartmoor cooled and solidified from molten rock at a. A batholith is an area of molten rock that has cooled very slowly within the crust creating a rock with large crystals. There is often evidence of spheroidal weathering of the squared joint blocks.

Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain their origin and this remains a topic of discussion among geologists and geomorphologists and physical geographers. At night due to radiate cooling effect the rocks are cooled rapidly and they contract. The granite seen on dartmoor originated as a granite batholith under the surface of the earth. Weathering and tor formation.

It has over 150 rock outcrops called tors which were formed by a combination of. The formation of tors on dartmoor. Weathering of the dartmoor granite began almost as soon as it had solidified. Tor exposed rock mass of jointed and broken blocks.

Tors are landforms created by the erosion and weathering of rock. Tors are seldom more than 15 metres 50 feet high and often occur as residues at the summits of inselbergs and at the highest points of pediments.