A klippe is defined as a large block that has been tectonically transported. The block is isolated on all sides and rests on or with a foreign (exotic) framework of other formations. In German, the common word Klippe means a rocky eminence or crag or a sea stack.
In geology, three types of klippes are recognized: an overthrust or allochthonous klippe, an erosional remnant or outlier of a formerly continuous nappe, resting on a different, distinctive substratum; an autochthonous klippe , representing the crest of a mushroom-type fold; and a piercement klippe, generated by a diapiric type of structure. The prominent nature of the classic klippe is created by the relatively greater hardness and resistance of its rock types to erosion in contrast to the soft formations around or below it, but this is not essential to the definition. Besides the standard tectonic klippes, defined here, the term is also applied to chaos-type blocks of structural origin and to sedimentary...
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Tollmann, A. (1987). Klippe . In: Structural Geology and Tectonics. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31080-0_59
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31080-0_59
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