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Satellite image of the Tibetan Plateau between the Himalayan mountains to the south and the Taklamakan Desert to the north. In geology and physical geography, a plateau (/ p l ə ˈ t oʊ, p l æ ˈ t oʊ, ˈ p l æ t oʊ /; French:; pl.: plateaus or plateaux), [1] [2] also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the ...
Dissipation of heat from the mantle is the original source of the energy required to drive plate tectonics through convection or large scale upwelling and doming. As a consequence, a powerful source generating plate motion is the excess density of the oceanic lithosphere sinking in subduction zones.
The Colorado Plateau which includes the Grand Canyon is the result of broad tectonic uplift followed by river erosion. [4] When mountains rise slowly, either due to orogenic uplift or other processes (e.g., rebound after glaciation), an unusual feature known as a water gap may occur.
Upwelling intensity depends on wind strength and seasonal variability, as well as the vertical structure of the water, variations in the bottom bathymetry, and instabilities in the currents. In some areas, upwelling is a seasonal event leading to periodic bursts of productivity similar to spring blooms in coastal waters. Wind-induced upwelling ...
It is a result of crustal extension due to mantle upwelling, gravitational collapse, crustal thickening, or relaxation of confining stresses. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The extension results in the thinning and deformation of the upper crust, causing it to fracture and create a series of long parallel normal faults .
There are five main types of mountains: volcanic, fold, plateau, fault-block, and dome. A more detailed classification useful on a local scale predates plate tectonics and adds to these categories. [ 6 ]
An oceanic plateau is a large, relatively flat submarine region that rises well above the level of the ambient seabed. [50] While many oceanic plateaus are composed of continental crust , and often form a step interrupting the continental slope , some plateaus are undersea remnants of large igneous provinces .
Diagram of the geological process of subduction. Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates.