The video uses karst pavement as an analogy for the Sphinx enclosure walls. Clints are residual limestone blocks, while grikes are the fissures that isolate them. Water and ice help widen cracks, and exposed rock edges can weather over time. The video cites examples from Estonia and Yorkshire Dales and argues that their forms resemble erosion on the enclosure walls, offering a natural template for water shaping the walls rather than quarrying. 🌿
Video compares karst pavement with Sphinx enclosure erosion
Key facts
- Clints and grikes are limestone-pavement features: corrosive drainage along joints and cracks leaves blocks, or clints, separated by fissures, or grikes.
- Water and ice can contribute to the development of limestone pavement.
- The video cites examples from Estonia and the Yorkshire Dales as resembling erosional forms on the Sphinx enclosure walls.
- The claim that this pattern could explain water erosion of the Sphinx walls rather than quarrying is the video presenter’s interpretation, not a conclusion established by the karst sources.
Sources
Limestone Pavements - Clints Cragsclintscrags.co.uk
Grikes are the fissures that isolate the individual clints. Clints and grikes are formed by glaciation and water as the cracks or joints in the limestone are ...
Limestone Pavementburrengeopark.ie
Grikes can be up to 80 cm wide and 2 metres deep. The grikes divide up the limestone pavement into blocks called clints. Most clints are 1- 5 m2 in area. Grikes.
Limestone pavementen.wikipedia.org
corrosive drainage along joints and cracks in the limestone can produce slabs called clints isolated by deep fissures called grikes or grykes
Limestone: the language of pavementssolwayshorewalker.co.uk
Clints, grikes, karst, karren and kamenitsas – they are evidence of the power of water in its liquid or frozen state, the power that sculpts ...
Geochemistry: Clints and Grikesontariobeneathourfeet.com
The clints are the flat, pavement-like limestone areas. The grikes are the open cracks, or fissures, which isolate the individual clints. The shapes and sizes ...
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