Outcrop

An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth.Serrote Branco outcrop in Caicó, BrazilA typical shore outcrop scoured by ancient glaciers in Espoo, Finland.Granite outcrops at Silesian Stones Mountain in southwestern PolandOutcrop near Yana, IndiaOutcrop of the Roubidoux Formation in the Ozarks of southern MissouriOutcrop in the Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park of southern California An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficial deposits are covered by a mantle of soil and vegetation and cannot be seen or examined closely. However, in places where the overlying cover is removed through erosion or tectonic uplift, the rock may be exposed, or crop out. Such exposure will happen most frequently in areas where erosion is rapid and exceeds the weathering rate such as on steep hillsides, mountain ridges and tops, river banks, and tectonically active areas. In Finland, glacial erosion during the last glacial maximum (ca. 11000 BC), followed by scouring by sea waves, followed by isostatic uplift has produced a large number of smooth coastal and littoral outcrops.