Left, Yar Tor, central, Sharp Tor and right, Corndon Tor. Archetypal Dartmoor scenery. Moorland of Heather, Gorse, wild grasses and boggy land topped by Tors of weathered granite in rocky piles, Dartmoor, Devon, England.
Commentary.
Such strange piles of grotesque stonework, as here at Sharp Tor, are typical of many granite hill-tops on Dartmoor.
Caused by the chemical and physical weathering of joints in the granite, over millions of years, this weathering reduces once solid igneous rock to crumbling piles of disjointed stones.
It is as if rain in these joints disintegrates some of the minerals like Quartz, Feldspar and Biotite producing broken down substances in white, grey, brown and pink.
Ice, freezing in the joints, expands and wrenches the rock apart, leaving irregular piles of rock known as Tors.
These can appear weird on a bright day, but emerging out of a dark, misty moorland they can take on an “other worldly” vision.
Left, Yar Tor, central, Sharp Tor and right, Corndon Tor. Archetypal Dartmoor scenery. Moorland of Heather, Gorse, wild grasses and boggy land topped by Tors of weathered granite in rocky piles, Dartmoor, Devon, England.
Commentary.
Such strange piles of grotesque stonework, as here at Sharp Tor, are typical of many granite hill-tops on Dartmoor.
Caused by the chemical and physical weathering of joints in the granite, over millions of years, this weathering reduces once solid igneous rock to crumbling piles of disjointed stones.
It is as if rain in these joints disintegrates some of the minerals like Quartz, Feldspar and Biotite producing broken down substances in white, grey, brown and pink.
Ice, freezing in the joints, expands and wrenches the rock apart, leaving irregular piles of rock known as Tors.
These can appear weird on a bright day, but emerging out of a dark, misty moorland they can take on an “other worldly” vision.