Abstract
Using dimensional data from over 700 tafoni in Antarctica, this paper identifies how the dimensionless ratios of width/length (W/L) and depth/length (D/L) vary with tafoni length. The analysis suggests that these ratios do tend to converge to values that are similar to those found for fragments produced by brittle fracture and fragmentation. Dividing the data into quintiles and deciles, it is possible to assess how tafoni size and shape change as tafoni length increases. Smaller tafoni do tend to have a rounder plan form which rapidly changes as tafoni length increases towards the W/L ratio of 0.67. It is suggested that initial tafoni development is limited by the conditions set out in a recent mathematical model of tafoni development. This model focuses on tafoni development through the interactions of variable rock strength and the varying concentration gradient of a corrosive agent. Erosion involves the removal of relatively small sections of rock and is analogous to a continuous erosional process. This model produces tafoni of relatively circular plan form. Above a certain tafoni length it is suggested that processes associated with brittle fracture begin to dominant the development and shape of tafoni.
Highlights
Despite a long history of academic study [1,2,3,4] there remain ongoing debates about the nature and definitions of tafoni or as these forms have been alternatively called, sometimes within the same paper, alveolar weathering, honeycomb weathering or cavernous weathering [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]
Identification and often quantification of hollows in rock surfaces of varying dimensions that occur singularly, and as regularly-spaced swarms have formed the basis of a range of inferred processes of formation Figures 1 and 2 illustrates the forms that are the focus of this particular paper
This paper aims to start this discussion by using data collected by the “Landscape Processes in Antarctic Ecosystems” team, to explore how tafoni form can be interpreted within the concepts outlined by recent papers exploring the shape of pebbles [28,29,30,31], as well as a recent mathematical model of tafoni development [32]
Summary
Despite a long history of academic study [1,2,3,4] there remain ongoing debates about the nature and definitions of tafoni or as these forms have been alternatively called, sometimes within the same paper, alveolar weathering, honeycomb weathering or cavernous weathering [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. Distinguishing between the size of tafoni could be important for identifying if researchers are referring to the same form and by implication the same processes of formation and stabilization, or where changes in the size of the form reflect changes in processes of formation and stabilization [5]. Recent research [26,27] has suggested that tafoni formation could
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