Researchers from Russia and the Czech Republic have modeled the emergence of the arcades in the rocks by erosion. A new model shows how nature can appear sequentially connected by an arch similar to an architectural arcade. The results published in the journal Geomorphology.
Arcade — a series of identical form and size of the arches leaning on columns. Such structures are often erected in Ancient Rome for the construction of aqueducts, viaducts, amphitheatres and circuses. In the middle ages the arcades were created by English and Italian architects in the construction of cathedrals and open galleries. Interestingly, similar arcade can be found in nature. The appearance of arches in the rocks is one of the ways of their evolution under the action of erosion.
Researchers from the Center for the design, production technologies and materials Skoltech and the Charles University created a model of the processes which lead to the formation of arcades in the rocks through erosion. According to earlier work of scientists, the mechanism of this erosion is associated with a low level of mechanical stress in certain areas. Geologists have shown that the arcades are formed in the zones of heterogeneity of the rocks, which can be associated with cracks or thin layers of softer rocks.
“At the erosion of rocks in the zone of heterogeneity occurs, the redistribution of loads from one part of rock to another. This produces a regular region with the highest pressure. Further erosion of the "grinds" arches along the surface of the rock. They connect the adjacent areas with a lot of pressure. So there are arcades, which consist of a succession of arches,” says one of the authors, Professor of Skoltech Alexander Safonov.
Researchers have shown that the promotion of the erosion front into the cliff is formed of several rows of arcades inside it. Then, when the decrease in the total mass of the rock due to erosion, the load on the individual arches of the arcades is reduced. This may lead to partial erosion of the arcades and of their evolution in the colonnade. The new model describes the formation of a variety of arcades and columns in the mountain cities of Sandstone in the Czech Republic and the USA. She also shows how it was formed arches and columns in coastal areas.
