escarpment

noun

1. Geology. a long, precipitous, clifflike ridge of land, rock, or the like, commonly formed by faulting or fracturing of the earth’s crust.Compare scarp(def 1).
2. ground cut into an escarp around a fortification or defensive position.

noun

1. 1. the long continuous steep face of a ridge or plateau formed by erosion; scarp
   2. any steep slope, such as one resulting from faulting
2. a steep artificial slope immediately in front of the rampart of a fortified place

n.

1802, from French escarpment, from escarper “make into a steep slope,” from escarpe “slope,” from Italian scarpa (see scarp). Earlier in same sense was escarp.

1. A steep slope or long cliff formed by erosion or by vertical movement of the Earth’s crust along a fault. Escarpments separate two relatively level areas of land. The term is often used interchangeably with scarp but is more accurately associated with cliffs produced by erosional processes rather than those produced by faulting.