Scarp

A scarp is a steep slope or near-vertical break separating two more gently inclined surfaces, on land, on the coast, or on the seafloor. Submarine scarps form by faulting, by the headwall collapse of a slope failure, by erosion along a channel margin, or by differential subsidence. In multibeam data a scarp shows as an abrupt increase in gradient with a sharp upper and lower break in slope. Height and freshness indicate the process and its age. Scarps on the continental slope often mark the headwall of a submarine landslide and bound the scar from which mass-transport deposits were evacuated.