Introduction
Limestone pavements are a distinctive karst morphology in which an exposed, flat limestone surface is incised into a regular, block‑like pattern that resembles man‑made paving. The pattern arises where chemical weathering preferentially dissolves carbonate rock along pre‑existing joints and fractures, producing an orthogonal or sub‑orthogonal network of slabs (clints) separated by deeper fissures (grikes).
Although the term “limestone pavement” is most commonly applied in the United Kingdom and Ireland, equivalent exposed carbonate surfaces elsewhere are often described as alvars; both expressions denote the same basic geomorphic phenomenon produced by joint‑controlled solutional erosion. Well‑known British examples include the extensive pavements between the Yorkshire Dales summits of Ingleborough and Pen‑y‑ghent and the pavements above Malham Cove. Pavements also occur in high‑altitude settings, as shown by the limestone pavement on Zgornja Komna in the Julian Alps.
Read more Government Exam Guru
From a geomorphological and ecological standpoint, limestone pavements record intensive carbonate dissolution and the structural control of erosion, and their grikes create sheltered microhabitats that support specialized plant and animal communities. These attributes make pavements important for both the study of karst processes and for conservation efforts in regions where they occur.
Formation of a limestone pavement
Limestone pavements arise where glacial action strips away soil and weathered cover, scouring horizontally bedded carbonate bedrock and leaving broad, flat limestone platforms. The rock’s original bedding and pervasive jointing exert a strong structural control: vertical and horizontal fractures focus surface and subsurface drainage and thereby localize chemical attack. Because limestone readily dissolves in ordinary water and is increasingly vulnerable to stronger acidity (for example from acid deposition), flowing and percolating waters progressively enlarge these pre‑existing discontinuities by solutional weathering. Differential solution along joints isolates slab‑like blocks called clints, separated by deep, solution‑widened fissures termed grikes (or grykes), producing the characteristic block‑and‑fissure morphology. Where joints are regular and apertures enlarge evenly, the pattern can closely resemble man‑made paving stones, but natural pavements often exhibit irregular fissure alignment and variable clint size. If pavements develop beneath a continuous soil mantle rather than as bare rock, the soil dampens direct corrosive drainage and promotes more rounded, subdued clint and grike forms.
Free Thousands of Mock Test for Any Exam
Notable examples
Limestone pavements occur widely where Pleistocene glaciation stripped superficial cover to reveal jointed carbonate bedrock; prominent concentrations are found in the formerly glaciated uplands of northern England, notably across the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria. Localized pavements occur above Malham Cove, on the flanks of Ingleborough, at Orton Scar, and on slopes above Grange‑over‑Sands, reflecting the interplay of regional bedding and joint patterns with glacial scouring.
Comparable, well‑developed pavements appear elsewhere in Europe: the Burren of County Clare, Ireland, provides one of the most extensive lowland examples, characterized by large, solution‑scoured limestone expanses, while Stora Alvaret on Öland, Sweden, illustrates a broad alvar pavement in a low‑lying island setting. The Désert de Platé in the French Alps demonstrates that similar karst pavements also form on high mountain scarps, showing the landform’s elevation range.
Beyond Europe, occurrences on the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland indicate a transatlantic distribution of glacially influenced karst pavements. In all cases the characteristic pattern of blocky slabs and intervening fissures arises where glacial removal of soil and weathered rock exposed bedrock joints that were subsequently enlarged by chemical solution and surface weathering.