An
escarpment is a steep slope or long
cliff that occurs from faulting, tilting or warping and resulting erosion and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations. Usually
escarpment is used interchangeably with
scarp (from the
Italian scarpa, shoe). But some sources differentiate the two terms, where
escarpment refers to the margin between two landforms, while
scarp is synonymous with a cliff or steep slope. The surface of the steep slope is called a scarp face.