Earth pyramids of South Tyrol

The earth pyramids in South Tyrol are a special natural phenomenon that comes about in particular terrain, usually after a landslide or an unhinging of the earth.

The pyramids of Ritten, the most famous in South Tyrol, towards Mittelberg
As seen from the west with Nicholas chapel and Dolomites
Pyramids in Autumn, as seen from Nicholas chapel

The main cause of the formation of earth pyramids is the continuous alternation of periods of torrential rain and drought. These phenomena, in particularly friable terrain, over the years, increasingly erode the ground and form such earth pyramids. Usually the pyramids are formed in terrain very well sheltered from wind so that they cannot be damaged by it.

Moreover, the life of the earth pyramids is strongly dependent on the climate which reigns during the time in which it is shaped by the rock that covers it.

There are several earth pyramids that can be safely visited. Among the most famous and admired the following are the most outstanding:

Other, less famous, earth pyramids are:

Further reading
  • Gerhard Benl, Über Südtiroler Erdpyramiden und ihre Entstehung (About the earth pyramides in South Tyrol and their formation), in «Jahrbuch des Vereins zum Schutz der Alpenpflanzen und -tiere» (Yearbook of the Club for the protection of alpine plants and animals), Verein zum Schutz der Bergwelt (Club for the protection of the mountains), 31, Munich, 1966.
gollark: Am I supposed to be seeing something other than an abstract color squiggle?
gollark: It's obviously the letters Qih81e.
gollark: Kind of worrying given that they're going into self-driving cars and stuff.
gollark: According to my calculations, you see, that would be bad.
gollark: I wonder if the neural networks trained for image recognition and stuff have similar types of weird glitch (obviously not exactly the same problems, but similar classes of thing).

References

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