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Island in the Sky, Canyonlands National Park

Monte Roraima

In geology and earth science, a plateau ( /pləˈtoʊ/ or /ˈplætoʊ/; plural plateaus or rarely plateaux), also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain.

Formation[link]

Plateaus can be formed by a number of processes, including upwelling of volcanic magma, extrusion of lava, and erosion by water and glaciers. Magma rises from the mantle causing the ground to swell upward, in this way large, flat areas of rock are uplifted. Plateaus can also be built up by lava spreading outward from cracks and weak areas in the crust. Plateaus can also be formed by the erosional processes of glaciers on mountain ranges, leaving them sitting between the mountain ranges. Water can also erode mountains and other landforms down into plateaus.

Classification[link]

Plateaus are classified according to their surrounding environment.

• Intermontane plateaus are the highest in the world, bordered by mountains. The Tibetan Plateau is one such plateau.
• Piedmont plateaus are bordered on one side by mountains and on the other by a plain or sea.
• Continental plateaus are bordered on all sides by the plains or seas, forming away from mountains.
• Volcanic plateaus are produced by volcanic activity. The Columbia Plateau in the northwestern United States of America is one such plateau.
• Dissected plateaus are highly eroded plateaus cut by rivers and broken by deep narrow valleys.

Major plateaus of the world[link]

The largest and highest plateau in the world is the Tibetan Plateau, called the "roof of the world", which is still being formed by the collisions of the Indo-Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates. In all, the Tibetan plateau covers an area of some 2.5 million square kilometres, approximately 5000 m above sea level. The height of this plateau is such that it is enough to reverse the Hadley cell convection cycles and to drive the monsoons of India towards the south.

Bogotá, Colombia is located in a high plateau, over 8,600 ft (2,600 m) high

The second-largest current plateau in the world is the Antarctic Plateau, which covers most of the central part of Antarctica. In that region of Antarctica, there are no known mountains, but rather 3000 meters or more of ice - which very slowly spreads toward the coastline via enormous glaciers. This ice cap is so massive that echo location sound measurements of the thickness of the ice have shown that large parts of the "dry land" surface of Antarctica have been pressed below sea level. Thus, if the icecap were somehow removed, large areas of Antarctica would be flooded by the oceans. On the other hand - more realistically - were the icecap to gradually melt away, the surface of the land beneath it would gradually rebound away from the center of the Earth, and that land would ultimately rise above sea level.

The third-largest plateau in the world is probably the one in South America that lies in the middle of the Andes Mountains. This Andean Plateau covers most of Bolivia, central Ecuador, central Peru, northern Chile and northern Argentina.

Major plateaus of North America[link]

In North America, the largest plateau is the Colorado Plateau covering an area of about 337,000 square kilometres (130,000 sq mi) in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.^[1]

The Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona and southern Utah is bisected by the valley of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. How this came to be is that over 10 million years ago, a river was already there, though not necessarily on exactly the same course. Then, subterranean geological forces caused the land in that part of North America to gradually rise by about a centimeter per year for millions of years. An unusual balance occurred: the river that would become the Colorado River was able to erode into the crust of the Earth at a nearly equal rate to the uplift of the plateau. Now, millions of years later, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is at an elevation of about 2450 meters (9800 ft) above sea level, and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is about 2150 meters (8200 ft) above sea level. At its deepest, the Colorado River is about 1830 meters (6000 ft) below the level of the North Rim.

The southern edge of the plateau in northern Arizona is called the Mogollon Rim, where the elevation of the land declines steeply into central Arizona. This Mogollon Rim is located about 20 kilometers south Flagstaff, Holbrook, Winslow, and Williams, Arizona. Because of the snowy plateau and the San Francisco Mountains to its north, the Mogollon Rim area is noted for its many natural springs and artesian wells.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Plateaus

• Oceanic plateau for submarine or undersea plateaux
• Altiplano
• Mesa
• Potrero
• Tuya
• Butte
• Atherton Tableland
• Chapada
• Tepuis

References[link]

• "Plateau" at scienceclarified.com
• nationalgeographic.com
• travel-university.org
• edu.pe.ca
• britannica.com

Renata Przemyk
Renata Przemyk - live in Lublin, Poland
Background information
Birth name	Renata Przemyk
Born	(1966-02-10) February 10, 1966 (age 46) Bielsko-Biała, Poland
Genres	rock, alternative, cold wave
Occupations	Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Artist
Associated acts	Ya Hozna

Renata Przemyk (born February 10, 1966, in Bielsko-Biała)^[1] is Polish singer and song writer. In Bielsko-Biała she attended primary and secondary school. She enjoyed her childhood together with her parents, grandmother and brothers. After finishing school, Renata moved to Katowice and began to study Czech philology at University of Śląsk.

In 1994 she moved to Cracow, and at the end of 1999 she decided to lead a quiet life in the country near Cracow, away from the fuss of a big city, which enabled her to compose, make arrangements of her own songs and bring up her daughter in a peaceful atmosphere.

Her career as a singer started when she was a teenager, by singing with local rock bands. However, she developed the real calling for music during her studies when she was inspired by the music of Tom Waits, Talking Heads and Frank Zappa. As a result of it, she started a band named "Ya Hozna" in 1989.

Despite the fact, that the group lasted only for a year, they managed to release an album entitled "Ya Hozna", the album that revealed a unique and original musical style of Renata Przemyk. After her music began to catch on, she started her solo career.

As an independent artist Renata has recorded and edited the following albums: "Mało zdolna szansonistka" (1992), "Tylko kobieta" (1994), "Andergrant" (1996), "Hormon" (1999), "Blizna" (2001), "Balladyna" (2002) - soundtrack from a play directed by Jan Machulski, "The best of" (2003) - a compilation of her most interesting songs, "Unikat" (2006).

From the beginning of her artistic path, she has been accompanied by her dearest friend and manager - Anna Saraniecka, who at the same time is the author of all lyrics. Mature and wise lyrics have the same importance for Renata's songs as the music, and they are an integral part of creating the unusual nature of her work.

Most of Renata's albums were awarded with a status of "golden album" for selling over 50.000 copies. Moreover, they were nominated and awarded many times - mostly for artistic individuality.

From the beginning of her career, the singer has also won numerous awards in various festivals in which she took part, including first prize in the festival in Cracow, "Karolinka" in Opole and "Bursztynowy Slowik" in Sopot.

As an artist that connects rock sounds with poetry and theatrical performance she could perform both on the stage of a rock festival in Jarocin, and prestigious festivals of stage song that took place in Wrocław and Köln. She has given concerts in France (Normandy, Britany, Paris) and in the USA (New York) but because of the lyrics being written in her native language, she prefers to perform in front of the Polish audiences, which can fully appreciate the words and also sing the songs with her.

Although she has got many interests such as: art, cinema, 19th and 20th century literature, modern theater and drawing her own graphics, music is always the most important for her. She has cooperated with many artists but if it's for her art - she's always the only one who produces her ventures and decides about their character.

It is hard to classify her music - neither rock nor alternative nor poetry can describe what's deep inside it. She calls her music "an everlasting search for tones, sounds, emotions and climates not similar to anything that had been made before". That's why each album is different from the previous one. Nevertheless, there is always one motif in common - on every album we can hear the sound of accordion, an instrument the artist likes, despite all trends and fashions.

An individual and unique style of Renata's music has its origin in post-punk tones. However, the artist has been constantly using various instruments in her musical career. The electronic sounds were used for the first time by Renata on an album entitled "Hormon" in 1999, which at the same time was the first album composed by her. Since then she and the author of lyrics Anna Saraniecka have been the only "parents" of Renata's successes.

What is more, in voting contests by two most important Polish weeklies - Polityka and Wprost, Renata has been chosen one of the most important artists of the last century.

Discography[link]

• Ya hozna (1990)
• Mało zdolna szansonistka (1992)
• Tylko kobieta (1994)
• Andergrant (1996)
• Hormon (1999)
• Blizna (2001) POL #23^[2]
• Balladyna (2002)
• The best of Renata Przemyk (2003) POL #17^[3]
• Unikat (2006) POL #12^[4]
• Odjazd (2009) POL #19^[5]
• Panienki z temperamentem with Kayah (2010) POL #10^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website (English version)
• Official website (Polish version)