Editing Batholith (section)

==Surface expression and erosion==
A batholith is an exposed area of (mostly) continuous plutonic rock that covers an area larger than 100 square kilometers (40 square miles). Areas smaller than 100 square kilometers are called ''[[Stock (geology)|stocks]]''.<ref>GLENCOE SCIENCE | Earth Science Twelfth Grade High School Textbook (Georgia); pg. 115 paragraph 1, pg. 521 question 9</ref> However, the majority of batholiths visible at the surface (via outcroppings) have areas far greater than 100 square kilometers. These areas are exposed to the surface through the process of [[erosion]] accelerated by [[Orogeny|continental uplift]] acting over many tens of millions to hundreds of millions of years. This process has removed several tens of square kilometers of overlying rock in many areas, exposing the once deeply buried batholiths.

Batholiths exposed at the surface are subjected to huge pressure differences between their former location deep in the earth and their new location at or near the surface. As a result, their [[crystal structure]] expands slightly over time. This manifests itself by a form of [[mass wasting]] called [[Exfoliation joint|exfoliation]]. This form of weathering causes convex and relatively thin sheets of rock to slough off the exposed surfaces of batholiths (a process accelerated by [[Weathering#Frost weathering|frost wedging]]). The result is fairly clean and rounded rock faces. A well-known result of this process is [[Half Dome]] in [[Yosemite Valley]].