free face

   1) The part of a hillside or mountainside consisting of an outcrop of bare rock (scarp or cliff) that sheds colluvium to slopes below and commonly stands more steeply than the angle of repose of the colluvial slope (e.g., talus slope) immediately below.

   SW & GG

   2) [ geomorphology ]

   A geomorphic component of hills and mountains consisting of an outcrop of bare rock that sheds rock fragments and other sediments to, and commonly stands more steeply than the angle of repose of, the colluvial slope immediately below; most commonly found on shoulder and backslope positions, and can comprise part or all of a nose slope or side slope.

   Compare: interfluve, crest, nose slope, side slope, head slope, base slope.

   SW