Granite honeycomb stone and rock tafoni mainly develop in arid areas of intense wind erosion. Wind erosion and abrasion by sand grains on the windward sides of steep granite slopes cause the formation of small irregular oval holes and pits. Some are sporadically scattered, and some cluster to form honeycomb-shaped features. Large granite honeycomb stones are also called rock tafoni. Haisenchulu in Alxa Right Banner, Inner Mongolia, is a typical area with this landscape. When this phenomenon occurs along a granite coast, the foot of the steep cliffs facing the sea is subject to marine erosion and wind erosion, which can result in the formation of grooves with depths less than their width. These features are called wave-cut notches, and they are common in the granite area on Pingtan Island, Fujian Province (Fig. 17).
Tafoni in Alxa Right Banner, Inner Mongolia
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(2020). Honeycomb Granite and Tafoni. In: Chen, A., Ng, Y., Zhang, E., Tian, M. (eds) Dictionary of Geotourism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2538-0_1071
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