Definitions

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  • noun Plural form of massif.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Snow-laced massifs vault into a dark-blue sky and green hills cascade to the valleys below, a panoptic of edelweiss and immortality.

    The Coolest Ferrari Ever—Drive Carefully Dan Neil 2011

  • The ergs piled against the massifs by the prevailing north-easterly winds are some of the highest sand dunes in the Sahara, reaching ~300 m at Arakao and Temet.

    Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves, Niger 2008

  • Except for a few rivulets and pools (guelta) in the massifs, there is no permanent water though the mountains are essential to recharging the groundwater supply of northern Niger.

    Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves, Niger 2008

  • The relict Sudanese and Mediterranean species grow above 1,000 m in sheltered more humid localities in the massifs.

    Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves, Niger 2008

  • Mediterranean species include the nationally threatened wild olive Olea laperrini (V) found above 1,500m on rocky slopes in the Greboun and Tamgak massifs, Rhus tripartita, and Salvia aegyptiaca.

    Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves, Niger 2008

  • Other Sahelian mammal species include an isolated and presumably highly inbred population of around 70 olive baboons Papio anubis, in the Tamgak massif, and an estimated 500 Patas monkeys Erythrocebus patas in the central massifs and plateaux.

    Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves, Niger 2008

  • Next stop Llanes, but on the way Antonio took us on a detour up into the massifs of the Picos de Europa for an afternoon's walking.

    The train in Spain: a pilgrimage for softies 2010

  • The reserve comprises two geomorphic units: the Aïr mountains, nine roughly circular rugged massifs rising above a rocky plateau, and the sand dunes and plain of the Ténéré to its east.

    Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves, Niger 2008

  • The striking variety of vegetation types across steep elevational gradients and among the various mountain massifs in this ecoregion have produced very high regional plant biodiversity (high beta-diversity).

    Talamancan montane forests 2010

  • The massifs and plateaux are deeply dissected by ancient canyons and seasonal wadis.

    Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserves, Niger 2008

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  • " The quality of the soils depends heavily upon the origin of their waste sheets; sand spreads derived from the granites of the Hercynian massifs, for example, provide only poor soils."

    January 17, 2021