Cuesta

Cuesta in Italy
Schematic cross section of three cuestas, dip slopes facing left, and harder rock layers in darker colors than softer ones
Cuesta in Crimea
Magaliesberg Range, Transvaal, South Africa

A cuesta (Spanish for 'slope') is a hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side, and a steep slope on the other. In geology, the term is more specifically applied to a ridge where a harder sedimentary rock overlies a softer layer, the whole being tilted somewhat from the horizontal. This results in a long and gentle backslope called a dip slope that conforms with the dip of resistant strata, called caprock. Where erosion has exposed the frontslope of this, a steep slope or escarpment occurs. The resulting terrain may be called scarpland.