Exfoliating granite

Exfoliating slabs of granite, on Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, USA

Exfoliating granite is a granite undergoing exfoliation, or onion skin weathering (desquamation). The external delaminated layers of granite are gradually produced by the cyclic variations of temperature at the surface of the rock in a process also called spalling. Frost and ice expansion in the joints during the winter accelerate the alteration process while the most unstable loose external layers are removed by gravity assisted by runoff water.