Limestone Pavements are bare limestone rock surfaces composed of slabs of rock (clints), separated by variable-width vertical cracks (grikes). These grikes have developed by weathering and enhanced solution along joints. Composed principally of calcite, limestone is vulnerable to chemical weathering by water (solution) and dissolves easily. In the Yorkshire Dales, exposure of very extensive pavements may be partly an example of the stripping of soil by moving ice during the last glaciation period more than 10,000 years ago.