blockfield

thumb|Felsenmeer in Lautertal-Reichenbach (Odenwald) thumb|Felsenmeer on the Kalmit in the [[Palatine Forest]] thumb|Boulder stream of the Kaser Steinstube near [[Triftern]] thumb|A photo of a single eastern white pine in the nearly barren Boulder Field, [[Hickory Run State Park, PA.]] thumb|Felsenmeer, painting by Egbert Schaap (1912). [[Rijksmuseum Amsterdam]] A blockfield (also spelt block field), felsenmeer, boulder field or stone field is a surface covered by boulder- or block-sized rocks usually associated with a history of volcanic activity, alpine and subpolar climates and periglaciation. Blockfields differ from screes and talus slope in that blockfields do not apparently originate from mass wastings. They are believed to be formed by frost weathering below the surface. An alternative theory that modern blockfields may have originated from chemical weathering that occurred in the Neogene when the climate was relatively warmer. Following this thought the blockfields would then have been reworked by periglacial action.

Most known blockfields are located in the northern hemisphere. Examples can be found in Abisko National Park in Sweden, Snowdonia National Park in Wales, the Great End-Scafell Pike ridge in England, and Hickory Run Boulder Field and River of Rocks in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. All examples except the first one are outside present day subpolar climate areas, and have thus traditionally been seen as relict landforms from past times when these areas were under periglaciation.