Great Escarpment, Southern Africa

"Great Escarpment" redirects here. For other similar features, see Great Escarpment (disambiguation).
A map of South Africa shows the central plateau edged by the Great Escarpment and its relationship to the Cape Fold Mountains in the south. The portion of the Great Escarpment shown in red is officially known as the Drakensberg, although most South Africans think of the Drakensberg as only that portion of the escarpment that forms the border between KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho. Here the escarpment rises to its greatest height of more than 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).
Compared to the preceding map, the Great Escarpment can be identified in this satellite image of South Africa

The Great Escarpment is a major topographical feature in Africa that consists of steep slopes from the high central Southern African plateau[1] downward in the direction of the oceans that surround southern Africa on three sides.[2][3] While it lies predominantly within the borders of South Africa, in the east the escarpment extends northward to form the border between Mozambique and Zimbabwe, continuing on beyond the Zambezi river valley to form the Muchinga Escarpment in eastern Zambia.[4][5] In the west, it extends northward into Namibia and Angola.[4][6] It is the combination of this escarpment and the aridity of Southern Africa that leads to the lack of navigable rivers in South Africa.

Different names are applied to different stretches of the Great Escarpment, the most well-known section being the Drakensberg (diagram on the right). The Schwarzrand and edge of the Khomas Highland in Namibia, as well as the Serra da Chela in Angola, are also well-known names.

  1. ^ Atlas of Southern Africa. (1984). p. 13. Reader's Digest Association, Cape Town
  2. ^ McCarthy, T. & Rubidge, B. (2005). The Story of Earth and Life. pp. 16–7,192–195, 202–205, 245–248, 263, 267–269. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.
  3. ^ Truswell, J.F. (1977). The Geological Evolution of South Africa. pp. 151–153,157–159,184–188, 190. Purnell, Cape Town.
  4. ^ a b The Times comprehensive Atlas of the world (1999). pp. 88–89. Times Books Group, London.
  5. ^ "Great Escarpment". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
  6. ^ "Namibian Savannah Woodlands". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.