Southern African Geomorphology: Recent Trends and New Directions

Michael Meadows, Peter Holmes

Description

This book covers the geomorphology and landscape evolution of South Africa, focusing on arid landscapes, fluvial systems, karst, Quaternary landscapes, macro-scale geomorphic evolution, coastal geomorphology and applied geomorphology. It would appeal to postgraduate students in Physical Geography (Geomorphology) and Physical Geology and all academics in the earth sciences.

Sujets

• Littérature Sud-Africaine
• Littérature sud-africaine
• Afrique du Sud
• Weathering
• Geomorphology
• Landform
• Environmental change
• South Africa
• Sudáfrica

Informations

• Publié par: UJ Press
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781920382360
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

Extrait

It aims to îll a niche with regard to understanding Earth surface processes and

geomorphology by Andrew Goudie. Each chapter is both descriptive and interpretive with regard to its speciîc content matter. This is the most signiîcant title covering

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Southern African GEOMORPHOLOGY

Recent Trends and New Directions

Peter Holmes Michael Meadows

Southern African GEOMORPHOLOGY

Recent Trends and New Directions

Edited by

Peter Holmes Michael Meadows

Southern African Geomorphology:

Recent Trends and New Directions

Published by Sun Media Bloemfontein (Pty) Ltd.

Imprint: SunBonani Scholar

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2012 Sun Media Bloemfontein and the authors

This publication was subjected to an independent double-blind peer evaluation by the publisher.

The author and the publisher have made every eFort to obtain permission for and acknowledge

the use of copyrighted material. Refer all inquiries to the publisher.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, photographic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording on record, tape or laser disk, on microfilm, via the Internet, by e-mail, or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission by the publisher.

Views reLected in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.

First edition 2012

ISBN: 978-1-920382-02-5 (Print) ISBN: 978-1-920382-36-0 (e-book) DOI: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781920382360

Set in 8.5/11 CG Omega Cover design, typesetting and production by Sun Media Bloemfontein

Research, academic and reference works are published under this imprint in print and electronic format.

This printed copy can be ordered directly from: [e-mail] The e-book is available at the following link: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781920382360

Dedication

This volume is dedicated to Emeritus Professor Margaret Marker, whose passion for southern African geomorphology inspired colleagues and a generation of students, and whose eclectic research interests resulted in numerous papers on southern Africa’s geomorphology.

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Foreword ..............................................................................................................

Acknowledgements ..............................................................................................

Contributing authors .............................................................................................

Southern African Geomorphology: Recent Trends and New Directions................

1.Macroscale Geomorphic Evolution................................................................

2. Lithological and Structural Controls on Landforms .........................................

3. Granite Landscapes........................................................................................

4.Weathering....................................................................................................

5. Fluvial Geomorphology.................................................................................

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6. Aeolian Systems ............................................................................................. 141

7. Terminal Basins: Lacustrine and Pan Systems ................................................. 167

8. Duricrusts ...................................................................................................... 191

9.Periglacial and Glacial Geomorphology......................................................... 231

10.Coastal Geomorphology................................................................................ 267

11. Soil Erosion and Land Degradation ................................................................ 305

12. Landscapes and Environmental Change .......................................................... 329

13. Applied Geomorphology............................................................................... 351

14. Landscape Inventories and Remote Sensing ................................................... 371

Southern African Geomorphology: the Past and the Future................................... 401

Index .................................................................................................................... 421

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The southern African landscape is an incomparable natural laboratory for the geomorphologist. There is a vast range of landscape types ranging from the periglacial of the high mountain areas to the arid sandy deserts, from landscapes that exhibit the dominance of structural or lithological control to areas where erosional or depositional processes have dominated. There are, also, landforms of a prodigious range of agesfrom the very ancient planation surface remnants, developed since the fragmentation of Gondwana, to those on recently developed oodplains,wetlands and on the coastal margin.

The landscapes and landforms of southern Africa have fascinated earth scientists for more than a century. Initially those involved were geologists, but progressively geomorphology has become a discipline in its own right and during the last few decades specialist geomorphologists, both from abroad and locally trained, have made the îeld their own. Signal work was undertaken by the likes of Alex du Toit, John Wellington, Frank Dixey and Lester King who made invaluable world-class contributions to macroscale geomorphology. In the last îve to six decades the focus has become more thematic and directed at a smaller scale, and there has been a signiîcant increase in both the interest in different landscapes, and in the number of geomorphologists working in the region.

By the 1980s there was a plethora of introductory text books on geomorphology (largely of British or American origin), but little in the way of a compact account of southern African geomorphology. Students of the discipline had to rely on the excellent (but by then somewhat dated) contributions in John Wellington’s (1955)Southern Africa, and Lester King’s (1963)South African Scenery. The Geomorphology of Southern Africaand Dardis, 1988) was produced to (Moon îll thegap and to provide a contemporary and informative account of the landscapes around us.

Since the late 1980s geomorphology in southern Africa has advanced dramatically and there has been a marked increase in the tempo of research. Some of the developments are reected in Tim Partridge and Rodney Maud’s (2000)The Cenozoic of Southern Africain which the focus is on the last 65 million years. The time is ripe, however, for a new synthesis. In a volume such as this there is a need to demonstrate the developments in the discipline and to provide a contemporary benchmark reecting the state of the art. In the pages that follow these goals are admirably achieved. There is clearly improved understanding in virtually every sphere of southern African geomorphology, and this attests to the high quality of the research that has been undertaken in this part of the world. Further, it is evident that there is an increased awareness within the discipline with respect to environmental problems, environmental planning, and the effects ofclimate change. Geomorphologists are contributing not only to the pursuit of their esoteric science, but also to interdisciplinary efforts in tackling environmental issues. The present volume is evidence of a mature discipline and it will ensure the continuation of the great geomorphological tradition in southern Africa.

Bernard Moon Balgowan, 2012

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ReferenCes

rd King LC. 1963.South African Scenery: A Textbook of Geomorphology (3 edition).Oliver and Boyd: Edinburgh.

Moon BP, Dardis GF. (eds). 1988.The Geomorphology of Southern Africa.Southern: Johannesburg.

Partridge TC, Maud RR. 2000.The Cenozoic of Southern Africa.Oxford: New York.

Wellington JH. 1955.Southern Africa: A Geographical Study, Volume 1: Physical Geography. Cambridge: Cambridge.

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This book would not have been possible without generous înancial support from the University of the Free State.

We thank Sally Adam and Pam Eloff (Technodraft) for creating many of the maps, often at short notice.

Our sincere thanks to our publishers, SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein, for their efforts in bringing this book to print. Special appreciation to Maryke Venter and Christine van Deventer for cover and layout design.

We are extremely grateful to the following referees for their willingness to review chapters, and for their valuable comments, criticisms and insights which helped to improve the original manuscripts:

MIChel Benet Jan BoelhoUwers Jonathan BUtler John DIxon Andrew GoUdIe DICk Grove NICk LanCaster Johan LooCk Frank Netterberg Tony Parsons John Rogers MIke SmIth Stephen Tooth

Drennan Maud, Durban

University of Upsala

Johnson Matthey, London

University of Arkansas

University of Oxford

University of Cambridge Desert Research Institute, Reno University of the Free State Cape Town University of Shefîeld University of Cape Town Kingston University, London

University of Aberystwyth

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The editors acknowledge, with thanks, permission to use photographs provided by the authors for their various chapters. Where photos are taken from published or unpublished material, these are referenced as such. We are grateful to the following for supplying extra photographs:

Cover: Figure 3.1 Figure 3.8 Figure 3.15 Figure 3.19 Figure 3.20 Figure 3.23 Figure 4.1 Figure 5.3 Figure 5.14 Figure 7.1 Figure 8.3 Figure 10.6

Figure 11.1

Figure 13.3

Figure 13.5

JHA Clark, J Boardman, PJ Holmes, ME Meadows, Global Land Cover Facility and NASA Earth Observatory CH Barker TW Gevers JA van Zyl JA van Zyl BB Hambleton-Jones W Purves PJ Holmes B van der Walt L Bryson ME Meadows FD Eckardt MD Bateman GA Botha JG Wiltshire JHA Clark

Any inadvertant breach of copyright is regretted. In such an instance, kindly contact the publishers.