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Drakensberg Escarpment: Mountains of Geomorphic Diversity

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Abstract

This chapter describes the diversity of geomorphological phenomena along the Drakensberg escarpment, which is the highest section along the Great Escarpment of southern Africa. The Drakensberg escarpment provides one of the most scenically impressive continuous rockwalls in the world, extending almost 300 km and reaching vertical heights of over 600 m. A summary is presented on the early and more recent views of landscape evolution that produced the Great Escarpment. Weathering phenomena, slope forms, mass movement and soil erosion are prominent features of the lower-lying sandstone formations, whilst most geomorphological research focusing on the basaltic escarpment summit area has endeavoured to unravel the late Quaternary periglacial and glacial geomorphic history.

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Grab, S. (2009). Drakensberg Escarpment: Mountains of Geomorphic Diversity. In: Migon, P. (eds) Geomorphological Landscapes of the World. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3055-9_14

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