the richtersveld cultural and botanical landscape - SAHRA

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape World Heritage Site Nomination 33 vegetation unit have been impacted by grazing, and the development of the Conservancy has served to reduce associated environmental damage. Northern Nababiepsberge Mountain Desert 24587.4792 total ha 72.7121 ha in Richtersveld Community Conservancy = 0.3% This unit is found on a large rocky plateau interrupted by deep gorges, south of the Orange River, west of Vioolsdrif, east of Hellskloof with a southern boundary 15 to 20 kilometres south of the river. The area is very rocky with no soils to little and extremely shallow soils. The altitude is from about 200 to 750 m. The geology consists mainly of shale, quartzite and limestone of the Schwarzrand Subgroup with a small area underlain by the Quartzite of the Kuibis Subgroup (Nama Group). There are extreme differences between vegetation on the plateaus and in the gorges; the plateaus are often almost bare of any vegetation with extremely sparse populations of Zygophyllum rigidum, Zygophyllum decumbens, Euphorbia gariepina, Mesembryanthemum gariusanum and Ruschia paucipetala, while Ruschia subaphylla and Wellstedia dinteri are found on rock debris. Depending on local hydrological conditions, the bottoms of the gorges can be bare of vegetation or woody shrubs can form low gallery shrublands as in the Helskloof Canyon Desert. Shrubs such as Curroria decidua, Maerua schinzii, Trianthema triquetra and Wellstedia dinteri are more often found in dry drainage lines. This area is not well researched and is possibly the most sparsely vegetated of the desert units. FYNBOS BIOME Stinkfonteinberge Quartzite Fynbos 4902.8125 total ha 3436.9688 ha in Richtersveld Community Conservancy = 70.1%
Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape World Heritage Site Nomination 34 This small unit is found in the Central Richtersveld in a narrow belt along the mountain tops and ridges of the Van der Sterrberg-Stinkfonteinberge range and forms the upper backbone of the Richtersveld, as the Van der Sterrberg - Stinkfonteinberge range runs from the northern end of the Richtersveld near Sendelingsdrif to just north of Eksteensfontein in the Southern Richtersveld. The landscape at the high altitudes of between 1060–1340 m is as diverse as the geomorphology of the longitudinal mountain range. While over long distances it really forms a ridge in North-South direction, in other places steep or rounded mountain tops are embedded, or, between those, saddles and valleys. In other parts, a plateau has been formed, allowing accumulation of soils above bedrock. Therefore, habitat types differ strongly and are controlled by rock structure or overlaying soil depth, by exposition and by inclination. A wide spectrum of different rocks is found, but predominantly quartzite of the Precambrian Gariep Complex. The soils are mainly loams or loamy sands and the soil depth varies strongly with topography and rock structure. This area has a mild winter rainfall climate with occurrence of fog in the western parts and higher altitudes. The rainfall is controlled by geomorphology and it is presumably reaching more than 200 mm per year at the highest altitudes. Frost is possible at 10 to 20 days per year. The vegetation can form dense shrublands where soil depth and rock structure allow water storage over longer periods of the year. On flatter plateau positions with leached quartzite soils open Merxmuellera dura grasslands can be found. Very shallow soils and bare rock support vegetation with a dominance of leaf succulent dwarf shrubs. Small trees or large shrubs found here are Aloe ramosissima, Rhus incisa var. effuse and Rhus populifolia. Dominant shrubs or tall shrubs found are Lobostemon echioides, Dicerothamnus rhinocerotis, Euryops tenuissimus, Didelta spinosa, Eriocephalus brevifolius, Eriocephalus microphyllous, Helichrysum hebelepis, Chrysocoma ciliata, Tripteris sinuata, Felicia brevifolia, Passerina glomerata, Asparagus retrofractus, Asparagus exuvialis, Galenia africana, Montinia caryophyllacea, Pteronia divaricata and Pteronia glauca. Stem and/or leaf succulent shrubs include Stoeberia arborea, Othonna furcata, Tylecodon paniculatum, Euphorbia francescae (endemic and with succulent roots), Dioscorea elephantipes,
Page 1 and 2: THE RICHTERSVELD CULTURAL AND BOTAN
Page 3 and 4: Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical
Page 7: Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical
Page 84 and 85:
Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical
Page 86 and 87:
Page 88 and 89:
Page 90 and 91:
Page 92 and 93:
Page 94 and 95:
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Page 106 and 107:
Page 108 and 109:
Page 110 and 111:
Page 112 and 113:
Page 114 and 115:
Page 116 and 117:
Page 118 and 119:
Page 120 and 121:
Page 122 and 123:
Page 124 and 125:
Page 126 and 127:
Page 128 and 129:
Page 130 and 131:
Page 132 and 133:
Page 134 and 135:
Page 136 and 137:
Page 138 and 139:
Page 140 and 141:
Page 142 and 143:
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Page 148 and 149:
Page 150 and 151:
Page 152 and 153:
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Page 166 and 167:
show all

the richtersveld cultural and botanical landscape - SAHRA

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?