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Topographic imprint of Geomorphology in southern Africa
Ch. Mielke 1 , M. J. de Wit 2
1. AEON, Department of Geological Sciences (UCT), South Africa, chmielkepju967@yahoo.de
2. AEON, Department of Geological Sciences (UCT), South Africa, maarten.dewit@uct.ac.za
ABSTRACT
The geomorphology of southern Africa has been a subject of debate for over a hundred years (Penck 1905, du Toit
1933, King 1945 and 1967, Partridge and Maud 2000 and Burke 2009). Most of these studies attempt to
differentiate landscape elements based on assumed contiguous weathering surfaces (e.g. King, 1967) or delineation
of geomorphological provinces according to river base-levels (e.g. Partridge et al. 2010).To date there is still no
agreement about the origin or values of these features (Decker 2010).
Global digital elevation models have become valuable for quantitative geomorphology, and it is now possible to
use these models to test links between geological processes, geomorphology and their impact on the topography
across the African Plate. The SRTM-V4 data set produced by CIGAR (Jarvis et al. 2009), from the Shuttle Radar
Topographic Mission, presents a new tool for the geomorphometric characterisation of the African landscapes.
Statistical analysis of geomorphometric parameters such as the hypsometric integral, slope and the terrain
ruggedness index in combination with geological data will provide a more robust base for a reappraisal of the
landscape of southern Africa.
KEYWORDS: Digital Elevation Models, Geomorphology, African Plate
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