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Difficulty: MediumRelief and Major Landforms of Africa

The relief of Southern Africa is dominated by high interior plateaus fringed by elevated highlands. Unlike the folded structure of the Atlas Mountains in Northwest Africa, how is the Drakensberg range structurally classified in terms of landform origin?

  1. A massive erosional escarpment forming the edge of the Southern African plateau, capped by volcanic flood basaltsAnswer
  2. B
    A young fold mountain system formed by recent continental collision along a convergent plate boundary
  3. C
    A fault-block horst mountain produced by vertical upthrust between parallel normal faults along a rift valley
  4. D
    An oceanic island arc created by subduction zone magmatism along a active margin

Answer

The Drakensberg range is classified as a massive erosional escarpment forming the edge of the Southern African plateau, capped by volcanic flood basalts.
The Drakensberg range represents the highest portion of the Great Escarpment of Southern Africa. It consists of high interior plateau edges capped by resistant flood basalts of the Karoo Supergroup, created by mantle plume activity during the breakup of Gondwana, followed by millions of years of erosional retreat.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the structural characteristics of the Drakensberg Range.
Identified that the Drakensberg forms part of the Great Escarpment of Southern Africa.
Relief analysis requires distinguishing between tectonic fold mountains, fault blocks, and plateau-edge escarpments.
2
Distinguish the origin of the Drakensberg from other African mountain types.
The Drakensberg originated from continental uplift followed by extensive erosion of thick Karoo basalt layers, creating dramatic cliffs at the plateau edge rather than folded mountain chains like the Atlas Mountains.
Drakensberg features high-altitude basaltic caps overlying sedimentary layers, characteristic of major escarpments.

Key Concept

Relief and Major Landforms of Africa: Plateau Escarpments vs Fold Mountains
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Topics

Relief and Major Landforms of Africa

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