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Southern African GEOMORPHOLOGY

Recent Trends and New Directions

Peter HolmesMichael Meadows

Southern African G

EOM

ORPH

OLO

GY | R

ecent Trends and New

Directions

Peter Holm

es M

ichael Meadow

s

Southern African Geomorphology provides a unique account of the varied physical landscapes of the subcontinent and the landforms which comprise them. It describes these landscapes systematically, and explains their evolution and development against a backdrop of recent trends and new developments within geomorphology. It aims to fill a niche with regard to understanding Earth surface processes and their products in a southern African context. It is an academic text, yet one which will satisfy the lay reader who wishes to learn more about the southern African landscape, and the processes responsible for it.

The book comprises fourteen peer-reviewed chapters covering geomorphic research within southern Africa and concludes with a general overview of southern African geomorphology by Andrew Goudie. Each chapter is both descriptive and interpretive with regard to its specific content matter. This is the most significant title covering the geomorphology of southern Africa to be published in the last two decades.

The book features: � Up-to-date description and interpretation of southern Africa’s physical landscapes

� All chapters written by local and foreign invited experts

� Peer-review of each chapter

� Overviews of recent trends, including the use of digital data, remote sensing and the application of dating techniques in geomorphology

� A critical assessment of geomorphology and environmental change

� The role of applied geomorphology

� Numerous full colour illustrations, and maps and tables to complement the text

� Comprehensive referencing of each chapter to facilitate further reading

Peter Holmes is Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Michael Meadows is Professor and Head of the Department of Environ mental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, South Africa.



Edited by


Southern African Geomorphology: Recent Trends and New Directions

Published by SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein under the SUN PReSS imprint

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2012 Authors and SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein

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 from the publisher.

This title has been subject to an academic peer review process.

First edition 2012

ISBN: 978-1-920382-02-5

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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.

Foreword .............................................................................................................. i

Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. iii

Contributing authors ............................................................................................. v

Southern African Geomorphology: Recent Trends and New Directions ................ 1

1. Macroscale Geomorphic Evolution ................................................................ 5

2. Lithological and Structural Controls on Landforms ......................................... 23

3. Granite Landscapes ........................................................................................ 41

4. Weathering .................................................................................................... 73

5. Fluvial Geomorphology ................................................................................. 95

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

Contents

i

Foreword

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 ages from the very ancient planation surface remnants, developed since the fragmentation of Gondwana, to those on recently developed floodplains, 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 field 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 five to six decades the focus has become more thematic and directed at a smaller scale, and there has been a significant 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 Africa (Moon and Dardis, 1988) was produced to fill the gap 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 reflected in Tim Partridge and Rodney Maud’s (2000) The Cenozoic of Southern Africa in 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 reflecting 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 of climate 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 MoonBalgowan, 2012

References

King LC. 1963. South African Scenery: A Textbook of Geomorphology (3rd 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.

This book would not have been possible without generous financial 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 Drennan Maud, Durban

Jan Boelhouwers University of Upsala

Jonathan Butler Johnson Matthey, London

John Dixon University of Arkansas

Andrew Goudie University of Oxford

Dick Grove University of Cambridge

Nick Lancaster Desert Research Institute, Reno

Johan Loock University of the Free State

Frank Netterberg Cape Town

Tony Parsons University of Sheffield

John Rogers University of Cape Town

Mike Smith Kingston University, London

Stephen Tooth University of Aberystwyth

Acknowledgements

iii

iv

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: JHA Clark, J Boardman, PJ Holmes, ME Meadows, Global Land Cover Facility and NASA Earth Observatory

Figure 3.1 CH Barker

Figure 3.8 TW Gevers

Figure 3.15 JA van Zyl

Figure 3.19 JA van Zyl

Figure 3.20 BB Hambleton-Jones

Figure 3.23 W Purves

Figure 4.1 PJ Holmes

Figure 5.3 B van der Walt

Figure 5.14 L Bryson

Figure 7.1 ME Meadows

Figure 8.3 FD Eckardt

Figure 10.6 MD Bateman

Figure 11.1 GA Botha

Figure 13.3 JG Wiltshire

Figure 13.5 JHA Clark

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

Charles H Barker Department of Geography, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein

Greg A Botha Council for Geoscience, Pietermaritzburg

John Boardman Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford

Andrew S Carr Department of Geography, University of Leicester

Simon J Carr Queen Mary, University of London

Franck D Eckardt Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town

Andrew S Goudie Saint Catherine’s College, University of Oxford

Gerald G Garland Durban

Stefan W Grab School of Geography, Anthropology and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Kevin J Hall Department of Geography, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George

M Timm Hoffman Plant Conservation Unit, University of Cape Town

Peter J Holmes Department of Geography, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein

K Ian Meiklejohn Department of Geography, Rhodes University, Grahamstown

Michael E Meadows Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town

Rodney R Maud Drennan Maud and Partners, Durban

Stephanie C Mills Kingston University, London

David J Nash Department of Geography, University of Brighton

Werner Nel Department of Geography, University of Fort Hare, Alice

Kate M Rowntree Department of Geography, Rhodes University, Grahamstown

Paul A Shaw University of the West Indies, Saint Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

Paul D Sumner Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria

C Rowl Twidale School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide

David SG Thomas School of Geography, University of Oxford

Giles FS Wiggs School of Geography, University of Oxford

Contributing authors

v

Southern African Geomorphology:


Preface

1

It is now twenty four years since the publication of The Geomorphology of Southern Africa, edited by Bernie Moon and George Dardis. That volume was the first and, until now, the only text to attempt an up-to-date synthesis of southern African geomorphology. In the words of the editors, it sought “…to bridge the gap between general geomorphological theory and the landscapes of southern Africa” (Moon and Dardis, 1988: preface). Although regional geomorphologies of South Africa have subsequently been published (see Lewis, 1996; Lewis, 2008), this volume presents the first comprehensive synthesis of the geomorphology of southern Africa to appear since Moon and Dardis (1988).

What motivated this new text? Examination of the literature suggests that, since the final decade of the previous century, there has been an exponential increase in published research investigating form and, more significantly, process relating to southern African landforms. We identify four factors that may have contributed to this. Firstly, there has been a notably increased focus on the physical environment of the sub-continent, not only from the perspective of the purely academic, but also in terms of growing public environmental awareness. The massive growth in public concern over climate change has certainly been an important element of this and has been expressed in research dealing with the association between landforms and environmental change. Secondly, the past two decades have also been characterised by a phenomenal increase in collaborative research between southern African (in particular South African) geomorphologists and colleagues from international institutions, particularly in the United Kingdom, but also in Europe and America. The internationalisation of geomorphic research in southern Africa has been facilitated by the political developments of the early nineties that saw the end of the academic boycott, greater interest in conferences hosted within the region and the subsequent development of diverse collaborative relationships between active researchers here, and those from further afield. This was further facilitated through international funding sources coming on stream, at least for some projects. To some extent, these emergent research partnerships are reflected in the authorship of chapters in this book. Thirdly, and partly enabled by the institutional and disciplinary diversity of the collaborations, there has been a substantial escalation in truly interdisciplinary research whereby geomorphologists team with scientists with disciplinary backgrounds from, for example botany and palaeobotany, geology, geochemistry, sedimentology, geomatics, and archaeology to produce interdisciplinary studies. Fourthly, there has been a virtual revolution in the range and sophistication of research tools and methodologies and data generating capacity available to geomorphologists. These are especially prominent in the form of new, sophisticated dating methodologies such as optically stimulated luminescence and cosmogenic isotope dating, but also in other laboratory techniques which, increasingly, utilise organic material from geomorphic inventories for interpreting depositional environments. There have also been huge advances globally in data capture and processing and, perhaps most importantly, in data availability and in the use of related technologies including GIS and satellite imagery in geomorphology.


Peter J Holmes and Michael E Meadows

SOUTHERN AFRICAN GEOMORPHOLOGY

2

In this volume we have attempted to present a thematic and systematic overview of recent trends and new directions within the discipline of geomorphology in southern Africa. With the possible exception of one or two chapters where inventories of different landforms are necessary to develop an appreciation of related landscapes, this is, definitively, not a presentation of descriptions of the diverse range of southern African landforms and landscapes. Intriguingly, perhaps, that would be an interesting challenge for a somewhat different text altogether. Instead, authors here were requested to focus on recent developments in the way we investigate, comprehend, and account for the range of different landscapes. The result, we hope, is a text that places emphasis on current (and emerging) research directions in southern African geomorphology rather than on generalised generic geomorphic processes and landforms. Inevitably, there are gaps – indeed some may argue flaws – in the scope of the book. The content is, to some extent, constrained by what might be called author capacity or critical mass. For example, from a landscape (rather than, say, an engineering geology perspective) little or no systematic academic work has been undertaken on karst geomorphology in southern Africa over the last two decades. For this reason, as well as space constraints – and so as not simply to re-hash outdated material – we have not included a chapter on karst. For similar reasons, the chapter on geologically controlled landscapes and slopes provides but a fleeting overview; we feel that the current thrust of geomorphic research in southern Africa does not warrant the inclusion of separate chapters on these topics in the context of a volume which defines itself in terms of recent trends. This is not to say that aspects of these topics are not included within the thematic chapters; indeed, they are (see for example chapters on Applied Geomorphology and Soil Erosion and Land Degradation). Some may search in vain, then, for the equivalents of chapters in Moon and Dardis (1988) but, equally, there are new inclusions that reflect current research directions. For example, the notion of landscape inventories, incorporating remote sensing imagery and GIS has seen significant advancements in the way we perceive and appreciate landforms, as well as the ways in which we monitor landscape evolution and change. This, then, is reflected here in the form of a dedicated chapter.

It was not possible to invite chapters from every expert from within the southern African geomorphic community, nor indeed from all those researchers beyond the sub-continent who have contributed so significantly to academic geomorphology within southern Africa. We acknowledge that the argument is weaker without such inclusions. In appropriate cases, we have invited these experts to review and comment on the submitted chapters and, elsewhere in the volume; we express our appreciation for these most valuable inputs. It would also be fair to say that the work reflects predominantly Anglophone contributions to the understanding of southern African landscapes. While the important work of German colleagues in, for example, Namibia is both recognised and referenced, the book does not contain direct individual contributions from these researchers. We also wish to point out, with some measure of concern, that there are only two female authors, and not a single black contributor. We do not wish to delve into the possible reasons for this, and this is probably not the appropriate place to introduce a debate on the issue of representivity, other than to state the obvious; in the southern African geomorphic research arena, most senior academics are (still) white males.

We must also acknowledge that, in most cases, the chapters illustrate a bias towards research conducted in South Africa in particular. Indeed, this reflects the predominance of South African-based authors among the contributors. At least in part this situation has been given impetus through the strongly developed sense of collegiality between the South African and international academic community and is reflected in the membership of the Southern African Association of Geomorphologists. It strikes us that geomorphic research in this part of the world is greatly strengthened by an atmosphere of openness, transparency and willingness to share ideas and data: the Southern African Association of Geomorphologists’ biennial meetings have proved pivotal in that sense.

In conclusion, while this book attempts to be a worthy and valuable successor to Moon and Dardis (1988), the approach in practice is somewhat different. The latter included a degree of geomorphic

3


theory, as well as explanations of process. This text provides, in the form of its fourteen chapters, synopses of recent trends and research directions as currently reflected in the literature and the on-going research into southern African landforms and landscapes. We trust that the text reflects the vibrancy and vigour (and rigour) of current geomorphic research agendas in southern Africa, and that it will be of value to an informed readership with an interest in southern African geomorphology. We earnestly hope too that it will encourage a new generation of geomorphologists to follow in the footsteps of those who can, with some degree of satisfaction, look back at what has been achieved thus far.

ReferencesLewis CA. (ed.). 1996. Geomorphology of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Grocott and Sherry: Grahamstown.

Lewis CA. (ed.). 2008. Geomorphology of the Eastern Cape, South Africa (second edition). NISC: Grahamstown.

Moon BP, Dardis GF. (eds). 1998. The Geomorphology of Southern Africa. Southern: Johannesburg.

Geological Time Scale

Macroscale Geomorphic Evolution

1

7

1. Pre-Cenozoic geology and geomorphology

1.1 GeologySome of the geomorphic features on the face of southern Africa are the legacy of its long and turbulent geomorphic history that extends back to the Archean. The most extensive of these geomorphic features relate to the time that postdates the breakup of Gondwana, which took place about 145 million years ago on the east coast of southern Africa and approximately 125 million years ago on its west coast. As a result of this breakup, the African continent, as it is known today, came into being.

A summary of the major stages in the geological development of southern Africa is presented in Table 1.1 (modified after Tankard et al., 1982; Moon and Dardis, 1988). This table also shows the times of the formation of the major geological units in their southern African lithostratigraphic sequence. Some knowledge of these units and their timeframes is essential in the understanding of the geomorphology of southern Africa.

The geological evolution of southern Africa has taken place by means of a series of accretionary events that followed the stabilisation of the granitic Kaapvaal Craton (which forms the structural basement of the subcontinent) at approximately 2 600 Ma. Accretion occurred during a number of extensional and compressional periods, the most important of which, during the period approximately 2 000 to 1 000 Ma, gave rise to the addition of the Namaqua-Natal mobile belt on the southern side of the Kaapvaal craton, it culminating in the stabilisation of the Kalahari Craton, to its northwest, around 1 000 Ma. On to this amalgam was imposed a series of orogenic belts, creating swells, between intercratonic basins in the course of the Pan-African tectonic cycle which ended about 600 Ma ago. As Burke (1996) has pointed out, this basin-and-swell structure is unique to the African continent. The swells were repeatedly rejuvenated and uplifted during the Phanerozoic in relation to the thick and mechanically strong intervening cratons. These recurrent movements persisted into the Neogene (post 23 Ma) when uplift spread from the inter-cratonic mobile welts to affect large areas of the cratons themselves. (For more detail on this subject, see Figure 1.1 in Partridge and Maud, 2000).

In the early Paleozoic (after approximately 500 Ma) a passive margin developed along the southern edge of the Kalahari Craton into which offshore situation the shelf sediments of the Cape Supergroup were deposited. An active margin then developed to the south, giving rise to the Cape Fold Mountains around the end of the Permian (approximately 250 Ma). As a result, the Karoo Basin between the Cape Mountains and the Kalahari Craton was formed which extended well beyond the present margins of the subcontinent into adjoining areas of Gondwana. Sedimentation thickness in the Karoo Basin totalled up to 7 000 m in places. The sedimentation in the Karoo Basin culminated in extensive outpourings of basalt (with some rhyolite-dacite in the northeast) approximately 180 Ma ago as incipient rifting began to rough out the later southern sub-continents and India. When Karoo volcanism ceased, most


Rodney R Maud

This chapter is dedicated to the memory of my very good long-time friend and colleague Tim Partridge (1942-2009). The chapter is based in large part, on our jointly-authored chapter in

Partridge and Maud, 2000.

8

SOUTHERN AFRICAN GEOMORPHOLOGY

of southern Africa south of 15°S was covered by Karoo strata, including the volcanics. Somewhat later, at approximately 130 Ma, the Etendeka basaltic lavas were extruded in the west that was associated with the developing Atlantic rift margin in Namibia, see Serra Geral basal of the Parana Basin in Brazil (Duncan and Marsh, 2006).

Table 1.1. Summary of the macroscale geomorphic evolution of southern Africa since the Gondwana break-up (after Moon and Dardis, 1988).

9


1.2 GeomorphologyThe faulted rifts along which Gondwana breakup occurred were almost certainly associated with pre-existing Pan-African welts (Partridge, 1998). As in the case of the existing much younger, rift system of East Africa, uplift of the flanks of the incipient rifts preceded separation. The remains of these elevated rift shoulders are preserved in the cordon of high ground, which is still present, especially inland of the Great Escarpment of Lesotho and the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. On the morphological evidence of intrusive Kimberlite pipes, relatively small thicknesses of material have been removed from these elevated areas by Cretaceous and Cenozoic erosion since their emplacement approximately 90 Ma ago (Hawthorne, 1975). On the evidence of the late occurrence of Jurassic marine sediments in Tanzania and Mozambique, rifting on the northeastern coast commenced prior to approximately 140 Ma, it having extended south to the KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa coast by 130 Ma, while on the west coast, tensional rift faulting and separation took place somewhat later between 129 and 121 Ma. Along the southern Cape coast the lowermost marine rocks indicate that continental separation there had also occurred by approximately 130 Ma (Watkeys, 2006). Along the east coast, rifting took the form of tensional tilted block faulting, tilting being mainly in a seaward direction. Further south, rifting was of a more transcurrent nature in the Agulhas-Falkland Fracture Zone.

As a result of the disruption of Gondwana, the present oceans were admitted to what had thereby become margins of southern Africa. As a result of the erosion by rivers working headward from the new ocean coastlines, thick sequences of marine Cretaceous sediments were deposited offshore on the continental shelf, and in faulted structural basins offshore. Terrestrial deposits of this age are also present in such basins onshore, particularly in the faulted basins of the southern coast of the Cape, and in the intermontane valleys of Cape Fold Mountains, in places. The marine Cretaceous sedimentary piles are of considerable thickness (in excess of 8 km in places), which supports the findings of fission track analyses onshore in respect of erosion amounts (Brown, Summerfield and Gleadow, 1994) that by the mid-Cretaceous, between one and three kilometres had been removed from the post-rifting surface of the subcontinent.

Recent work by Hanson et al. (2009) on the basis of Kimberlite pipe morphology and the xenoliths therein of country rock intruded by the diatreme pipes at various levels in the North West, Northern Cape and Free State Provinces, South Africa in the central portion of the sub-continent, has shown that nearly 1 000 m of Drakensberg basalt was removed between the surface at 180 Ma, and the erosion surface of mid-Cretaceous age at 120 Ma. A similar amount of erosion took place between that time and the end of the Cretaceous at 65 Ma. From the end of the Cretaceous to the present time, a further approximately 500 m of erosion has occurred. All this erosion was achieved by eastward scarp retreat across this region. As a result of this erosion, a great of the covering of Karoo rocks over the central elevated portion of the subcontinent has been stripped from all but the main Karoo Basin, with the imposition of some structural control by formerly underlying older strata on erosion occurring as a result.

All of this evidence points to the fact that prior to the breakup of Gondwana, southern Africa stood high within it, with pre-rifting elevations probably ranging from approximately 2 400 m in Lesotho to approximately 1 500 m in the western interior (Partridge and Maud, 1987). Hanson et al. (2009), however, propose that the pre-rift surface at 180 Ma, across the eastern half of the subcontinent at least, stood at an elevation somewhat in excess of 3 000 m.

These high elevations were due in part, to uplift along the rift shoulders and were responsible for the development, just after the times of continental separation, of a substantial marginal escarpment. This was the forerunner of today’s Great Escarpment, which occurs as a rampart located about 50 to 200 km inland of the coastline around virtually the entire southern African marginal hinterland. This initial escarpment, formed by rifting, was rapidly driven back by erosion during the early Cretaceous, partly because of the elevation of the interior, and partly as a result of the humid tropical climate that




Southern African G

EOM

ORPH

OLO

GY | R

ecent Trends and New

Directions

Peter Holm

es M

ichael Meadow

s

Southern African Geomorphology provides a unique account of the varied physical landscapes of the subcontinent and the landforms which comprise them. It describes these landscapes systematically, and explains their evolution and development against a backdrop of recent trends and new developments within geomorphology. It aims to fill a niche with regard to understanding Earth surface processes and their products in a southern African context. It is an academic text, yet one which will satisfy the lay reader who wishes to learn more about the southern African landscape, and the processes responsible for it.

The book comprises fourteen peer-reviewed chapters covering geomorphic research within southern Africa and concludes with a general overview of southern African geomorphology by Andrew Goudie. Each chapter is both descriptive and interpretive with regard to its specific content matter. This is the most significant title covering the geomorphology of southern Africa to be published in the last two decades.

The book features: � Up-to-date description and interpretation of southern Africa’s physical landscapes

� All chapters written by local and foreign invited experts

� Peer-review of each chapter

� Overviews of recent trends, including the use of digital data, remote sensing and the application of dating techniques in geomorphology

� A critical assessment of geomorphology and environmental change

� The role of applied geomorphology

� Numerous full colour illustrations, and maps and tables to complement the text

� Comprehensive referencing of each chapter to facilitate further reading

Peter Holmes is Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Michael Meadows is Professor and Head of the Department of Environ mental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, South Africa.

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