Zambezi Escarpment is a name used for the

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

s forming both sides of the

rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear d ...

graben In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic conte ...

in which lie the middle

Zambezi The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than ha ...

river and

Lake Kariba Lake Kariba is the world's largest artificial lake and reservoir by volume. It lies upstream from the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the K ...

. They are fault scarps, rising 500 to 600 m higher than the lake or river, running from the Batoka Gorge roughly 800 km to the lower Zambezi, and facing each other about 50 to 100 km apart, closer in the west and opening up in the east. The northern Zambezi Escarpment in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

is steeper. It is somewhat broken north of Lake Kariba, but is particularly steep and well-formed from a point north of Siavonga going east through the Lower Zambezi National Park to the

Luangwa River The Luangwa River is one of the major tributaries of the Zambezi River, and one of the four biggest rivers of Zambia. The river generally floods in the rainy season (December to March) and then falls considerably in the dry season. It is one of ...

. Along this section the bottom of the valley is relatively flat and provides a sharp contrast to the scarps. The southern Zambezi Escarpment in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

is quite marked in the west at the Chizarira Hills and the Chizarira National Park, but the slope becomes more broken and gentler further east around Matusadona National Park. It becomes steeper and more marked again from Kariba, east through Mana Pools National Park and then to the north of the Mvurwi Range and at the Mavuradona wilderness south of Lake Cahora Bassa. Again, the floor of the rift valley is quite flat here providing a marked contrast to the escarpment.

External links

Zambezi Escarpment at multimap.com
Escarpments of Africa Landforms of Zambia Landforms of Zimbabwe {{Zambia-geo-stub