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. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

s forming both sides of the

rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced 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 ...

graben In geology, a graben () is a depression (geology), depressed block of the Crust (geology), crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German language, German, meaning 'ditch' or 't ...

in which lie the middle

Zambezi The Zambezi (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 half of t ...

river and

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

. 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 Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

is steeper. It is somewhat broken north of Lake Kariba, but is particularly steep and well-formed from a point north of

Siavonga Siavonga is a town in the Southern Province of Zambia, lying on the north shore of Lake Kariba. It is Zambia's principal tourism centre for the lake, with accommodation, boating and fishing tours on offer. History Tongas, one of the Bantu Bota ...

going east through the

Lower Zambezi National Park The Lower Zambezi National Park lies on the north bank of the Zambezi River in southeastern Zambia. Until 1983 when the area was declared a national park, the area was the private game reserve of Zambia's president. This meant that the park was p ...

to the

Luangwa River The Luangwa River is one of the major Tributary, 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. I ...

. 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 file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

is quite marked in the west at the Chizarira Hills and the

Chizarira National Park Chizarira National Park is a national park that lies in Northern part of Zimbabwe. At , it is the third-largest national park in Zimbabwe, and also one of the least known because of its isolated situation on the Zambezi Escarpment. It has good ...

, but the slope becomes more broken and gentler further east around

Matusadona National Park Matusadona National Park is a national park in northern Zimbabwe situated on the southern shore of Lake Kariba. The park takes its name from the local Matuzviadonha Hills. History Matusadona was proclaimed a non-hunting area on 7 November 1958 ...

. It becomes steeper and more marked again from Kariba, east through

Mana Pools National Park Mana Pools National Park is a wildlife conservation area and national park in northern Zimbabwe.Mvurwi Range The Mvurwi range of mountains is located in northern Zimbabwe. It stretches about 160 km from Lake Manyame, just west of Harare, north to the Zambezi Escarpment. It rises to its highest point of 1740m at the Mavurwe beacon. The northernmost ...

and at the Mavuradona wilderness south of Lake

Cahora Bassa The Cahora Bassa lake—in the Portuguese colonial era (until 1974) known as Cabora Bassa, from Nyungwe ''Kahoura-Bassa'', meaning "finish the job"—is Africa's fourth-largest artificial lake, situated in the Tete Province in Mozambique. In Afri ...

. 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

See also

External links