Open AccessSome Pleistocene periglacial problems in southern Africa
Author(s) -
SPARROW GERALD W. A.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
boreas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.95
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1502-3885
pISSN - 0300-9483
DOI - 10.1111/j.1502-3885.1973.tb00249.x
Subject(s) - solifluction , geology , pleistocene , sequence (biology) , mass wasting , frost (temperature) , paleontology , paleosol , glacial period , precipitation , physical geography , archaeology , geomorphology , geography , loess , sediment , genetics , meteorology , biology
Amplification is made to some of Butzer's comments on various Pleistocene ‘periglacial’ phenomena in southern Africa. In particular, the ‘nivation’ cirques occurring above 2,000 m in the Drakensberg‐Lesotho upland are now thought to have been formed by a combination of frost‐shattering and solifluction wasting. Because of a gradational sequence from purely frost‐shattered forms in central Lesotho to pronounced cirques in the Drankensberg, a lateral palaeoclimatic variation is suggested with a somewhat higher precipitation in the latter area. This contention is supported by palaeosol evidence.