Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T11:02:59.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Megafans of the Northern Kalahari Basin (Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia)

from Part II - Regional Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2023

Justin Wilkinson
Affiliation:
Texas State University, Jacobs JETS Contract, NASA Johnson Space Center
Yanni Gunnell
Affiliation:
Université Lumière Lyon 2
Get access

Summary

Maps generated from various data sources reveal ten new megafans in the northern Kalahari region where, until now, the Okavango had been the only one recognised. Seven megafans were generated by rivers flowing off the Bié Swell of southern Angola, east to the Zambezi basin and south to the Owambo basin. Only three (Okavango, Cuando, Zambezi) are apexed at shoulders of the Okavango Rift (northern Botswana). Unusually, the Cubango/Okavango River has given rise to two megafans: the upstream Cubango megafan, and the well-known Okavango megafan downstream. Avulsion behaviour of three rivers has also demonstrably shifted discharge between major basins over time: the Cassai has, at times, flowed north into the Congo basin; the Cubango flowed into the Owambo basin (Etosha dry lake), but now discharges into the Makgadikgadi basin (via the Okavango megafan); and the Kunene, which now flows to the Atlantic Ocean, at one time discharged into the Etosha pan. Recognising the existence of so many more megafans than previously appreciated, as well as their autogenic, avulsive dynamics, is an invitation to reconsider the regime of sedimentary sequence deposition in these basins, which may have erroneously been interpreted as resulting from climatic or other external forcing factors.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Burke, K. and Gunnell, Y. (2008). The African Erosion Surface: A Continental-scale Synthesis of Geomorphology, Tectonics, and Environmental Change over the Past 180 Million Years. Geological Society of America Memoir, 201, 66 pp.Google Scholar
Burke, K. and Wilkinson, M. J. (2016). Landscape evolution in Africa during the Cenozoic and Quaternary--the legacy and limitations of Lester C. King. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 53, 10891102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burrough, S. L., Thomas, D. S. G., and Bailey, R. M. (2009). Mega-Lake in the Kalahari: A Late Pleistocene record of the Palaeolake Makgadikgadi system. Quaternary Science Reviews, 28, 13921411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, H. J. (1980). Landform evolution in the context of climate change and neo-tectonism in the middle Kalahari of north-central Botswana. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 5, 8099.Google Scholar
Cooke, R. U., Warren, A., and Goudie, A. S. (1993). Desert Geomorphology. University College London Press, London, 2nd edn, 526 pp.Google Scholar
Cotterill, F. P. D. and de Wit, M. J. (2011). Geoecodynamics and the Kalahari epeirogeny: linking its genomic record, tree of life and palimpsest into a unified narrative of landscape evolution. South African Journal of Geology, 114 , 489514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daly, M. C., Green, P., Watts, A. B., et al. (2020). Tectonics and landscape of the Central African Plateau and their implications for a propagating Southwestern Rift in Africa. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 21, e2019GC008746. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GC008746CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Debenham, F. (1952). The Kalahari today. Geographical Journal, 118, 1223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dill, H., Kaufhold, S., Lindenmaier, F., et al. (2012). Joint clay-heavy-light mineral analysis: a tool to investigate the hydrographic-hydraulic regime of Late Cenozoic deltaic inland fans under changing climatic conditions (Cuvelai-Etosha Basin, Namibia). International Journal of Earth Science, 102, 1–40.Google Scholar
DMAAC (Defense Mapping Agency Aerospace Center), various dates. Operational Navigation Charts (ONC), 1:1 million scale, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.Google Scholar
Du Toit, A. L. (1927). The Kalahari. South African Journal of Science, 24, 88101.Google Scholar
Earth Sciences and Remote Sensing Unithttp://eol.jsc.nasa.gov, accessed February 2022.Google Scholar
Grove, A. T. (1969). Landforms and climatic change in the Kalahari and Ngamiland. Geographical Journal, 135, 191212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddon, I. G. and McCarthy, T. S. (2005). The Mesozoic–Cenozoic interior sag basins of Central Africa: the Late-Cretaceous–Cenozoic Kalahari and Okavango basins. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 43, 316333.Google Scholar
Hartley, A. J., Weissmann, G. S., Nichols, G. J., and Warwick, G. L. (2010). Large distributive fluvial systems: characteristics, distribution, and controls on development. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 80, 167183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houben, G. J., Kaufhold, S., and Miller, R. McG., et al. (2020). Stacked megafans of the Kalahari Basin as archives of paleogeography, river capture and Cenozoic paleoclimate of southwestern Africa. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 90, 9801010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchins, D. G., Hutton, S. M., and Jones, C. R. (1976a). The geology of the Okavango Delta. Proceedings of the Symposium on the Okavango Delta and its future utilization. National Museum, Botswana, 1319.Google Scholar
Hutchins, D. G., Hutton, L. D., Hutton, S. M., Jones, C. R., and Leonhert, E. P. (1976b). A summary of the geology, seismicity, geomorphology and hydrogeology of the Okavango Delta. Geological Survey of Botswana, Bulletin 7.Google Scholar
Kottek, M., Grieser, J., Beck, C., Rudolf, B., and Rubel, F. (2006). World map of Köppen–Geiger climate classification. Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 15, 259263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreslavsky, M. A. and Head, J. W. (1999). Kilometer-scale slopes on Mars and their correlations with geologic units: initial results from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data. Journal of Geophysical Research, 104, 21,91121,924.Google Scholar
Kreslavsky, M. A. and Head, J. W. (2002). Kilometer-scale roughness of Mars’ surface: results from MOLA data analysis. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 26,69526,712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallick, D. I. J., Habgood, F., and Skinner, A. C. (1981). Geological interpretation of Landsat imagery and air photography of Botswana. Overseas Geology and Mineral Resources, Institute of Geological Sciences, National Environmental Research Council, London.Google Scholar
McCarthy, T. S., and Ellery, W. M. (1998). The Okavango Delta. Royal Society of South Africa, Transactions, 53, 115126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarthy, T. S., Smith, N. D., Ellery, W. M., and Gumbricht, T. (2002). The Okavango Delta—semiarid alluvial-fan sedimentation related to incipient rifting. In M. W. Renaut and G. M. Ashley, eds., Sedimentation in Continental Rifts. SEPM Special Publication, 73, 179193.Google Scholar
McCarthy, T. S. (2013). The Okavango Delta and its place in the geomorphological evolution of southern Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 116, 154.Google Scholar
McFarlane, M. J. and Eckardt, F. D. (2008). Lake Deception: a new Makgadikgadi palaeolake. Botswana Notes and Records, 38, 195201.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, J. and El Obeid, S. (2004). The Okavango River. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, J. M., van der Post, C., Ramberg, L., et al., 2010. Okavango Delta: Floods of Life. RAISON, Windhoek, Namibia, 144 pp.Google Scholar
Miller, R. McG. (1997). The Owambo Basin of northern Namibia. In Selley, R.C, ed., African Basins, Sedimentary Basins of the World. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 237268.Google Scholar
Miller, R. McG. (2008). The Geology of Namibia, Vol. 3: Palaeozoic to Cenozoic. Ministry of Mines and Energy, Geological Survey, Windhoek, Namibia.Google Scholar
Miller, R. McG. (2010). Lithology of Boreholes WW 201216 and WW 201217, Ohangwena region, Namibia. Dept. of Water Affairs and Forestry, Windhoek, Namibia.Google Scholar
Miller, R. McG., Pickford, M., and Senut, B. (2010). The geology, palaeontology and evolution of the Etosha Pan, Namibia: implications for terminal Kalahari deposition. South African Journal of Geology, 113, 307334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, R. McG. (2013). Groundwater for the North of Namibia: Technical Note no. 1—drill-log interpretation and evaluation of drillings KOH I and KOH II aquifers, Ohangwena Region, Cuvelai–Etosha Basin. BGR report 05-2345, DWAF, Windhoek, Namibia and BGR, Hanover, Germany.Google Scholar
Miller, R. McG., Lohe, C., Hasiotis, S. T., et al. (2016). The Kalahari Group in the 400-m deep core borehole WW 203302, northern Owambo Basin. Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia, 17, 143238.Google Scholar
Moore, A. E. (1999). A reappraisal of epeirogenic flexure axes in Southern Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 102, 363376.Google Scholar
Moore, A. E. and Larkin, P. A. (2001). Drainage evolution in south-central Africa since the break-up of Gondwana. South African Journal of Geology, 104, 4768.Google Scholar
Moore, A. E., Cotterill, F. P. D., Main, M. P. L., and Williams, H. B. (2007). The Zambezi River. In Gupta, A., ed., Large Rivers: Geomorphology and Management. Wiley, Chichester, 311–332.Google Scholar
Moore, A. E., Cotterill, F. P. D., and Eckardt, F. D. (2012). The evolution and ages of Makgadikgadi palaeo-lakes: Consilient evidence from Kalahari drainage evolution. South African Journal of Geology , 115, 385413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Podgorski, J. E., Green, A. J., Kgotlhang, L., et al. (2013). Paleo-megalake and paleo-megafan in southern Africa. Geology, 41, 11551158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stengel, H. W. (1963). Wasserwirtschaft, Waterwese, Water Affairs in S. W. Africa. Verlag Der Kreis, Windhoek, Namibia.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. S. G. and Shaw, P. A. (1991). The Kalahari Environment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 284 pp.Google Scholar
Ventra, D. and Clarke, L. E. (2018). Geology and geomorphology of alluvial and fluvial fans: current progress and research perspectives. In Ventra, D and Clarke, L. E., eds., Geology and Geomorphology of Alluvial and Fluvial Fans: Terrestrial and Planetary Perspectives. Geological Society of London, Special Publication, 440, 121.Google Scholar
Wehberg, J. and Weinzierl, T. (2013). The Okavango Basin – physical-geographical settings. Biodiversity & Ecology, 5, 1113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weissmann, G. S., Hartley, A. J., Nichols, G. J., et al. (2010). Fluvial form in modern continental sedimentary basins: distributive fluvial systems. Geology 38, 39–42.Google Scholar
Weissmann, G. S., Hartley, A. J., Nichols, G. J., et al. (2011). Alluvial facies distributions in continental sedimentary basins – distributive fluvial systems. In Davidson, S. K., Leleu, S., and North, C. P, eds., From River to Rock Record: The Preservation of Fluvial Sediments and their Subsequent Interpretation. SEPM Special Publication, 97, 327–355.Google Scholar
Wellington, J. H. (1938). The Kunene River and the Etosha Plain. South African Geographical Journal, 20, 2132.Google Scholar
Wellington, J. H. (1955). Southern Africa, A Geographical Study, Vol. 1: Physical Geography. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 528 pp.Google Scholar
Wells, N. A. and Dorr, J. A. (1987). Shifting of the Kosi River, northern India. Geology, 15, 204207.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, M. J., Marshall, L. G., and Lundberg, J. G. (2006). River behavior on megafans and potential influences on diversification and distribution of aquatic organisms. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 21, 151172.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, M. J., Kreslavsky, M. H., and Miller, R.McG. (2008). Megafans of the Northern Kalahari Basin. Third Southern Deserts Conference – Kalahari 2008. University of Oxford, School of Geography, Molopo Lodge, Northern Cape, South Africa, 1619 Sept 2008.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, M. J., Marshall, L. G., Lundberg, J. G., and Kreslavsky, M. H. (2010). Megafan environments in northern South America and their impact on Amazon Neogene ecosystems. In Hoorn, C. and Wesselingh, F. P, eds., Amazonia, Landscape and Species Evolution: A Look into the Past. Blackwell, London, 162184.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×