Book contents
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Regional Studies
- 3 Megafans of Africa
- 4 Megafans of the Northern Kalahari Basin (Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia)
- 5 The Chaco Megafans, South America
- 6 Megafans of the Pantanal Basin, Brazil
- 7 Geomorphic and Chronological Assessment of Aggradation Patterns on the Río Grande (Guapay) Megafan, Eastern Bolivia
- 8 Megafans of Southern and Central Europe
- 9 The Loire Megafan, Central France
- 10 Megafans of the Gangetic Plains, India
- 11 The Kosi Megafan, India
- 12 The Holocene Mitchell Megafan, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
- 13 Megafans of the Northern Victorian Riverine Plains, SE Australia
- Part III Applications in Other Sciences
- Part IV Megafans in World Landscapes
- Index
- References
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
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Regional Studies
- 3 Megafans of Africa
- 4 Megafans of the Northern Kalahari Basin (Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia)
- 5 The Chaco Megafans, South America
- 6 Megafans of the Pantanal Basin, Brazil
- 7 Geomorphic and Chronological Assessment of Aggradation Patterns on the Río Grande (Guapay) Megafan, Eastern Bolivia
- 8 Megafans of Southern and Central Europe
- 9 The Loire Megafan, Central France
- 10 Megafans of the Gangetic Plains, India
- 11 The Kosi Megafan, India
- 12 The Holocene Mitchell Megafan, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
- 13 Megafans of the Northern Victorian Riverine Plains, SE Australia
- Part III Applications in Other Sciences
- Part IV Megafans in World Landscapes
- Index
- References
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.
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- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars , pp. 48 - 77Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
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