BASINS & DIVIDES
Basins are Africa's major striking relief features. A basin is a broad, shallow, saucer-like feature which is seperated by plateaux, fault blocks and mountain ranges. Africa's major basins have been depositional areas for the rock waste eroded from the plateau surface and they have gradually subsided leaving them mountainous divides.
These shallow basins were then invaded by the sea or rivers, the weight of lacustrine and marine deposits causing further depression
THE MAJOR AFRICA'S BASINS INCLUDE
- The Congo Basin
- The Chad Basin
- The El Djouf Basin
- The Sudan Basin
- Kalahari Basin
- The Victoria-Kyogo Basin
- Gabes Basin
- Senegal Basin, and
- Libya basin
Bordering the basins are sharp divides which in the case of the Rwenzori rise to nearly 5200m. The dividing rims may consist of higher parts of the plateau, eg. Jos and Futa Jalon regions and other crystalline and volcanic massifs such as the Ahaggar and Tibestic plateaux. Volcanic cones and the titled of fault blocks often add to their heights.
Other important divides are the Drakensburg and Maluti mountains between the Kalahari and the east coast plain, the ennedi Dar Fur and Bongos between Chad, Sudan and Congo Basin, and the Bihe between the Congo and the Kalahari.
Steepshot