Build of South Africa And Aerial View Flashcards
How would you describe the build of South Africa?
From the coastal plain in the east of South Africa, the land rises steeply to the escarpment and some high mountain ranges. The land then levels out onto a flat plateau that slowly slopes downwards to the coastal plain in the west.
Define a coastal plain.
Low flat land near the sea
What is the escarpment?
Steep land that separates low-lying land e.g. Coastal plains from land that is high above sea level.
What is a plateau?
An area of flat land that is high above sea level e.g. The highveld near Johannesburg
Which provinces in South Africa have a coastline?
Northern Cape
Western Cape
Eastern Cape
Kwa-Zulu Natal
What kind of build covers most of South Africa?
Plateau
Name four physical features of a landscape
Mountains, hills, rivers, valleys, waterfalls, coastlines, capes and bays.
How do Geographers measure height of physical features such as mountains?
Measure how high the feature is from the level where the sea meets the land I.e. Sea level. For example Thabana Ntlenyana is 3482m above sea level.
Name three features that occur at sea level
Capes, bays, river mouths …
Name any three physical features that occur above sea level
Mountains, hills, valleys, River sources, waterfalls ….
What does a physical map of a country tell us?
It tells us the build of the country, how high the different parts of the country are above sea level. It tells us about its mountains, valleys, plains, rivers and other physical features.
What words would Geographers use to describe the build of the land?
Flat, hilly, mountainous, steep, high and low.
Coastal plain, escarpment, plateaus.
What is the shape of the escarpment in South Africa?
It is the shape of a horseshoe.
Name three of the mountain ranges in South Africa.
Drakensberg, Cedarberg, Hottentots Holland, Swartberg, Kamiesberg, Roggeveldberg ….
What is the source of a river?
It is the beginning of a river which is usually in high mountains where rain collects or a lake which is high above sea level or even an underground spring where water bubbles to the surface.
Where does a river end and what is that called?
A river ends in the sea. Where the river and the sea meet is called the river mouth.
What is the name of the rivers that join a main river?
Tributaries
What is the name of the main river and its tributaries?
River system
Complete the sentence. The area of land where rain water runs off into a river system is called a _______________ or a ____________.
The area of land where rain water runs off into a river system is called a catchment area or a drainage basin.
What is a river?
A channel of fresh water that flows towards an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river.
Are rivers important? Explain your answer.
Yes rivers are important because they carry water to farms, factories, towns and cities. Large rivers are used to transport goods and people.
What is a river delta?
At the river mouth some rivers separate into smaller rivers; this fan-shaped area is called a river delta.
Name the two main river systems in South Africa.
The Gariep-Orange river system which flows west from the Drakensberg towards the Atlantic Ocean and
the Limpopo River system which flows easterly towards the Indian Ocean.
What is unusual about the rivers of the Kalahari?
They are marked with a dotted line on maps because they are seasonal, in other words they only have water flowing after heavy rainfall.
What is a Cape and what is a Bay?
A Cape is where the land juts out into the sea.
A Bay is where the coastline curves into the land.
Give three examples of how physical features of a land impact the type of activity humans will be doing on that land.
If humans are living on land near the sea, they may have jobs catching and selling fish or making boats.
If humans are living on flat land, they own or work on farms suitable for flat land such a cattle farming.
If humans are living on mountainous land, they own or work on farms suitable for mountainous land such as rice farming or they may work on mines.
Name two ways that human activity has changed physical features of a land.
Humans have built roads across plateaus and tunnels through mountains to transport people and goods.
Humans have built dams to generate electricity in catchment areas in the high land areas. Dams can change the shape of a river and take up land that people used to live on.
