Hillslopes usually have high heterogeneity in terms of landscape processes. Interactions
occur between geology, geomorphological processes, and vegetation distribution on a hillslope. This
study was undertaken to assess the processes and interactions of geology, regolith production,
geomorphological processes, channel formation and how these are influenced by the vegetation on a
portion of Mariepskop. Mariepskop forms part of the Drakensberg Escarpment, but is a separate
hillslope within the Mpumalanga Province. A north-eastern portion of the Mariepskop forms the study
site, with a drainage line located within the site. Deciduous bush covers most of the study site, and
grassland patches occur on the southern parts of the study site. Quartz-feldspar-biotite gneiss
dominates most of the area with the cliff and higher parts consisting of feldspar-rich schist. Three site
visits were undertaken where bedrock geology, weathering, soil formation, erosion, mass movement
processes and the drainage channel were assessed. Maps of these processes as well as slope
profiling and plan forms were compiled. According to the results, Mariepskop shows heterogeneous
processes both laterally and vertically, with various degrees of interactions taking place. Underlying
geology, mass movements on higher altitudes, and soil creep on lower altitudes occur on both the
northern and southern parts. Processes mainly occurring on the northern part are rockfall from
drainage channel incision, weathering, rill erosion and fluvial erosion within the drainage channel.
Main processes on the southern part are mass movement in term form of slumping/debris flow, and
erosion, in particular rainsplash and overland flow. Soil is deeper on northern part than on southern
part of the study site. Geomorphological processes interact with the vegetation distribution over the
study area. Grassland patches on the southern part of the study site are mainly due to
slumping/debris flow, rainsplash erosion, convexity of the plan form (therefore no valleys) and oxidic
soils occurrence. Similar geomorphological processes will probably influence grassland patches over
the rest of Mariepskop. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / unrestricted
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/40238 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Beeslaar, Salome |
| Contributors | Sumner, P.D. (Paul), salome.@shangoni.co.za |
| Publisher | University of Pretoria |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Rights | © 2013 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
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