ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the main evidence for and controls on landscape evolution in southern Africa. It describes the tectonic and geological context of southern Africa, then the geomorphic evidence for and age constraints on land surface denudation and weathering, focusing on examples of soils and duricrusts, alluvial fans, and river patterns and processes. This is set in the context of a generalized, evolutionary timeline for the southern African landscape. Across southern Africa, river catchments and associated drainage patterns have undergone periodic disturbance driven largely by tectonic changes in base level and long profile steepness. Based on geomorphology and radiometric age, it is evident that the southern African land surface has evolved at different rates and likely in response to different combinations of tectonics, climate and geomorphological processes. The chapter also presents future research directions and the wider context of such landscape evolution studies.
