ABSTRACT
Though Africa south of the Atlas is entirely lacking in recent fold mountains, it is not without its high peaks and plateaux. There are in fact five distinct areas of the continent outside the Atlas where the land rises to over 10,000 feet. In the Sahara the isolated mass of Tibesti attains a height of 11,204 feet, while to the south-west, in the Sudan, the highland of Darfur reaches 10,073 feet. One of the most characteristic elements of African morphology is the planation surface. It was emphasised in discussing the geology of Africa that there have been many gaps in the stratigraphical record, representing long intervals of time when processes of erosion were dominant over vast areas. The continent of Africa is renowned for the extent and perfection of form of its planation surfaces; lying at various levels now, it is these surfaces which give rise to the general plateau nature of the continent.
