Mounting peeks to be peekin at mountain peaks
The Cape Peninsula is a rocky and mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the continent. At its tip is Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. The peninsula forms the west side of False Bay and the Cape Flats. On the east side are the Helderberg and Hottentots Holland mountains. The three main rock formations are the late-Precambrian Malmesbury group (sedimentary and metamorphic rock), the Cape Granite suit, comprising the huge Peninsula, Kuilsriver-Helderberg, and Stellenbosch batholiths, that were intruded into the Malmesbury Group about 630 million years ago, and the Table Mountain group sandstones that were deposited on the eroded surface of the granite and Malmesbury series basement about 450 million years ago. The sand, silt and mud deposits were lithified by pressure and then folded during the Cape Orogeny to form the Cape Fold Belt, which extends along the western and southern coasts. The present landscape is due to prolonged erosion having carved out deep valleys, removing parts of the once continuous Table Mountain Group sandstone cover from the Cape Flats and False Bay, and leaving high residual mountain ridges
The Peninsula Formation (800-1500m thick) consisting of hard, light grey medium to coarse grained pebbly quartz sandstone, dominates the steep mountain cliffs. Current bedding and pebble layers suggest that it was originally deposited as migrating sand bars in broad river channels.
The primary vegetation type of the Western Cape is fynbos, a term derived from Dutch and Afrikaans words meaning "fine bush," which typically grows on fairly nutrient-depleted mostly sandstone-derived acidic soils and is dominated by sclerophyllous, that is, evergreen, hard-leaved, flowering shrubs, many of which are proteas, ericas, cape reeds (Restios) , and geophytes (bulbed plants). Fynbos is technically described as a vegetation that has more than a 5% cover of Restios and exists in a fire-controlled ecosystem characterized by significant winter rainfall, nutrient-poor soils, and exceptional floristic richness and endemism. While two basic types of fynbos, mountain fynbos and lowland fynbos, have been described, references are often made to coastal fynbos on sandy alkaline soils and limestone fynbos. In fact, one authority has categorized fynbos into five separate vegetative types, and there is no doubt that fynbos communities in different areas are not exactly the same depending on season, soil, slope, altitude and rainfall. However, although they may not contain precisely the same species, they are structurally very similar. Lowland fynbos has perhaps more annuals and grass species, and is limited for the most part to sandy, clay or limestone soils. In addition to sandstone-derived soils, mountain fynbos may grow where rainfall is sufficiently high on leached soils derived from granites or even shales. Trees are relatively rare in mountain fynbos especially due to strong coastal winds.
Ya gotta take off shigh ta fly high mon!
The Cape Peninsula is a rocky and mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the continent. At its tip is Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. The peninsula forms the west side of False Bay and the Cape Flats. On the east side are the Helderberg and Hottentots Holland mountains. The three main rock formations are the late-Precambrian Malmesbury group (sedimentary and metamorphic rock), the Cape Granite suit, comprising the huge Peninsula, Kuilsriver-Helderberg, and Stellenbosch batholiths, that were intruded into the Malmesbury Group about 630 million years ago, and the Table Mountain group sandstones that were deposited on the eroded surface of the granite and Malmesbury series basement about 450 million years ago. The sand, silt and mud deposits were lithified by pressure and then folded during the Cape Orogeny to form the Cape Fold Belt, which extends along the western and southern coasts. The present landscape is due to prolonged erosion having carved out deep valleys, removing parts of the once continuous Table Mountain Group sandstone cover from the Cape Flats and False Bay, and leaving high residual mountain ridges
The Peninsula Formation (800-1500m thick) consisting of hard, light grey medium to coarse grained pebbly quartz sandstone, dominates the steep mountain cliffs. Current bedding and pebble layers suggest that it was originally deposited as migrating sand bars in broad river channels.
The primary vegetation type of the Western Cape is fynbos, a term derived from Dutch and Afrikaans words meaning "fine bush," which typically grows on fairly nutrient-depleted mostly sandstone-derived acidic soils and is dominated by sclerophyllous, that is, evergreen, hard-leaved, flowering shrubs, many of which are proteas, ericas, cape reeds (Restios) , and geophytes (bulbed plants). Fynbos is technically described as a vegetation that has more than a 5% cover of Restios and exists in a fire-controlled ecosystem characterized by significant winter rainfall, nutrient-poor soils, and exceptional floristic richness and endemism. While two basic types of fynbos, mountain fynbos and lowland fynbos, have been described, references are often made to coastal fynbos on sandy alkaline soils and limestone fynbos. In fact, one authority has categorized fynbos into five separate vegetative types, and there is no doubt that fynbos communities in different areas are not exactly the same depending on season, soil, slope, altitude and rainfall. However, although they may not contain precisely the same species, they are structurally very similar. Lowland fynbos has perhaps more annuals and grass species, and is limited for the most part to sandy, clay or limestone soils. In addition to sandstone-derived soils, mountain fynbos may grow where rainfall is sufficiently high on leached soils derived from granites or even shales. Trees are relatively rare in mountain fynbos especially due to strong coastal winds.
Ya gotta take off shigh ta fly high mon!
