Mount Gorongosa is an inselberg in Sofala Province of central

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. Its highest peak, Gogogo, reaches an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of 1,863 meters (6,112 feet). It was created by Karoo Volcanism. The upper zone of the mountain (above 700 meters) was made part of

Gorongosa National Park Gorongosa National Park is at the southern end of the Great African Rift Valley in the heart of central Mozambique, Southeast Africa. The more than park comprises the valley floor and parts of surrounding plateaus. Rivers originating on nearby M ...

by the Mozambican government in 2010. The main part of the park lies at a lower elevation to the east of the mountain.

Geography and geology

Mount Gorongosa rises as an isolated massif from the surrounding lowlands. Mount Gorongosa is at the tip of a large, oval-shaped ring complex, some by . There are three main peaks, one in the north, one in the south, and Gogogo, the highest, in the southwest. Between them is a plateau that contains three valleys. The mountain is composed of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

s of Late

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

age, ringed by

gabbro Gabbro () is a phaneritic (coarse-grained), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is che ...

s on the western and southern slopes.

Climate

The mountain's climate is cooler and wetter than the surrounding lowlands. Moist oceanic air masses moving in from the southeast rise up the mountain slopes and cools, and the moisture in the air condenses and falls as rain, or forms low clouds and morning mists. The windward south and east slopes receive more moisture than the north and west slopes, which are in the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...

of the mountain.

Ecology

The cooler, wetter climate of the mountain sustains several communities of plants and animals, distinct from the surrounding lowlands. The mountain is home to montane and

submontane Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

grasslands, moist evergreen forests, dry montane forests,

miombo woodlands The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

, and

ericaceous heathland The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

s. Mount Gorongosa's forests and grasslands are an isolated enclave of the Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

, which is mostly found to the west in the Eastern Highlands along the Mozambique-Zimbabwe border. The

Southern miombo woodlands The Southern miombo woodlands is a tropical grasslands and woodlands ecoregion extending across portions of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It is one of four miombo woodlands ecoregions that span the African continent south of the Con ...

ecoregion surrounds the mountain at lower elevations."Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic". World Wildlife Fund. Accessed 17 June 201

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References

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External links and references

Summit Post on climbing Mount Gorongosa
Afromontane, Gorongosa Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic Geography of Sofala Province Gorongosa