Mount Gorongosa is an

inselberg An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...

Sofala Province Sofala is a province of Mozambique. It has a population of 2,259,248 (2017 census). Beira is the capital of the province, named for the ruined port of Sofala which is to the south. History Portuguese landholder and imperialist Joaquim Carl ...

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 In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

from the surrounding lowlands. Mount Gorongosa is at the tip of a large,

oval-shaped An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one ...

ring

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

, 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 Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

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 Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

and submontane grasslands, moist evergreen forests, dry montane forests, miombo woodlands, and ericaceous heathlands. Mount Gorongosa's forests and grasslands are an isolated enclave of the

Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic :''"Eastern Highlands" also refers to Eastern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea, and part of the Great Dividing Range, Australia.'' The Eastern Highlands, also known as the Manica Highlands, is a mountain range on the border of Zimbabw ...

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 :''"Eastern Highlands" also refers to Eastern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea, and part of the Great Dividing Range, Australia.'' The Eastern Highlands, also known as the Manica Highlands, is a mountain range on the border of Zimbabw ...

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 Gorongosa is a town and the administrative center of Gorongosa District of Mozambique, situated on the country's main north-south highway (the EN1). Mount Gorongosa is north of the town, and Gorongosa National Park Gorongosa National Park is at ...