Zambezi Escarpment is a name used for the

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esc ...

s forming both sides of the

rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear dep ...

graben In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic cont ...

in which lie the middle

Zambezi The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

river and

Lake Kariba Lake Kariba is the world's largest artificial lake and reservoir by volume. It lies upstream from the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the Kariba ...

. They are fault scarps, rising 500 to 600 m higher than the lake or river, running from the Batoka Gorge roughly 800 km to the lower Zambezi, and facing each other about 50 to 100 km apart, closer in the west and opening up in the east. The northern Zambezi Escarpment in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are ...

is steeper. It is somewhat broken north of Lake Kariba, but is particularly steep and well-formed from a point north of Siavonga going east through the

Lower Zambezi National Park The Lower Zambezi National Park lies on the north bank of the Zambezi River in southeastern Zambia. Until 1983 when the area was declared a national park, the area was the private game reserve of Zambia's president. This meant that the park was pro ...

to the Luangwa River. Along this section the bottom of the valley is relatively flat and provides a sharp contrast to the scarps. The southern Zambezi Escarpment in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Moz ...

is quite marked in the west at the Chizarira Hills and the

Chizarira National Park Chizarira National Park is a national park that lies in Northern part of Zimbabwe. At , it is the third-largest national park in Zimbabwe, and also one of the least known because of its isolated situation on the Zambezi Escarpment. It has good w ...

, but the slope becomes more broken and gentler further east around

Matusadona National Park Matusadona National Park is a national park in northern Zimbabwe situated on the southern shore of Lake Kariba. The park takes its name from the local Matuzviadonha Hills. History Matusadona was proclaimed a non-hunting area on 7 November 1958 b ...

. It becomes steeper and more marked again from Kariba, east through Mana Pools National Park and then to the north of the Mvurwi Range and at the Mavuradona wilderness south of Lake

Cahora Bassa The Cahora Bassa lake—in the Portuguese colonial era (until 1974) known as Cabora Bassa, from Nyungwe ''Kahoura-Bassa'', meaning "finish the job"—is Africa's fourth-largest artificial lake, situated in the Tete Province in Mozambique. In Afr ...

. Again, the floor of the rift valley is quite flat here providing a marked contrast to the escarpment.

External links

Zambezi Escarpment at multimap.com
Escarpments of Africa Landforms of Zambia Landforms of Zimbabwe {{Zambia-geo-stub