The Rocks and Mountains of Cape Town
This richly illustrated book provides a clear and accessible guide to the spectacular exposures of rocks and mountians in the Cape Town area. It is aimed at visitors and residents keen to understand how the scenic landscape surrounding them came about and what the rocks reveal of the recent as well as the “deep” geological history of the area.
In scope it covers both the large-scale features of the region as observed from space and particular features that can be seen up close on the ground.
While the emphasis is on the greater Cape Town area, other popular areas of the Western Cape within easy access of Cape Town are also included. The book is intended to get us looking at and thinking about our environment from a new perspective so that whether on our daily commute to work or out for a hike, we may understand it better and derive a greater pleasure from being part of it.
Reviews
“I read a book once which described mountains as living museums of our planet’s history. But to understand what the exhibits represent we have to learn a new language. Prof Compton…is eloquent in that language, and has done us a great service by providing this slim but rich volume to interpret our environment to us in words we can all understand.”
Cape Times
“No doubt we are in good hands as John Compton gives us a basic introduction to the environment we find around us. But Rocks & Mountains is not only a guide for today – it is also a natural history of Table Mountain…This is not a handy guide for hikers, but a small text book to read before you venture forth.”
Mail&Guardian
First published 2004 by Double Storey Books, a division of Juta & Co. Ltd.
Fourth impression 2019 by Earthspun Books, Cape Town
© 2004 John S. Compton All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-0-620-69617-3
Now available as an audiobook!
Click here to go to: Tape Aids for the blind
Chapters
Chapter 1 Understanding the landscape
Mountains rising up from the Flats 12
The view from space 15
Ancient continental collisions and the African superswell 21
Rocks and their landforms 24
From rock to soil 30
Plants on the rocks 36
Chapter 2 Reading the rocks
Cape Town’s oldest rocks 44
Deep intrusion of Cape Granite magma 50
Uplift and erosion: deep earth exposed 55
An enormous pile of sand 57
The Cape Fold Belt: collision and deformation on a large scale 68
Pangaea breakup and the Great Escarpment 71
Youthful cover on a very old surface 73
Langebaan Lagoon 81
Summary of the rocks’ story 83
Chapter 3 Reading the rocks
Cape Town’s oldest rocks 44
Deep intrusion of Cape Granite magma 50
Uplift and erosion: deep earth exposed 55
An enormous pile of sand 57
The Cape Fold Belt: collision and deformation on a large scale 68
Pangaea breakup and the Great Escarpment 71
Youthful cover on a very old surface 73
Langebaan Lagoon 81
Summary of the rocks’ story 83
