Cape Fold Belt

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The Hex River Mountains of the Cape Fold Belt, near Worcester, South Africa. The peaks approach 2000m in height. They are not often covered in snow.
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The Hex River Mountains of the Cape Fold Belt, near Worcester, South Africa. The peaks approach 2000m in height. They are not often covered in snow.

The Cape Fold Belt is the folded sedimentary sequence of rocks in the south-western corner of South Africa. It is related to the Ventana Mountains near Bahia Blanca in Argentina. The rocks are generally sandstones and shales, with shales forming the valleys and the erosion resistant sandstones forming the parallel mountain ranges, reaching a maximum height at Seweweekspoortpiek (Afrikaans: Seven Weeks Defile Peak) at 2325m.

The rocks were laid down as sediments in a coastal delta environment upon the Malmesbury unconformity in the Ordovician (450ma) period, with the folding subsequently occurring in the Carboniferous and Permian periods during the merging of the supercontinent Pangaea. Even though the mountains are very old by Andean and Alpine standards, they remain steep and rugged, owing to the resistant nature of the quartzitic sandstones of the Table Mountain Group. The famous Table Mountain is comprised of hard rocks of the Peninsula Formation of the Table Mountain Group. The geographic range of the Cape Fold Belt is from Cape Town in the west and the Cedarberg Mountains in the north-west to Port Elizabeth in the east.

The largest individual ranges within the Cape Fold Belt include (translations in brackets):

  • Cederberg Mountains (Cedar)
  • Piketberg (Picket)
  • Winterhoek Mountains (Winter corner)
  • Skurweberge (Rough or scaly)
  • Du Toitskloof Mountains (a French surname: Du Toits canyon )
  • Drakenstein Mountains (Dragon stone)
  • Hottentots-Holland Mountains (Hottentot: old name for Khoi aboriginal inhabitants)
  • Kogelberg (uncertain)
  • Stettynsberge (probably a surname)
  • Hex Rivier Mountains (Witch river)
  • Langeberg (Long)
  • Riviersonderend Mountains (River without end)
  • Klein Rivier Mountains (Small river)
  • Swartberge (Black)
  • Outeniqua Mountains (aboriginal: place of honey)
  • Kouga Mountains (aboriginal)
  • Tsitsikamma Mountains (aboriginal: place of much water)
  • Zuurberge (sour or acid or acidic) )

(berg is Afrikaans for mountain. Plural is 'berge')

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