The Geology of Victoria Falls

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Discovering Victoria Falls

• Victoria Falls, also known as Mosi-oa-Tunya (the
  smoke that thunders), is one of the most
  impressive natural wonders on the African
  continent. The site is the result of millions of
  years of geological evolution and tectonic
  shifts, the history of which reveals much about
  the development of the world as we know it today.

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Victoria Falls Quick Facts

• Victoria Falls stands at 108 meters tall and
  1,708 meters wide.
• It is located on the border of Zambia and
  Zimbabwe in southern Africa, along the path of
  the Zambezi River.
• The mist cloud from the falls can be seen as far
  as 48 kilometers away!

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In the Beginning

• The foundational bedrock of Victoria Falls is
  made of basalt, a dark volcanic rock that was
  formed around 180 million years ago. Over
  millions of years of volcanic eruptions, lava
  cooled into layers of basalt, which were then
  covered by new layers of lava. This process
  repeated many, many times over.

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An Island of Stone

• This ancient volcanic activity created a
  200-kilometer basalt island in the surrounding
  sandveld (land characterized by dry, sandy soil).
  In the area around Victoria Falls, this basalt is
  up to 300 meters thick. As the land shifted,
  giant cracks known as joints appeared in the
  rock, and were filled in by softer, clay-like
  sediment.

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The River Runs Through It

• When the basalt first formed, the area of
  Victoria Falls was a river-less desert. As the
  land continued to shift, water and tropical
  vegetation began to move in and change the
  landscape. Eventually, a massive continental
  shift caused the creation of the Zambezi River,
  which began to flow over the giant joints in the
  basalt and erode the clay sediment built up
  there.

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The Big Spill

• What we know as the Zambezi River was originally
  two rivers that werent connected. 10 to 15
  million years ago, geological upheavals shifted
  the land once again, causing the two rivers to
  combine into the modern Zambezi. This would
  create the conditions necessary for the formation
  of Victoria Falls.

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A Faulty Theory

• For many years, it was incorrectly believed that
  Victoria Falls was created as the result of a
  fault line opening up in the path of the river.
  This theory was first presented by Dr. David
  Livingstone, the famous explorer who was the
  first European to see the falls, and who named
  them after Queen Victoria.

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A Long History

• Victoria Falls is not the first giant waterfall
  in the area. Though the current falls are
  believed to be between 100,000 and 250,000 years
  old, there were at least seven waterfalls of
  comparable size that formed in the area in the
  past.

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Sources

• http//www.unmuseum.org/7wonders/victoriafalls.htm
  
• http//www.siyabona.com/explore-victoria-falls-geo
  logy.html
• https//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls