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Phytosociology of the Upper Orange River Valley, South Africa

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Phytosociology of the Upper Orange River Valley, South Africa PHYTOSOCIOLOGY OF THE UPPER ORANGE RIVER VALLEY, SOUTH AFRICA A SYNTAXONOMICAL AND SYNECOLOGICAL STUDY M.J.A.WERGER PROMOTOR: Prof. Dr. V. WESTHOFF PHYTOSOCIOLOGY OF THE UPPER ORANGE RIVER VALLEY, SOUTH AFRICA A SYNTAXONOMICAL AND SYNECOLOGICAL STUDY PROEFSCHRIFT TER VERKRUGING VAN DE GRAAD VAN DOCTOR IN DE WISKUNDE EN NATUURWETENSCHAPPEN AAN DE KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT TE NIJMEGEN, OP GEZAG VAN DE RECTOR MAGNIFICUS PROF. MR. F J.F.M. DUYNSTEE VOLGENS BESLUIT VAN HET COLLEGE VAN DECANEN IN HET OPENBAAR TE VERDEDIGEN OP 10 MEI 1973 DES NAMIDDAGS TE 4.00 UUR. DOOR MARINUS JOHANNES ANTONIUS WERGER GEBOREN TE ENSCHEDE 1973 V&R PRETORIA aan mijn ouders Frontiepieae: Panorama drawn by R.J. GORDON when he discovered the Orange River at "De Fraaye Schoot" near the present Bethulie, probably on the 23rd December 1777. I. INTRODUCTION When the government of the Republic of South Africa in the early sixties decided to initiate a comprehensive water development scheme of its largest single water resource, the Orange River, this gave rise to a wide range of basic and applied scientific sur­ veys of that area. The reasons for these surveys were threefold: (1) The huge capital investment on such a water scheme can only be justified economically on a long term basis. Basic to this is that the waterworks be protected, over a long period of time, against inefficiency caused by for example silting. Therefore, management reports of the catchment area should.be produced. (2) In order to enable effective long term planning of the management and use of the natural resources in the area it is necessary to know the state of the local ecosystems before a major change is instituted. (3) From an academic point of view it is of utmost interest to study alterations in an area that is due to undergo so much artificially induced change in a short period of time. All three arguments require studies of the initial area, that is before the changes are made. This account reports on one of these surveys, namely an inventory of the plant communi­ ties of the Upper Orange River valley. The part of the survey that covers the riverine vegetation is included in topic 6 ORDS project 6.3 of the Orange River Workgroup and subproject 8.5 of the IBP PF (International Biological Programme, section Productivity of Freshwater). An inventory of plant conmunities of a certain area, if done in a scientifically sound way, can serve as a basis for further basic scientific work of academic interest as well as for applied scientific work orientated towards management. Because of the deteriorated condition of the veld in the Upper Orange River catchment area at present, erosion is severe -and therefore holds a serious threat to the economic and functional existence of the large waterworks presently under construction in that area. In order to stop this erosion a report on veld management is necessary. Therefore, a survey on the grazing potential, condition and erosion status of the veld is presently being undertaken in four catchment areas, together comprising the Orange River catchment area upstream of the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam. The veld is being mapped in floristical dominance types, sub­ divided according to condition and erosion status, at a scale of 1 : 50 000. Classify­ ing a vegetational cover in dominance types is only of restricted value, however, and it was felt that a more scientifically based classification would be advantageous. The present survey was therefore undertaken to inventorize and describe the plant communities occurring in the area. To survey the complete Upper Orange River catchment area, however, would take too many years for the one surveyor that was available. So, the survey was restricted to the Upper Orange River valley. The interpretation of the word "valley" was taken in its widest sense and is defined later. It was thought that the plant communities found in the survey area should provide possibilities of extrapolating into a wide area of the Orange River catchment area, especially into the Highveld region, where other sur­ veys are underway at present, and into the Karoo. Thus, this report should provide infor­ mation on an extensive part of the central regions of the Republic of South Africa. IT- ι*· ЕР 2Г zr гг 23· г«· га· гт- 2β· гг so- и* зв* зэ* и· II. THE AREA The longest river in Africa south of the Zambezi and the largest river in the Republic of South Africa is the Orange River. It is also the only river in southern Africa to rise on one edge of the African plateau and to flow to the opposite edge (WELLINGTON, 1955). From its source in the Drakensberg in Lesotho, where it is called Sinqu, down to its mouth in the Atlantic at Alexander Bay - Oranjemund, the distance along the longitudinal river profile is approximately 2 200 km. Its source at Mont aux Sources is at 3 300 m, thus giving an average gradient for the whole Orange River of 1,5 m per km. The Vaal River, the Orange River's greatest tributary, joins the Orange River about 16 km downstream from Douglas and is longer than the Orange River upstream of the con­ fluence. Taking the Vaal headwater as the main stream, the river measures 2 500 km along its longitudinal profile. However, the branch that rises in Lesotho has always been con­ sidered to be the main stream (fig. II.1). The Orange River basin covers 650 000 km2 and is the largest river basin south of the Zambezi, that has an outlet to the sea. The only larger one is the Kalahari basin, that measures 1 290 000 km2, but nearly half of it is areic and the remaining part endoreic. Formerly part of the Kalahari basin, the Molopo-Nossob system, drained into the Orange River. More than 1000 years ago this drainage was blocked by wind-blown sand and the rare flood-waters now drain into Abiquas Puts. With this typical feature of blocking river courses by wind-blown sand, this system can be regarded as being part of the en­ doreic half of the Kalahari basin (WELLINGTON, 1955, 195Θ). MOOLMAN (1946) considered the Molopo-Nossob system to belong to the Orange River basin. On its way from its origin in the humid Drakensberg, the main watershed of South Africa, through the semi-arid and arid areas down to the Atlantic, the Orange River traverses nearly the whole succession of geological formations found in southern Africa, from the relatively young basalts, sandstones, shales and tillites of the Karoo System to the granites, lavas and quartzites of the Archaean complex. On its general east-west course it also flows through a diversity of soil types (from the black clay soils in the Drakens­ berg and the prairie soils of the Highveld to the Kalahari sands and the desert soils of Bushmanland and Namaqualand) and a series of veld types (from the alpine and Highveld grasslands, the open shrublands of the Karoo to the semi-desert and succulent vegetation types of the Namaqualand Broken Veld, the Succulent Karoo in the Richtersveld, and the desert vegetation of the southern Namib near Alexander Bay). Taking the total diversity of the physical environment into account, the Orange River is usually divided into three physiographic sections (WELLINGTON, 1933): the Upper Orange River from its origin at Mont aux Sources down to its confluence with the Vaal River; the Middle Orange River from the Orange-Vaal confluence down to Aughrabies Falls and the Lower Orange River from Aughrabies Falls down to the mouth in the Atlantic Ocean. This report deals with the ecology and plant communities of the Upper Orange River only (fig. II.2). Therefore, the physical environment and human history of that part will now be described in more detail. II.1 TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROLOGY When the Orange River at the confluence with the Telle River, near Palmietfontein, be­ comes the border between Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa, its altitude has dropped from about 3 300 m at its origin at Mont aux Sources to 1 398 m. Twenty six km further downstream is the confluence of the Orange River with the Kornetspruit, which forms the border between Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa to the north, just as the Telle Riyer does to the south. At this point the height of the riverbed is 1 385 m, which means an average gradient of 0,50 m/km over the stretch where the Orange forms the international border. Here the Orange River actually enters South Africa, forming the border between the Orange Pree State and the Cape Province. In this part of the Cape Province the Bantustan Herschel is situated, of which the Orange River forms the northern border down to the point where the Wilgespruit enters the Orange, 146 km downstream of the Orange-Telle confluence. Twenty four km downstream of the Orange-Kornetspruit con­ fluence is the first roadbridge within the borders of the Republic of South Africa across the Orange River, Mayaputi bridge, connecting Sterkspruit with Zastron. The height of the riverbed here is 1 357 m, making an average gradient of 1,17 m/km over these 24 km of the river. Twenty km downstream of Mayaputi bridge the Orange River is joined by the small river Sterkspruit. Along the Sterkspruit,5 km upstream of the con­ fluence^ village of the same name is located. At this confluence point the height of the riverbed has dropped to 1 345 m, resulting in an average gradient of 0,60 m/km from Mayaputi bridge to this point.
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