Presented By: Miss N Naidoo Pitlochry Primary School Educator What you will learn during this lesson:

-Identifying and differentiating between physical features. -Learning new phrases with regards to the earths form. INTRODUCTION: South Africa is on the southern end of the African continent. It has high, low, flat and hilly places. Rivers flow from the top of mountains and other high areas, across the land and down to the sea. South Africa has a long coastline that meets with both the Atlantic ocean and the Indian ocean. As we learnt in term one not all provinces have a coastline therefore they are referred to as being landlocked but, all provinces and countries in the world have physical features Activity for learners

You are to read through the following and answer all questions that follow on an exam pad page.

Physical features Things in the natural environment, such as rivers and mountains. Plateau High, flat inland parts of a country. Where the land and sea meet Coastal plain Low-lying land that is near to the sea Escarpment A steep slope between a plateau and a lower area, A dent or curve in the coastline.

Cape A piece of high land that goes into the sea(the opposite of a bay).

Mountain range A group or line of mountains

Mountain peak The highest point at the top of a mountain

Hill A higher area that is not as large as a mountain

Valley Low area between hills or mountains

Channels Long narrow areas where water falls.

Landmarks Things that stand out on the land

High places and low places on a physical map in South Africa

Land, on a map, is shown in a different colour to the sea. The sea is always shown in the colour blue. On a physical map, different heights of land above sea level are also shown in different colours. The information about the height is given in the map key. When we talk about high and low places we mean how high a place is above sea level. Land is measured in meters above sea level, with sea level at 0 meters. High land is often further away from the sea. The highest part of South Africa is in the uKhahlamba – Drakensberg Mountains. This area is over 3300 meters above sea level. Table Mountain in Town is 1087 meters above sea level.

Plains, escarpment and plateaus Below is a diagram that will help you identify coastal plains, escarpment and plateaus.

You start at the Atlantic coast where the ocean meets the land is 0 metres high. From the coast you travel along low-lying, gently sloping area of land that is between the sea on one side and a mountain on the other this is called Coastal plain. Coastal plains are found in KwaZulu–Natal, the Western Cape and Eastern Cape and rises from 0 metres to 200 metres.

Suddenly you climb a steep slope to a flat top which is an escarpment is a steep mountain that is found between low-lying land and high lying land. The steep slope leading up to the flat area is called the escarpment. The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Mountains form part of the escarpment in South Africa. The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Mountains are between the low lying coastal plain of KwaZulu – Natal and the plateaus of the Free State, Mpumalanga and Gauteng.

An escarpment is a steep slope. A plateau is a large, flat area.

A coastal plain is a flat, low-lying piece of land next to the ocean. Activity 1

1.Make a copy of the map of the map below. 1.1. Label the coastal plain, escarpment and plateau. 1.2. Mark an  in the area that you live. 1.3. shade or colour your map.

2. Copy and complete these sentences. 2.1. The highest area is... 2.2. The lowest area is...

3. Write the definitions of the words coastal plain, escarpment and plateau.

Physical Features

What are physical features? Physical features are natural features we see in our surroundings, such as hills and rivers. In South Africa we have many famous landmarks that are physical features, such as Table Mountain in Cape Town.

Mountains, hills and mountain ranges Features of high places include mountains and hills. Mountain is land that is much higher than the surrounding area. The highest mountain in Africa is in Lesotho. It is called Tabana Ntlenyana and is 3482m high. Tabana Ntleyana is part of the South African escarpment in the uKhahlamba – Drakensburg mountain range. A number of mountains in a line are called a mountain range. Hills are not as high above sea level as mountains are and they have gentle slopes. Sometimes there is a long line of mountains which is called a mountain range. Below is a photograph of the Cape Fold Mountain which forms a range of mountains.

Physical features along the coast Sometimes the coastline is smooth and straight and other times it could be curved and pointed. The pointed parts are called capes and the curved parts are called bays. Capes and bays are found along coastlines. Capes are pieces of land that stick out into the sea. Bays are found between capes and are u-shaped. The bays are areas where the land is soft and the sea can erode the land away more easily. Capes on the other hand take long to erode because they have hard rock.

A cape A bay Other Physical Features Rivers Rivers are channels of water that flow downhill. Most rivers start in high places such as mountain ranges and flow into the sea.

Waterfalls When water flows very over a steep drop in the riverbed, it is called a waterfall. The water falls quickly over the steep slope. Waterfalls are usually found in rivers because the river bottom is not always flat. When there is a steep drop in the river bottom then the water will cascade down very rapidly.

Activity 2

Research physical features in South Africa. You will realise some have become landmarks for our country and even the world. Compile a 50 word paragraph on one landmark that you have found to be interesting. Give a description on it, it’s location and any important information. https://www.pitlochryps.co.za/