Some Pleistocene periglacial problems in southern Africa

Amplification is made to some of Butzer's comments on various Pleistocene 'periglacial' phenomena in southern Africa. In particular, the 'nivation' cirques occurring above 2,000 m in the Drakensberg-Lesotho upland are now thought to have been formed by a combination of frost-shattering and solifluction wasting. Because of a gradational sequence from purely frost-shattered forms in central Lesotho to pronounced cirques in the Drankensberg, a lateral palaeoclimatic variation is suggested with a somewhat higher precipitation in the latter area. This contention is supported by palaeosol evidence.