Geomorphology

Kloofs, ravines, koppies and gullies. Bruce Shaw

I don’t know how to put all of this together, but I’m sure it would be of interest to many.

As I started trying to define a few terms often used in hunting articles, as usual, the deeper I researched the more interesting and complicated it became. This following table is my attempt at clarifying and at the same time simplifying some of them. A few are a bit tongue in cheek. If Bruce Truter gets hold of the UK definitions we could have a funny story which nobody understands. Any professors or laymen out there are more than welcome to email me (bikandall@gmail.com) with (simple) additions and corrections. Pictures could have clarified some descriptions, but I would have ended up with a book. When many years ago, my brother went from stock-broking back to university to study a Bsc Geology (simply for fun), I thought he was crazy. Now I understand.

Geology	The study of the earth as a whole, its origin, structure, composition and history (including the development of life), and the nature of the processes which have given rise to its present state.
Geomorphology	The description and interpretation of land forms.

bluff	steep cliff or headland normally with an almost perpendicular front.
butte	flat topped hill from hard rock overlaying weaker layers (see mesa) When the diameter of the top is about equal to, or less than the height it is referred to as a butte.
buttress	projecting portion of a hill or mountain.
canyon	spectacularly massive gorge, created by the erosive action of a powerful river.
contour	a line drawn on a map joining places of equal height above sea level – paths frequently follow these imaginary lines.
course	path followed by a river.
cuesta	a ridge with a gentle dip on one side and a relatively steep scarp (escarpment) slope on the other.
defile	a term loosely used, applied to a gorge, ravine or narrow pass.
dome	rounded summit of a hill/mountain feature.
donga	a dry watercourse or ravine caused by erosion.
drift	an important ford on a river.
escarpment	a long steep slope at the edge of a plateau.
ford	that part of a river or body of water which may be crossed by wading.
gorge	narrow opening between hills or a rocky ravine, often with a stream running through.
gully	a long narrow channel worn out by the action of water particularly on a hillside, smaller than a ravine. also a channel produced by the erosion of soil by sudden heavy flows.

hill	a naturally raised area of land; in general a hill is not considered a mountain unless the elevation from foot to summit is well over one thousand feet, but the distinction is arbitrary.
hogsback	a cuesta where the dip slope and the scarp slope are both approximately 45º.
inselberg	a large, isolated peak on an eroded plain or pediment (in German, “island mountain”).
kloof	a steep sided ravine but widely used in SA to mean any gorge, ravine, valley, sloot, gully; almost any ground feature that goes down.
kop	a prominent hill or peak.
koppie	an older butte - I think that koppie has simply been “bastardised” from the Dutch kopje. It is not a small “kop”. Like its antonym, kloof, this word has come to mean almost anything that sticks out of the ground.
kopje	as above - the remnants of a butte (a tor ?).
levee	natural bank of a river formed during flooding by deposition of silt.
marsh	a tract of soft wet land, usually low-lying.
mesa	flat table like mass from hard rock overlaying weaker layers (mesa is Spanish for table). In time a mesa becomes a butte (then kopje). When the diameter of the top is about equal to, or less than the height it is referred to as a butte.
monadnock	Isolated hills which stand above the general level of the peneplain (surrounding area). ie: the erosion remnants of the original surface. They would include buttes mesas and inselbergs and of course koppies.
mountain	a large natural elevation of the earth surface rising rapidly, arbitrarily over 1000 feet from bottom to top.
outcrop	portion of rock projecting above the surface so exposed to view.
pass	a low and passable gap through a mountain barrier - the easiest way across a range of mountains (bms).
peak	the pointed top of a mountain.
peneplain	the end product of the cycle of erosion in humid climates.
plain	an extensive area of level or gently undulating land. On many of the plains in temperate zones the natural vegetation is grass and so become known as grasslands. (prairie, pampas, steppe, veld); in short a level tract of especially treeless country (shorter grass).
plateau	an area of fairly high level ground; a state of little variation after an increase.
poort	a river-carved cutting through a mountain range.
ridge	a long narrow hilltop, mountain range or watershed.
rand	a low ridge of hills often covered with scrub (South Africa)
ravine	a long deep narrow depression rather smaller than a valley but larger than a gully. Several gullies often lead to a ravine and several ravines to a valley.
saddle	a ridge rising to a summit at each end.
savanna	a tropical grassy plain with few or no trees (longer grass).
sloot	deep gully formed by heavy rain.
spur	a projection from a mountain or mountain range.
steppe	short grassed plain in temperate latitudes (between 30 and 60).
summit	the highest point of a mountain.
terraces	usually representing former levels of a stream/river.
valley	a low area more or less enclosed by hills, usually with a stream flowing through it. any internal angle formed by two or more opposing hills.
veld	generically has come to mean any open unpopulated? land out of town - but see high veld, bush veld.
high veld	rolling treeless grasslands at 5000 to 6000 ft typical of the open Transvaal - SA generic version of pampas , prairies and steppes.
bush veld	is typically between 1000 and 3000 feet and is generally covered with scrub – in South Africa it has become any scarcely populated land out of town, with bush (bms)
thorn veld	veld dominated by Acacia
sourveld	that veld where grasses have little nutritive value in winter

United Kingdom

brae	hill or bank overlooking a valley – scots.
burn	a brook or small stream – scots.
coppice	area of undergrowth and small trees grown for periodic cutting.
copse	a small wood – or as above.
croft	a small farm holding, typically 5 acres – scots.
dale	wide open valley.
dell	a small wooded valley.
dingle	a small narrow, well-wooded valley.
down	open, treeless, hilly land esp southern England.
fell	a bare, uncultivated hill or mountain.
fen	a tract of low lying marshy ground esp eastern England.
glade	an open space or passage in a wood or forest, either natural or from the felling of trees.
glen	a long narrow valley with steep sides usually with a stream or river at the bottom. It is narrower and more steep sided than a strath.
grove	a small shady wood, a cluster of trees set in a small open space.
hogsback	a steep-sided ridge of hills.
inver	confluence (flowing together)
knoll	a small rounded hill.
sgúr	sharp hill
spinny	a small wood with undergrowth.
strath	a broad river valley – scots.
thicket	a small wood or group of closely set trees esp one with dense undergrowth.
tor	a term used in south-west England for residual masses of rock, usually capping hills. A tor commonly appears as a pile of rock slabs or a series of rock slabs standing on end. ie exposed rock mass or boulders, always isolated in the landscape. They are distinctive, standing abruptly upright – typically granite.
wold	a ridge with a gentle dip on one side and a relatively steep scarp (escarpment) slope on the other (cuesta) – the cotswolds is an example.


	Just for interest
clay	a rock fragment <1/256mm
silt	a rock fragment from between 1/256 – 1/16mm
sand	a rock fragment from between 1/16 – 2mm
gravel	a rock fragment from between 2 - 4mm
pebble	a rock fragment from between 4 - 64mm
cobble	a rock fragment from between 64 - 256mm
boulder	a rock fragment greater than 256mm