"The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya (Tokaleya Tonga: the Smoke that Thunders; the 'i' is silent) is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
"Victoria Falls is the most recent manifestation of at least seven older, extinct falls that were of comparable magnitude to the present-day Falls.
To understand the formation of the Falls, one has to look at the underlying geology and the ancient tectonic processes that shaped ancestral Africa. The main bedrock in the Victoria Falls area is basalt, a dark volcanic rock formed around 180 million years ago as a consequence of intense volcanic activity in what was then the ancient super-continent of Gondwanaland.
The basalt was laid down during a million-year period of gentle volcanic eruptions with each successive layer of lava covering the solidified layer before it. The basalt in the Falls area is up to 300m thick and forms a geological “island” in the surrounding sandveld.
The basalt stretches some 200km from Kazangulu on the Botswana border to the Matetsi River confluence in the Batoka Gorge.
As the lava cooled down, several cracks, known as joints, emerged within the basalt, forming mostly in an east-west direction. These giant cracks deepened as Gondwanaland broke up from about 110 million years ago, and were gradually filled by soft clay-like sediments, which stood in stark contrast to the surrounding basalt. The tectonic movements associated with the break-up of Gondwanaland created an uplift in what is now central Southern Africa, dramatically altering the old river systems and creating new ones where none had existed before.
The reason for this is to be found in the dynamics of the water flow.
The extreme east or western edges of the curtain falls appear to be typically the weak points of the system. The flow of the water will either gently erode the relatively soft infillings of the faults, or – more catastrophically – knock a boulder loose, creating a deeper channel.
As the strength of the river is concentrated on this “nick” or weak point, the erosion intensifies, channelling more and more water away from the furthest point in the curtain where, at some stage, the water stops flowing altogether. The new gorge cuts its way back until the river encounters another east-west trending joint with its soft infill, and the whole process starts over again.
The March Of Time
200 million years ago (mya)
– desert like conditions in Victoria Falls area – no river at this point; dinosaurs roam the area
180 mya
– volcanic eruptions lay down the basalt in the Victoria Falls area
150 mya
– tropical vegetation replaces deserts
110 mya
– break-up of Gondwanaland leads to giant cracks in the basalt, which will eventually become a sequence of waterfalls when river capture takes place
15 mya
– gigantic uplift of central Zimbabwe leads to formation of giant lake at Makgadikgadi Pans – upper Zambezi at this point is part of Limpopo River system
5 mya
– tectonic movements lead to big spill of Makgadikgadi lake causing the upper and lower Zambezi rivers to be linked – formation of first Victoria Falls waterfall around this time
1,5 mya
– evidence of Stone Age humans in Victoria Falls area
250 000 years ago – 100 000 years ago
– probable age of existing fall at Victoria Falls.
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I visited the falls in 1993, and twice in 1995. As a student I stayed in Zambia, so it was easy for me to cross the border and see the falls from both Zambia and Zimbabwe. I still consider it as one of the most beautifull places on earth. At night at the camp site the soothing sound of the falls were very relaxing, and at day time, the never ending spray.....
I hope you will enjoy Vic Falls, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.