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Table Mountain Research Paper

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Introduction
Table Mountain is flat topped mountain overlooking the city of Cape Town, South Africa with the highest point reaching 1085 m and, according to an article found on the internet, is also one of the oldest mountains throughout the world. It is a major tourist attraction due to its breathtaking view of the city of Cape Town as well as Robben Island. It also gives tourists a chance to hike up the mountain and to enjoy fine dining at the top. It is home to over 1500 species of plants as well as many animal species and on the 11th of November, 2011 it was named one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.
In my research project I will be investigating how Table Mountain was formed and it’s economic impact on Cape Town? I will be looking …show more content…

It was formed eight hundred million years ago when the sandstone had begun to form underwater. Due to the magma that was rising in the Earth’s core the sandstone was given strength. The magma which is supposed to create a volcano when it reached the Earth’s surface stopped underground and instead formed granite there. During an ice age ice sheets began to flatten the sandstone which resulted in the flat topped mountain. As mentioned in the article, when the continents broke apart the granite, giving strength to the sandstone allowed it to slowly rise.
This source did provide a lot of information that was relevant regarding the physical features of Table Mountain and how it was formed. However, although it provided sufficient amount there was not much detail and neither was it very well explained. The source did not provide enough information to completely and thoroughly answer the research …show more content…

It brings in more revenue than any other natural wonder in South Africa and has aided in the change.
Table Mountain is a three kilometer high plateau which is made up of resistant sandstone (Sources 1, 2 and 4) (Figure 1.1); this sandstone is called the Table Mountain Sandstone (TMS). It is made over millions of years by river borne sediment compacting under its own weight, turning it to stone. (Source 2) This natural wonder is also made up of peninsula granite (this granite is a grained rock which consists of white or pink feldspar crystals, brown quartz and flakes of black mica containing inclusions of dark Malmesbury hornfel), laminated pink siltstone and dark maroon coloured shale. The peninsula is made up of hard, grey quartz sandstone which is found along the mountain cliffs. On the highest points of the mountain tillite can be found, this is lithified glacial outwash gravel. (Source

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