Mount Mulanje, Malawi

Credit: Image credit: NASA/USGS, Posted on: Monday, 13 September 2004, 06:00 CDT Download full size image

Mount Mulanje is a granite inselberg in southern Malawi, Africa. At 3,000 meters (9,824 feet) high, it is one of the largest inselbergs in the world as well as the tallest peak in south-central Africa. Inselbergs are isolated stands of hard igneous rock which have been left standing isolated on level plains, formed because their rock mass resisted erosion while the plains around them did not. The elevation of the mountain is high enough for it disturb upper level air flow and induce rain clouds to form around it, making it an important source of rain water at the head of almost every river that runs through this part of Malawi. The mountain itself is part of a protected area, which can be clearly discerned in these Landsat images. The park boundaries show a distinct, sharp transition from the lowland forests, which have been intensely used and cleared, to the protected mid-level and peak area forests, and grasslands on the tops of the plateau.

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