Balancing rocks | |
|---|---|
Topographic feature | |
 Balancing formation seen in Matobo National Park, known as the Mother and Child inselberg | |
| Location | Zimbabwe |
Balancing rocks are found in many parts of Zimbabwe. These geomorphological features are formed of igneous rocks. Particularly noteworthy balancing rocks are located in Matobo National Park and near the township of Epworth, to the southeast of Harare.
The Domboremari, also known as the Money Rock, [1] is a formation of three boulders that form part of the Chiremba Balancing Rocks on the northwestern outskirts of Epworth (at coordinates 17°53′08″S31°07′32″E / 17.8856°S 31.1256°E ). This rock formation is notable because it appears in all Zimbabwean banknotes issued since 1981, and is also the prominent feature of the logo of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. [2] [3] [4]
The economy of Zimbabwe is a gold standard based economy. Zimbabwe has a $44 billion dollar informal economy in PPP terms which translates to 64.1% of the total economy. Agriculture and mining largely contribute to exports. The economy is estimated to be at $73 billion at the end of 2023.
The Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) are the military forces responsible for the defence of Zimbabwe against external threats from other countries, and also to suppress internal armed factions. It is composed of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and the Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ).. Since December 2017 the ZDF is headed by General Philip Valerio Sibanda.
Feldspar is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the plagioclase (sodium-calcium) feldspars and the alkali (potassium-sodium) feldspars. Feldspars make up about 60% of the Earth's crust and 41% of the Earth's continental crust by weight.
In geology, rock is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's outer solid layer, the crust, and most of its interior, except for the liquid outer core and pockets of magma in the asthenosphere. The study of rocks involves multiple subdisciplines of geology, including petrology and mineralogy. It may be limited to rocks found on Earth, or it may include planetary geology that studies the rocks of other celestial objects.
The Vredefort impact structure is the largest verified impact structure on Earth. The crater, which has since been eroded away, has been estimated at 170–300 kilometres (110–190 mi) across when it was formed. The remaining structure, comprising the deformed underlying bedrock, is located in present-day Free State province of South Africa. It is named after the town of Vredefort, which is near its centre. The structure's central uplift is known as the Vredefort Dome. The impact structure was formed during the Paleoproterozoic Era, 2.023 billion years ago. It is the second-oldest known impact structure on Earth, after Yarrabubba.
The Matobo National Park forms the core of the Matobo or Matopos Hills, an area of granite kopjes and wooded valleys commencing some 35 kilometres (22 mi) south of Bulawayo, southern Zimbabwe. The hills were formed over 2 billion years ago with granite being forced to the surface; it has eroded to produce smooth "whaleback dwalas" and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with thickets of vegetation. Matopo/Matob was named by the Lozwi. A different tradition states that the first King, Mzilikazi Khumalo when told by the local residents that the great granite domes were called madombo he replied, possible half jest, "We will call them matobo" - an Isindebele play on 'Bald heads'.
Mabvuku is a suburb east of Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.
Verreaux's eagle is a large, mostly African, bird of prey. It is also called the black eagle, especially in southern Africa, not to be confused with the black eagle of south and southeast Asia. The Verreaux's eagle lives in hilly and mountainous regions of southern and eastern Africa, and very locally in the Middle East.
Stella Chiweshe was a Zimbabwean musician. She was known internationally for her singing and playing of the mbira dzavadzimu, a traditional instrument of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. She was one of few female players, and learned to play from 1966 to 1969, when other women did not.
The Pan-African orogeny was a series of major Neoproterozoic orogenic events which related to the formation of the supercontinents Gondwana and Pannotia about 600 million years ago. This orogeny is also known as the Pan-Gondwanan or Saldanian Orogeny. The Pan-African orogeny and the Grenville orogeny are the largest known systems of orogenies on Earth. The sum of the continental crust formed in the Pan-African orogeny and the Grenville orogeny makes the Neoproterozoic the period of Earth's history that has produced most continental crust.
The wildlife of Zimbabwe occurs foremost in remote or rugged terrain, in national parks and private wildlife ranches, in miombo woodlands and thorny acacia or kopje. The prominent wild fauna includes African buffalo, African bush elephant, black rhinoceros, southern giraffe, African leopard, lion, plains zebra, and several antelope species.
Epworth is a bedroom community in south-eastern Harare Province, Zimbabwe, located east of the city center of Harare. Its population exploded in the late 1970s and 1980s as the town saw a rise in Rural-to-urban migration, creating informal settlements.
Orbicular granite is an uncommon plutonic rock type which is usually granitic in composition. These rocks have a unique appearance due to orbicules - concentrically layered, spheroidal structures, probably formed through nucleation around a grain in a cooling magma chamber due to rapid physical changes. Almost one third of known orbicular rock occurrences are from Finland. The occurrences are usually very small.
The banknotes of Zimbabwe were physical forms of Zimbabwe's first four incarnations of the dollar, from 1980 to 2009. The banknotes of the first dollar replaced those of the Rhodesian dollar at par in 1981, one year after the proclamation of independence. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issued most of the banknotes and other types of currency notes in its history, including the bearer cheques and special agro-cheques that circulated between 15 September 2003 and 31 December 2008: the Standard Chartered Bank also issued their own emergency cheques from 2003 to 2004.
The Zimbabwean dollar was the name of four official currencies of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 12 April 2009. During this time, it was subject to periods of extreme inflation, followed by a period of hyperinflation.
A balancing rock, also called a balanced rock or precarious boulder, is a naturally occurring geological formation featuring a large rock or boulder, sometimes of substantial size, resting on other rocks, bedrock, or on glacial till. Some formations known by this name only appear to be balancing, but are in fact firmly connected to a base rock by a pedestal or stem.
A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most sides. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula.
Bambata Cave is one of the Southern Africa prehistoric sites situated in Motobo National Park along with Inanke, Nswatugi, Pomengwe and Silozwane caves in Zimbabwe.
Pomongwe Cave is a cave and rock art site in Zimbabwe, located inside the Matobo National Park, one kilometer east of Maleme Dam. The cave, formed by negative exfoliation, lays the end of a small valley facing northeast. It is 20m long and 20 wide. The name Pomongwe is derived from the Kalanga word for 'melon' referring to the dome shaped hill.
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