(from German Insel, “island,” and Berg, “mountain”), isolated hill that stands above well-developed plains and appears not unlike an island rising from the sea. The early German explorers of southern Africa were impressed by such features, and they dubbed the domed or castlelike highlands inselbergs. Spectacular examples include Ayers Rock and the Olga Rocks in central Australia.
Three-phase block diagram of pedimentation of an upland in a desert. The process of “scarp” retreat and planation is accomplished by sheet wash on non-vegetated surfaces, but it cannot begin until a local base level of erosion–deposition is established. Streams dissecting the upland cannot cut below the level created where deposition of alluvium begins as runoff dissipates. The long-term locus of that deposition established the datum for lateral stream-bank and valley-wall recession at higher elevations.
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