ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Ancient and Breathtaking Geographical Features,Tepui; The Sandstone Plateaus of Venezuela

Updated on November 16, 2015

A world from a time past

They are called Tepui, meaning mountain in the language of the natives.

What they actually are, the theory goes, are the remnants of an ancient sandstone plateau that has eroded over milleneum into numerous individual table top mountain "islands" high above the surrounding savanna and rainforest which make up the surrounding lowlands. They are an interesting geographical feature towering over the surrounding area like towers on a flat plain.

Part of their beauty is derived from the cascading falls that take your breath away as they plunge from the lofty heights to the plains way below them. The famous Angel Falls is situated on one such Tepui in Venezuela.

In modern times, these mountain plateaus reside in the clouds. Literally, they are above the clouds. The climate is created by their own weather systems. The Tepuis are a sanctuary to isolated vegetation that hasn't been tampered with by man, so they are also a haven for discovery of species of plant and animals not cross-bred with species from the surrounding areas except as some studies indicate only during long prolonged climactic changes when glaciers were present. The Tepuis offer a unique window on natural evolution..

Strange rock formations with archways and megaliths hover in the fog creating an eerie landscape. Odd looking plants and wildflowers find footholds in inhosptiable locations. Travelling on foot is treacherous, but hiking is the only way to explore these remote regions. Indeed this is a landscape that time forgot! Arthur Conan Doyle based his story "Lost World" on the Venezuelan Tepui. So there is a romance to this harsh but beautiful landscape!

Source

Time Capsule?

What once was a flat plain has broken apart into these separate tepui over millennium. The surface of the mountain tops are so ancient, they are dated as being around when Africa was still joined to South America as the ancient continent that is called Gondwana!

That would make the surface of the top of the Tepui an original surface dating back from that time! Just imagine the implications. Plant species might have been isolated since before man first walked the earth! Plant and animal life there can be unique. The plateaus now are approximately1,500 to 3,000m. above the surrounding landscape. One cannot imagine the time it took to erode the area surrounding them! Man's exsistence to these ancient plains is just a millisecond in those eons.

They are some of the oldest real estate on this earth and very interesting from the point of biodiversity. Man has been unable to introduce plants from other areas so the tepuis are reservoirs of biodiversity untouched for centuries and possibly containing plants not seen anywhere else on earth. There is also the possibility plants that have long gone extinct still reside on those "flat mountains as living fossils! The tops of each mountain is essentially an ecosystem all on it's own.

Mount Roraima

Mount Roraima is located at the juncture of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. It is revered by the indigenous people as the "mother of waters" . The famous Angel Falls cascades down it's walls.

The National Geographic magazine that gave me the inspiration for this article recounts how these formations have been in the present day state for three to four million years. What was part of the original sandstone deposits forming the plains has long since washed out to sea. Considering Mount Roraima is 9,094 feet above sea level that is quite some force of nature!

REFERENCE:

Vol. 175, no.5 May 1989, The National Geographic magazine

Venezuela's Beautiful Tepui

Other References and Further Reading:

Following is a scientific study of the vegetation of Tepuis. It offers theories as to how the vegetation evolved comparing the mountain tops to oceanic islands. It also lists native plants that grow only on one or two tepuis and nowhere else.

http://www.mapress.com/phytotaxa/content/2010/f/pt00009p265.pdf

Check this out, pages 6 to 8 from the Royal Society biological sciences discusses extensive studies done on the tepuis.

http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/351/1341/823.full.pdf+html

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)