Erosion Landform ( 25. Tepui )

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Autama tepui

• A tepui is a table top mountain /mesa.

• Found in the Guiana Highlands,South America

                                 Venezuela

• Tepui means "house of the gods".

• Found as isolated entities.

• Unique array of endemic plant & animal species live there.

• Most outstanding tepuis are;

                                                       Neblina

                                                       Autana

                                                       Auyantepui

                                                       Mount Roraima

• They are composed of sheer blocks of Precambrian quartz arenite sandstone.

• That rise from the jungle.

• It gives spectacular natural scenery. 

• Auyantepui is the source of Angel Falls, the world's tallest waterfall.

Kukenan tepui

• These are the remains large sandstone plateau.

• That covered the granite basement.

• Range in elevation from 1,000 - 3,000 m.

• The Gran Sabana is the highest tepuis.

• On top of the mountains grow;

                                                 various types of forests.

                                                 wide variety of orchid

                                                 bromeliad

                                                 carnivorous plant

tepui mountins venzuela

• Tepuis exhibit surface features & subsurface caves.

• Karst topography formed in more water-soluble rocks.

• Caves include the Abismo Guy Collet. (671m deep ) 

• The deepest quartzite cave in the world.

• The mesas are pocked with giant sinkholes up to 300 m.

• These sinkholes are formed the roofs of tunnels carved by underground rivers collapse.

Sinkhole

• The tepuis known as  islands above the rainforest.

• A few of mountains are cloaked by thick clouds almost the whole year.

• Notable  tepuis

• Auyantepui

                            The largest 

                            Surface area of 700 km².

                           Angel Falls drops from a cleft in the summit.

• Mount Roraima

                            The borders of Venezuela, Brazil,  Guyana meet on the top.

• Matawi Tepui

                              Known as Kukenán.
                              It is the source of the Kukenán River.

                              Considered the "place of the dead".

                               Located next to Mount Roraima in Venezuela.

• Autana Tepui 

                             1,300 m above the forest floor. 

                            A unique cave runs from one side of the mountain to the other.

• Ptari Tepui's 

                         Sheer rock walls are so isolated.

                         High number of endemic plant & animal species found there.

• Sarisariñama Tepui

                          Famous for circular sinkholes.

                          Which go straight down from the mountain top.

                          The largest sinkhole is 350 m in diameter.

                          They harbor an ecosystem composed.

                           Unique plant & animal species lives at the bottom .

• Endemic fauna & flora represent of ancient species was an inspiration to the novel The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle.

• Much of the story of Pixar--Disney 2009 film Up takes place among the tepuis. 

• The film includes numerous rock formations & an Angel Falls-like waterfall called "Paradise Falls".

venezuela tepui

The steep rock wall of Mount Roraima.