Granitic Outcrops

During the Sipaliwini Expedition our attention was often caught by granitic outcrops like boulders, plates and large ‘sugar loafs’ like the Kantani. We collected number of specific plant species and tried to classify the vegetation, which is so different from the surrounding ‘grassy’ savanna. Results are presented in this section.

1. Desert and Rock Pavement vegetation - An Introduction (pdf, 304 kB)

2. The Desert and Rock pavement Vegetation on the Inselberg Slopes of the 4-Gebroeders Mountains, the Great Granite Plate and the isolated Boulders within the Sipaliwini Savanna Area (pdf, 580 kB)
This chapter contains a description and proposed classification of the various vegetation types and an enumeration of plant species

3. The Discovery of the Great Granite Plate (pdf, 1,1 MB)
Found by Jan van Donselaar en John Tawjoeram in 1966, the Great Granite Plate shows a good variety of plant species typical for the granitic outcrops on the Sipaliwini Savanna.

4. Three Reconnaissance Flights over the Interior of Suriname with the KLM aeroplane ‘The Snipe’ in 1939 (pdf, 456 kB)
and A brief Survey of the Vegetation on Inselbergs in the Tumuc Humac mountain region of South West French Guyana.
Here we touch on granitic outcrops beyond the borders of the Sipaliwini Area to put our findings in a wider perspective.

5. Verweringskommen in graniet, Sipaliwini-savanne, Zuid-Suriname (pdf, 3,7 MB, in Dutch with an English INTRODUCTION cum ABSTRACT) by H. Th. Riezebos, first published in ‘BERICHTEN,  Fysisch Geografische Afdeling, NO.8, Geologisch Instituut, R.U., Utrecht (1974). A research paper by Hans Riezebos, who studied the weathering pits of the Great Granite Plate on the Sipaliwini Savanna in 1972. The author was also part of the 1968/69 expedition to this area.

Reinoud and Leo on the rocks