Sub Regions of Africa

The Nile, Great Rift Valley, Lake Assal, Mt Kilimanjaro, and the

Interclostine Region, Victoria Falls

CLIMATES OF AFRICA

Nile River

►Home to the first African “Civilizations” (c.a. 4000 B.C.E)

►Made up of Blue Nile (east) and White Nile (west), in the Sudan they converge into one

►Starts in Lake Victoria (white) Lake Tana (blue) end in Mediterranean Sea

►Aswan High Dam

Nile River

The Great Rift Valley

►Formed by two plates splitting (divergent tectonics)

►Nubian and Somalian Subplates

►Is responsible for the major lakes in Africa as well as mountains and volcanoes in eastern Africa

►Origin of Man

The Great Rift Valley

Lake Assal

►Saltiest (Saline) lake on earth outside Antarctica (34%)

►Can not support Life

►Lowest Point in Africa (-515 feet below sea level)

Lake Assal

Mount Kilimanjaro

► 19,341 feet tall (4th largest in World)

►Tallest free standing mountain in the world

► Is actually a Stratovolcanoe (no eruptions recorded)

►Almost every climate type exists on or near the mountain (desert surrounding, snow covered peak)

►Climbing destination

Mount Kilimanjaro

Lakes of Africa

►Areas along the rift that have filled in with water

►Also part of water system that reaches from Mediterranean sea to Mozambique

►Core samples have shown that lakes have dried up 3 times

►True Source? (Lake Itasca)

Lakes of Africa

Victoria Falls

►Located on Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe

►Largest Waterfall by Area (Height x Width)

►Seasonal (lots of water in wet season, much less during dry) (max 452,000 cu ft per second vs 10,000 cu ft per second)

Victoria Falls

Kalahari Desert

Sahara Desert

Sahara

►Largest Hot Desert in the world (2nd overall)

►Averages 3in of rain a Year (Chicago’s avg is 33in a year)

►Hottest temp ever recorded on earth 136F El Azizia, Libya

The Congo

The Congo Rainforest/River

►2nd Largest River by Volume

►2nd Largest Rainforest

►Contains 70% of Africa’s Plant Cover

►600 tree species, 10,000 Animal Species

►1.5 million square miles