Earth Science 7-Africa2

Earth Science 7-Global Regions Index

Countries

Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of The Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire), Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe,

Latitude/Longitude

Latitude: 37°N - 37°S Longitude: 18°W - 53ºE

Elevation Range

Highest Point: Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania 5,895.1368 meters

Lowest Point: Lake Assal, Djibouti 156.0576 meters below sea level

Bodies of Water

Lakes: Chad, Nasser, Tanganyika, Victoria

Rivers: Blue Nile, Congo, Limpopo, Niger, Nile, Orange, Senegal, Volta, White Nile

Seas: Arabian, Mediterranean, Red, Baltic, Black

Topographic Features

Atlas Mountains, Nambi Desert, Great Rift Valley, Congo River Basin, Kalahari Desert, Ethiopian Highlands, Nubian Desert, Libyan Desert, Ahaggar Mountains, Sahara Desert, Qattara Depression, Jabel Toubkal, Ras Dejen, Emi Koussi, Adamwa Mountains, Cameroon Mountain, Bie Plateau, Namib Desert, Thabana Ntleyana, Margherita Peak, Mount Kenya, Bemaraha Plateau, Jos Plateau

Bordering Oceans

Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean

Mediterranean Sea

Currents

Eastern side of Africa has cold currents, while western side has warm currents

Ice Cover

very rarely does ice occur

Tides

Very low tides, and not a lot of waves.

Salinity

Atlantic ocean- High salinity but lower towards equator. (34-37 ppt)

Indian Ocean- A little above average salintity (32-37 ppt)

Mediterranean- High salinity because of high evaporation.

Black Sea & Baltic Sea- Low salinity because large rivers flow into them.

Arabian Sea- High salinity because of high evaporation.

Wave Action

Coastal erosion is a problem for several countries in the western Indian Ocean, including Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. Tsunamis are not frequent, but they do occur

Climate Zones(Top to Bottom)

-Hot, dry summer, warm temperate- Northern coast line(fairly small)

-Hot arid steppe- The Sahara desert (very large)

-Cold arid steppe- The Sahel desert (thin strip under Sahara)

-Equatorial winter dry-

-Equatorial monsoonal-Surrounding Equator- Rainforest

-Equatorial fully humid- On the equator- Rainforest

-Equatorial monsoonal- Surrounding Equator- Rainforest

-Equatorial winter dry-

-Warm temperate, winter dry, warm summer-

-Hot arid steppe- Kalahari desert

-Hot arid desert- Kalahari desert

-Cold arid desert- Kalahari desert

-Warm temperate, warm summer, fully humid- Southern tip of Africa

Climate Controls

[1] [2] [3] [4]

-The equator and the Prime Meridian pass through it causing hot temperatures

-The elevation reaches up to 1400 meters which is cooler than sea level

-Has many deserts which cause extreme climate changes daily and receive very little rain

-On the west coast, ocean currents are cooler, while on east coast, ocean currents are warmer

-Almost all of Africa has mild wind currents which make it hotter

-Mostly desert and jungle which means there are pretty extreme climate changes

Minerals

Coal- mostly in the southern half

Petroleum- Northern part and western coast

Iron ore- mainly southern tip; a few at the northern side

Manganese- Very few around coastal areas

Copper- Southern area

Tin- Above Bight of Benin

Uranium- Eastern side

Chromite- Eastern area

Cobalt- southern area

Phosphate rock- Northeastern edge of Africa

Diamonds- Mid-Southern area

Gold- Western areas

Most of the minerals in Africa are either on the Southern tip in the livestock area or along the all of the coasts in Africa

There is lots of phosphate rock near the Atlas Mountains

Tectonic Plates

On the African Plate- Divergent Boundary everywhere but the North and Northeastern sides, which are Convergent

-Volcanoes-

-Two chains of continental volcanoes- one on the Mideastern side, one on the middle of the west side

-mostly Cylinder Cone Volcanoes- Rhyolitic Magma

-Nyiragongo Volcano- currently erupting- Pyroclastic Volcano

-Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano- currently erupting- Stratovolcano and Pyroclastic Volcano

-Erta Ale Volcano- Currently erupting- Shield Volcano

-Nabro Volcano- Caldera- erupted in 2011

-Earthquakes-

-almost all of the earthquakes occurred along the African Plate Boundary

recent earthquakes:

-4.6 in Kenya-10 km deep-occurred Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

-biggest earthquake in the last 20 years was a 7.4 along the African boundary line that was 14 miles deep (1990)

Geological Map

Sources

-Countries in Africa

- Elevation Range

http://www.koolasun.co.za/weather/sa-sea-conditions.html -Tides

Student Atlas of the World- Topographic Features

Google Earth: Water Bodies & Latitude/Longitude

- Climate Zones

- Salinity

- Tectonic Plates

http://www.saeonmarine.co.za/SADCOFunStuff/TidesOfSA.htm -tides

Google Earth