Difference between revisions of "Earth Science 7-Africa3"

Revision as of 10:46, 6 November 2011

Earth Science 7-Global Regions Index

Countries of Africa

^[1]

• Algeria
• Angola
• Benin
• Botswana
• Burkina
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Cape Verde
• Central African Republic
• Chad
• Comoros
• Congo
• Congo, Democratic Republic of
• Djibouti
• Egypt
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Ethiopia
• Gabon
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Ivory Coast
• 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
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Swaziland
• Tanzania
• Togo
• Tunisia
• Uganda
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe^[2]

Elevation

Highest point: Kilimanjaro is located in northeastern Tanzania (elevation 19,340 feet [5,895 m]), it is the highest mountain in Africa. Lowest Point: Lake Assal(155m below sea level)

Latitude and Longitude

The top coast is at about 37 deg 20'42.24"N

The west coast is at about 17 deg 31'54.35"W

The east coast is at about 51 deg 07'26.03"E

The south coast is at bout 34 deg 49'54.01"S

Large Bodies of Water

Rivers:

The Nile River is 6695 kilometers (4184 miles) long. Nile River is the longest river in the world. The Congo River (also known as the Zaire) is over 2,720 miles (4,375 km) long. The Congo is the fifth longest river in the world. The Niger is one of the great rivers of Africa. It stretches over 2,500 miles in a long arc running from Guinea to Mali. ^[3] The Zambezi flows into the Indian Ocean, an amazing 2 700 km. Victoria Falls is on the Zambezi river, between Zambia and Zimbabwe

Lakes:

Lake Victoria the main reservoir of the Nile River and is also the largest lake in Africa. Lake Victoria is the second largest lake in the world after Lake Superior. Lake Tanganyika is the longest lake in the world, boasting a length of 420 miles, and is the second deepest in the world, reaching a depth of 4,710 feet. It is the second largest lake in Africa, after Lake Victoria, covering about 12,700 square miles. Lake Malawi, known locally as Lake Nyasa, is the ninth largest lake in the world and lies between the countries of Malawi on the west and Tanzania and Mozambique on the east. It is 360 miles long and 25 miles wide, with an approximate area of 8,683 sq mi, and reaches depths of 2,300 feet. The lake has a visibility of up to 70 feet.

Major Topographic Features

• Its Olduvai Gorge region is known as the "cradle of humanity," the site of the earliest known human habitation.
• The arid Sahara is Earth's second largest desert after Antarctica.

• Mt. Kilimanjaro, despite its proximity to the equator, is tall enough to sport glaciers, though they are rapidly melting due to climate change (scientists hope to combine the new elevation data with other satellite imagery of the area to better monitor and understand the environmental changes taking place there).
• The Great Rift Valley is one of the world's longest earthquake faults.
• Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake in the world behind the U.S. Lake Superior.
• The Congo Basin is home to the second largest concentration of rainforests on Earth behind South America's Amazon.
• The Serengeti, which teem with some of Earth's most exotic wildlife, including plenty of elephants.

• Drakensberg, the main mountain range of Southern Africa. The Drakensberg rises to more than 11,400 feet (3,475 metres) and extends roughly northeast to southwest for 700 miles (1,125 km) parallel to the southeastern coast of South Africa.
• The Atlas Mountains extend approximately 1,500 miles (2,400 km). The highest range in the chain is to be found in southern Morocco and is called the High or Grand Atlas.

Bordering Oceans and Seas

• The Mediterranean Sea is the border along the north side of Africa.
• The Red Sea borders the north east side of Africa
• The Indian Ocean forms a border for the east side of Africa
• The Atlantic Ocean is at the western edge of Africa

Climate Zones

Using the Koppen classification system Africa has many climates. The most significant climate is the Sahara, which covers the northern third of the continent Africa. Its classification is BWh which means arid, desert, and hot arid. The middle third of africa has an Equatorial climate. Right on the equator is Af which means equatorial and fully humid. Bordering the Af area is the Am which means monsoonal. The lower third of Africa has a warm temperate climate in the north of the bottom third, an arid climate with some desert, the eastern edge of the southernmost part of africa has warm temperate, hot summer, and is fully humid.

Bibliography

• ^[2]
• ^[4]
• ^[3]
• http://library.thinkquest.org/16645/the_land/congo_river.shtml
• http://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/river-nile-facts.html
• http://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/zambezi-river.html
• http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/lakes_east_africa.php
• http://goafrica.about.com/od/africatraveltips/ig/Maps-of-Africa/Topographical-Map-of-Africa.htm
• Google Earth
• http://library.thinkquest.org/16645/the_land/atlas_mountains.shtml
• http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/170953/Drakensberg
• http://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/present.htm

1. ↑ [1].
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} http://www.worldatlas.com/cntycont.htm
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/ontheline/explore/journey/mali/niger.htm
4. ↑ http://goafrica.about.com/b/2008/11/10/lake-assal-and-the-salt-caravans.htm