The Land - Fort Bend ISD
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Transcript The Land - Fort Bend ISD
Announcements
Physical Geography & Climate quiz: Monday,
January 11
Africa map quiz: Thursday, January 14
Open-map: physical features, climate
Closed-map: countries, maybe major cities??
Sub-Sahara
Africa: The Land
But first….PENGUINS!!!!
Highland Features
Plateaus (elevated land)
make up most of Africa
Rise in elevation from 500
feet in the west to 8,000 in
the east
Edges of plateaus are
escarpments, or steep (and
often jagged) slopes or
cliffs.
Most are located less than
20 miles from coast
Hard to travel inland from
coast (bad for exploration)
Katanga Plateau, D.R. Congo
Plateau
Escarpment
Highland Features
Rivers plunge
down
escarpments
making
cataracts
(towering
waterfalls)
Victoria Falls; b/w Zambia & Zimbabwe
Highland Features
Africa has highest overall elevation than any
other continent, but has relatively few
mountains
Most mountains included in Eastern
highlands
Ethiopian Highlands and volcanoes (Mt.
Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya)
Mt. Kilimanjaro
19,330 ft; in
Tanzania
Mt. Kenya
17,057 ft; in Kenya
Highland features
Ruwenzori Mts.
Divide Uganda & Dem. Rep. of the
Congo
Covered in snow and clouds; also
known as “Mountains of the Moon”.
Clouds from moist air from Indian Ocean
Drakensberg Range
South Africa, Lesotho
Forms part of the sharp escarpment
along the southern edge of Africa
Lots of national parks, wetlands
Ruwenzori Mts.; 16,761 ft.
Drakensberg Range; 11,420 ft.
Great Rift Valley
Rift Valley: a large
crack in the earth’s
surface formed by
shifting tectonic plates
Stretches from Syria to
Mozambique
Formed by tectonic
plates millions of yrs.
ago---what kind?!
Volcanoes &
earthquakes
continue to shape
region TODAY
Red Sea
Great Rift Valley
Forms two branches
Eastern branch = volcanic
mountains
Mount Kilimanjaro
Western branch= lakes
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Malawi (mountain
rimmed, more than 2,300 feet
deep)
Lake Victoria
Lake Malawi
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Victoria
The
African
Great
Lakes
Water Systems
Lakes & rivers drain the region; come from basins
formed millions of yrs. ago as land uplifted
Travel from plateaus in center of continent to the sea
Hit escarpments , which break rivers’ paths with
waterfalls, rapids & cataracts
near impossible to navigate inland/ up river (or from
the mouth of the river to a source)
Water Systems
Lake Victoria
Largest lake in Africa, between E& W branches of Great Rift
Valley
Review: 2nd largest freshwater lake in the world (after Lake
Superior) & while shallow, is the source of White Nile River.
Lake Chad:
West-central Africa, outside Great Rift Valley
20 mil. People in 4 countries depend on it
Faces desertification (droughts + natural climate)
1960s = 26,000 km²; 2000= 1,500 km²
Water Systems
Lake Volta:
Man-made (one of the largest in world)
Created in 1960s
Flooded 700 villages & displaced 70,000
to create
Used for irrigation, fishing,
hydroelectric power (Akosombo Dam)
for major aluminum plant and ppl of
Ghana
Akosombo Dam (creates Lake Volta)
Water Systems
Niger River:
“great river” main artery in W. Africa
2,600 miles long (3rd in Africa)
Forms arc across 5 countries
Vital for irrigation & transportation
Splits into Niger Delta in Nigeria (150 miles N-S, 200
miles wide)
Delta: a triangular section of land formed by sand &
silt carried downriver
Water Systems
Zambezi River:
Many waterfalls (Victoria Falls- 355 foot drop–
2X size of Niagara)
Congo River:
Meets sea at deep, navigable estuary (only one
in Africa)
Estuary: a passage where freshwater from a
river meets seawater
Largest network of navigable water in Africa
But still has major waterfalls & rapids
Why is this a problem?
Zambezi River
Victoria Falls
Congo River- 2nd longest
Physical Barriers
Sahara prevents travel from North Africa to
South/Central Africa
Western deltas were treacherous to sail inland
Encountered shallows, sandbars & dry
riverbeds (due to sand & silt deposits)
Rapids & waterfalls made upriver travel
impossible
Eastern highlands made travel inland difficult
(cliffs)
Europeans controlled coastal trade and Africans
controlled inland trade
Natural resources
Mineral resources are abundant
Plentiful oil reserves
Various metals across region
S. Africa has ½ world’s gold,
also found elsewhere
Major diamond deposits
Natural Resources
Water is ABUNDANT
Places and regions near equator and in the
west have abundant rainfall!
(why isn’t this the end-all solution?)
The problem lies with harnessing power
(physical & financial problems)
More potential hydroelectric power than U.S.
More development is occurring:
Kenya installed 20,000 rural solar power
systems from 86-96
Environmental Issue:
Desertification (Sahel)
Environmental Issue:
Desertification (Sahel)
Sahel: southern edge of Sahara Desert, desert area is
growing around a rate of ½ mile per year.
Why?
Drought (common in Sahel)
Lack of vegetation
Winds pick up soil & carry it
Adaptations:
Plant certain crops that will flourish in dry areas (millet)
Shifting agriculture: using a piece of land for farming for
a year or two, then moving on to another piece of land
Desertification: The
Human Factor
Growing cash crops, such as peanuts, wear the soil out faster
than other traditional crops
Soil tends to blow away before fertility is regained
DEFORESTATION!
Wood serves as fuel for cooking, people rely on it
cut down trees, which causes soil erosion
Changes to Prevent Further Damage:
Government of Niger promotes using coal for cooking
Farmers trying new ag. Methods to conserve water & prevent soil
erosion
Farmers also building windbreaks to stop spread of desert sand
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