Download 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
 Connected.mcgraw-hill.com
 Student ID: FBISD123456 (your ID number)
 Password: FBISD123456 (your ID number)