Physical Geography of Africa PPT Notes
 2nd Largest continent
 ______% of world’s population
 2 ½ times the size of the _________ ( minus Alaska and Hawaii)
What is the largest continent in the world?
__________________________________
Climate
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Desert (arid)
___________________
Tropical Wet and Dry
__________________
____________________
Which climate zone is home to rainforests or jungles?
_______________________________
Vegetation
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Desert
Savannah
-- Grasslands
 Rain Forest
-- Rains up to _______ ft. per year
-- Covers 37 ___________________
-- __________% of the land surface of ______________
What internal forces shape Africa?
 Lots of seismic activity
 Volcanoes
Watch: Africa 4D – The Great Rift Valley video – 42 min.
Ups and Downs
Africa’s Plateaus
 Most of Africa is at least ________ ft. above _______ ______________
 Austin, Tx is only ___________ ft. above sea level
 Africa is also called the __________________ Continent.
Basins and Rivers
 Basin = _________________________
 Basins collect water which feeds ____________________.
 Africas rivers are bad for ____________________________.
-- Waterfalls
-- Rapids
-- Gorges
What is a cataract in physical geography?
Answer: a large waterfall; violent rush of water over a precipice
Sahara Desert
 ________________square miles, bigger than “________________”
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Temperatures can range from ______________________on the same day!
Only 20% is sand dunes. The rest is ordinary desert.
What is a sand dune?
A sand dune is an accumulation of sand formed by the
wind, by waves and by eroding sandstone. Because
dunes are dependent on the ever constant forces of wind
and water their structure is constantly changing.
 Major ___________________ lie deep beneath the surface in several areas
 Limits transportation and ____________________ between northern and southern
Africa
What is the Sahel?
 Narrow band of dry _____________________________ used for farming and ranching –
separates _____________ from Tropical climate zones and has ____________________
climate
 ____________________________ - ruining of land due to human activities and climate
changes
 Caused by:
-- ___________________
-- Overgrazing of livestock
-- Cutting down too many ___________ for _____________
-- ____________________________________ farming techniques
What is the result of the above? __________________________________
Kalahari Desert
Located In ____________________ Africa
 Name means “___________________________” in Tswana ( a local language)
 Receives more _______________ than traditional deserts and therefore is host to more
______________________ than most deserts
 Home to the “___________________”
Nile River
 _____________________ river in the world, _______________________
 Two rivers (tributaries) , _______________________ and ________________________,
feed the river, which drains from _____________________________.
What are the Blue Nile and White Nile?
The two major tributaries of the Nile River are the ________and __________. The striking difference
between them is their ______________. The _____Nile, which begins in the mountains
of__________, starts off with a bright _______color. As it passes through ________, however, it picks
up black sediment that gives it a darker hue. The _____________, which begins in the forests of
___________and flows through__________, is a whitish-gray color, due to the ___________________
it carries. Although the White Nile is longer than the Blue Nile, the Blue Nile carries around two-thirds
of the Nile's water supply.
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About _________________________ people live in the Nile ________________________, in ________
countries.
____________________ in Egypt, provides _____________________ and _________________.
Aswan Dam
 _____________________ created by this dam.
 Control floods on the ______________________, sunk ancient _______
 Provides _______________ and ______________ for _______________
Congo River Basin
_________________ Africa
 Covered in ______________________________.
 ____________ longest ____________________ in Africa
“Killer Lakes”
Africa has 3 lakes that are situated atop pockets of __________.
These pockets keep the lake water filled with _________.
- Lake Nyos, _____________
- Lake Monoun, __________________
- Lake Kivu, on the border of ______________ and ____________________________in East Africa.
How did Lake Nyos suddenly kill 1,700 people?
Lake Nyos had long been quiet before it happened. Farmers and migratory herders in the West African country
of Cameroon knew the lake as large, still and blue.
But on the evening of Aug. 21, 1986, farmers living near the lake heard rumbling. At the same time, a frothy
spray shot hundreds of feet out of the lake, and a white cloud collected over the water. From the ground, the
cloud grew to 328 feet (100 meters) tall and flowed across the land. When farmers near the lake left their houses
to investigate the noise, they lost consciousness.
The heavy cloud sunk into a valley, which channeled it into settlements. People in the affected areas collapsed
in their tracks -- at home, on roads or in the field -- losing consciousness or dying in a few breaths. In Nyos and
Kam, the first villages hit by the cloud, everyone but four inhabitants on high ground died.
The valley split, and the cloud followed, killing people up to 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) away from the lake.
Over the next two days, people from surrounding areas entered the valley to find the bodies of humans and
cows lying on the ground.
By Aug. 23, the cloud had mostly blown away, and the silence had lifted. After being unconscious for up to 36
hours, some people revived to find, horrifically, that their family members, neighbors and livestock were dead
What Happened?
Scientists reasoned that CO2 had been trapped in the bottom of Lake Nyos for a long time, held down by 682 feet (208
meters) of water. On the day of the eruption, however, something external triggered the release of gas. Most likely, it
was a rockslide from one of the lake's walls. When the falling rocks sunk to the bottom of the lake, they pushed up some
gas. Then most of the gas bubbled up.
When the CO2 concentration was 15 percent or less, people lost consciousness and later revived. Individuals who
inhaled more than 15 percent CO2 stopped breathing in minutes and died.
 Under the right circumstances, this gas could explode like a Coke bottle fizzing
out. This gas has killed thousands in the past, and will do so in the future.
Serengeti Plain
East Africa, between ________________ and ________________________
Most of Africa is __________________ _______________________, home to many wild
animals. The most famous is the ______________________________.
What are some animal species that inhabit the Serengeti?
__________________________________________________________________
Mt. Kilimanjaro
Located in ____________ Africa, on __________________________________
 ________________________ volcano at _______________ ft. tall.
 Has _____________________ on its peak
 Popular _________________________ destination
Great Rift Valley
East Africa
 “__________________________________” slowly pulling away from Africa
 ____________________________________ pulled apart over millions of years,
________________________________ appeared in the earth – the land sank to form
______________________________________ called _____________________.
 ___________________________ very active, many __________________ and frequent
____________________________.
Rift Lake System
Several major lakes along the _______________________________, including:
 Lake Victoria (2nd largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area to Lake
Superior) - one source of the Nile River; very shallow (84 meters)
**Two rivers flow out of the lake. They are the White Nile (called the "Victoria Nile"
where it leaves the lake), and the Katonga River**
 Lake Tanganyika - deepest lake in Africa, 2nd largest in the world by
_______________.
 Lake Nyasa – largest number of __________________ species anywhere
 _________________________, so large populations in this part of Africa
Olduvai Gorge
 Part of “_______________________________”, which is full of ______________.
 Oldest ______________________ (pre-human) fossils,
________________________________
-Homo Habilis - Its name, which means ‘__________________’, was given in 1964 because this species
was thought to represent the first ______________. Lived from approximately _______________ years ago
-Homo Erectus -
oldest known early humans to have possessed modern human-like body proportions.
Lived between about _____________________________________years ago
 Discovered by ___________________________________ in the __________. The
whole family were ____________________________.