Geography of Africa What is the focus and what are the topography characteristics of Africa

The distribution of climate types, what ocean currents pass around it.

The topography of Africa is high in the southeast and low in the northwest. It is mainly a plateau, with little undulation on the ground, known as the plateau continent, with an average altitude of more than 600 meters, and the terrain is inclined from southeast to northwest. The Atlas Mountains are laid in the northwest and the Drakens Mountains in the southeast.

Topography. CoastlineThe total length of the mainland coastline is 30,500 kilometers. The coast is relatively straight, lacking bays and peninsulas.

Africa has the lowest number of islands of any continent in the world. With the exception of Madagascar (the fourth largest island in the world), most of the rest are small islands. The total area of the island is about 620,000 square kilometers, accounting for less than 3 of the total area of the continent.

The African continent is wide in the north and narrow in the south, and has an unequal triangular shape. The longest from north to south is about 8,000 kilometers, and the widest from east to west is about 7,500 kilometers. Africa is a plateau continent with relatively flat terrain and distinct mountain ranges limited to the northern and southern ends.

The average altitude of the whole continent is 750 meters. The plateau at an altitude of 500 to 1,000 meters above sea level occupies more than 60 percent of the continent's area. Mountains and plateaus above 2,000 meters above sea level occupy an area of the continent5.

Plains below 200 meters above sea level are mostly found along the coast. The terrain is roughly bounded by the line from the mouth of the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the northern edge of the Ethiopian plateau, with the southeastern half higher and the northwestern half lower. The southeastern half is called High Africa, with an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, including the Ethiopian Plateau (above 2,000 meters above sea level, known as the roof of Africa), the East African Plateau and the South African Plateau, and the Kalahadi Basin in the South African Plateau.

The northwest half is called low Africa, with an altitude of less than 500 meters, and most of it is low plateaus and basins, including the upper Nile Basin, the Congo Basin and the Chad Basin. Africa's taller mountain ranges mostly stand in the coastal zone of the plateau, and the northwest coast has the Atlas Mountains; The southeast coast has the Drakensian Mountains; To the east are Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro. Mount Kilimanjaro is an extinct volcano with an altitude of 5,895 meters, making it the highest peak in Africa.

East Africa has the world's largest rift valley zone, the east branch of the rift belt from the mouth of the Shire River in the south, through Lake Malawi, to the north through the central East African Plateau and the central Ethiopian Plateau, through the Red Sea to the northern part of the Dead Sea, about 6,400 kilometers long; The west branch of the rift zone stretches from the northwest end of Lake Malawi in the south, through Lake Tanganyika, Lake Kivu, Lake Edward, Lake Albert, to the Albert Nile Valley, with a length of about 1,700 kilometers and a width of tens of kilometers to 300 kilometers, forming a series of narrow and deep valleys and lakes, of which Lake Asale is 156 meters below sea level, which is the lowest point on land in Africa. Africa's desert area accounts for about 1 3 of the continent's area, making it the largest continent in terms of desert area. The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world, with an area of 7.77 million square kilometers; There are also the Namib Desert and the Kalahadi Desert in the southwest.

In and around the Great Rift Valley, there are a series of extinct and active volcanoes, among which the tall volcanoes reach an altitude of more than 5,000 meters. There are also many tall volcanoes in central and western Africa. The Great Rift Valley is also the most frequent and intense region in Africa.

The terrain of Africa is dominated by plateaus, and the ground is not very undulating, and it is called the "plateau continent". The average altitude is more than 600 meters, and the terrain slopes from southeast to northwest. The Atlas Mountains are laid in the northwest and the Drakens Mountains in the southeast.

The topography of Africa can be divided into 3 parts: first, the plateau. From north to south, there are Ethiopian Plateau, East African Plateau, South African Plateau, and Mount Kilimanjaro (5895 meters above sea level) is located in the East African Plateau and is the highest peak in Africa.

In eastern Africa, there is a fault subsidence zone that runs through the north and south - the East African Great Strike Valley Belt, which is more than 6,000 kilometers long, and there are a series of narrow and deep lakes at the valley bottom;

Second, the basin. The central part is the vast Congo Basin, which was originally a vast inland lake, and then formed by the rise of the earth's crust, the river cut downward, and the lake water leaked out;

Third, the desert. To the north is the Sahara Desert, with an area of more than 7.7 million square kilometers, making it the largest desert in the world.

Mountains of the African continent.

There are only two folded mountain ranges on the African continent: the Cape Mountains at the southern tip of the continent and the Atlas Mountains in the northwest. Although they occupy a certain area, their extent is still small when viewed from the whole continent.

The reason for the lack of folded mountains is that the ancient continents of Africa have a long history, and the folded mountains formed by paleoorogeny have long been leveled.

The orogeny since the Paleozoic Era can only fracture the rigid platform, but cannot cause it to form folds. That is, it can only create blocky mountains, not linear folded mountains. The above two mountain ranges were attached to the paleocontinent by the late strata of the outer margin of the paleocontinent that were extruded and folded during the late tectonic movement.

The topographical characteristics of Africa: mainly plateaus, the terrain is undulating, and it slopes from southeast to northwest.

The Sahara Desert is in the north, the Ethiopian Plateau, the East African Plateau, and the South African Plateau in the east, and the Congo Basin in the west near the central equator.

1. Location (10 west longitude - 50 east longitude; 30 south latitude - 30 north latitude) 2. Topography: 1. Type "plateau continent" dominated by plateaus - plateaus (Ethiopian Plateau ("Roof of Africa"), East African Plateau (Kilimanjaro is the highest in Africa), South African Plateau); Mountains (Atlas, Drakens); basins (Congo Basin, etc.); Plains (Nile valley and delta).

2. Topography: high in the southeast and low in the northwest.

3. Two special terrain areas:

1) The Great Rift Valley (the largest rift valley in the world) – location (from the mouth of the Zambezi River in the south, through the Red Sea in the north, and to the vicinity of the Dead Sea) Landforms along the way (cliffs; volcanoes; A series of lakes at the bottom of the valley) Genesis (crustal movements, plate splitting and subsidence) Influences (resulting in crustal instability, volcanoes**).

2) Congo Basin (the world's largest basin) – an endorheic lake formed by the erosion of the Congo River due to the rise of the earth's crust and the leakage of the lake.