Maps and place knowledge, Year 8: Africa and plate boundaries

The Great Rift Valley

提示Its name says that the ground has split.

为什么It runs through Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Its floor holds a chain of lakes, and volcanoes stand along its edges.

It is high up, about 1,800 m above sea level

提示Look at where Nairobi sits on a relief map.

为什么Air gets cooler with height, so the highlands of Kenya are much cooler than the coast, even though both are close to the Equator.

Savannah

提示It has a long dry season and a wet season, and is home to great grazing herds.

为什么There is too little rain for forest but enough for tall grasses. Wildebeest and zebra follow the rains across it in huge migrations.

To find fresh grass and water as the seasons change

提示The rain does not fall in every place all year.

为什么In a climate with wet and dry seasons, grazing runs out in one place as it grows in another, so herders follow it.

Tea

提示Britain drinks a great deal of it.

为什么The bushes need steady rain and mild temperatures, which the highlands provide. Kenya is one of the world's largest exporters of it.

54

提示A little over fifty.

为什么Africa has more countries than any other continent, and between them they hold well over a thousand languages.

The Congo

提示It shares its name with two countries.

为什么The region lies on the Equator and is hot and wet all year, and it holds the second-largest rainforest in the world after the Amazon.

The Nile

提示Ancient Egypt grew up along its banks.

为什么It crosses the Sahara, and the strip of green along it shows how much of Egypt's farming and settlement depends on its water.

A conservative (transform) boundary

提示Crust is neither made nor destroyed there, so it is 'saved'.

为什么The plates stick, strain builds up, and then they jerk free in an earthquake. The San Andreas Fault in California is one.

A destructive boundary

提示Think about what happens to the crust of the sinking plate.

为什么Where an ocean plate meets a continental plate, the denser ocean plate is forced down and melts. This causes earthquakes and explosive volcanoes.