What are main characteristics of Ethiopian rivers?

 Almost all major rivers originate from the highlands elevating more than 1500 meters above sea level,  Majority of Ethiopian rivers are trans-boundary,  Due to the marked seasonality of rainfall, Ethiopian rivers are characterized by extreme seasonal fluctuation.

What is the significance of Ethiopian rivers and lakes?

Some of the lakes and their influent rivers are used for irrigation, soda abstraction, fish farming and recreation, and also support a wide variety of endemic birds and wild animals. Ethiopia’s major mechanized irrigation farms and commercial fishery are confined within the Rift region.

Why Rift Valley lakes are salty?

The rains chemically interact with rift terrains, which are dominated with natrocarbonatitic volcanic materials, thus transporting dissolved salts to the lakes. In addition, hot springs around the shores of these lakes carry significant salinity loads into the lakes.

How many Ethiopian rift valley lakes are there?

Ethiopia is home to over 20 lakes, most of which are a result of the Great African Rift Valley which extends from Jordan all the way down to Mozambique in Southern Africa. The rift has spawned some of the largest, deepest and oldest lakes in the world, with Ethiopia hosting a few. Hippos in Langano.

What is Rift Valley drainage system?

The second is the Rift Valley internal drainage system, composed of the Awash River, the Lakes Region, and the Omo River. The Awash flows northeast to the Denakil Plain before it dissipates into a series of swamps and Lake Abe at the border with Djibouti.

What are the major highland lakes in Ethiopia?

Three major highland lakes, Lakes Hayq, Ardebo and Ashengie, lie near the edge of the western escarpment of the rift valley at altitudes between 2,000 and 2,500 m.

What are the characteristics of Ethiopian lakes?

The lakes are mostly alkaline, and do not have outlets for the water contained within them. The major ones are Lake Abaya, Lake Chamo, Lake Awassa, Lake Ziway and Lake Abiata.

What are the characteristics of Rift Valley?

Great Rift Valley The most well-known rift valley on Earth is probably the so-called “Great Rift Valley System” which stretches from the Middle East in the north to Mozambique in the south. The area is geologically active, and features volcanoes, hot springs, geysers, and frequent earthquakes.

How Rift Valley lakes are formed?

It is formed on a divergent plate boundary, a crustal extension or spreading apart of the surface, which is subsequently further deepened by the forces of erosion. In eastern Africa, the rift valley are divides into two; the Western Rift Valley and the Eastern Rift Valley.

What are the characteristics of Ethiopian Rift Valley?

The Ethiopian rift valley is about 80 kilometres (50 mi) wide and bordered on both margins by large, discontinuous normal faults that give rise to major tectonic escarpments separating the rift floor from the surrounding plateaus.

What characterizes the Rift Valley section of Ethiopia?

What are three physical characteristics of the Great Rift Valley?

How many lakes are in the Great Rift valley?

Eight
Eight of these make up the main lakes in the Kenyan Rift Valley. From north to south, the names of these lakes are Lake Turkana, Lake Logipi, Lake Baringo, Lake Bogoria, Lake Nakuru, Lake Elmenteita, Lake Naivasha, and Lake Magadi. Of those eight, only Lakes Baringo and Naivasha are fresh water.

What are the characteristics of rift valley?

What is a rift lake?

A rift lake is a lake formed as a result of subsidence related to movement on faults within a rift zone, an area of extensional tectonics in the continental crust. They are often found within rift valleys and may be very deep.

How rift valley lakes are formed?

What are the unusual characteristics of the lakes in the Great Rift Valley?

As the lakes in the Eastern Rift have no outlet to the sea, these lakes tend to be shallow and have a high mineral content as the evaporation of water leaves the salts behind.

What is rift valley known for?

What are some unusual characteristics of the lakes in the Great Rift Valley?

What are some unusual characteristics of the lakes in the Great Rift Valley? Heat from the Earth’s interior makes some lakes so hot that no human can swim in them. Some lakes are extremely salty.

What are some unusual characteristics of the lakes in the Great Rift valley?