East African Rift System
Water, Geology,
Limnology & Environment
Jump Point:
General: Africa and Central / East Africa Region
Geology, Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes
Volcanism
Hydrology, Coastal, Watersheds, Limnology - East Africa
Famine / Conflict: Rwanda, DR Congo (Zaire) - Great Lakes Region
General Environment-related Links
Glossary and Definitions
Some Reading Resources on the Web
Other Readings / References
Graphics Gallery
MORE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA LINKS
Specific Country resources - University of Pennsylvania African Studies Page:
- Burundi
- Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire)
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Kenya
- Malawi
- Mozambique
- Rwanda
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Tanzania
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Other Country Studies and Links:
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- Chichewa Homepage - language and culture of the Chichewa in Malawi
- Country-Specific Pages - Penn State University - African Studies
- Ethiopia - Country Study - USAID
- Kenya - Country Study - USAID Kenya Mission
- KenyaWeb - Kenya's definitive Internet service
- Kenya Wildlife Safaris - home
- Links Related Sites - Malawi and Lake Malawi/East African Lake region
- Official Malawi homepage - with considerable country information / data / pictures
- Tanzania resource listings - GORP
- Uganda - the Pearl of Africa (SafariWeb)
- World Travel Guide - Malawi - info on resorts, climate, travel, parks
- Zambezi Safari and Travel Company - home
Geology, Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes
See also: Seismology Earthquakes/Volcanism
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- Terrestrial Volcanoes - Web Tutorials on Planets:
- see also - NASA's online tutorial Welcome to the Planets -
- See also Windows to the Universe
- Views of the Solar System
Volcano World:
- Index: Volcanoes in the Africa region
- Ethiopia - Erta Ale
- Ethiopia - Afar Region
- Tanzania - Oldoinyo L'engai
- Teacher's Guide to the Geology of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - many topics / lessons, e.g. plate tectonics, hotspots, volcanic landforms, etc
- Module (from Volcano World) on Kinds of Volcanic Eruptions
- Module (from Volcano World) on Types of Volcanoes
- Module (from Volcano World) on Online Lesson Plan on Volcanoes
- Module on Tephra - all types of material ejected from volcanoes (Volcano World)
- Volcanism - Zaire - Nyiragongo volcano
- Rwanda - Karisimbi volcano
- Uganda / Zaire - Mikeno volcano
- Volcano World Online - Lessons and other activities
- Slide set online by Peter Francis from book: Volcanoes: a Planetary Perspective. Oxford University Press, 1993 - EOS Volcanology Team
- Volcano Facts (from Volcano World)
GVN (Global Volcanic Network): Global Volcanism Program (Smithsonian Institution) with scientific reports on:
- Old Doinyo Lengai (Tanzania)
- Nyamuragira (DR Congo)
- Nyiragongo (DR Congo)
- Volcano geographical list for the world
- Volcano Listserv Messages
- JPL - Volcanoes of the World - imaging radar samples.
- NASA EOS Volcanology Team
- NASA Fact Sheet (PDF file) - Volcanoes and Global Climate Change.
- USGS Volcano Hazards Program
- Photoglossary of Volcanic Terms
- USGS Volcano Hazards Staff
Water: Hydrology, Coastal Resources, Watersheds, Fisheries, and Limnology - East Africa
General:
- African Cichlid Lagoon - home
- AFRICAN LAKES AND RIVERS RESEARCH GROUP - University of Waterloo, Canada
- African Water Page - home
- Aquanet - multi-language site
- Cichlid sites (six clusters by M.K. Oliver)
- Cichlid Research homepage - UC Berkeley
- Cichlides Passion - French language site - wonderful!
- Dan’s African Cichlid Site
- Dartmouth Flood Observatory (DFO-2001-001) Mozambique and Zambia Landsat7 Browse Image Series
- Drainage basins - UNEP project
- Drawers of Water II - Thirty years of change in domestic water use and environmental health in East Africa - from IIED - home
- FAO - Aquastat - Irrigation for Africa in Figures.
- Fisheries Co-Management Project
- GIWA (Global International Waters Assessment)
- ICLARM - International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management
- IFM – Institute for Fisheries Management and Coastal Community Development
- IIED - home
- ILEC - International Lake Environment Committee - world Lake database - Clickable Map of African Lakes
- IWMI - International Water Management Institute
- Les grands fleuves d'Afrique de l'Ouest et Centrale en direct. (IRD--L'Institut de recherche pour le développement, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso)
- LakeNet – World Lakes
- Links Related Sites - Malawi and Lake Malawi/East African Lake region
- Netcoast - Integrated Coastal Zone Management site
- Peace Corps – Water In Africa - home
- RAMSAR (wetlands) data access - CIESIN (Data viewer)
- SOAS (School for Oriental and African Studies) - Water Issues Group - (Centre of African Studies) - searchabable database and other resources.
- Tilapia - Home
- Water in Conflicts Resources (African Water Page)
- Wetlands International - home
- WRI – Watersheds - home
East Africa:
- Conservation and Studies of the African Great Lakes - M.K. Oliver
- East African Rift Valley Lakes - GIWA (Global International Waters Assessment)
- Environmental Aspects of the African Great Lakes region - UNEP/GRID and related WWW Sites - African Great Lakes region.
- Lake Victoria Cichlids - Maidenhead Aquatics
- Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) - home
- Nyanza Project- Student Training Project on East African Lakes by IDEAL - International Decade of East African Lakes (Univ of Arizona & Minnesota)
- Program on the Lakes of East Africa (PLEA) - Michigan State University.
- University of Rhode Island – Graduate School of Oceanography – Coastal Resources Center – East and South Africa Regional Programs
Tanzania & Malawi (Tanganyika & Lake Malawi):
- Biodiversity Conservation & Sustainable Utilisation of Lake Malawi Pelagic Fish Stocks
- Cichlid fishes of Lake Malawi - site by M.K. Oliver.
- Fishes of Lake Tanganyika - IWR is a web site dedicated to providing a comprehensive directory of online ichthyology resources
- Lacustrine Rift Basin Research Program - Dr. Christopher Scholz (scholz@oj.rsmas.miami.edu) - University of Miami
- Lake Eyasi, Tanzania - Rift Valley - May 1993 - JSC.
- Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania September 1988 - East African Rift Valley - JSC.
- Nyanza Project, Lake Tanganyika - study site description and Photo Gallery - (University of Arizona).
- Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity Project - UNEP - homepage (English and French versions).
- Lake Tanganjika (Detlef Jäger) - German site
- Lake Tanganyika Fisheries Research web site - home
- Lake Tanganyika - satellite image of rift valley - June 1985 - .JSC.
- Lake Tanganyika Travel Guide - from ENCARTA - home
- Lake Tanganyika - World Lakes Database
- Links Related Sites - Malawi and Lake Malawi/East African Lake region
- Montages from Space - Lake Malawi
- TAFIRI - Lake Tanganyika Fisheries Research - African Studies Center, Michigan State University)
- Tanganyika Cichlids est un site Français
- University of Arizona, Dept of Geosciences - Limnologic and Paleo-Limnologic studies of Lake Tanganyika
- Where is Lake Malawi? - M.K. Oliver.
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda/Burundi/Ethiopia (Lake Victoria, Tana, Kivu, Natron, etc):
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- Cichclid Conservation in Uganda - articles - By Lee Newman, 1997.
- Cichlids of the Lake Victoria Basin - home and French site
- Conservation genetics of Lake Victoria cichlids - Dr. Paul Fuerst, Ohio State Univ.
- Fishes of the Lake Victoria region - Harvard University
- Lake Natron - Kenya (NASA satellite image and information)
- Lake Natron, Tanzania February 1984 (soda lake) - JSC.- STS055-93-037 - Lake Natron
- Lake Natron - March 1989 - JSC.
- Lake Tana, Blue Nile - Ethiopia - JSC.
- Lake Victoria Conservation Data - home
- Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project – GEF/World Bank
- Lake Victoria Protected Areas Project - WCMC/UNEP
- LANDSAT images of Lake Kivu.
- Landscape and Life along the East African Rift (Geosystems Today: An Interactive Casebook) – John Wiley & Sons, Inc. – See Virunga Mountains Modules
- Links Related Sites - Malawi and Lake Malawi/East African Lake region
- Maasai Steppe Heartland project - African Wildlife Foundation
- Omo River Delta - Lake Rudolf - JSC.
- Project Elgon – University of Aberdeen, NZ
- Samburu Heartland project - African Wildlife Foundation
- Satellite Images and Agroforestry Join Forces to Save Lake Victoria - ICRAF
- State of the Environment – Africa - The threat to coral reefs (UNEP GEO-2000)
- Subhumid highlands of Eastern and Central Africa Regional Program - ICRAF
- Socio-economic data set - Lake Victoria region.
- UFRIC - Uganda Forestry Resources and Institutions Center
- Uganda National Environment Authority - home
- Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Kenya
- UNEP-led and GEF-funded Global International Waters Assessment, GIWA - East African Rift Valley Lakes
- UNICEF – Kenya Floods Emergency Map – 2001
Famine/Conflict: Rwanda, DR Congo (Zaire) - Great Lakes Region
- Africa - OneWorld
- African Wildlife Foundation – Heartlands Project – Virunga Region
- AAAS Studies on Environmental Scarcity and Resource Conflict - the Case of Rwanda. University of Toronto - Environmental Security Database). See Publications on the Web especially on the concept of environmental and resource scarcity.
- Birth and Death in Rwanda: A Photo Essay - TIME
- Congo War: Special Report - from OneWorld Online.
- Disaster Mitigation - VAM (Vulnerability Assessment Mapping) - World Food Programme.
- FEWS - Famine Early Warning System.
- Great Lakes and other African Countries - latest information from ReliefWeb - home.
- Landscape and Life along the East African Rift (Geosystems Today: An Interactive Casebook) – John Wiley & Sons, Inc. – See Virunga Mountains Modules
- Rwanda Case Study - from University of Michigan course on Global Change (includes maps and graphics of population change).
- United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda UNAMIR (Op Lance)
- ODI (Overseas Development Institute) - The State of the International Humanitarian System
General Environment-related Links
- Africa Bird Club - homepage.
- Africa Environment - annotated list of links (U Penn).
- Africa Environment/Ecology (Stanford Univ).
- Environmental Law Institute: African Environmental Law & Policy (Washington, DC)
- AFRICA/GIS - 5TH AFRICAGIS CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION – EIS/Africa to be held in November, 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya (also here)
- African Adventures - GORP (Great Outdoor Recreation Pages).
- African Node of the Mountain Forum (ICRAF+CIP)
- African Wildlife Foundation – Heartlands Project
- AHI – African Highlands Initiative (PDF document summary)
- ADIE - Association pour le Développement de l'Information Environnementale (World Bank)
- Baobab Safaris - Zimbabwe
- Bushmeat Project - home - http://bushmeat.net/links.htm - Related Links
- CARPE (Central African Regional Program for the Environment)
- CIESIN / SEDAC - home
- Climate Prediction Center -NOAA - see the Africa Desk.
- Congo Basin Rainforest (CBR) - Regional Environmental Information Project (REIMP) – World Bank & others
- Desertification, Drought and their Consequences - A.P. Koohafkan, Senior Officer, Environment and Sustainable Development - FAO
- EcoNews Africa - views from African perspective.
- ENRIN - Environment and Natural Resources Information Networking - Africa Region
- EIS-SSA program - Environmental Information System for Sub-Saharan Africa
- Forest Conservation Portal - home
- FRAMEwork for the strategic analysis of environmental issues in Africa
- Global Climate Change and Africa - USAID
- Global Forest Watch - home
- Gorillas In The Bits: (Science Daily) -
- Gorillas Online - Gorilla Links
- Great Apes at a Glance: Distribution and Status - World Wildlife Fund.
- Intellicast on Africa (weather)
- Land Cover and Land Use Change in Tropical Rainforest of Africa (JPL)
- LCLUC: Land Cover Land Use Change Program (NASA - University of Maryland, University of Virginia, and the National Aeronautics & Space Administration--Earth Science Enterprise)
- MELISSA: Managing the Environment Locally in Sub-Saharan Africa = Gérer L'Environnement Localement en Afrique Sub-Saharienne
- Millenium Assessment sites - World Bank/WRI/UNEP etc.
- Miombo Network - home
- Misty future of Rwanda's mountain gorillas- Washinton Post.
- Mountain Gorilla Protection "Gorillas in a data base"Project - Rutgers University with the European Space Agency and others.
- Mountain Gorillas – Module Using GIS (Wheeling Jesuit University/NASA Classroom of the Future™. All rights reserved.)
- Natural Resources and Population - Greater Horn of Africa (soils, crops, population, etc - from GHIE).
- Natural Resources Policy Consultative Group for Africa (WRI)
- Ndoki - Nouabale-Ndoki rainforest in northern Congo - WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)
- Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa
- PRISMES - Program for Regional Information Sharing and Management on Environment and Sustainable Development
- Program on Environment Information Systems (EIS) in Sub-Saharan Africa - EIS-SSA - associated with SISEI and OSS (Sahara and Sahel
Observatory)- Rainfall variability and Drought in Sub-Saharan Africa - FAO (R. Gommes).
- Remote Sensing Boosts Efforts To Protect Mountain Gorillas & Rebuild Rwanda's Economy (Georgia Tech & Dian Fossey Gorilla Foundation)
- Rift Valley Fever – Module Using GIS (Wheeling Jesuit University/NASA Classroom of the Future™. All rights reserved.)
- Société d'Entomologie africaine - Belgium
- SPAAR - Special Program for African Agriculture (World Bank).
- SRDIS - Sustainable Rural Development Information System (CIESIN and the World Bank)
- State of the Environment – Africa (UNEP GEO-2000)
- Trade and Environment Database - case studies from Africa.
- University of Zimbabwe: Institute of Environmental Studies (Harare, Zimbabwe)
- UNCCD - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
- UNU/INRA: United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa
- USAID and the Environment – Africa
- Zambezi Heartlands site - African Wildlife Foundation
- Zambezi Safari and Travel Company - home
Some Reading Resources on the Web:
Geology-related:
- Search the Bulletin of Volcanology (From Volcano World)
- Earthquakes - West's Directory of Earth Science Resources
African Lakes, Hydrology, Water and Fisheries:
- SOAS - Water Issues Group - (Centre of African Studies) - searchabable database
- PLEA - Research Papers (Program on the Lakes of East Africa) - papers on many topics on all the East African Lakes region
- The African Lakes Archives - subject list (PLEA)
- Papers on Impact of species introductions (PLEA)
- Subject Catalog list - Library of PLEA - rimarily Lake Tanganyika and Malawi
- Articles / papers on Lake Victoria - PLEA and Lake Malawi and fisheries management and development
Other:
- Trade and Environment Database - case studies
- Article - Rainfall variability and Drought in Sub-Saharan Africa - FAO (R. Gommes)
- Article - Desertification, Drought and their Consequences - A.P. Koohafkan, Senior Officer, Environment and Sustainable Development - FAO
Books:
Baker, B.H., P.A. Mohr and L.A.J. Williams. 1972. Geology of the Eastern Rift System of Africa. Special Paper No. 136. Geological Society of America.
Beadle, L.C. 1981. The Inland Waters of Tropical Africa: An Introduction to Tropical Limnology. Longman (2nd Edition).
See particularly Chapter 3 on "geological and climatic history" as well as chapter 15 on "volcanic-barrier lakes" such as Lake Kivu.
Brown, Leslie. 1971. East African Mountains and Lakes. East African Publishing House.
Burke, K. and Whiteman, A.J. 1973. Uplift, rifting and the breakup of Africa. In: D.H. Tarling and S.K. Runcoris (eds). Implications of Continental Drift for the Earth Sciences (2 vols.). London: Academic Press, 735-55.
Gregory, D.I. and Schum, S.A. 1987. The Effect of Active Tectonics on Alluvial River Morphology. In: Richards, K. (ed) River Channels: Environments and Process. Institute of British Geographers Special Publication 18. Oxford and New York: Blackwell Publishers, 41-68.
Gregory, J.W. 1896. The Great Rift Valley. (Republished) Frank Cass (1968).
Mohr, P.A. 1962. The Geology of Ethiopia. University of Addis Ababa.
Nyamweru, Celia. 1980. Rifts and Volcanoes: A Study of the East African Rift System. Thomas Nelson and Sons.
Note especially the sections focusing on the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda, Uganda and Zaire.
Palmason, G. (ed). 1982. Continental and Oceanic Rifts. Washington, D.C.: Geological Society of America, Boulder / American Geophysical Union.
Rosendahl, B.R. 1987. Architecture of continental rifts with special reference to East Africa. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 86, 961-6.
Simkin, T. and Siebert, L. 1994. Volcanoes of the World. Tucson, Arizona: Geoscience Press.
Sullivan, Walter. 1991. Continents in Motion. McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Summerfield, Michael A. 1985a. Plate tectonics and landscape development on the African continent. In: M. Morisawa and J.T. Hack (eds) Tectonic Geomorphology. Allen and Unwin, Boston & London, 27-51.
Summerfield, Michael A. 1985b. Tectonic Bbckground to long-term landform development in Tropical Africa. In: Douglas and T. Spencer (eds) Environmental Change and Tropical Geomorphology. London and Boston: Allen and Unwin, 281-94.
Summerfield, Michael A. 1991. Global Geomorphology. Longman Scientific and Technical.
See particularly Part II. "Endogenic Processes and Landforms" pp. 31-107 and especially those sections in the book dealing with African drainage systems, tectonics, volcanism and geomorphology.
Wilcock, Colin. 1974. Africa’s Rift Valley. Time-Life Books.
Articles:
Bonatti, E. 1987. The rifting of continents. Scientific American. 256(3), 74-81.
De Mulder, M. 1986. K-Ar geochronology of the Karisimbi Volcano (Virunga, Rwanda-Zaire). Journal of African Earth Sciences, 575-579.
Ebinger, C.J. 1989. Tectonic development of the western branch of the East African Rift System. GSA Bulletin 101(7): 885-903.
Frostick, L. and Reid, I. 1987. A new look at rifts. Geology Today 3, 122-6.
Sahagian, D. 1988. Epeirogenic motions of Africa as inferred from Cretaceous shoreline deposits. Tectonics 7, 125-38.
Theissen R., Burke, K. and Kidd, W.S.F. 1979. African hotspots and their relation to the underlying mantle. Geology 7, 263-6.
Thomas, D.S. G. and Shaw, P.A. 1988. Late Cenozoic drainage evolution in the Zambezi Basin: geomorphological evidence from the Kalahari Rim. Journal of African Earth Sciences. 7, 611-18.
Versfelt, J. and Rosendahl, B.R. 1989. Relationship between pre-rift structure and rift architecture in Lakes Tanganyika and Malawi, East Africa. Nature 337, 354-7.
White, R.S. and McKenzie, D.P. 1989. Volcanism at rifts. Scientific American 261,1:44-55
Graphics Gallery
- Africa and its Weather & Geology from Earth & Space - M.K. Oliver
- Astronaut Photography of the Earth - NASA
- EarthRise - Directory of Shuttle Images of the Earth from Space - See Africa Directory
- EROS Data Center - home
- NASA - DAAC - homepage
- NSSDC Photo Gallery - Galileo, Apollo, Clementine, etc - satellite images
- Global Weather Montage - centered on Africa (updated every six hours)
