1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Atlantic Ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
3.
South America
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South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere, mostly in the southern hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere. It may also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas, which is the used in nations that speak Romance languages. The reference to South America instead of other regions has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, North America and it includes twelve sovereign states, a part of France, and a non-sovereign area. In addition to this, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers. Its population as of 2005 has been estimated at more than 371,090,000, South America ranks fourth in area and fifth in population. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela. In recent decades Brazil has also concentrated half of the regions GDP and has become a first regional power, most of the population lives near the continents western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, the continents cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish. South America occupies the portion of the Americas. The continent is delimited on the northwest by the Darién watershed along the Colombia–Panama border. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate, South Americas major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and petroleum. These resources found in South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. However, the concentration in producing one major export commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies and this is leading to efforts to diversify production to drive away from staying as economies dedicated to one major export. South America is one of the most biodiverse continents on earth, South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha, jaguar, vicuña, and tapir. The Amazon rainforests possess high biodiversity, containing a proportion of the Earths species. Brazil is the largest country in South America, encompassing around half of the land area
4.
Africa
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Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
5.
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
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Its name was Saint Helena and Dependencies until 1 September 2009, when a new constitution came into force giving the three islands equal status within the territory. Despite this change, the territory is still commonly referred to as simply Saint Helena after its main island. Similarly, the demonym Saint Helenians and the name for the local nationality is commonly understood to include Ascension Islanders and Tristanians. Administratively, the territory is divided into the three parts as the territorys geography, namely Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Each is governed by a council, the island of St Helena is then further divided into eight districts. The Portuguese found Saint Helena uninhabited, with an abundance of trees and they imported livestock, fruit trees and vegetables, and built a chapel and one or two houses. Though they formed no permanent settlement, the island became important for the collection of food. Englishman Sir Francis Drake very probably located the island on the lap of his circumnavigation of the world. In 1657, the English East India Company was granted a charter to govern Saint Helena by Oliver Cromwell, and the following year the Company decided to fortify and colonise the island with planters. The first governor, Captain John Dutton, arrived in 1659, a fort was completed and a number of houses were built. After the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, the East India Company received a Royal Charter giving it the right to fortify. The fort was renamed James Fort and the town Jamestown, in honour of the Duke of York and heir apparent, later King James II of England. The Kingdom of England became part of the new Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and then the United Kingdom in 1801, the most important and first settled, the island of Saint Helena, had been governed by the East India Company since 1659. For similar reasons Tristan da Cunha was annexed as a dependency of the Cape Colony on 14 August 1816, for a short period just prior, Tristan da Cunha had been inhabited by a private American expedition who named the territory the Islands of Refreshment. The political union between these colonies began to shape on 12 September 1922, when by letters patent Ascension Island became a dependency of Saint Helena. Lightly populated Tristan da Cunha, even today more than an outpost with a population of less than three hundred, followed suit on 12 January 1938. The United Kingdom and the United States still jointly operate the airfield on Ascension, which serves as a space-based communications, signals intelligence. One of only four GPS satellite ground antennas is located there, between Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha is the Tropic of Capricorn
6.
Ascension Island
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It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, of which the main island, Saint Helena, is around 1,300 kilometres to the southeast. The territory also includes the sparsely populated Tristan da Cunha archipelago, some 3,730 kilometres to the south, the island is named after the day of its recorded discovery, Ascension Day. It played a role as an important safe haven and coaling station to mariners, during World War II it was an important naval and air station, especially providing antisubmarine warfare bases in the Battle of the Atlantic. Ascension Island was garrisoned by the British Admiralty from 22 October 1815 to 1922, the island was used extensively by the British military during the Falklands War. Ascension Island hosts one of four antennas that assist in the operation of the Global Positioning System navigational system. Ascension is a young formation, the tip of an undersea volcano which rose above the waves only a million years ago. It is associated both with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge plate boundary 80 km to the west and with a hotspot 25–300 km to the south east and its last eruption may have occurred in the 16th Century. Due to its short history, its soil consists mostly of clinker. In 1501, the Portuguese navigator Afonso de Albuquerque sighted the island on Ascension Day, dry and barren, the island had little appeal for passing ships except for collecting fresh meat, and was not claimed for the Portuguese Crown. Mariners could hunt for the seabirds and the enormous female green turtles that laid their eggs on the sandy beaches. The Portuguese also introduced goats as a source of meat for future mariners. In February 1701, HMS Roebuck, commanded by William Dampier, sixty men survived for two months until they were rescued. Almost certainly, after a few days they found the water spring in the high interior of the island. British mariners found the Dutchmans tent, belongings and diary in January 1726, organised settlement of Ascension Island began in 1815, when the British garrisoned it as a precaution after imprisoning Napoleon I on Saint Helena to the southeast. On 22 October the Cruizer class brig-sloops Zenobia and Peruvian claimed the island for His Britannic Majesty King George III, the Royal Navy designated the island as a stone frigate, HMS Ascension, with the classification of Sloop of War of the smaller class. The location of the island made it a useful stopping-point for ships, the Royal Navy used the island as a victualling station for ships, particularly those of the West Africa Squadron working against the slave trade. A garrison of Royal Marines was based at Ascension from 1823, in 1836 the Beagle voyage visited Ascension. Charles Darwin described it as a treeless island, with nothing growing near the coast
7.
Tristan da Cunha
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Tristan da Cunha, colloquially Tristan, is the name of both a remote group of volcanic islands in the south Atlantic Ocean and the main island of that group. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying 2,000 kilometres from the nearest inhabited land, Saint Helena and it is 3,360 kilometres from South America. As of January 2017, the island has 262 permanent inhabitants. Meanwhile, the islands are uninhabited, except for the personnel of a weather station on Gough Island. Tristan da Cunha is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and this includes Saint Helena and equatorial Ascension Island, some 3,730 kilometres to the north of Tristan. The islands were first recorded as sighted in 1506 by Portuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha and he named the main island after himself, Ilha de Tristão da Cunha. It was later anglicised from its earliest mention on British Admiralty charts, some sources state that the Portuguese made the first landing in 1520, when the Lás Rafael captained by Ruy Vaz Pereira called at Tristan for water. The first undisputed landing was made on 7 February 1643 by the crew of the Dutch East India Company ship Heemstede, the Dutch stopped at the island four more times in the next 25 years, and in 1656 created the first rough charts of the archipelago. The first full survey of the archipelago was made by crew of the French corvette Heure du Berger in 1767, aubert made botanical collections and reported traces of human habitation, including fireplaces and overgrown gardens, probably left by Dutch explorers in the 17th century. The first permanent settler was Jonathan Lambert, from Salem, Massachusetts, United States, Lambert publicly declared the islands his property and named them the Islands of Refreshment. Three of the four men died in 1812, however, the survivor among the three permanent settlers, Thomas Currie remained as a farmer on the island. In 1816, the United Kingdom annexed the islands, ruling them from the Cape Colony in South Africa, the occupation also prevented the United States from using Tristan da Cunha as a cruiser base, as it had during the War of 1812. The islands were occupied by a garrison of British Marines and a civilian population gradually grew, whalers set up bases on the islands for operations in the Southern Atlantic. However, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, together with the transition from sailing ships to coal-fired steam ships. They were no longer needed as a port for lengthy sail voyages. In 1867, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and second son of Queen Victoria, the main settlement, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, was named in honour of his visit. On 15 October 1873, the Royal Navy scientific survey vessel HMS Challenger docked at Tristan to conduct geographic and zoological surveys on Tristan, Inaccessible Island, in his log, Captain George Nares recorded a total of 15 families and 86 individuals living on the island. After an especially difficult winter in 1906, and years of hardship since the 1880s and those remaining on Tristan held a meeting and decided to refuse, thus deepening the islands isolation
8.
Jamestown, Saint Helena
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Jamestown is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, located on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is also the main settlement of the island and is on its north-western coast. It is the only port and the centre of the islands road. It was founded when colonists from the English East India Company settled on the island in 1659 and was occupied by the Dutch East India Company in 1673 before being recaptured. Many of the built by the East India Company in the 1700s survive and give the town its distinctive Georgian flavour. The town briefly hosted Napoleon in 1815 during his exile on St. Helena and it had no role during the First World War and only played a minor role during the Second World War. Jamestown was founded in 1659 by the English East India Company and named after James, Duke of York, the future King James II of England. A fort, originally named the Castle of St John, was built and, with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the fort was renamed James Fort, the town Jamestown. The fort and associated gun batteries dominated James Bay and were improved over the years. In January 1673 the Dutch East India Company briefly seized control of the island until the English East India Company recaptured it in May, since then the town has been continuously inhabited under English and then British rule. After his defeat in the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815 and the subsequent occupation of Paris, Jamestown was chosen to host a vice admiralty court and a naval base for British efforts to interdict the slave traffic between Africa and the Americas. Captured slave ships were brought to Jamestown to be sold. By the time that the station was closed in the 1870s. Long lost, their graves were rediscovered in 2006 in conjunction with preliminary digging for the airport, a team of archaeologists arrived in mid-2008 to excavate the graves. Some of the finds from the excavations are on exhibit at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, the island was too isolated to play any role in the First World War and only played a minimal one during the Second World War. The oil tanker RFA Darkdale was sunk by the German submarine U-68 in James Bay on 22 October 1941 with only 9 of the 50-man crew surviving and she had been sent to St Helena a few months prior to refuel ships operating in the South Atlantic. The wreck leaked small amounts of oil until its gradual deterioration caused the Ministry of Defence to dispatch a team of divers to pump out all the oil in June 2015. The town is built on rock in the James Valley
9.
Saint Helena
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It is part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Saint Helena measures about 16 by 8 kilometres and has a population of 4,534 and it was named after Saint Helena of Constantinople. The island, one of the most remote islands in the world, was uninhabited when discovered by the Portuguese in 1502 and it was an important stopover for ships sailing to Europe from Asia and South Africa for centuries. Napoleon was imprisoned there in exile by the British, as were Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo, between 1791 and 1833, Saint Helena became the site of a series of experiments in conservation, reforestation and attempts to boost rainfall artificially. This environmental intervention was closely linked to the conceptualisation of the processes of environmental change, Saint Helena is Britains second-oldest remaining overseas territory after Bermuda. The Portuguese found the island uninhabited, with an abundance of trees and they imported livestock, fruit trees and vegetables, and built a chapel and one or two houses. Englishman Sir Francis Drake probably located the island on the leg of his circumnavigation of the world. In developing their Far East trade, the Dutch also began to frequent the island, the Dutch Republic formally made claim to Saint Helena in 1633, although there is no evidence that they ever occupied, colonized, or fortified it. By 1651, the Dutch had mainly abandoned the island in favour of their colony at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1657, Oliver Cromwell granted the English East India Company a charter to govern Saint Helena and, the following year, the first governor Captain John Dutton arrived in 1659, making Saint Helena one of Britains oldest colonies outside North America and the Caribbean. A fort and houses were built, after the Restoration of the English monarchy in 1660, the East India Company received a royal charter giving it the sole right to fortify and colonise the island. The fort was renamed James Fort and the town Jamestown, in honour of the Duke of York, between January and May 1673, the Dutch East India Company forcibly took the island, before English reinforcements restored English East India Company control. The company experienced difficulty attracting new immigrants, and sentiments of unrest, a census in 1723 recorded 1,110 people, including 610 slaves. The island enjoyed a period of prosperity from about 1770. Captain James Cook visited the island in 1775 on the leg of his second circumnavigation of the world. St. James Church was erected in Jamestown in 1774, the site of this telescope is near Saint Mathews Church in Hutts Gate in the Longwood district. The 680-metre high hill there is named for him and is called Halleys Mount, throughout this period, Saint Helena was an important port of call of the East India Company. East Indiamen would stop there on the leg of their voyages to British India
10.
Benguela Current
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The Benguela Current /bɛŋˈɡweɪlə/ is the broad, northward flowing ocean current that forms the eastern portion of the South Atlantic Ocean gyre. The current extends from roughly Cape Point in the south, to the position of the Angola-Benguela front in the north, the current is driven by the prevailing south easterly trade winds. Inshore of the Benguela Current proper, the easterly winds drive coastal upwelling, forming the Benguela Upwelling System. The cold, nutrient rich waters that upwell from around 200–300 m depth in turn fuel high rates of phytoplankton growth, and sustain the productive Benguela ecosystem. Eddies from the warm South Indian Ocean Agulhas current along South Africas east coast do round the Cape of Good Hope from time to time to join the Bengulela current, the Benguela current is 200 to 300 km wide and widens further as it flows north and northwest. Its western, seaward edge is ill-defined, with temporary and seasonal eddies. Northward winds along the coast result in Ekman transport offshore and upwelling of nutrient rich water to the euphotic zone. The intensity of the event is determined by wind strength. Variations in wind strength cause pulses of upwelling, which propagate to the south along the coast with speeds of 5 to 8 m/s. The pulses are similar to a Kelvin wave, except on a scale of 30 to 60 km instead of 1000 km, pulses of upwelling induce biological production. In the Benguela system, phytoplankton growth requires a period of upwelling followed by a period of stratification, the phytoplankton bloom usually lags the upwelling event by 1 to 4 days and blooms for 4 to 10 days. In order for zooplankton to have a food supply, the phytoplankton blooms must not occur too far apart. Pulses of upwelling in the Benguela system regularly have a duration of 10 days, an optimal period for biological production. It is estimated that the new production in the Benguela system is 4.7 × 10^13 gC/y. The Benguela oxygen minimum zone starts around a depth of 100 m and is a few hundred meters thick, bacteria that use sulpher rather than oxygen reside in the oxygen minimum zone. The most abundant fishes in the Benguela system are Sardinops and Engraulis, Sardinops ocelata was intensely fished beginning in the 1950s and peaking in 1968 with landings over 1.3 million tons. Since then, the Sardinops fishery has declined and the Engraulis capensis fishery has taken over, similar to the Pacific El Niño, a thick slab of warm, nutrient poor water enters the northern part of the Benguela upwelling system off the Namibia coast about once per decade. During the Benguela Niño, warm, salty waters from the Angola Current move southward and this slab of warm salty water extends to 150 km offshore and to 50 m depth
11.
Trade winds
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Trade winds also transport African dust westward across the Atlantic Ocean into the Caribbean Sea, as well as portions of southeastern North America. Shallow cumulus clouds are seen within trade wind regimes, and are capped from becoming taller by a trade wind inversion, the weaker the trade winds become, the more rainfall can be expected in the neighboring landmasses. The term trade winds originally derives from the fourteenth century late Middle English word trade. The Portuguese recognized the importance of the winds in navigation in both the north and south Atlantic ocean as early as the 15th century. From West Africa, the Portuguese had to sail away from continental Portugal and they could then turn northeast, to the area around the Azores islands, and finally east to mainland Europe. They also learned that to reach South Africa, they needed to go far out in the ocean, head for Brazil, following the African coast southbound means upwind in the Southern hemisphere. In the Pacific ocean, the wind circulation, which included both the trade wind easterlies and higher-latitude Westerlies, was unknown to Europeans until Andres de Urdanetas voyage in 1565. The captain of a sailing ship seeks a course along which the winds can be expected to blow in the direction of travel, for example, Manila galleons could not sail into the wind at all. Between 1847 and 1849, Matthew Fontaine Maury collected enough information to create wind, as part of the Hadley cell circulation, surface air flows toward the equator while the flow aloft is towards the poles. A low-pressure area of calm, light winds near the equator is known as the doldrums, near-equatorial trough, intertropical front. When located within a region, this zone of low pressure. Around 30° in both hemispheres, air begins to descend toward the surface in subtropical high-pressure belts known as subtropical ridges. The subsident air is dry because as it descends, the temperature increases, but the absolute humidity remains constant. This warm, dry air is known as an air mass. An increase of temperature with height is known as a temperature inversion, when it occurs within a trade wind regime, it is known as a trade wind inversion. The surface air flows from these subtropical high-pressure belts toward the Equator is deflected toward the west in both hemispheres by the Coriolis effect. These winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere, the trade winds of both hemispheres meet at the doldrums. As they blow across tropical regions, air masses heat up over lower latitudes due to direct sunlight
12.
Volcano
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A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. Earths volcanoes occur because its crust is broken into 17 major, therefore, on Earth, volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. This type of volcanism falls under the umbrella of plate hypothesis volcanism, Volcanism away from plate boundaries has also been explained as mantle plumes. These so-called hotspots, for example Hawaii, are postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs with magma from the boundary,3,000 km deep in the Earth. Volcanoes are usually not created where two plates slide past one another. Erupting volcanoes can pose hazards, not only in the immediate vicinity of the eruption. Historically, so-called volcanic winters have caused catastrophic famines, the word volcano is derived from the name of Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy whose name in turn comes from Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology. The study of volcanoes is called volcanology, sometimes spelled vulcanology, at the mid-oceanic ridges, two tectonic plates diverge from one another as new oceanic crust is formed by the cooling and solidifying of hot molten rock. Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans, therefore, most volcanic activity is submarine, black smokers are evidence of this kind of volcanic activity. Where the mid-oceanic ridge is above sea-level, volcanic islands are formed, for example, subduction zones are places where two plates, usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate, collide. In this case, the plate subducts, or submerges under the continental plate forming a deep ocean trench just offshore. In a process called flux melting, water released from the subducting plate lowers the temperature of the overlying mantle wedge. This magma tends to be very viscous due to its high content, so it often does not reach the surface. When it does reach the surface, a volcano is formed, typical examples of this kind of volcano are Mount Etna and the volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Because tectonic plates move across them, each volcano becomes dormant and is eventually re-formed as the plate advances over the postulated plume and this theory is currently under criticism, however. The most common perception of a volcano is of a mountain, spewing lava and poisonous gases from a crater at its summit, however. The features of volcanoes are more complicated and their structure. Some volcanoes have rugged peaks formed by lava domes rather than a summit crater while others have features such as massive plateaus
13.
Plateau
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Plateaus can be formed by a number of processes, including upwelling of volcanic magma, extrusion of lava, and erosion by water and glaciers. Magma rises from the mantle, causing the ground to swell upward, in way, large, flat areas of rock are uplifted. Plateaus can also be built up by lava spreading outward from cracks, plateaus can also be formed by the erosional processes of glaciers on mountain ranges, leaving them sitting between the mountain ranges. Water can also erode mountains and other landforms down into plateaus, volcanic plateaus are produced by volcanic activity. The Columbia Plateau in the northwestern United States is an example, dissected plateaus are highly eroded plateaus cut by rivers and broken by deep narrow valleys. Plateaus are classified according to their surrounding environment, intermontane plateaus are the highest in the world, bordered by mountains. The Tibetan Plateau is one such plateau, Piedmont plateaus are bordered on one side by mountains and on the other by a plain or a sea. The Piedmont Plateau of the Eastern United States between the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic Coastal Plain is an example, continental plateaus are bordered on all sides by plains or oceans, forming away from the mountains. The Tibetan plateau covers approximately 2,500,000 km2, the plateau is sufficiently high enough to reverse the Hadley cell convection cycles and to drive the monsoons of India towards the south. The second-highest plateau is the Deosai Plateau of the Deosai National Park at an elevation of 4,114 m. It is located in the Astore and Skardu districts of Gilgit-Baltistan, Deosai means the land of giants. The park protects an area of 3,000 km2 and it is known for its rich flora and fauna of the Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe ecoregion. In spring it is covered by sweeps of wildflowers and a variety of butterflies. The highest point in Deosai is Deosai Lake, or Sheosar Lake from the Shina language meaning Blind lake near the Chilim Valley. The lake lies at an elevation of 4,142 m, one of the highest lakes in the world, and is 2.3 km long,1.8 km wide, and 40 m deep on average. Some other major plateaus in Asia are, Armenian Highlands, Iranian plateau, Anatolian Plateau, Mongolian Plateau, and the Deccan Plateau. This polar ice cap is so massive that the echolocation sound measurements of ice thickness have shown that parts of the Antarctic dry land surface have been pressed below sea level. Thus, if that same ice cap were removed, the large areas of the frozen white continent would be flooded by the surrounding Antarctic Ocean or Southern Ocean
14.
Plain
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In geography, a plain is a flat, sweeping landmass that generally does not change much in elevation. Plains occur as lowlands along the bottoms of valleys or on the doorsteps of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands. In a valley, a plain is enclosed on two sides but in other cases a plain may be delineated by a complete or partial ring of hills, where a geological region contains more than one plain, they may be connected by a pass. Coastal plains would mostly rise from sea level until they run into elevated features such as mountains or plateaus, plains are one of the major landforms on earth, where they are present on all continents, and would cover more than one-third of the world’s land area. Plains may have formed from flowing lava, deposited by water, ice, wind, or formed by erosion by these agents from hills. Plains would generally be under the grassland, steppe, savannah or tundra biomes, in a few instances, deserts and rainforests can also be plains. Structural plains are relatively undisturbed horizontal surfaces of the Earth and they are structurally depressed areas of the world that make up some of the most extensive natural lowlands on the Earths surface. Erosional plains have been leveled by various agents of such as running water, rivers, wind and glacier which wear out the rugged surface. Plain resulting from the action of these agents of denudation are called peneplains while plains formed from wind action are called pediplains, depositional plains formed by the deposition of materials brought by various agents of transportation such as rivers, wind, waves, and glaciers. Their fertility and economic relevance depend greatly on the types of sediments that are laid down, flood plain, adjacent to a stream, river, lake or wetland that experiences occasional or periodic flooding. Scroll plain, a plain through which a river meanders with a low gradient. Lacustrine plain, a plain that originally formed in a lacustrine environment, lava plain, formed by sheets of flowing lava. Glacial plains, formed by the movement of glaciers under the force of gravity, Sandur, sandar consist mainly of stratified gravel and sand. Till plain, a plain of glacial till that forms when a sheet of ice becomes detached from the body of a glacier. Till plains are composed of unsorted material of all sizes, abyssal plain, a flat or very gently sloping area of the deep ocean basin. Planitia, the Latin word for plain, is used in the naming of plains on extraterrestrial objects, such as Hellas Planitia on Mars or Sedna Planitia on Venus
15.
Prosperous Bay Plain
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Prosperous Bay Plain is an area on the eastern coast of Saint Helena, a British island territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the site of the new Saint Helena Airport and is notable for its high invertebrate biodiversity. Prosperous Bay Plain forms part of the arid area of Saint Helena. It was formed 8.5 million years ago by lava flows from Saint Helena’s Southwest Volcano, the surface of the plain is covered by rocks, grit and dust, with what little soil there is containing high concentrations of mineral salts. Within the plain there is a 60 hectare depression known as the Central Basin and this forms a miniature mature desert ecosystem. It falls within the district of Longwood, the climate of the plain is arid and plants are few, scattered and low-growing. Dusty areas and gullies are dominated by the native samphire Suaeda fruticosa, in rocky areas the more dominant plant is the introduced Hottentot fig. On dry slopes, including those of the Central Basin, there are various chenopods, the plain holds a number of important populations of the islands endemic flora. The slopes of Dry Gut hosted the largest remaining group of barn fern, Dry Gut was also home to the most abundant remaining population of the endemic boneseed. Annual flushes of endemic babies-toes, goosefoot and neglected sedge occur across the plain, there are a few scattered scrubwoods, teaplants and salad plant, threatened endemics which may have grown more plentifully in the area in the past, before the introduction of exotic herbivores. Much of the end of Dry Gut has now been filled in to provide a base for the airport runway. Before the discovery of Saint Helena in 1502, the plain was home to breeding colonies. These disappeared after settlement of the island from predation by humans, the only endemic land-bird still present is the critically endangered wirebird, of which the plain makes up 10% of its remaining habitat. Some 35–40 species and six genera recorded in this area occur nowhere else in the world. The Saint Helena giant earwig used to inhabit the plain, and may still, the Saint Helena giant beetle may also be extinct. <http, //www. sainthelenaaccess. com/news/>The battle for St Helena, by Robin Stummer and Daniel Howden,20 October 2005
16.
Queen Mary's Peak
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Queen Marys Peak is the summit of the island of Tristan da Cunha, in the South Atlantic Ocean. It has an elevation of 2,062 metres above sea level and it is named after Mary of Teck, the Queen consort of King George V. It is the highest point of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension, the mountain is the peak of the massive shield volcano which forms the island. A300 m wide summit crater caps the peak, and it contains a crater lake. This lake is frozen during the winter, and the upper slopes of the volcano are covered in snow. The only recorded eruption began on 10 October 1961 from a vent on the shore of the island. The entire population of the island had to be evacuated and did not return until 1963, Queen Marys Peak was used by sailors on the route from Europe to the Indian Ocean and beyond as a navigational aid. In the 17th century the East India Company instructed captains to sail via Tristan, in 2004, Ellen MacArthur sighted the Peak on her record-breaking circumnavigation of the world. The first known attempt to climb the peak was in 1793 by the French naturalist Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars, however, from this expedition hundreds of plants were collected and catalogued. In January 1817 the first successful climb was made to the peak, today, Queen Marys Peak makes a wonderful but steep climb and can take 5 to 10 hours, depending on the capability of the walker. The walk and climb is allowed only when accompanied by a local guide, Queen Marys Peak is the brand name for Tristan da Cunha island knitwear, which is exported to New Zealand. Geography of Tristan da Cunha List of mountains and hills of Saint Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha Island Tour, Peak Media related to Queen Marys Peak at Wikimedia Commons
17.
Divergent boundary
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In plate tectonics, a divergent boundary or divergent plate boundary is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other. Divergent boundaries within continents initially produce rifts which eventually become rift valleys, most active divergent plate boundaries occur between oceanic plates and exist as mid-oceanic ridges. Divergent boundaries also form volcanic islands which occur when the plates apart to produce gaps which molten lava rises to fill. Current research indicates that complex convection within the Earths mantle allows material to rise to the base of the lithosphere beneath each divergent plate boundary. This supplies the area with vast amounts of heat and a reduction in pressure that melts rock from the asthenosphere beneath the area forming large flood basalt or lava flows. Each eruption occurs in only a part of the boundary at any one time. Over millions of years, tectonic plates may move many hundreds of kilometers away from both sides of a divergent plate boundary, because of this, rocks closest to a boundary are younger than rocks further away on the same plate. At divergent boundaries, two plates move apart from other and the space that this creates is filled with new crustal material sourced from molten magma that forms below. The origin of new divergent boundaries at triple junctions is thought to be associated with the phenomenon known as hotspots. Here, exceedingly large convective cells bring very large quantities of hot asthenospheric material near the surface, the hot spot which may have initiated the Mid-Atlantic Ridge system currently underlies Iceland which is widening at a rate of a few centimeters per year. Divergent boundaries can create massive fault zones in the ridge system. Spreading is generally not uniform, so where spreading rates of adjacent ridge blocks are different and these are the fracture zones, many bearing names, that are a major source of submarine earthquakes. A sea floor map will show a strange pattern of blocky structures that are separated by linear features perpendicular to the ridge axis. If one views the sea floor between the zones as conveyor belts carrying the ridge on each side of the rift away from the spreading center the action becomes clear. Crest depths of the old ridges, parallel to the current spreading center and it is at mid-ocean ridges that one of the key pieces of evidence forcing acceptance of the seafloor spreading hypothesis was found. Airborne geomagnetic surveys showed a pattern of symmetrical magnetic reversals on opposite sides of ridge centers. The pattern was far too regular to be coincidental as the widths of the bands were too closely matched. Scientists had been studying polar reversals and the link was made by Lawrence W. Morley, Frederick John Vine, the magnetic banding directly corresponds with the Earths polar reversals
18.
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
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In the North Atlantic, it separates the Eurasian and North American Plates, whereas in the South Atlantic it separates the African and South American Plates. The ridge extends from a junction with the Gakkel Ridge northeast of Greenland southward to the Bouvet Triple Junction in the South Atlantic, although the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is mostly an underwater feature, portions of it have enough elevation to extend above sea level. The section of the ridge that includes the island of Iceland is also known as the Reykjanes Ridge, the ridge has an average spreading rate of about 2.5 cm per year. A ridge under the Atlantic Ocean was first inferred by Matthew Fontaine Maury in 1850, the ridge was discovered during the expedition of HMS Challenger in 1872. A team of scientists on board, led by Charles Wyville Thomson, the existence of such a ridge was confirmed by sonar in 1925 and was found to extend around the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean by the German Meteor expedition. Ewing, Heezen and Tharp discovered that the ridge is part of a 40, the ridge is central to the breakup of the hypothetical supercontinent of Pangaea that began some 180 million years ago. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge includes a deep valley that runs along the axis of the ridge along nearly its entire length. This rift marks the boundary between adjacent tectonic plates, where magma from the mantle reaches the seafloor, erupting as lava. This trench, however, is not regarded as the boundary between the North and South American Plates, nor the Eurasian and African Plates and this bulge is thought to be caused by upward convective forces in the asthenosphere pushing the oceanic crust and lithosphere. This divergent boundary first formed in the Triassic period, when a series of three-armed grabens coalesced on the supercontinent Pangaea to form the ridge, usually, only two arms of any given three-armed graben become part of a divergent plate boundary. The failed arms are called aulacogens, and the aulacogens of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge eventually became many of the river valleys seen along the Americas. The Fundy Basin on the Atlantic coast of North America between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada is evidence of the ancestral Mid-Atlantic Ridge, atlantis Massif Central Atlantic Magmatic Province Fifteen-Twenty Fracture Zone Evans, Rachel. Plumbing Depths to Reach New Heights, Marie Tharp Explains Marine Geological Maps, the Library of Congress Information Bulletin. MAR-ECO, a Census of Marine Life project on life along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
19.
African Plate
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The African Plate is a major tectonic plate straddling the equator as well as the prime meridian. It includes much of the continent of Africa, as well as oceanic crust which lies between the continent and various surrounding ocean ridges, between 60 million years ago and 10 million years ago, the Somali Plate began rifting from the African Plate along the East African Rift. All of these are divergent or spreading boundaries with the exception of the northern boundary, the cratons are, from south to north, the Kalahari craton, Congo craton, Tanzania craton and West African craton. The cratons were widely separated in the past, but came together during the Pan-African orogeny, the cratons are connected by orogenic belts, regions of highly deformed rock where the tectonic plates have engaged. The African Plate is rifting in the interior of the African continent along the East African Rift. This rift zone separates the African Plate to the west from the Somali Plate to the east, the African Plates speed is estimated at around 2.15 cm per year. It has been moving over the past 100 million years or so in a general northeast direction and this is drawing it closer to the Eurasian Plate, causing subduction where oceanic crust is converging with continental crust. Along its northeast margin, the African Plate is bounded by the Red Sea Rift where the Arabian Plate is moving away from the African Plate. The New England hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean has probably created a line of mid- to late-Tertiary age seamounts on the African Plate. USGS - Understanding plate motions Meijer, P. Th, wortel, M. J. R. Cenozoic dynamics of the African plate with emphasis on the Africa-Eurasia collision. Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth
20.
Seamount
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A seamount is a mountain rising from the ocean seafloor that does not reach to the waters surface, and thus is not an island. Seamounts are typically formed from volcanoes that rise abruptly and are usually found rising from the seafloor to 1. They are defined by oceanographers as independent features that rise to at least 1,000 m above the seafloor, the peaks are often found hundreds to thousands of meters below the surface, and are therefore considered to be within the deep sea. During their evolution over time, the largest seamounts may reach the sea surface where wave action erodes the summit to form a flat surface. Seamounts and guyots are most abundant in the North Pacific Ocean, in recent years, several active seamounts have been observed, for example Loihi in the Hawaiian Islands. Because of their abundance, seamounts are one of the most common marine ecosystems in the world, interactions between seamounts and underwater currents, as well as their elevated position in the water, attract plankton, corals, fish, and marine mammals alike. Their aggregational effect has been noted by the fishing industry. There are ongoing concerns on the impact of fishing on seamount ecosystems. 95% of ecological damage is done by bottom trawling, which scrapes whole ecosystems off seamounts, because of their large numbers, many seamounts remain to be properly studied, and even mapped. Bathymetry and satellite altimetry are two technologies working to close the gap, there have been instances where naval vessels have collided with uncharted seamounts, for example, Muirfield Seamount is named after the ship that struck it in 1973. Seamounts can be found in every ocean basin in the world, a seamount is technically defined as an isolated rise in elevation of 1,000 m or more from the surrounding seafloor, and with a limited summit area, of conical form. If small knolls, ridges and hills less than 1,000 m in height are included there are over 100,000 seamounts in the world ocean. Most seamounts are volcanic in origin, and thus tend to be found on oceanic crust near mid-ocean ridges, mantle plumes, and island arcs. Overall, seamount and guyot coverage is greatest as a proportion of area in the North Pacific Ocean. The Arctic Ocean has only 16 seamounts and no guyots, the 9,951 seamounts mapped cover an area of 8,088,550 km2. The largest seamount has an area of 15,500 km2, guyots cover a total area of 707,600 km2 and have an average area of 2,500 km2, more than twice the average size of seamounts. Nearly 50% of guyot area and 42% of the number of guyots occur in the North Pacific Ocean, the largest three guyots are all in the North Pacific, the Kuko Guyot, Suiko Guyot and the Pallada Guyot. Seamount chain redirects here, for a broader coverage related to this topic, Seamounts are often found in groupings or submerged archipelagos, a classic example being the Emperor Seamounts, an extension of the Hawaiian Islands
21.
Cameroon line
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The Cameroon line is a 1,600 km chain of volcanoes. The islands, which span the equator, have tropical climates and are home to many unique plant, the mainland mountain regions are much cooler than the surrounding lowlands, and also contain unique and ecologically important environments. The Cameroon volcanic line is unusual in extending through both the ocean and the continental crust. Various hypotheses have advanced by different geologists to explain the line. In the Gulf of Guinea, the Cameroon line consists of six offshore volcanic swells that have formed islands or seamounts, from the southwest to the northeast the island groups are Pagalu, São Tomé, Príncipe and Bioko. Two large seamounts lie between São Tomé and Príncipe, and between Principe and Bioko, on the mainland, the line starts with Mount Cameroon and extends northeast in a range known as the Western High Plateau, home to the Cameroonian Highlands forests. Volcanic swells further inland are Manengouba, Bamboutu and the Oku Massif, east of Oku there are further volcanic mountains in the Ngaoundere Plateau, some of which appear to have similar origins. The southernmost island in the chain is Annobón, also known as Pagalu and it is an extinct volcano that rises from deep water to 598 m above sea level. The average temperature is 26.1 °C, with seasonal variation. Most rain falls from November to May, with annual precipitation averaging 1,196 mm - less than on the mainland, Annobón has lush valleys and steep mountains, covered with rich woods and luxuriant vegetation. The island belongs to Equatorial Guinea, the small population lives in one community, practicing some agriculture but mainly living by fishing. São Tomé Island is 854 km2 in area, lying almost on the equator. The entire island is a shield volcano which rises from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, over 3,000 m below sea level. The oldest rock on Sao Tome is 13 million years old, most of the lava erupted on São Tomé over the last million years has been basalt. The youngest dated rock on the island is about 100,000 years old, due to the prevailing southwesterly winds, there is great variability in rainfall. In the rain shadow to the northeast of Sao Tome the vegetation is dry savannah, by contrast, the lush south and west of the island receive about 6 m of rain, mostly falling in March and April. The climate is hot and humid with the season from October to May. The higher slopes of the island are forested and form part of the Obo National Park, São Tomé has never been connected to Africa, and therefore has many unique plants and birds
22.
Charles Darwin
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Charles Robert Darwin, FRS FRGS FLS FZS was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, by the 1870s, the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. In modified form, Darwins scientific discovery is the theory of the life sciences. Darwins early interest in nature led him to neglect his education at the University of Edinburgh, instead. Studies at the University of Cambridge encouraged his passion for natural science, puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection. Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and he was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay that described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories. Darwins work established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature, in 1871 he examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey. Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on 12 February 1809, at his familys home and he was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin and Susannah Darwin. He was the grandson of two prominent abolitionists, Erasmus Darwin on his fathers side, and Josiah Wedgwood on his mothers side, both families were largely Unitarian, though the Wedgwoods were adopting Anglicanism. The eight-year-old Charles already had a taste for history and collecting when he joined the day school run by its preacher in 1817. From September 1818, he joined his older brother Erasmus attending the nearby Anglican Shrewsbury School as a boarder and he found lectures dull and surgery distressing, so neglected his studies. He learned taxidermy in around 40 daily hour-long sessions from John Edmonstone, one day, Grant praised Lamarcks evolutionary ideas. Darwin was astonished by Grants audacity, but had recently read similar ideas in his grandfather Erasmus journals, Darwin was rather bored by Robert Jamesons natural-history course, which covered geology - including the debate between Neptunism and Plutonism. He learned the classification of plants, and assisted with work on the collections of the University Museum, as Darwin was unqualified for the Tripos, he joined the ordinary degree course in January 1828. He preferred riding and shooting to studying, when his own exams drew near, Darwin focused on his studies and was delighted by the language and logic of William Paleys Evidences of Christianity. In his final examination in January 1831 Darwin did well, coming out of 178 candidates for the ordinary degree. Darwin had to stay at Cambridge until June 1831, inspired with a burning zeal to contribute, Darwin planned to visit Tenerife with some classmates after graduation to study natural history in the tropics
23.
H.M.S. Beagle
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HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, one of more than 100 ships of this class. The vessel, constructed at a cost of £7,803, was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, there was no immediate need for Beagle so she lay in ordinary, moored afloat but without masts or rigging. She was then adapted as a barque and took part in three survey expeditions. The Cherokee-class of 10-gun brig-sloops was designed by Sir Henry Peake in 1807, the Beagles keel was laid in June 1818, construction cost £7,803, and the ship was launched on 11 May 1820. In July of that year she took part in a review on the River Thames. Captain Pringle Stokes was appointed captain of Beagle on 7 September 1825, on 27 September 1825 Beagle docked at Woolwich to be repaired and fitted out for her new duties. Her guns were reduced from ten cannon to six and a mizzen mast was added to improve her handling, Beagle set sail from Plymouth on 22 May 1826 on her first voyage, under the command of Captain Stokes. Faced with the difficult part of the survey in the desolate waters of Tierra del Fuego. At Port Famine on the Strait of Magellan he locked himself in his cabin for 14 days, then after getting over-excited and talking of preparing for the next cruise, shot himself on 2 August 1828. Following four days of delirium Stokes recovered slightly, but then his condition deteriorated, Captain Parker King then replaced Stokes with the First Lieutenant of the Beagle, Lieutenant W. G. Skyring as commander, and both ships sailed to Montevideo. On 13 October King sailed the Adventure to Rio de Janeiro for refitting, when the Beagle arrived, Otway put the ship under the command of his aide, Flag Lieutenant Robert FitzRoy. The 23-year-old aristocrat FitzRoy proved an able commander and meticulous surveyor, in one incident a group of Fuegians stole a ships boat, and FitzRoy took their families on board as hostages. Eventually he held two men, a girl and a boy, who was given the name of Jemmy Button, during this survey, the Beagle Channel was identified and named after the ship. A kind uncle heard of this and contacted the Admiralty, soon afterwards FitzRoy heard that he was to be appointed commander of HMS Chanticleer to go to Tierra del Fuego, but due to her poor condition Beagle was substituted for the voyage. FitzRoy was re-appointed as commander on 27 June 1831 and the Beagle was commissioned on 4 July 1831 under his command, with Lieutenants John Clements Wickham, Beagle was immediately taken into dock at Devonport for extensive rebuilding and refitting. As she required a new deck, FitzRoy had the upper-deck raised considerably, the Cherokee-class ships had the reputation of being coffin brigs, which handled badly and were prone to sinking. Additional sheathing added to the hull added about seven tons to her burthen, the ship was one of the first to be fitted with the lightning conductor invented by William Snow Harris. To reduce magnetic interference with the instruments, FitzRoy proposed replacing the iron guns with brass guns
24.
Lot (biblical person)
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Lot was a patriarch in the biblical Book of Genesis chapters 11–14 and 19. Lot and his father Haran were born and raised in Ur of the Chaldees in the region of Sumeria on the Euphrates River of lower Mesopotamia, Haran died in that land before his father Terah. Genesis 11, 26-32 gives the generations of Terah, Lots grandfather, among the family members that Lot travelled with was his uncle Abram, one of the three patriarchs of Israel. En route to Canaan, the family stopped in the Paddan Aram region and they settled at the site called Haran where Lots grandfather, Terah, lived the rest of his days. He was 205 years old when he died, Genesis 12 reveals Abrams obedience to the LORD at the age of 75, in continuing his journey to the land of promise. Though Abrams father, Terah, stayed behind, his nephew Lot went with him, there is no mention of Lot having a wife yet. They went southwestward into the land of Canaan, to the place of Sichem, later they travelled south to the hills between Bethel and Hai, before journeying further toward the south of Canaan. After dwelling in the land of Canaan for a little while, there was a famine, after having dwelt in Egypt for some time, they acquired vast amounts of wealth and livestock, and returned to the Bethel area. Genesis 13 helps and discusses Abram and Lots return to Canaan after the famine had passed and they traveled back through the Negev to the hills of Bethel. With their sizeable numbers of livestock and always on the move, the conflicts between herdsmen had become so troublesome that Abram recommended to Lot that they should part ways, lest there be conflict amongst brethren. Abram then headed south to Hebron, staying within the land of Canaan, Lot had encamped on the green Jordan plain among the cities of the plain and initially pitched his tent toward Sodom. The following year the four armies with Chedorlaomer returned and at the Battle of the Vale of Siddim, Chedorlaomer spoiled the cities and took captives as he departed, including Lot, who by then dwelt in Sodom. He divided his forces and attacked at night more than one direction. The pursuit continued and the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and the kings was completed at Hobah north of Damascus. Abram brought back his brother Lot and all the people and their goods, twenty four years after Abram and Lot began their sojourning, the LORD changed Abrams name to Abraham, and gave him the covenant of circumcision. Not long afterward, the LORD appeared to Abraham, for three men came to visit and have a meal with him, and after two left to go to Sodom, Abraham stood yet before the LORD. Abraham boldly pleaded on behalf of the people of Sodom, where Lot dwelt and he continued inquiring, reducing the number to forty five, forty, thirty, twenty, and finally if there were ten righteous in the city, it would be spared. After supper that night before bedtime, the men of the city, young and old and his response infuriated the men of Sodom who accused him of being judgmental and they threatened to do worse to him than they would have done to the men
25.
Phonolitic
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Phonolite is an uncommon extrusive igneous rock, volcanic rock, of intermediate chemical composition between felsic and mafic, with texture ranging from aphanitic to porphyritic. The name phonolite comes from the Ancient Greek meaning sounding stone because of the sound it produces if an unfractured plate is hit. Melting of such rocks to a low degree promotes the liberation of aluminium, potassium, sodium and calcium via melting of feldspar. Because the rock is silica undersaturated, it has no quartz or other silica crystals, a few geological processes and tectonic events can melt the necessary precursor rocks to form phonolite. These include intracontinental hotspot volcanism, such as may form above mantle plumes covered by continental crust. A-type granites and alkaline igneous provinces usually occur alongside phonolites, low-degree partial melting of underplates of granitic material in collisional orogenic belts may also produce phonolites. Phonolite is an equivalent of nepheline syenite. They are products of partial melting, are silica undersaturated, and have feldspathoids in their normative mineralogy, mineral assemblages in phonolite occurrences are usually abundant feldspathoids and alkali feldspar, and rare sodic plagioclase. Biotite, sodium-rich amphiboles and pyroxenes along with iron-rich olivine are common minor minerals, accessory phases include titanite, apatite, corundum, zircon, magnetite and ilmenite. Nepheline-normative rocks occur in association with the Bushveld Igneous Complex. Phonolite occurs in the related Pilanesberg Complex and Pienaars River Complex, phonolite tuff was used as a source of flint for adze heads and such by prehistoric man from Hohentwiel and Hegau, Germany. Phonolites can be separated into slabs of appropriate dimensions to be used as roofing tiles in place of roofing slate, one such occurrence is in the French Massif Central region such as the Haute Loire département. Alkaline rocks and carbonatites of the world
26.
Intrusive rock
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Intrusive rock is formed when magma crystallizes and solidifies underground to form intrusions, for example plutons, batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks. Intrusive rock forms within Earths crust from the crystallization of magma, magma slowly pushes up from deep within the earth into any cracks or spaces it can find, sometimes pushing existing country rock out of the way, a process that can take millions of years. As the magma slowly cools into a solid, the different parts of the magma crystallize into rocks, many mountain ranges, such as the Sierra Nevada in California, are formed mostly from large granite intrusions, see Sierra Nevada Batholith. Intrusions are one of the two ways igneous rock can form, the other is extrusive rock, that is, an eruption or similar event. Technically speaking, an intrusion is any formation of igneous rock, rock formed from magma that cools. In contrast, an extrusion consists of rock, rock formed above the surface of the crust. Large bodies of magma that solidify underground before they reach the surface of the crust are called plutons, plutonic rocks form 7% of the Earths current land surface. Coarse-grained intrusive igneous rocks form at depth within the earth are called abyssal while those that form near the surface are called subvolcanic or hypabyssal. The term intrusive suite seems near synonymous, there is, however, a modest difference, An intrusive suite is a group of plutons related in time and space. Intrusions vary widely, from mountain-range-sized batholiths to thin veinlike fracture fillings of aplite or pegmatite, when exposed by erosion, such batholiths may occupy large areas. A well-known example of an intrusion is Devils Tower, another is Shiprock, New Mexico, USA. Be the pluton is large, it may be called a batholith or a stock, Intrusive rocks are characterized by large crystal sizes, and as the individual crystals are visible, the rock is called phaneritic. This is as the magma cools underground, and while cooling may be fast or slow, cooling is slower than on the surface, if it runs parallel to rock layers, it is called a sill. If an intrusion makes rocks above rise to form a dome, as heat dissipation is slow, and as the rock is under pressure, crystals form, and no vitreous rapidly chilled matter is present. The intrusions did not flow while solidifying, hence do not show lines, contained gases could not escape through the thick strata, thus form cavities, which can often be observed. Because their crystals are of the rough equal size, these rocks are said to be equigranular, there is typically no distinction between a first generation of large well-shaped crystals and a fine-grained ground-mass. Earlier crystals originated at a time when most of the rock was still liquid and are more or less perfect, later crystals are less regular in shape because they were compelled to occupy the spaces left between the already-formed crystals. The former case is said to be idiomorphic, the latter is xenomorphic, there are also many other characteristics that serve to distinguish the members of these two groups
27.
Fish
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A fish is any member of a group of animals that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with digits. They form a group to the tunicates, together forming the olfactores. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous, tetrapods emerged within lobe-finned fishes, so cladistically they are fish as well. However, traditionally fish are rendered obsolete or paraphyletic by excluding the tetrapods, because in this manner the term fish is defined negatively as a paraphyletic group, it is not considered a formal taxonomic grouping in systematic biology. The traditional term pisces is considered a typological, but not a phylogenetic classification, the earliest organisms that can be classified as fish were soft-bodied chordates that first appeared during the Cambrian period. Although they lacked a true spine, they possessed notochords which allowed them to be more agile than their invertebrate counterparts, fish would continue to evolve through the Paleozoic era, diversifying into a wide variety of forms. Many fish of the Paleozoic developed external armor that protected them from predators, the first fish with jaws appeared in the Silurian period, after which many became formidable marine predators rather than just the prey of arthropods. Fish are abundant in most bodies of water and they can be found in nearly all aquatic environments, from high mountain streams to the abyssal and even hadal depths of the deepest oceans. With 33,100 described species, fish exhibit greater species diversity than any group of vertebrates. Fish are an important resource for humans worldwide, especially as food, commercial and subsistence fishers hunt fish in wild fisheries or farm them in ponds or in cages in the ocean. They are also caught by fishers, kept as pets, raised by fishkeepers. Fish have had a role in culture through the ages, serving as deities, religious symbols, fish do not represent a monophyletic group, and therefore the evolution of fish is not studied as a single event. Early fish from the record are represented by a group of small, jawless. Jawless fish lineages are mostly extinct, an extant clade, the lampreys may approximate ancient pre-jawed fish. The first jaws are found in Placodermi fossils, the diversity of jawed vertebrates may indicate the evolutionary advantage of a jawed mouth. It is unclear if the advantage of a hinged jaw is greater biting force, improved respiration, fish may have evolved from a creature similar to a coral-like sea squirt, whose larvae resemble primitive fish in important ways. The first ancestors of fish may have kept the form into adulthood. Fish are a group, that is, any clade containing all fish also contains the tetrapods
28.
Arable land
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Arable land is, according to one definition, land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops. In Britain, it was contrasted with pasturable lands such as heaths which could be used for sheep-rearing. A quite different kind of definition is used by various agencies concerned with agriculture, the abandoned land resulting from shifting cultivation is not included in this category. Data for ‘Arable land’ are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable, a briefer definition appearing in the Eurostat glossary similarly refers to actual, rather than potential use, land worked regularly, generally under a system of crop rotation. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations the worlds Arable land amounted to 1,407 M ha, out of a total 4,924 M ha land used for agriculture, as for year 2013. Agricultural land that is not arable according to the FAO definition above includes, Permanent crop - land that produces crops from woody vegetation, other non-arable land includes land unsuitable for any agricultural use. Although such limitations may preclude cultivation, and some will in some cases preclude any agricultural use, for example, US NRCS statistics indicate that about 59 percent of US non-federal pasture and unforested rangeland is unsuitable for cultivation, yet such land has value for grazing of livestock. Similar examples can be found in many rangeland areas elsewhere, land incapable of being cultivated for production of crops can sometimes be converted to arable land. New arable land makes more food, and can reduce starvation and this outcome also makes a country more self-sufficient and politically independent, because food importation is reduced. This process is extremely expensive. An alternative is the Seawater Greenhouse which desalinates water through evaporation and condensation using solar energy as the energy input. This technology is optimized to grow crops on land close to the sea. The people covered the islands with a layer of seaweed. Israel, The construction of desalination plants along Israels coast allowed agriculture in areas that were formerly desert. The desalination plants, which remove the salt from water, have created a new source of water for farming, drinking. Slash and burn agriculture uses nutrients in wood ash, but these expire within a few years, terra preta, fertile tropical soils created by adding charcoal. Some examples of fertile land being turned into infertile land are. Rainforest deforestation, The fertile tropical forests are converted into infertile desert land, for example, Madagascars central highland plateau has become virtually totally barren, as a result of slash-and-burn deforestation, an element of shifting cultivation practiced by many natives
29.
Sea turtle
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Sea turtles, sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines. The seven extant species of sea turtles are, the green, loggerhead, Kemps ridley, olive ridley, hawksbill, flatback, the majority of a sea turtles body is protected by its shell. The turtles shell is divided two sections, carapace and plastron. The shell is made up of plates called scutes. The leatherback is the sea turtle that does not have a hard shell. Instead, it bears a mosaic of bony plates beneath its leathery skin, in general, sea turtles have a more fusiform body plan than their terrestrial or freshwater counterparts. The reduced volume of a body means sea turtles can not retract their head, legs. However this more stream-line body plan reduces drag in the water, the leatherback is the largest species of sea turtle. Measuring 2-3 meters in length, and 1-1.5 m in width, other species are smaller, being mostly 60-120 cm and proportionally narrower. Sea turtles, along with turtles and tortoises, are part of the order Testudines. All species except the leatherback are in the family Cheloniidae, the leatherback is the only extant member of the family Dermochelyidae. The origin of sea turtles back to the Late Jurassic with genera such as Plesiochelys. In Africa, the first marine turtle is Angolachelys, from the Turonian of Angola, however, neither of these are related to extant sea turtles, the oldest representative of the lineage leading to these was Desmatochelys padillai, from the Early Cretaceous. A lineage of unrelated marine testudines, the pleurodire bothremydids, also survived well into the Cenozoic, Sea turtles constitute a single radiation that became distinct from all other turtles at least 110 million years ago. The flatback sea turtle is found solely on the northern coast of Australia, the Kemps ridley sea turtle is found solely in the Gulf of Mexico and along the East Coast of the United States. Sea turtles are found in the waters over continental shelves. During the first three to five years of life, sea turtles spend most of their time in the pelagic zone floating in seaweed mats, Green sea turtles in particular are often found in Sargassum mats, in which they find shelter and food. Once the sea turtle has reached adulthood it moves closer to the shore, females will come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches during the nesting season
30.
Sooty tern
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The sooty tern, is a seabird of the tern family. The genus name is from Ancient Greek onux, claw, and prion, the specific fuscatus is Latin for dark. It is a bird of the oceans, breeding on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Colloquially, it is known as the tern or just wideawake. This refers to the incessant calls produced by a colony of these birds, in most of Polynesia its name is manutara or similar however – literally tern-bird, though it might be better rendered in English as the tern or common tern. This refers to the fact that wherever Polynesian seafarers went on their long voyages and it is also known as kaveka in the Marquesas Islands, where dishes using its eggs are a delicacy. This is a tern, similar in size to the Sandwich tern at 33–36 cm long with an 82–94 cm wingspan. The wings and deeply forked tail are long, and it has black upperparts. It has black legs and bill, the average life span is 32 years. Juvenile Sooty Terns are scaly grey above and below, the Sooty Tern is unlikely to be confused with any tern apart from the similarly dark-backed but smaller bridled tern. It is darker-backed than that species, and has a white forehead. The call is a loud piercing ker-wack-a-wack or kvaark, the Sooty Tern has little interspecific variation, but it can be divided into at least two allopatric subspecies. Some recent authors further subdivide the Indopacific population into up to 8 subspecies altogether, the affinities of eastern Pacific birds are most strongly contested. Onychoprion fuscatus fuscatus – Atlantic sooty tern Underparts white, onychoprion fuscatus nubilosus – Indopacific sooty tern Underparts light grey in fresh plumage, dull white in worn plumage. Breeds from Red Sea across Indian Ocean to at least central Pacific and it nests in a ground scrape or hole and lays one to three eggs. It feeds by picking fish from the surface in marine environments, often in flocks, and rarely comes to land except to breed. This bird is migratory and dispersive, wintering more widely through the tropical oceans and it has very marine habits compared to most terns, sooty terns are generally found inland only after severe storms. This species is a vagrant to western Europe, although a bird was present at Cemlyn Bay
31.
Geography of Tristan da Cunha
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It forms part of a wider territory called Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which includes Saint Helena and Ascension Island. The main island is mountainous, the only flat area is the location of the capital, Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. The highest point is a volcano called Queen Marys Peak 2,062 metres, Tristan da Cunha is thought to have been formed by a long-lived centre of upwelling magma called the Tristan hotspot. The climate is marine cool-temperate with small differences between summer and winter and between day and night. Sandy Point on the east coast is reputed to be the warmest and driest place on the island, even the smaller islands have some plant cover, with the larger ones dominated by ferns and moss. Flora on the archiplego includes many species and many that have a broad circumpolar distribution in the South Atlantic. Thus many of the species occur in Tristan da Cunha occur as far away as New Zealand. For example, the species Nertera depressa was first collected in Tristan da Cunha, Tristan da Cunha is home to ocean-going species including subantarctic fur seal, the southern elephant seal and birds such as northern rockhopper penguins and macaroni penguins. The islands are important for their bird life both those established on the islands and breeding seabirds, of twenty species nest on Gough Island alone. Important species include Tristan albatross, Tristan thrush, Tristan bunting, Gough bunting, Gough moorhen, Atlantic petrel, there are no native reptiles, amphibians, freshwater fish, or land mammals. Fishing is still an important economic activity especially for crayfish and octopus, Gough Island has also been used as base for whaling and sealing but only ever temporarily. The islands do receive a number of tourists. Sheep and cattle have been introduced on Tristan da Cunha and their grazing, along with human activity has caused damage to the islands ecosystems. Night fishing has caused the deaths of many seabirds as they crash into ships lights
32.
Scientific American
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Scientific American is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein, have contributed articles in the past 170 years and it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. Scientific American was founded by inventor and publisher Rufus M. Porter in 1845 as a weekly newspaper. Throughout its early years, much emphasis was placed on reports of what was going on at the U. S, current issues include a this date in history section, featuring excerpts from articles originally published 50,100, and 150 years earlier. Topics include humorous incidents, wrong-headed theories, and noteworthy advances in the history of science, Porter sold the publication to Alfred Ely Beach and Orson Desaix Munn a mere ten months after founding it. Until 1948, it remained owned by Munn & Company, under Munns grandson, Orson Desaix Munn III, it had evolved into something of a workbench publication, similar to the twentieth-century incarnation of Popular Science. In the years after World War II, the fell into decline. Thus the partners—publisher Gerard Piel, editor Dennis Flanagan, and general manager Donald H. Miller, Miller retired in 1979, Flanagan and Piel in 1984, when Gerard Piels son Jonathan became president and editor, circulation had grown fifteen-fold since 1948. In 1986, it was sold to the Holtzbrinck group of Germany, in the fall of 2008, Scientific American was put under the control of Nature Publishing Group, a division of Holtzbrinck. Donald Miller died in December 1998, Gerard Piel in September 2004, Mariette DiChristina is the current editor-in-chief, after John Rennie stepped down in June 2009. Scientific American published its first foreign edition in 1890, the Spanish-language La America Cientifica, a Russian edition V Mire Nauki was launched in the Soviet Union in 1983, and continues in the present-day Russian Federation. Kexue, a simplified Chinese edition launched in 1979, was the first Western magazine published in the Peoples Republic of China, founded in Chongqing, the simplified Chinese magazine was transferred to Beijing in 2001. Later in 2005, an edition, Global Science, was published instead of Kexue. A traditional Chinese edition, known as 科學人, was introduced to Taiwan in 2002, the Hungarian edition Tudomány existed between 1984 and 1992. In 1986, an Arabic edition, Oloom magazine, was published, in 2002, a Portuguese edition was launched in Brazil. From 1902 to 1911, Scientific American supervised the publication of the Encyclopedia Americana and it originally styled itself The Advocate of Industry and Enterprise and Journal of Mechanical and other Improvements. On the front page of the first issue was the engraving of Improved Rail-Road Cars, the masthead had a commentary as follows, Scientific American published every Thursday morning at No.11 Spruce Street, New York, No.16 State Street, Boston, and No. 2l Arcade Philadelphia, by Rufus Porter, five copies will be sent to one address six months for four dollars in advance
33.
The World Factbook
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The World Factbook is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available from the National Technical Information Service, Other companies—such as Skyhorse Publishing—also print a paper edition. The Factbook is available in the form of a website that is updated every week. It is also available for download for use off-line, the World Factbook is prepared by the CIA for the use of U. S. Government officials, and its style, format, coverage, and content are primarily designed to meet their requirements. However, it is used as a resource for academic research papers. As a work of the U. S. Government, it is in the domain in the United States. In researching the Factbook, the CIA uses the sources listed below, Other public and private sources are also consulted. However, the CIA requests that it be cited when the Factbook is used, copying the official seal of the CIA without permission is prohibited by U. S. federal law—specifically, the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949. Before November 2001 The World Factbook website was updated yearly, from 2004 to 2010 it was updated every two weeks, since 2010 it has been updated weekly, generally, information currently available as of January 1 of the current year is used in preparing the Factbook. The first, classified, edition of Factbook was published in August 1962, the World Factbook was first available to the public in print in 1975. In 2008 the CIA discontinued printing the Factbook themselves, instead turning printing responsibilities over to the Government Printing Office and this happened due to a CIA decision to focus Factbook resources on the online edition. The Factbook has been on the World Wide Web since October 1994, the web version gets an average of 6 million visits per month, it can also be downloaded. The official printed version is sold by the Government Printing Office, in past years, the Factbook was available on CD-ROM, microfiche, magnetic tape, and floppy disk. Many Internet sites use information and images from the CIA World Factbook, several publishers, including Grand River Books, Potomac Books, and Skyhorse Publishing have re-published the Factbook in recent years. As of July 2011, The World Factbook consists of 267 entities and these entities can be divided into categories. They are, Independent countries This category has independent countries, which the CIA defines as people politically organized into a state with a definite territory. In this category, there are 195 entities, others The Other category is a list of other places set apart from the list of independent countries. Currently there are two, Taiwan and the European Union, dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty This category is a list of places affiliated with another country
34.
Geography of Africa
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Africa is a continent comprising 63 political territories, representing the largest of the great southward projections from the main mass of Earths surface. Within its regular outline, it comprises an area of 30,368,609 km2 and its highest mountain is Mount Kilimanjaro, its largest lake is Lake Victoria and its longest river is the Nile. Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea and from much of Asia by the Red Sea, for geopolitical purposes, the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt – east of the Suez Canal – is often considered part of Africa. Africa is thus composed of two segments at right angles, the northern running from east to west, and the southern from north to south. Moderately elevated tablelands are thus the feature of the continent, though the surface of these is broken by higher peaks. As a general rule, the higher tablelands lie to the east and south, while a progressive diminution in altitude towards the west and north is observable. Africa can be divided into a number of zones, The coastal plains — often fringed seawards by mangrove swamps — never stretching far from the coast. Recent alluvial flats are found chiefly in the delta of the important rivers. Elsewhere, the coastal lowlands form the lowest steps of the system of terraces that constitutes the ascent to the inner plateaus. The Atlas range — orthographically distinct from the rest of the continent, being unconnected with and separated from the south by a depressed, the high southern and eastern plateaus, rarely falling below 600 m, have a mean elevation of about 1,000 m. The South African Plateau, as far as about 12° S, is bounded east, west, on this account South Africa has a general resemblance to an inverted saucer. Due south the rim is formed by three parallel steps with level ground between them. The largest of these areas, the Great Karoo, is a dry, barren region. The South African Plateau is connected towards East African plateau, with probably a greater average elevation. The most striking feature is the existence of two lines of depression, due largely to the subsidence of whole segments of the Earths crust. Towards the south the two lines converge and give place to one great valley, the part of which is less distinctly due to rifting. Associated with these great valleys are a number of volcanic peaks, hardly less important is the Ruwenzori Range, over 5,060 m, which lies east of the western trough. Other volcanic peaks rise from the floor of the valleys, some of the Kirunga group, north of Lake Kivu and this could cause most of the cities and states to be flooded with lava and ash
35.
Geography of Algeria
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Algeria comprises 2,381,741 square kilometers of land, more than four-fifths of which is desert, in northern Africa, between Morocco and Tunisia. It is the largest country in Africa and its Arabic name, Al Jazair, derives from the name of the capital Algiers, after the small islands formerly found in its harbor. It has a long Mediterranean coastline, most of which is properly termed the Alboran Sea. The northern portion, an area of mountains, valleys, and this area includes Morocco, Tunisia, and the northwestern portion of Libya known historically as Tripolitania. Land boundaries, Total,6,764 km Border countries, Libya 989 km, Mali 1,359 km, Mauritania 460 km, Morocco 1,559 km, Niger 951 km, Tunisia 1,034 km, Western Sahara 41 km. Area – comparative, roughly 3.5 times the size of Texas, stretching more than 600 kilometers eastward from the Moroccan border, the high plateau area consist of undulating, steppe-like plains lying between the Tell and Saharan Atlas ranges. The elevation averages between 1, 100–1,300 metres in elevation in the west, dropping to 400 metres in the east, the climate is so dry that these plains are sometimes thought of as part of the Sahara. The plateau area is covered by alluvial debris formed when the mountains eroded, an occasional ridge projects through the alluvial cover to interrupt the monotony of the landscape. The mountains, which receive more rainfall than those of the High Plateaus, eastern Algeria consists of a massive area extensively dissected into mountains, plains, and basins. It differs from the portion of the country in that its prominent topographic features do not parallel the coast. In its southern sector, the cliffs and long ridges of the Aurès Mountains create an almost impenetrable refuge that has played an important part in the history of the Maghrib since Roman times. Near the northern coast, the Petite Kabylie Mountains are separated from the Grande Kabylie range at the limits of the Tell by the Soummam River. The coast is mountainous in the far eastern part of the country, but limited plains provide hinterlands for the port cities of Bejaïa, Skikda. Near Constantine, salt marshes offer seasonal grazing grounds to seminomadic sheep herders, the Algerian portion of the Sahara extends south of the Saharan Atlas for 1,500 kilometres to the Niger and Mali frontiers. The desert is a place, scarcely considered an integral part of the country. Far from being covered wholly by sweeps of sand, however, immense areas of sand dunes called areg occupy about one-quarter of the territory. The largest such region is the Grand Erg Oriental, where enormous dunes two to five metres high are spaced about 40 metres apart. Surrounding the Ahaggar are sandstone plateaus, cut deep gorges by ancient rivers
36.
Geography of Angola
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Angola is located on the western Atlantic Coast of southern Africa between Namibia and the Republic of the Congo. It also is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the country consists of a sparsely watered and somewhat sterile coastal plain extending inland for a distance varying from 50 to 160 km. Slightly inland and parallel to the coast is a belt of hills and mountains and behind those a large plateau. The rock formations of Angola are met with in three regions, the littoral zone, the median zone formed by a series of hills more or less parallel with the coast. The central plateau consists of ancient crystalline rocks with granites overlain by sandstones and conglomerates of Paleozoic age. The outcrops are largely hidden under laterite, the median zone is composed largely of crystalline rocks with granites and some Palaeozoic unfossiliferous rocks. The littoral zone contains the only fossiliferous strata and these are of Tertiary and Cretaceous ages, the latter rocks resting on a reddish sandstone of older date. The Cretaceous rocks of the Dombe Grande region are of Albian age, the beds containing Schloenbachia inflata are referable to the Gault. Rocks of Tertiary age are met with at Dombe Grande, Namibe, the sandstones with gypsum, copper and sulfur of Dombe are doubtfully considered to be of Triassic age. Recent eruptive rocks, mainly basalts, form a line of hills almost bare of vegetation between Benguela and Namibe, nepheline basalts and liparites occur at Dombe Grande. The presence of gum copal in considerable quantities in the rocks is characteristic of certain regions. The diamond mine of Catoca preserved unexpected ancient dinosaur, mammal, the coastal strip is tempered by the cool Benguela Current, resulting in a climate similar to coastal Peru or Baja California. It is semiarid in the South and along the coast to Luanda, there is a short rainy season lasting from February to April. Summers are hot and dry, while winters are mild, the north has a cool, dry season. The climate is influenced by the prevailing winds, which arc W. S. W. and S. S. W. Two seasons are distinguished - the cool, from June to September, the heaviest rainfall occurs in April, and is accompanied by violent storms. The far north and Cabinda enjoy rain throughout much of the year, the highest point in Angola is Morro de Môco, at 2,620 m. Elevations generally range from 910 to 1,830 m, the coast is for the most part flat, with occasional low cliffs and bluffs of red sandstone
37.
Geography of Benin
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Benin, a narrow, key-shaped, north-south strip of land in West Africa, lies between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer. With an area of 112,622 km2, it is bigger than the nation of Bulgaria. Benin extends from the Niger River in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south, although the coastline measures 121 km, the country measures about 325 km at its widest point. It is one of the countries in West Africa, about one eighth the size of Nigeria. It is, however, twice as large as Togo, its neighbor to the west, a relief map of Benin shows that it has little variation in elevation, averaging 200 m in elevation. The country can be divided into four areas from the south to the north. The low-lying, sandy, coastal plain which has a highest elevation of 10 m is and it is marshy and dotted with lakes and lagoons connected to the ocean. Then an area of flat lands dotted with rocky hills whose altitude seldom reaches 400 m extends around Nikki, finally, the Atacora mountain range extends along the northwest border and into Togo with the highest point, Mont Sokbaro, at 658 m. Benin has fields lying fallow, mangroves, and remnants of large sacred forests, in the rest of the country, the savanna is covered with thorny scrubs and dotted with huge baobab trees. Some forests line the banks of rivers, in the north and the northwest of Benin the Reserve du W du Niger and Pendjari National Park attract tourists eager to see elephants, lions, antelopes, hippos and monkeys. Previously Benin offered habitat for the painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus, although this canid is considered to have been extirpated from Benin. Benins climate is hot and humid, annual rainfall in the coastal area averages 1,360 mm, not particularly high for coastal West Africa. Benin has two rainy and two dry seasons, the principal rainy season is from April to late July, with a shorter less intense rainy period from late September to November. The main dry season is from December to April, with a short dry season from late July to early September. Temperatures and humidity are high along the tropical coast, in Cotonou, the average maximum temperature is 31 °C, the minimum is 24 °C. Variations in temperature increase when moving north through a savanna and plateau toward the Sahel, a dry wind from the Sahara called the harmattan blows from December to March. Grass dries up, the vegetation turns reddish brown, and a veil of fine dust hangs over the country and it is also the season when farmers burn brush in the fields. This is a list of the points of Benin, the points that are farther north, south
38.
Geography of Botswana
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Botswana is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa, north of South Africa. Botswana occupies an area of 581,730 square kilometres, of which 566,730 km2 are land, much of the population of Botswana is concentrated in the eastern part of the country. Sunshine totals are all year round although winter is the sunniest period. The whole country is windy and dusty during the dry season, Botswana is semi-arid, due to the short rain season. However, the high altitude of the country and its continental situation gives it a subtropical climate. The country is remote from moisture-laden air flows for most of the year, the dry season lasts from April to October in the south and to November in the north where, however, rainfall totals are higher. The south of the country is most exposed to cold winds during the period when average temperatures are around 14 °C. The whole country has hot summers with temperatures around 26 °C. Sunshine totals are all year round although winter is the sunniest period. The whole country is windy and dusty during the dry season, the land is predominantly flat to gently undulating tableland, although there is some hilly country, where mining is carried out. The Kalahari Desert is in the central and the southwest, the Okavango Delta, one of the worlds largest inland deltas, is in the northwest and the Makgadikgadi Pans, a large salt pan lies in the north-central area. Botswanas lowest elevation point is at the junction of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers, the highest point is Monalanong Hill, at 1,494 m. None of these rivers normally flows as far as the Orange, except for the Chobe, Okavango, Boteti and Limpopo rivers, most of Botswanas rivers cease to flow during the dry and early rainy seasons. Botswana is affected by droughts, and seasonal August winds blow from the west, carrying sand and dust. Current environmental issues in Botswana are overgrazing, desertification and the existence of only limited fresh water resources, research from the University of Botswana has found that the common practice of overstocking cattle to cope with drought losses actually depletes scarce biomass, making ecosystems more vulnerable. The study of the Kgatleng district predicts that by 2050 the cycle of drought is likely to become shorter —18 months instead of two years—due to climate change. This is a list of the points of Botswana, the points that are farther north, south
39.
Geography of Burkina Faso
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Burkina Faso is a landlocked Sahel country that shares borders with six nations. It lies between the Sahara desert and the Gulf of Guinea, south of the loop of the Niger River, the land is green in the south, with forests and fruit trees, and desert in the north. Most of central Burkina Faso lies on a plateau, 198–305 metres above sea level, with fields, brush. Burkina Fasos game preserves—the most important of which are Arly, Nazinga, and W National Park—contain lions, elephants, hippopotamus, monkeys, common warthogs, and antelopes. Burkina Faso has an area of 274,200 km2. Comparatively, it is larger than New Zealand and Colorado. Its borders total 3,611 km, Benin 386 km, Ivory Coast 545 km, Ghana 602 km, Mali 1,325 km, Niger 622 km and it has no coastline or maritime claims. This is a list of the points of Burkina Faso. These regions encompass 45 provinces and 351 departments, Burkina Faso has a primarily tropical climate with two very distinct seasons. In the rainy season, the country receives between 600 and 900 millimetres of rainfall, in the dry season, the harmattan – a hot dry wind from the Sahara – blows. The rainy season lasts four months, May/June to September. Three climatic zones can be defined, the Sahel, the Sudan-Sahel, the Sahel in the north typically receives less than 600 millimeters of rainfall per year and has high temperatures, 5–47 degrees Celsius. Situated between 11°3 and 13°5 north latitude, the Sudan-Sahel region is a zone with regards to rainfall. Further to the south, the Sudan-Guinea zone receives more than 900 millimeters of rain each year and has average temperatures. It is made up of two types of countryside. The larger part of the country is covered by a peneplain, which forms an undulating landscape with, in some areas, a few isolated hills. The southwest of the country, on the hand, forms a sandstone massif. The massif is bordered by cliffs up to 150 meters high
40.
Geography of Burundi
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Burundi is located in central Africa, to the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the co-ordinates 3°30′S 30°0′E. Burundi occupies an equal to 27,830 square kilometres in size. The country has 1,140 kilometres of border,236 kilometres of which is shared with the Democratic Republic of the Congo,315 kilometres with Rwanda and 589 kilometres with Tanzania. As a landlocked country, Burundi possesses no coastline and it straddles the crest of the Congo-Nile Divide which separates the basins of the Congo and Nile rivers. The farthest headwaters of the Nile, the Ruvyironza River, has its source in Burundi, Burundi in general has a tropical highland climate, with a considerable daily temperature range in many areas. Temperature also varies considerably from one region to another, chiefly as a result of differences in altitude, the central plateau enjoys pleasantly cool weather, with an average temperature of 20 °C. The area around Lake Tanganyika is warmer, averaging 23 °C, bujumbura’s average annual temperature is 23 °C. Rain is irregular, falling most heavily in the northwest, dry seasons vary in length, and there are sometimes long periods of drought. However, four seasons can be distinguished, the dry season, the short wet season, the short dry season. Most of Burundi receives between 1,300 and 1,600 mm of rainfall a year, the Ruzizi Plain and the northeast receive between 750 and 1,000 mm The terrain of Burundi is hilly and mountainous, dropping to a plateau in the east. The southern and eastern plains have been categorised by the World Wildlife Fund as part of the Central Zambezian Miombo woodlands ecoregion. The lowest point in the country is at Lake Tanganyika, at 772 metres, with the highest point being on Mount Heha, natural hazards are posed in Burundi by flooding and landslides. Burundi possesses reserves of, nickel, uranium, rare earth oxides, peat, cobalt, copper, platinum, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, gold, tin, tungsten, kaolin, there is also arable land and the potential for hydropower. Burundi has 214.3 square kilometres of land that is irrigated, the table below describes land use in Burundi. Soil erosion is an issue for Burundi, and is as a result of overgrazing, other issues include, deforestation, due to the uncontrolled cutting-down of trees for fuel, and habitat loss threatens wildlife populations. The following have been signed but not yet ratified by Burundi, Law of the Sea and this is a list of the extreme points of Burundi, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location
41.
Geography of Cameroon
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At 475,440 km2, Cameroon is the worlds 54th largest country. It is slightly larger than the nation of Sweden and state of California and it is comparable in size to Papua New Guinea. Cameroons landmass is 472,710 km2, with 2,730 km2 of water, the country is located in Central and West Africa, bordering the Bight of Biafra, between Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria. Cameroon can be divided into five geographic zones and these are distinguished by dominant physical, climatic, and vegetative features. Cameroons coastal plain extends 20 to 80 kilometres inland from the Gulf of Guinea to the edge of a plateau, in the former western state, however, the mass of Mount Cameroon reaches almost to the sea. The plain is densely forested including areas of Central African mangroves especially around Douala, the low South Cameroon Plateau, rising from the coastal plain and dominated by tropical rain forest, has an average elevation of 500 to 600 metres. It is less humid than the coast, in western Cameroon is an irregular chain of mountains, hills, and plateaus that extends from Mount Cameroon almost to Lake Chad at the northern tip of the country. This region includes the Bamenda, Bamiléké, and Mambilla highlands and it also contains some of the countrys most fertile soils, notably around volcanic Mt. Cameroon. From the forested southern plateau the land rises northward to the grassy, stretching across Cameroon from the western mountain area, the Adamaoua forms a barrier between the north and south. Its average elevation is 1,000 m, the southern savanna plain extends from the edge of the Adamaoua to Lake Chad. Its characteristic vegetation is scrub and grass and this is region of sparse rainfall and high median temperatures has been included as part of the East Sudanian savanna ecoregion. The climate varies with terrain, from tropical along the coast to semiarid, exceedingly hot and humid, the coastal belt includes some of the wettest places on earth. For example, Debundscha, at the base of Mt. Cameroon, has an annual rainfall of 10,300 millimetres. The country has four patterns of drainage, the Dja and Kadeï, however, drain southeastward into the Congo River. In northern Cameroon, the Benoué River runs north and west, eventually into the Niger, while the Logone River flows northward into Lake Chad
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Geography of Cape Verde
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Cape Verde is a group of arid Atlantic islands which are home to a number of birds and reptiles and constitute a unique ecoregion in the World Wildlife Fund classification. The Cape Verde Islands are located in the mid-Atlantic Ocean some 570 km off the west coast of the continent of Africa, the landscape varies from dry plains to high active volcanoes with cliffs rising steeply from the ocean. The archipelago consists of 10 islands and 5 islets, divided into the windward and leeward groups, the six islands in the Barlavento group are Santo Antão, São Vicente, Santa Luzia, São Nicolau, Sal, and Boa Vista. The islands in the Sotavento group are Maio, Santiago, Fogo, all but Santa Luzia are inhabited. Three islands – Sal, Boa Vista, and Maio – generally are level, mountains higher than 1,280 metres are found on Santiago, Fogo, Santo Antão, and São Nicolau. Sand carried by high winds has caused erosion on all islands, sheer, jagged cliffs rise from the sea on several of the mountainous islands. The lack of vegetation in the uplands and coast also contributes to soil erosion. Only the interior valleys support natural vegetation. 09% of world Sea mounts,0. 04% of world source, Sea Around Us Projects Countries EEZ Terrain Steep, rugged, rocky, volcanic. Elevation extremes Lowest point, Atlantic Ocean 0 m Highest point, Mount Fogo 2,829 m Natural resources Salt, basalt rock, limestone, kaolin, fish. Geography - note Strategic location 500 km from west coast of Africa near major north-south sea routes, important communications station, important sea, Cabo Verde shares maritime boundaries with Mauritania and Senegal. Cabo Verde has signed treaties with Senegal and Mauritania delimiting the specific boundaries, however, the two treaties conflict in their delimitation of the precise borders. A cold Atlantic current produces an atmosphere around the archipelago. December–June is cool and dry, with temperatures at sea level averaging 21 °C, July–November is warm and dry, although some rain comes during the latter season, rainfall is sparse overall and very erratic. Accumulations are generally around 130 mm annually in the islands and 300 mm in the south. The archipelago is subject to droughts, a devastating drought began in 1968 and was broken only briefly in 1975,1978,1984. Rainfall is irregular, historically causing periodic droughts and famines, the average precipitation per year in Praia is 240 mm. During the winter, storms blowing from the Sahara sometimes form dense dust clouds that obscure the sun, however, the clearest skies are found between February and June, with very little rainfall during these months. Saharan dust, Harmattan wind, laden dust from the Sahara and this occurs between November and March and is generally similar to the Calima affecting the Canary Islands
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Geography of the Central African Republic
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The Central African Republic is a landlocked nation within the interior of the African continent. It is bordered by the countries of Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, much of the country consists of flat, or rolling plateau savanna, about 1,640 feet above sea level. In the northeast are the Fertit Hills, and there are scattered hills in the part of the country. To the northwest are the Karre Mountains, a plateau with an altitude of 3,750 feet. At 622,984 square kilometres, the Central African Republic is the worlds 45th-largest country and it is comparable in size to Ukraine or slightly smaller than the state of Texas. Much of the border is formed by tributaries of the Congo River. In the west, the Sangha River flows through part of the country, the eastern border lies along the edge of the Congo-Nile watershed. Estimates of the amount of the covered by forest ranges up to 8%. The forest is diverse, and includes commercially important species of Ayous, Sapelli. The deforestation rate is 0. 4% per annum, and lumber poaching is commonplace, the climate of the C. A. R. is generally tropical. The northern areas are subject to winds, which are hot, dry. The tip of the regions have been subject to desertification. The remainder of the country is prone to flooding from nearby rivers
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Geography of Chad
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Desert region, which itself is larger than France. The capital city of NDjaména, situated at the confluence of the Chari and Logone Rivers, is cosmopolitan in nature, the northernmost Saharan zone averages less than 200 mm of rainfall annually. The sparse human population is nomadic, with some livestock, mostly small ruminants. The central Sahelian zone receives between 200 and 600 mm rainfall and has vegetation ranging from grass/shrub steppe to thorny, open savanna. The southern zone, often referred to as the Sudanian zone, rainfall in the Guinea zone, located in Chads southwestern tip, ranges between 1,000 and 1,200 mm. The countrys topography is flat, with the elevation gradually rising as one moves north. The highest point in Chad is Emi Koussi, a mountain that rises 3,100 m in the northern Tibesti Mountains, the Ennedi Plateau and the Ouaddaï highlands in the east complete the image of a gradually sloping basin, which descends towards Lake Chad. There are also central highlands in the Guera region rising to 1,500 m, Lake Chad is the second largest lake in west Africa and is one of the most important wetlands on the continent. Bordered by Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon, Lake Chad currently covers only 1350 square kilometers, the Chari and Logone Rivers, both of which originate in the Central African Republic and flow northward, provide most of the surface water entering Lake Chad. Chad is also next to Niger, located in north-central Africa, Chad stretches for about 1,800 kilometers from its northernmost point to its southern boundary. Except in the far northwest and south, where its borders converge and its area of 1,284,000 square kilometers is roughly equal to the combined areas of Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. Chads neighbors include Libya to the north, Niger and Nigeria to the west, Sudan to the east, Central African Republic to the south, Chad exhibits two striking geographical characteristics. These vast distances from the sea have had a impact on Chads historical. Although much of Chads distinctiveness comes from this diversity of influences, although Chadian society is economically, socially, and culturally fragmented, the countrys geography is unified by the Lake Chad Basin. Once a huge inland sea whose only remnant is shallow Lake Chad, the smaller, southern part of the basin falls almost exclusively in Chad. It is delimited in the north by the Guéra Massif, in the south by highlands 250 kilometers south of the border with Central African Republic, and in the southwest by the Mandara Mountains. This oddity arises because the great stationary dunes of the Kanem region create a dam, north and northeast of Lake Chad, the basin extends for more than 800 kilometers, passing through regions characterized by great rolling dunes separated by very deep depressions. Although vegetation holds the dunes in place in the Kanem region, farther north they are bare and have a fluid, from its low point in the Djourab, the basin then rises to the plateaus and peaks of the Tibesti Mountains in the north
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Geography of the Comoros
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The Comoros archipelago consists of four main islands aligned along a northwest-southeast axis at the north end of the Mozambique Channel, between Mozambique and the island of Madagascar. Still widely known by their French names, the islands officially have been called by their Swahili names by the Comorian government and they are Grande Comore, Mohéli, Anjouan, and Mayotte. The islands have a land area of 2,236 square kilometers. Mount Karthala on Grande Comore is an active volcano, from April 17 to 19,2005, the volcano began spewing ash and gas, forcing as many as 10,000 people to flee. Geographic coordinates, 12°10′S 44°15′E Grande Comore is the largest island, sixty-seven kilometers long and twenty-seven kilometers wide, the most recently formed of the four islands in the archipelago, it is also of volcanic origin. A plateau averaging 600 to 700 meters high connects the two mountains, because Grande Comore is geologically a relatively new island, its soil is thin and rocky and cannot hold water. As a result, water from the heavy rainfall must be stored in catchment tanks. There are no coral reefs along the coast, and the island lacks a good harbor for ships, one of the largest remnants of the Comoros once-extensive rain forests is on the slopes of Kartala. The national capital has been at Moroni since 1962, Anjouan, triangular shaped and forty kilometers from apex to base, has an area of 424 square kilometers. Three mountain chains — Sima, Nioumakele, and Jimilime—emanate from a peak, Mtingui. Older than Grande Comore, Anjouan has deeper soil cover, a coral reef lies close to shore, the islands capital of Mutsamudu is also its main port. Mohéli is thirty kilometers long and twelve wide, with an area of 290 square kilometers. It is the smallest of the four islands and has a mountain chain reaching 860 meters at its highest. Like Grande Comore, it retains stands of rain forest, because of greater weathering of the volcanic rock, the soil is relatively rich in some areas. A well-developed coral reef that encircles much of the island ensures protection for ships, dzaoudzi, capital of the Comoros until 1962 and now Mayottes administrative center, is situated on a rocky outcropping off the east shore of the main island. Dzaoudzi is linked by a causeway to le Pamanzi, which at ten kilometers in area is the largest of several islets adjacent to Mayotte, islets are also scattered in the coastal waters of Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli. A live specimen was caught in 1938 off southern Africa, other coelacanths have since found in the vicinity of the Comoro Islands. Several mammals are unique to the islands themselves, livingstones fruit bat, although plentiful when discovered by explorer David Livingstone in 1863, has been reduced to a population of about 120, entirely on Anjouan
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook website https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html.