science

Rift Valley lakes

Rift Valley lakes is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Rift Valley lakes rather than just read about it. In short: The Rift Valley lakes are a series of lakes in the East African Rift valley that runs through eastern Africa from Ethiopia in the north to Malawi in the south, and includes the African Great Lakes in the south. These include some of the world's oldest lakes, deepest lakes, largest lakes by area, and largest lakes by volume.

Key takeaways

Rift Valley lakes belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Rift Valley lakes to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Rift Valley lakes from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Rift Valley lakes are a series of lakes in the East African Rift valley that runs through eastern Africa from Ethiopia in the north to Malawi in the south, and includes the African Great Lakes in the south. These include some of the world's oldest lakes, deepest lakes, largest lakes by area, and largest lakes by volume. Many are freshwater ecoregions of great biodiversity, while others are alkaline "soda lakes" supporting highly specialised organisms. The Rift Valley lakes are well known for the evolution of at least 800 cichlid fish species that live in their waters. More species are expected to be discovered. The World Wide Fund for Nature has designated these lakes as one of its Global 200 priority ecoregions for conservation.

Geology Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika have formed in the various valleys of the East African Rift zone. Lake Kivu's "still waters ... hide another face: dissolved within are billions of cubic meters of flammable methane and more still of carbon dioxide, the result of volcanic gases seeping in."

Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes national park

The Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes are the northernmost of the African Rift Valley lakes. In central Ethiopia, the Main Ethiopian Rift, also known as the Great Rift Valley, splits the Ethiopian Highlands into northern and southern halves, and the Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes occupy the floor of the rift valley between the two highlands. Most of the Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes do not have an outlet, and most are alkaline. Although the Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes are of great importance to Ethiopia's economy, as well as being essential to the survival of the local people, there were no intensive and extensive limnological studies undertaken of these lakes until recently. The major ones are

Lake Abaya (areal extent 1,162 square kilometres (449 mi2), elevation 1,285 metres (4,216 ft), maximum depth 13.1 metres (43 ft)), the largest Ethiopian Rift Valley lake by surface area Lake Chamo (areal extent 551 square kilometres (213 mi2), elevation 1,235 metres (4,052 ft), maximum depth 14 metres (46 ft)) Lake Zway or Dambal (areal extent 485 square kilometres (187 mi2), elevation 1,636 metres (5,367 ft), maximum depth 8.9 metres (29 ft)) Lake Shala (areal extent 329 square kilometres (127 mi2), elevation 1,558 metres (5,112 ft), maximum depth 266 metres (873 ft)), the deepest Ethiopian Rift Valley lake and the largest by water volume Koka Reservoir (areal extent 250 square kilometres (97 mi2), elevation 1,590 metres (5,220 ft), maximum depth not listed) Lake Langano (areal extent 230 square kilometres (89 mi2), elevation 1,585 metres (5,200 ft), maximum depth 46 metres (151 ft)) Lake Abijatta (areal extent 205 square kilometres (79 mi2), elevation 1,573 metres (5,161 ft), maximum depth 14 metres (46 ft)) Lake Awasa (areal extent 129 square kilometres (50 mi2), elevation 1,708 metres (5,604 ft), maximum depth 10 metres (33 ft)) Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile, lies in the Ethiopian highlands north of the Rift Valley; however, it is not a Rift Valley lake.

Eastern Rift Valley lakes

South of the Ethiopian highlands, the rift valley splits into two major troughs. The Eastern Rift is home to the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes, while most of the Central African Rift Valley lakes lie in the Western Rift. This area includes the Gregory Rift in Kenya and Tanzania.

Kenya The Kenyan section of the Rift Valley is home to eight lakes, of which three are freshwater and the rest alkaline. Of the latter, the shallow soda lakes of the Eastern Rift Valley have crystallised salt turning the shores white and are famous for the large flocks of flamingo that feed on crustaceans.

Lake Baringo: second largest of the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes. 130 square kilometres (50 sq mi), elevation 970 metres (3,180 ft), freshwater Lake Bogoria: shallow soda lake, a national preserve. 34 square kilometres (13 mi2), elevation 990 metres (3,250 ft) Lake Elmenteita: shallow soda lake. Lake Logipi: a shallow hot-spring fed soda lake in the Suguta Valley just south of Lake Turkana. Formerly Lake Suguta Lake Magadi: shallow soda lake near the southern border with Tanzania. Lake Naivasha: 160 square kilometres (62 mi2) although it varies somewhat with rainfall, elevation 1,890 metres (6,200 ft), freshwater Lake Nakuru: shallow soda lake, has been a national park since 1968. 40 square kilometres (15 mi2), elevation 1,759 metres (5,771 ft) Lake Turkana: the largest of the Kenyan lakes, on the border of Kenya and Ethiopia. 6,405 square kilometres (2,473 mi2), elevation 360 metres (1,180 ft), freshwater

Tanzania All the lakes in the Tanzanian section of this group are alkaline:

Lake Eyasi: shallow soda lake Lake Kitangiri Lake Makati: shallow soda lake Lake Manyara: shallow soda lake Lake Natron: shallow soda lake that has been categorised by the World Wildlife Fund as being in the East African halophytics ecoregion.

Western or Albertine Rift Valley lakes

The lakes of the Western or Albertine Rift, with Lake Victoria, include the largest, deepest, and oldest of the Rift Valley Lakes. They are also referred to as the Central African lakes. Lakes Albert, Victoria, and Edward are part of the Nile River basin. Lake Victoria (elevation 1,134 metres (3,720 ft)), with an area of 68,800 square kilometres (26,600 mi2), is the largest lake in Africa. It is not in the Rift Valley, instead occupying a depression between the eastern and western rifts formed by the uplift of the rifts to either side. Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, and Malawi are sometimes collectively known as the African Great Lakes. The Western Rift Valley lakes are fresh water and home to an extraordinary number of species. Approximately 1,500 cichlid fish (Cichlidae) species live in the lakes. In addition to the cichlids, populations of Clariidae, Claroteidae, Mochokidae, Poeciliidae, Mastacembelidae, Centropomidae, Cyprinidae, Clupeidae and other fish families are found in these lakes. They are also important habitats for a number of amphibian species, including Amietophrynus kisoloensis, Bufo keringyagae, Cardioglossa cyaneospila, and Nectophryne batesii.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rift Valley lakes

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rift Valley lakes claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Rift Valley lakes before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Rift Valley lakes ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Rift Valley lakes

In research: Rift Valley lakes appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Rift Valley lakes in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Rift Valley lakes is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Freshwater ecoregions, Lakes of Africa, Lakes of the Great Rift Valley, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Rift Valley lakes outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Rift Valley lakes in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Rift Valley lakes means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Rift Valley lakes out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Rift Valley lakes in simple terms?

Why does Rift Valley lakes matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Rift Valley lakes?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Rift Valley lakes.