Ethiopian Rift Valley Lakes
The Ethiopian Rift Valley lakes are the northernmost of the African Rift Valley lakes. In central Ethiopia 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 (1162 km2, elevation 1285 m), the largest Ethiopian Rift Valley lake
- Lake Chamo (551 km2, elevation 1235 m)
- Lake Zway (485 km2, elevation 1636 m)
- Lake Shala (329 km2, elevation 1558 m), the deepest Ethiopian Rift Valley lake
- Lake Koka (250 km2, elevation 1590 m)
- Lake Langano (230 km2, elevation 1585 m)
- Lake Abijatta (205 km2, elevation 1573 m)
- Lake Awasa (129 km2, elevation 1708 m)
Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile, lies in the Ethiopian highlands north of the Rift Valley; it is not a Rift Valley lake.
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Famous quotes containing the words ethiopian, valley and/or lakes:
“The Ethiopian cannot change his skin nor the leopard his spots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“How old the world is! I walk between two eternities.... What is my fleeting existence in comparison with that decaying rock, that valley digging its channel ever deeper, that forest that is tottering and those great masses above my head about to fall? I see the marble of tombs crumbling into dust; and yet I don’t want to die!”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)
“Such were the first rude beginnings of a town. They spoke of the practicability of a winter road to the Moosehead Carry, which would not cost much, and would connect them with steam and staging and all the busy world. I almost doubted if the lake would be there,—the self-same lake,—preserve its form and identity, when the shores should be cleared and settled; as if these lakes and streams which explorers report never awaited the advent of the citizen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)