Tanzania's Physical Geography- Present and Future

In this blog, I've discussed Tanzania's interesting physical geography and focused a lot of attention on the spectacle known as Ngorongoro Crater. Tanzania's geography is very unique. One interesting aspect is the climate. The average temperature hardly changes in Tanzania, due to the warm Indian Ocean current sitting right next to it. Although, not many mass wasting events occur in Tanzania, floods and landslides can happen in this region. Of course, the occasional flood or landslide is equaled out by the nutrient rich soil that can be found in many parts of Tanzania. The soil is one of the reasons Tanzania is known for its' abundant flora and fauna. The dominant geographical figure in Tanzania is the Great Rift Valley which was created by a parallel fault line. Ngorongoro Crater was created by the Great Rift Valley and its where we found evidence of the first humans.

http://www.sweetmarias.com/coffee.africa.tanzania.php


10 Years From Today
Perhaps the first noticable change in Tanzania is going to be the changes in the soil. Soil degradation, deforestation, and other human caused problems along with natural problems such as droughts will cause the soil to change and become less nutrient rich. Unless change happens, lush forests and dense vegetation will be lost. A process called "desertification" is happening in certain parts of Tanzania already, these problems will continue and probably get worse considering the population continues to grow exponentially. Although the Great Rift Valley is on a moving fault line, in ten years, practically no noticeablle changes will occur as far as that goes, besides occasional flooding and landslides which all ready happen.

http://geology.com/articles/east-africa-rift.shtml

As you can see in the image above, The plates that are against each other to create this fault line is the Somalian Plate and the Nubian (African) plate.

100 years from today
Once again, the most noticable change will be the soil one hundred years from now. Unless, major changes happen, such as a major population decrease, much of Tanzania's rich soil will become less able to support as much life as it currently does. This change could also influence droughts and desertification even further. One hundered years from now, most geographers agree that the rift and fault line will spread further apart. One hundred years from now, we probably won't see much change, but the crust in this area (particularly Northern Tanzania) will thin.

http://geology.com/articles/east-africa-rift.shtml

In the image above, the East African Rift can be seen "tearing" into the African continent.

1000 years from now
It is difficult to know what will happen to Tanzania's soil one thousand years from now, but chances are the abundant soil we see today will all but vanish in place of less nutrient rich soil. As the rift continues to split, volcanic activty may occur along with even more floods and landslides. Flooding and landslides happen today in Tanzania, but more than likely in one thousand years, there will be even more. One could say that Tanzania is in for a "rough geographical ride" for the next thousand years.