From the earth’s core…. to the roof of Africa High, mountains Ethiopia has been called “the roof of Africa; From the peaks nearly 15,000 feet 4620 meters high to desert 380 feet or 200 meters below sea level, this rugged country is unique in all Africa. Ethiopia’s varied landscape makes so much possible. A wide range of temperatures, rainfall, and ecological zones. Plants and animals found no where else and food crops. First domesticated or discovered in Ethiopia and then introduced to the world (coffee, enset, teff). These differences from one part of the country to another helped give rise to 80 separate ethnic groups with their own customs and cultures. Ethiopia is Ethiopia because of its landscape and that landscape has its roots at the core of the earth!

The highlands of Ethiopia are divided in half by the great Rift valley. Which formed along a series of faults through the Earth’s strong crust. But what caused the crust to crack? The answer can’t be found at the surface, but deep down in the Erath where the base of the mantle meets the outer core. the core heated the mantle rock so hot that it became less dense than the surrounding rock and rose slowly in a huge, balloon-shaped plume. About 45 millions years ago, that plum pressed up against the base of the Ethiopian crust and pushed the land surface upward in a broad dome 250 miles in diameter. The weakened crust cracked along three radial faults, and what is now the Arabian peninsula broke away from Africa along rifts now filled by the waters of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The doming, rifting and volcanism created a land much richer and more varied than the hot desert that Ethiopia was before. Although the highest mountains (Called Dega) are too rocky and cold for farming, the intermediate highlands (wayna Dega) have day time temperatures of about 700F year round and usually receives enough rainfall to support forests, livestoek grazing, and successful agriculture.

The Afar owes its origin entirely to rifiting. It is new volcanic land that formed after the separation of Arabia from Africa-and it is still forming now! The Afar is a place of active volcanoes, black lava fields, colorful hot springs, earth guakes, and dry, salt-covered lakebeds. Part of the area, the Danakil Depression, includes the lowest dry land on Earth.

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