The development of new energy in East Africa will profoundly affect the economic and social development of the region, bring new influence to the economic structure and energy pattern of the region, promote the start and development of the energy industry in the region, and then promote the overall economy of the region. First of all, the new development of energy will completely reverse the situation of energy shortage in East Africa, so that countries in this region can enjoy energy income dividends. For a long time, the energy consumption of countries in this region mostly depends on imports, which has become one of the largest financial expenditure items of governments. Take Kenya as an example. In 20 10, China's oil imports reached $2.7 billion, accounting for 22% of the total imported products. After realizing energy self-sufficiency and even export, the balance of payments accounts of countries in this region will be fundamentally changed, and it will bring more space for their governments to adjust public finance expenditures.
Secondly, East Africa's energy industry will enter a rapid development track. In the next few decades, it will attract a large number of domestic and foreign capital investments, drive a large number of infrastructure construction and the development of related industries, thus injecting sustained impetus into the economic development of the region. In Tanzania, the government has put forward the goal of becoming a big exporter of natural gas in the world as soon as possible, hoping to change the economic structure and realize the fundamental transformation from the traditional agricultural economic model to industrialization.
In Uganda, the discovery of new oil fields has strengthened the government's determination to build an oil refinery in the western Hoyma area. At present, the Ugandan government has decided to invest US$ 654.38+300 million to build a new refinery to directly process the crude oil extracted in this area. The Ugandan government believes that building an oil refinery in an oil-producing area can not only save the cost of pipeline transportation, help meet domestic demand, but also cover the markets of neighboring countries, thus bringing more benefits. This rift zone is located in eastern Africa, starting from the south of Zambezi River estuary in the south, passing through Hill Valley to the north of Lake Malawi (Nyasa Lake) in the north, and then divided into two branches:
East branch rift zone: it is the main rift, along the east side of Lake Victoria, passing through Tanzania and central Kenya to the north, crossing the Ethiopian Plateau into the Red Sea, and then extending from the Red Sea to the Jordan Valley to the northwest, with a total length of nearly 6,000 kilometers. The rift valley here is about tens to 200 kilometers wide, and the bottom of the valley is mostly flat. There are steep cliffs on both sides of the rift valley, and the height difference between the bottom and the top of the cliff ranges from several hundred meters to 2000 meters.
West branch rift zone: generally along the west side of Lake Victoria, it passes through a series of lakes such as Lake Tanganyika and Lake Kivu from south to north, and gradually disappears to the north, with a relatively small scale, with a total length of 1700 km. There are many volcanoes on the plateau on both sides of the Rift Valley in East Africa, such as Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and Nyiragongo, and there are about 30 beaded lakes at the bottom. These lakes are long and narrow and deep. Among them, Lake Tanganyika is 670km long from north to south and 40km to 80km wide from east to west, making it the longest lake in the world, with an average water depth of 1 130m, making it the second deepest lake in the world after Lake Baikal in North Asia. More than 654.38 million years ago, the fracture of the earth's crust formed this huge subsidence zone. According to the theory of plate tectonics, this is the place where the land masses are separated, that is, eastern Africa is just in the zone where mantle materials rise and flow strongly. Under the action of upwelling, the crust of East Africa rises to form a plateau, and upwelling in opposite directions on both sides is dispersed, which makes the fragile part of the crust crack and sag, becoming a rift zone. The average speed of tensile fracture is 2 cm ~ 4 cm per year, which is still going on, and the rift zone is still expanding to both sides. Because this is an active area of crustal movement, there are many volcanoes and earthquakes.
The Great Rift Valley in East Africa is a geographical wonder that runs through East Africa, the largest rift zone in the world, and is known as the scar of the earth. It is said that due to the crustal plate movement about 30 million years ago, the strata in eastern Africa broke. Geologists predict that the African continent will break into two continental plates along the rift valley in the future.
How did the Great Rift Valley form? According to the investigation of geologists, about 30 million years ago, due to the strong crustal fracture movement, the mainland drifted away from the Arabian ancient land mass, forming a rift. At that time, the crust in this area was in a period of great movement, and the whole area was uplifting, and the mantle material under the crust rose and bifurcated, resulting in great tension. It is under this tension that the crust breaks and a rift is formed. Due to the continuous uplift movement, the crustal fracture is constantly produced, and the underground lava is constantly pouring out, gradually forming a tall lava plateau. Volcanoes on the plateau have become numerous peaks, and the subsidence area of faults has become the bottom of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.
According to the analysis of geophysical exploration data, it is concluded that there are many active volcanoes in the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, and the uplift phenomenon is still spreading to the two wings. Although the speed is very slow, with an average annual expansion rate of only 2 to 4 centimeters in the past 2 million years, if it continues to develop, one day in the future, the East African Rift Valley will eventually separate its eastern land from the African continent, thus creating new oceans and numerous islands. The Rift Valley in East Africa is also one of the earliest cradles of human civilization. In the late 1950s, a prehistoric skull fossil was found in Oduwe Valley in northern Tanzania, west of the east branch of the East African Rift Valley. According to the determination and analysis, this skull fossil was named "East African Warrior" 2 million years ago. 1972, a skull with a survival age of 2.9 million years was excavated on the shore of Lake Turkana in the northern part of the rift valley. Its sacrifice is very similar to that of modern people, and it is considered as a typical "capable person" who has completed the transformation from apes to humans. 1975, the remains of homo habilis 3.5 million years ago were found in the rift valley at the junction of Tanzania and Kenya, and the footprints of homo habilis 22 meters long were found in the hardened volcanic ash layer. This shows that as early as 3.5 million years ago, there were people who could walk upright in the Rift Valley of East Africa, belonging to the earliest members of mankind.
This series of archaeological discoveries in the Great Rift Valley in East Africa proves that Africa, once described by western colonists as barbaric, poor and backward, is actually one of the cradles of human civilization and a land with splendid ancient civilization. At the bottom of the rift valley is an open Yuan Ye, and more than 20 long and narrow lakes are scattered in the valley like a string of glittering sapphires. Lake Navasha and Lake Nakuru in the middle are habitats for birds and other animals, and are also important tourist areas and wildlife reserves in Kenya. Lake Navasha is the highest lake in the rift valley, with an altitude of 1.900 meters. Lake Magadi in the south produces trona, which is an important mineral resource in Kenya. Lake Turkana in the north is one of the birthplaces of human beings, where ancient human skull fossils of 2.6 million years ago were found.
The Great Rift Valley in East Africa is also a huge natural livestock pond, where most lakes in Africa are concentrated, with about 30 large and small, such as Abbe Lake, Sarah Lake, Turkana Lake, Magadi Lake, Victoria Lake (located on the plateau between the East and West Rift Zones) and Jiaojia Lake. The former is the largest lake in Africa, and the lake is very shallow. Lake Malawi (7 times the maximum width and 706 meters deep, making it the fourth deepest lake in the world) and Lake Tanganyika (0.3 times the maximum width and 0.470 meters deep, making it the second deepest lake in the world). These lakes spread out in long strips and beaded along the palaces of the rift valley, becoming a great beauty on the East African plateau.
The lakes in these rift zones are blue, vast and ever-changing. They are not only tourist attractions, but also rich in water resources, with fertile land, lush vegetation and numerous wild animals. Elephants, hippos, African lions, rhinos, antelopes, foxes, flamingos and vultures all live here. The governments of Tanzania, Kenya and other countries have turned these places into wildlife parks or nature reserves. For example, Lake Nakuru, located in the suburb of Nakuru, the capital of Kenya's Canyon Province, is a lake rich in bird resources, with more than 400 species of birds, which is a key national park in Kenya. Among many birds, there is a bird named Fleming, which is called the most beautiful bird in the world. Under normal circumstances, there are more than 50,000 flamingos in the lake area, reaching 1.5 million at most. When thousands of birds fly or perch on the lake, from a distance, there is a rosy glow, which is very beautiful.
Before seeing the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, many people imagined that it must be a long, narrow, dark, gloomy and horrible fault flow, with long weeds and rugged rocks inside, and no one set foot in it. In fact, when you come to the Rift Valley, you will see a completely different scene: in the distance, the dense virgin forest covers the peaks of Gong Mian, and the hillside is covered with Xianbinbin and cactus with purple and yellowish flowers. Nearby, the grassland is vast, green bushes are scattered among them, weeds are green, flowers are blooming, and several lakes in the depths of the grassland are sparkling and floating among mountains and rivers. The bottom of the rift valley is flat and magnanimous, with abundant grass and lush forests, full of vitality. The Rift Valley in East Africa is the main agricultural area in Kenya because of its abundant rainfall and fertile land. In the Rift Valley Lake area of East Africa, rivers flow into the lake from the surrounding highlands, with abundant rainfall and dense river network, Marombe Lake in southern Malawi. It is only 19 km north of the south entrance of Lake Malawi. It is 29 kilometers long, 0/4.5 kilometers wide and covers an area of 420 square kilometers. Water depth 10- 13m. Located in the southern section of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, the Schiller River runs through it. Originally part of Lake Malawi, it was separated by falling water. Aquatic products are abundant and fisheries are developed. The theory of African origin, which is beneficial to navigation, is the mainstream theory at present. Scientists have found a large number of early hominid fossils in the Great Rift Valley in East Africa, especially the skeletal fossils of "Lucy", showing the morphological and structural characteristics of both humans and apes. The Rift Valley in East Africa is also the region with the most frequent and intense earthquakes in Africa.
In Kenya, the outline of the rift valley is very clear. It runs through the north and south, bisecting the country and crossing the country right across the equator. Therefore, Kenya got a very interesting title: "East African Cross". On both sides of the rift valley, there are cliffs and broken walls, and the mountains are undulating, just like two towering walls. Nairobi, the capital, is located on the eastern "wall" at the southern tip of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. Climbing the cliff and looking around, I saw the pine and cypress at the bottom of the rift valley deep and unfathomable. An extinct volcano is like a projectile thrown into a canyon, and a lake is like a sparkling gem. Mount Kenya on the side of the Rift Valley in East Africa is 5 199 meters above sea level, which is the second highest peak in Africa.