Mount Gurage

Last updated April 25, 2019

Mount Gurage is a mountain located in central Ethiopia. It is the highest point in both the Gurage Zone and the entire Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region. The mountain has a latitude and longitude of 8°17′N38°23′E / 8.283°N 38.383°E / 8.283; 38.383 Coordinates: 8°17′N38°23′E / 8.283°N 38.383°E / 8.283; 38.383 and an elevation of 3719 meters above sea level.^[1] To the north is the village of Anige, while to the east is Bu'i.^[2]

Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country in the northeastern part of Africa, popularly known as the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, and Somalia to the east, Sudan to the northwest, South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With over 102 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and the second-most populous nation on the African continent that covers a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres (420,000 sq mi). Its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa, which lies a few miles west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the Nubian Plate and the Somali Plate.

Gurage is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR). This zone is named for the Gurage people, whose homeland lies in this zone. Gurage is bordered on the southeast by Hadiya and Yem special woreda, on the west, north and east by the Oromia Region, and on the southeast by Silt'e. Its highest point is Mount Gurage. Welkite is the administrative centre of the Zone; Butajira is the largest city in this zone and the former administrative centre. Other towns in Gurage include Endibir and Enseno.

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region is one of the nine ethnically based regional states (kililoch) of Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of five kililoch, called Regions 7 to 11, following the regional council elections on 21 June 1992. Its capital is Awasa.

Mount Gurage is described as part of an upwarped massif, which overlooks the Rift Valley. This massif is composed of layers of silicic lavas and tuffs, except for the summit line which is hidden by the Rift Valley tuffs. It forms part of the divide separating the drainage basins of the Awash and Omo rivers.^[3] The headwaters of the Omo lie in the central highlands between Gurage and the town of Nekemte.^[4]

The Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia, is a branch of the East African Rift that runs through Ethiopia in a southwest direction from the Afar Triple Junction. In the past, it was seen as part of a "Great Rift Valley" that ran from Mozambique to Syria.

Silicic is an adjective to describe magma or igneous rock rich in silica. The amount of silica that constitutes a silicic rock is usually defined as at least 63 percent. Granite and rhyolite are the most common silicic rocks.

Tuff, also known as volcanic tuff, is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is compacted into a solid rock in a process called consolidation. Tuff is sometimes erroneously called "tufa", particularly when used as construction material, but properly speaking, tufa is a limestone precipitated from groundwater. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered tuffaceous.

The Bilate River begins on the southern slope of the mountain, while the Gidabo River flows on the eastern slope.^[5] The Bilate River basin is volcanic, and contains several lake-filled maars and tuff rings dated to the Pleistocene and possibly Holocene periods.^[6] The Aleta people, believed to be descendants of the Maldea, live to the south of the Gidabo River. The area is part of the homeland of the Sidama people.^[7]

The Bilate is a river of south-central Ethiopia. It rises on the southwestern slopes of Mount Gurage near 6°2′N38°7′E, flowing south along the western side of the Great Rift Valley, to empty into Lake Abaya at 6°37′54″N37°59′6″E. It is the longest river flowing into Lake Abaya and also the one with the highest discharge. The river is not navigable and it has no notable tributaries. Along the middle of its course the Bilate flows past the Bilate River volcanic field.

The Gidabo River is a medium-sized perennial river of south-central Ethiopia within the Great Rift Valley. The Gidabo River catchment area is one of the leading coffee production areas in Ethiopia.

The Pleistocene is the geological epoch which lasted from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the world's most recent period of repeated glaciations. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology.

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Africa is a continent comprising 63 political territories, representing the largest of the great southward projections from the main mass of Earth's surface. Within its regular outline, it comprises an area of 30,368,609 km² (11,725,385 sq mi), excluding adjacent islands. Its highest mountain is Mount Kilimanjaro, its largest lake is Lake Victoria

Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. Ethiopia has a high central plateau that varies from 1,290 to 3,000 m above sea level, with the highest mountain reaching 4,533 m (14,872 ft).

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) is a mid-ocean ridge, a divergent tectonic plate or constructive plate boundary located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. In the North Atlantic it separates the Eurasian and North American plates, and in the South Atlantic it separates the African and South American plates. The ridge extends from a junction with the Gakkel Ridge northeast of Greenland southward to the Bouvet Triple Junction in the South Atlantic. Although the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is mostly an underwater feature, portions of it have enough elevation to extend above sea level. The section of the ridge that includes Iceland is known as the Reykjanes Ridge. The ridge has an average spreading rate of about 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) per year.

Lake Abaya is a lake in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is located in the Main Ethiopian Rift, east of the Guge Mountains.

The Awash is a major river of Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia and empties into a chain of interconnected lakes that begin with Lake Gargori and end with Lake Abbe on the border with Djibouti, some 100 kilometres from the head of the Gulf of Tadjoura. It is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin covering parts of the Amhara, Oromia and Somali Regions, as well as the southern half of the Afar Region. According to Huntingford, in the 16th century the Awash river was called the great Dir river and lay in the country of the Muslims.

The Omo River in southern Ethiopia is the largest Ethiopian river outside the Nile Basin. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and it empties into Lake Turkana on the border with Kenya. The river is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin, the Turkana Basin.

The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, situated in the Horn region in northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below 1,500 m (4,900 ft), while the summits reach heights of up to 4,550 m (14,930 ft). It is sometimes called the Roof of Africa due to its height and large area. Most of the Ethiopian Highlands are part of central and northern Ethiopia, and its northernmost portion reaches into Eritrea.

The Albertine Rift is the western branch of the East African Rift, covering parts of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. It extends from the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Tanganyika. The geographical term includes the valley and the surrounding mountains.

The Mount Meager massif is a group of volcanic peaks in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc of western North America, it is located 150 km (93 mi) north of Vancouver at the northern end of the Pemberton Valley and reaches a maximum elevation of 2,680 m (8,790 ft). The massif is capped by several eroded volcanic edifices, including lava domes, volcanic plugs and overlapping piles of lava flows; these form at least six major summits including Mount Meager which is the second highest of the massif.

Alaba is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the Halaba people, and covers part of their homeland. Located in the Great Rift Valley, Alaba zone is bordered on the south by an exclave of Hadiya Zone, on the southwest by the Kembata Tembaro Zone, on the west and north by Hadiya Zone, on the north east by Lake Shala, and on the east by Oromia Region; the Bilate River, which is its major body of water, defines its western boundary. The administrative center is Alaba Kulito.

Walmara is one of the woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinne, it is bordered on the south by the Sebeta Hawas, on the west by Mirab Shewa Zone, on the north by Mulo, on the northeast by the Sululta, and on the east by the city of Addis Ababa. Towns in Walmara include and Menagesha Kolobo. Town of Holeta Genet was separated from Walmara.

Butajira is a town and separate woreda in south-central Ethiopia. Located at the base of the Zebidar massif in the Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of 8°07′N38°22′E and an elevation of 2131 meters above sea level. It is surrounded by Meskane woreda. It was part of former Meskanena Mareko woreda.

The Gibe River is by far the largest tributary of the Omo River in Ethiopia and typically flowing south / southeast. The confluence of the large Gibe River at 8°19′N37°28′E with the smaller Wabe River forms the even larger Omo River. Consequently, the whole drainage basin is sometimes called Omo-Gibe River Basin with the Gibe and the Omo draining the upper and lower reaches, respectively.

Wabe River is a west-southwest flowing river of south-central Ethiopia, entirely confined within the reaches of Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region.

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Wolayita is a Zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia. It is named for the Welayta people, whose homeland lies in this Zone. Wolayita is bordered on the south by Gamo Gofa, on the west by the Omo River which separates it from Dawro, on the northwest by Kembata Tembaro, on the north by Hadiya, on the northeast by the Oromia Region, on the east by the Bilate River which separates it from Sidama, and on the south east by the Lake Abaya which separates it from Oromia Region. The administrative centre of Wolayita is Sodo. Other major towns are Areka and Boditi.

The greater Turkana Basin in East Africa determines a large endorheic basin, a drainage basin with no outflow centered around the north-southwards directed Gregory Rift system in Kenya and southern Ethiopia. The deepest point of the basin is the endorheic Lake Turkana, a brackish Soda lake with a very high ecological productivity in the Gregory Rift.

References

↑ Elevation per Ethiopian Mapping Authority. 2010 National Statistics (Abstract): climate, Table A.1. Central Statistical Agency website (accessed 18 March 2011)
↑ Google (12 November 2016). "Mount Gurage" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
↑ "Local History in Ethiopia", The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 17 March 2011)
↑ Billi, Paolo (23 March 2015). Landscapes and Landforms of Ethiopia. Springer. p. 92. ISBN 978-94-017-8026-1.
↑ Girma Kebbede (4 October 2016). Environment and Society in Ethiopia. Taylor & Francis. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-315-46427-5.
↑ "Bilate River Field". Volcanodiscovery.com. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
↑ Olson, James Stuart (1996). The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 502. ISBN 978-0-313-27918-8.

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[1] Elevation per Ethiopian Mapping Authority. 2010 National Statistics (Abstract): climate, Table A.1. Central Statistical Agency website (accessed 18 March 2011)

[2] Google (12 November 2016). "Mount Gurage" (Map). Google Maps . Google. Retrieved 12 November 2016.

[3] "Local History in Ethiopia", The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 17 March 2011)

[Billi2015-4] Billi, Paolo (23 March 2015). Landscapes and Landforms of Ethiopia. Springer. p. 92. ISBN 978-94-017-8026-1.

[Kebbede2016-5] Girma Kebbede (4 October 2016). Environment and Society in Ethiopia. Taylor & Francis. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-315-46427-5.

[6] "Bilate River Field". Volcanodiscovery.com. Retrieved 12 November 2016.

[Olson1996-7] Olson, James Stuart (1996). The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 502. ISBN 978-0-313-27918-8.