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Geography Of Botswana
Botswana is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa, north of South Africa. Botswana occupies an area of , of which are land. Botswana has land boundaries of combined length , of which the constituent boundaries are shared with Namibia, for ; South Africa ; Zimbabwe, and Zambia, . Much of the population of Botswana is concentrated in the eastern part of the country. Sunshine totals are high all year round although winter is the sunniest period. The whole country is windy and dusty during the dry season.General Survey of Climatology, Landsberg (ed.), Elsevier, 2001. Area data ; Area: :* Total: 581,730 km² :**''country rank in the world:'' 48th :* Land: 566,730 km² :* Water: 15,000 km² ; Area comparative :* Australia comparative: approximately the size of New South Wales :* Canada comparative: approximately smaller than Saskatchewan :* United Kingdom comparative: approximately 2 times the size of the United Kingdom :* United States comparative: slightly less tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the northwest and California to the west, and shares Mexico-United States border, an international border with the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest. Its Capital city, capital and List of largest cities, largest city is Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, which is the most populous state capital and list of United States cities by population, fifth most populous city in the United States. Arizona is divided into 15 List of counties in Arizona, counties. Arizona is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th-largest state by area and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14th-most-populous of the 50 states. It is the 48th state and last of the contiguous United States, contiguous states to be a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monalanong Hill
Monalanong Hill is a mountain often considered the highest point of Botswana, with an altitude derived from SRTM data of 1,494 metres (4,900 feet). The Otse Hill (at a reported altitude of 1,491 metres - 4,891 feet) or the Tsodilo Hills (at an altitude of about 1,400 metres - 4,593 feet) are also often cited as the highest point in Botswana. , World Heritage Site, accessed on April 10, 2009. References * Elevation data supplied by theShuttle Radar Topography Mission
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is an international research effort that obtained digital elevation models on a near-global ...
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Nxai Pan
Nxai Pan is a large salt pan topographic depression which is part of the larger Makgadikgadi Pans in northeastern Botswana. It lies on the old Pandamatenga Trail, which until the 1960s was used for overland cattle drives. The area is speckled with umbrella acacias and is said to resemble the Serengeti in Tanzania. The Nxai Pan was added to the National Park System to augment the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, thus providing an enlarged contiguous area of natural protection. The 'x' represents a palatal click sound. Click sounds are typical of the Khoisan languages and some southern Bantu languages. Wildlife This landform is a major part of the Nxai Pan National Park, and is a seasonal home to large herds of zebra and wildebeest. In the rainy season between December and April the pan becomes grassy and attracts these animals in their tens of thousands, along with smaller numbers of gemsbok, eland and red hartebeest The red hartebeest (''Alcelaphus buselaphus caama' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sua Pan
The Sua Pan or Sowa Pan is a large natural topographic depression within the Makgadikgadi region of Botswana. It is located near the village of '' Sowa'', whose name means salt in the language of the San. The Sua salt pan is one of three large pans within the Makgadikgadi, the other two being Nxai Pan and Nwetwe Pan. The Sua Pan was first described to the European world by David Livingstone, pursuant to his explorations in this region. Significant archaeological recoveries have been made within the Nwetwe Pan, featuring Stone-Age tools from peoples who lived in this area when a large year-round lake occupied the Sua and Nwetwe Pans. The Brines of Sua Pan being one of the largest playa lakes in the world spans approximately 24,000 square kilometers. While sodium chloride is the prime constituent, there are many other salts found within this area such as sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium sulfate, and minor amounts of potassium chloride (potash). Currently, Sua Pan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nwetwe Pan
The Ntwetwe Pan is a large salt pan within the Makgadikgadi region of Botswana. The Ntwetwe is one of three large pans within the Makgadikgadi, the other two being Nxai Pan and Sua Pan. Ntwetwe Pan is now a seasonal lake with filling occurring in the rainy season. Ntwetwe was first described to the European world by David Livingstone, pursuant to his explorations in this region. Significant archaeological recoveries have occurred within the Nwetwe Pan, including Stone Age tools from people who lived in this area, in an earlier time of prehistory when a large year round lake occupied the Nwetwe Pan area within the Makgadikgadi.C.M.Hogan, 2008 See also * Semowane River References * David Livingstone (1868) ''Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa: Including a Sketch of Sixteen Years' Residence in the Interior of Africa'', Harper Publishers. * Bryan Robert Davies and Keith F. Walker (1986) ''The Ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationshi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wetland
A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially in the soils. Wetlands form a transitional zone between waterbodies and dry lands, and are different from other terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems due to their vegetation's roots having adapted to oxygen-poor waterlogged soils. They are considered among the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as habitats to a wide range of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants and animals, with often improved water quality due to plant removal of excess nutrients such as nitrates and phosphorus. Wetlands exist on every continent, except Antarctica. The water in wetlands is either freshwater, brackish or saltwater. The main types of wetland are defined based on the dominant plants and the source of the water. For example, ''marshes'' ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salt Pan (geology)
Natural salt pans or salt flats are flat expanses of ground covered with salt and other minerals, usually shining white under the sun. They are found in deserts and are natural formations (unlike salt evaporation ponds, which are artificial). A salt pan forms by evaporation of a water pool, such as a lake or pond. This happens in climates where the rate of water evaporation exceeds the rate of that is, in a desert. If the water cannot drain into the ground, it remains on the surface until it evaporates, leaving behind minerals precipitated from the salt ions Solution (chemistry), dissolved in the water. Over thousands of years, the minerals (usually salts) accumulate on the surface. These minerals reflect the sun's rays and often appear as white areas. Salt pans can be dangerous. The crust of salt can conceal a quagmire of mud that can engulf a truck. The Qattara Depression in the eastern Sahara Desert contains many such traps which served as strategic barriers during World War ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Makgadikgadi Pans
The Makgadikgadi Pan (Tswana pronunciation ), a salt pan situated in the middle of the dry savanna of north-eastern Botswana, is one of the largest salt flats in the world. The pan is all that remains of the formerly enormous Lake Makgadikgadi, which once covered an area larger than Switzerland, but dried up tens of thousands of years ago. Recent studies of human mitochondrial DNA suggest that modern ''Homo sapiens'' first began to evolve in this region some 200,000 years ago, when it was a vast, exceptionally fertile area of lakes, rivers, marshes, woodlands and grasslands especially favorable for habitation by evolving hominins and other mammals. Location and description Lying southeast of the Okavango Delta and surrounded by the Kalahari Desert, Makgadikgadi is technically not a single pan, but many pans with sandy desert in between, the largest being the Sua (Sowa), Ntwetwe and Nxai Pans. The largest individual pan is about . In comparison, Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta or Okavango Grassland is a vast inland delta in Botswana formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough at an elevation of in the central part of the endorheic basin of the Kalahari Desert. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of the few interior delta systems that do not flow into a sea or ocean, with a wetland system that is largely intact. All the water reaching the delta is ultimately evaporated and transpired. Each year, about of water spreads over the area. Some flood waters drain into Lake Ngami. The area was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that had mostly dried up by the early Holocene. The Moremi Game Reserve is on the eastern side of the delta. The delta was named one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, which were officially declared on 11 February 2013 in Arusha, Tanzania. On 22 June 2014, the Okavango Delta became the 1000th site to be officially inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Geograp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert is a large semiarid climate, semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering including much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal desert, whose name is of Khoekhoe language, Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". Etymology ''Kalahari'' is derived from the Tswana language, Tswana word ''Kgala'', meaning "the great thirst", or ''Kgalagadi'', meaning "a waterless place"; the Kalahari has vast areas covered by red sand without any permanent surface water. History The Kalahari Desert was not always a dry desert. The fossil flora and fauna from Gcwihaba, Gcwihaba Cave in Botswana indicates that the region was much wetter and cooler at least from 30 to 11 thousand Before Present, especially after 17,500 BP. Geography Drainage of the desert is by dry black valleys, seasonally inundated pans, and the large salt pan (geology), salt pans of the Mak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mining Industry Of Botswana
The mining industry of Botswana has dominated the national economy of Botswana since the 1970s, being a primary sector industry. Diamond has been the leading component of the mineral sector ever since production of gems started being extracted by the mining company Debswana. Most of Botswana's diamond production is of gem quality, resulting in the country's position as the world's leading producer of diamond by value. Copper, gold, nickel, coal and soda ash production also has held significant, though smaller, roles in the economy. In 2022, mining accounted for about 16% of Botswana's real gross domestic product (GDP). Most of Botswana’s mineral industry consists of diamonds. Beyond diamonds, Botswana also boasts abundant mineral resources such as coal, copper, nickel, and soda ash, along with granite, further diversifying its mining sector. However, this sector, despite being very important, faces challenges, mainly due to lack of infrastructure development. Diamonds Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
