State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Tag: East Africa Rift

  • Photo Essay: Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    Photo Essay: Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    East Africa’s rift valley is considered by many to be the cradle of humanity. In the Turkana region of northwest Kenya, researchers Christopher Lepre and Tanzhuo Liu of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are cooperating with colleagues to study questions of human evolution, from the creation of the earliest stone tools to climate swings that…

  • Mapping Faults Hidden below Lake Malawi

    Mapping Faults Hidden below Lake Malawi

    Marine seismic studies like ours are routinely done in the oceans using scientific equipment and research vessels outfitted specially for these purposes. Collecting comparable data in a great lake in Africa requires creative repurposing of available vessels and adaption of scientific equipment.

  • Seismology as Performance Art

    Seismology as Performance Art

    Ideally, seismic stations are sited in remote, quiet locations. But other considerations are important for a good station, particularly security. As a result, we placed most of our stations in towns near schools, hospitals or town halls, where people could keep an eye on them.

  • Surface Views of the Southern East Africa Rift Inspire a Look Underground

    Surface Views of the Southern East Africa Rift Inspire a Look Underground

    Driving around the Rungwe volcanic province in the southern East Africa Rift installing seismometers, we have the chance to observe first hand how geological processes in action create the most dramatic forms at Earth’s surface.

  • Imaging beneath the southernmost volcanoes in the East Africa Rift

    Imaging beneath the southernmost volcanoes in the East Africa Rift

    The last time we visited the southern part of the East Africa Rift, we were responding to an unusual series of earthquakes in December 2009 that shook northern Malawi. This time, we return to this part of the rift system as a part of a more comprehensive effort to understand the underpinnings of this continental…

  • In Ethiopian Desert, a Window into Rifting of Africa

    In Ethiopian Desert, a Window into Rifting of Africa

    A new study in the journal Nature provides fresh insight into deep-earth processes driving apart huge sections of the earth’s crust. This rifting mostly takes place on seabeds, but can be seen in a few places on land—nowhere more visibly than in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia.

  • Return to Malawi: Bringing Home Instruments and Earthquake Data

    In early May, Scott Nooner and I returned to Malawi to retrieve our seismic equipment and finally lay eyes on the data recorded over the last 4 months. Picking them up was vastly easier than putting them out. In contrast to the days studying out-dated maps and driving down dirt roads looking for sites, and…

  • Reaching Out: Educating Specialists and the Public on Earthquake Monitoring

    Reaching Out: Educating Specialists and the Public on Earthquake Monitoring

    While installing our seismic network in Malawi, we interacted with everyone from scientists to schoolteachers, and journalists to villagers. The opportunity to provide information and education to Malawians has been the most rewarding aspect of our effort. We trained local scientists and technicians on seismic equipment and data analysis, and educated the public on earthquakes…

  • Risks and Rewards: funding a technical earthquake response

    A rapid technical response to the damaging earthquakes in Malawi produces both humanitarian and scientific benefits, and we hoped that both scientific and international assistance agencies would support our effort. Our seismic field effort serves two purposes: (1) to provide badly needed seismic equipment and technical training to the Malawi Geological Survey department (MGSD); and…

Science for the Planet: In these short video explainers, discover how scientists and scholars across the Columbia Climate School are working to understand the effects of climate change and help solve the crisis.
  • Photo Essay: Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    Photo Essay: Seeking Humanity’s Roots

    East Africa’s rift valley is considered by many to be the cradle of humanity. In the Turkana region of northwest Kenya, researchers Christopher Lepre and Tanzhuo Liu of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are cooperating with colleagues to study questions of human evolution, from the creation of the earliest stone tools to climate swings that…

  • Mapping Faults Hidden below Lake Malawi

    Mapping Faults Hidden below Lake Malawi

    Marine seismic studies like ours are routinely done in the oceans using scientific equipment and research vessels outfitted specially for these purposes. Collecting comparable data in a great lake in Africa requires creative repurposing of available vessels and adaption of scientific equipment.

  • Seismology as Performance Art

    Seismology as Performance Art

    Ideally, seismic stations are sited in remote, quiet locations. But other considerations are important for a good station, particularly security. As a result, we placed most of our stations in towns near schools, hospitals or town halls, where people could keep an eye on them.

  • Surface Views of the Southern East Africa Rift Inspire a Look Underground

    Surface Views of the Southern East Africa Rift Inspire a Look Underground

    Driving around the Rungwe volcanic province in the southern East Africa Rift installing seismometers, we have the chance to observe first hand how geological processes in action create the most dramatic forms at Earth’s surface.

  • Imaging beneath the southernmost volcanoes in the East Africa Rift

    Imaging beneath the southernmost volcanoes in the East Africa Rift

    The last time we visited the southern part of the East Africa Rift, we were responding to an unusual series of earthquakes in December 2009 that shook northern Malawi. This time, we return to this part of the rift system as a part of a more comprehensive effort to understand the underpinnings of this continental…

  • In Ethiopian Desert, a Window into Rifting of Africa

    In Ethiopian Desert, a Window into Rifting of Africa

    A new study in the journal Nature provides fresh insight into deep-earth processes driving apart huge sections of the earth’s crust. This rifting mostly takes place on seabeds, but can be seen in a few places on land—nowhere more visibly than in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia.

  • Return to Malawi: Bringing Home Instruments and Earthquake Data

    In early May, Scott Nooner and I returned to Malawi to retrieve our seismic equipment and finally lay eyes on the data recorded over the last 4 months. Picking them up was vastly easier than putting them out. In contrast to the days studying out-dated maps and driving down dirt roads looking for sites, and…

  • Reaching Out: Educating Specialists and the Public on Earthquake Monitoring

    Reaching Out: Educating Specialists and the Public on Earthquake Monitoring

    While installing our seismic network in Malawi, we interacted with everyone from scientists to schoolteachers, and journalists to villagers. The opportunity to provide information and education to Malawians has been the most rewarding aspect of our effort. We trained local scientists and technicians on seismic equipment and data analysis, and educated the public on earthquakes…

  • Risks and Rewards: funding a technical earthquake response

    A rapid technical response to the damaging earthquakes in Malawi produces both humanitarian and scientific benefits, and we hoped that both scientific and international assistance agencies would support our effort. Our seismic field effort serves two purposes: (1) to provide badly needed seismic equipment and technical training to the Malawi Geological Survey department (MGSD); and…