Olduvai Gorge, East Africa
Credit: Image credit: NASA, Posted on: Saturday, 31 July 2004, 06:00 CDT Download full size image
Three striking and important areas of Tanzania in eastern Africa are shown in this color-coded shaded relief image from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. The largest circular feature in the center right is the caldera, or central crater, of the extinct volcano Ngorongoro. It is surrounded by a number of smaller volcanoes, all associated with the Great Rift Valley, a geologic fault system that extends for about 4,830 kilometers (2,995 miles) from Syria to central Mozambique. Ngorongoro’s caldera is 22.5 kilometers (14 miles) across at its widest point and is 610 meters (2,000 feet) deep. Its floor is very level, holding a lake fed by streams running down the caldera wall. It is part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and is home to over 75,000 animals. The lakes south of the crater are Lake Eyasi and Lake Manyara, also part of the conservation area.
More Images

Looking in Detail at a Spectacular Double-Ring Basin.This spectacular 290-kilometer-diameter double-ring basin seen in detail for the first time during M...
Recent Images
- Looking in Detail at a Spectacular Double-Ring Basin
- Sand Dunes On Mars
- Greetings From Palmer Station, Antarctica
- 360-degree Panorama of the Southern Sky
- Pitted Layers Northeast of Hellas Region
- Spring Bloom and Dust off Argentina
- Shadows Side by Side
- Kasei Valles And Sacra Fossae, In Perspective
- Athabasca Oil Sands
Latest Thoughts
-
Nov 10, 2009, 8:49 am
Hurricane Ida viewed by GOES
-
Nov 10, 2009, 8:40 am
Now is the Best Time to Get the Seasonal Flu Shot
-
Nov 10, 2009, 8:18 am
What's up in the November Skies?
-
Nov 10, 2009, 8:05 am
Scientists Work To Strengthen Online Security
-
Nov 10, 2009, 6:57 am
Flying the Grounding Line in Antarctica
-
Nov 10, 2009, 6:00 am
Swine Flu Virus Sweeping Through Campuses
- More Videos














RSS Feeds