The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), flown aboard Space Shuttle
Endeavour in February 2000, acquired elevation measurements for nearly all
of Earth's landmass between 60°N and 56°S latitudes. For many areas of the
world SRTM data provide the first detailed three-dimensional observation
of landforms at regional scales. SRTM data were used to generate this view
of the Crater Highlands along the East African Rift in Tanzania. Landforms
are depicted with colored height and shaded relief, using a vertical
exaggeration of 2X and a southwestwardly look direction.
Lake Eyasi is depicted in blue at the top of the image, and a smaller lake
occurs in Ngorongoro Crater. Near the image center, elevations peak at
3648 meters (11,968 feet) at Mount Loolmalasin, which is south of Ela
Naibori Crater. Kitumbeine (left) and Gelai (right) are the two broad
mountains rising from the rift lowlands. Mount Longido is seen in the
lower left, and the Meto Hills are in the right foreground.
Tectonics, volcanism, landslides, erosion and deposition -- and their
interactions -- are all very evident in this view. The East African Rift
is a zone of spreading between the African (on the west) and Somali (on
the east) crustal plates. Two branches of the rift intersect here in
Tanzania, resulting in distinctive and prominent landforms. One branch
trends nearly parallel the view and includes Lake Eyasi and the very wide
Ngorongoro Crater. The other branch is well defined by the lowlands that
trend left-right across the image (below center, in green). Volcanoes are
often associated with spreading zones where magma, rising to fill the
gaps, reaches the surface and builds cones. Craters form if a volcano
explodes or collapses. Later spreading can fracture the volcanoes, which
is especially evident on Kitumbeine and Gelai Mountains (left and right,
respectively, lower center).
The Crater Highlands rise far above the adjacent savannas, capture
moisture from passing air masses, and host rain forests. Over time,
streams erode downward toward the level of the adjacent rift, deeply
dissecting the volcanic slopes. This is especially evident on the eastern
flanks of Mount Loolmalasin (left of center).
Landsliding also occurs here. In particular, the small but steep volcanic
cone nearest the image center has a landslide scar on its eastern (left)
flank, and topographic evidence shows that the associated landslide
deposits extend eastward 10 kilometers (6 miles) across the floor of the
rift. Such a long run of landslide debris is unusual but is not unique on
Earth.
Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar
Topography Mission (SRTM) aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on
February 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the
Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR)
that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed
to collect three-dimensional measurements of the Earth's surface. To
collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast,
installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking
and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) of the U.S. Department of Defense
(DoD), and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington, DC.
View Size: 48 kilometers wide (30 miles) by 230 kilometers (140 miles)
distance
Location: 3 degrees South latitude, 36 degrees East longitude
Orientation: View 35° south of west, 15° below horizontal
SRTM Data Acquired: February 2000