Africa: Terrain & Seafloor 36x36

Map elements include:

• A digital elevation model of all continental terrain within the map frame. Individual publicly available tiles of terrain data were sequentially downloaded from the U.S. Geological Survey in TIFF format. Each individual tile was then stitched into a continental mosaic, then “clipped” to highly detailed coastlines. All geoprocessing was performed using ESRI’s ArcGIS Pro software.

• A digital bathymetric model of the surrounding seafloor. Raw, publicly available bathymetric TIFF imagery tiles were obtained from the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) via the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and combined into a mosaic that fills the map frame. All seafloor geoprocessing was performed using ESRI’s ArcGIS Pro software.

• A detailed depiction of:

  • Inland water bodies, including intermittent lakes and salt flats

  • Mountain summits with corresponding elevations in feet

  • Volcanic mountain summits with corresponding elevations in feet

  • Mountain ranges, plateaus, valleys, and other significant landforms

  • Islands, points, capes, and other coastal features

  • Deserts

  • National, state, and territorial capitals and significant cities scaled by population

  • International and subnational political boundaries

  • Seafloor ridges, seamount chains, basins, fracture zones, and other significant features

  • Pinpoint locations of significant seamounts, guyots, banks, shoals, reefs, and other submerged features

Africa: Terrain & Seafloor was Ridgeline's third map completed in the Continental Terrain & Seafloor Series. Revealing map highlights include the sprawling plateau that dominates the southern half of the continent, the strikingly linear volcanic Cameroon Line, the Rift Valley system and its fiery Afar Triple Junction in Ethiopia, and the topographically complex seafloor of the southwestern Indian Ocean.