Ethiopia is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, and Kenya to the south. Ethiopia is the second-most populous nation in Africa with over 88.0 million people and the tenth-largest by area with its 1,104,300 km2.
The predominant climate type is tropical monsoon, with wide topographic-induced variation. The Ethiopian Highlands which cover most of the country have a climate which is cooler than other regions at similar latitudes. Most of the country's major cities are located at elevations of around 2,000--2,500 metres above sea level. The climate can be significantly hotter and drier. The Danakil Depression in this east, has the world's highest average annual temperature of 34 °C.
The country's population is highly diverse; the Oromo, Amhara, Tigray and Somali make up three-quarters of the population, but there are more than 80 different ethnic groups within Ethiopia. Some of these have as few as 10,000 members. Most of its people speak one of 80 Afro-Asiatic language. However, English is the most widely spoken foreign language and is the medium of instruction in secondary schools.
Economy
Ethiopia has shown a fast-growing annual GDP and it was the fastest-growing non-oil-dependent African nation in 2007 and 2008. Since 1991, there have been attempts to improve the economy; however, successive drought which slowed progress. Ethiopia benefited from ten-percent yearly economic growth from 2003-2008. Despite these economic improvements, urban and rural poverty remains an issue in the country.
The agricultural sector, and particularly coffee, is critical to the Ethiopian economy with exports of some $350 million in 2006, however frequent drought and poor cultivation hold these sectors back. Ethiopia has the greatest water reserves in Africa, but few irrigation systems in place to use it. Just 1% is used for power production and 1.5% for irrigation.
History
Ethiopia is widely considered one of the oldest human inhabited areas and is uunique among African countries, maintaining its freedom from colonial rule, with the exception of a short Italian occupation between1936-41.
In 1974, a military junta, deposed the Emperor and established a socialist state. In the following years Ethiopia was subject to coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finally toppled in 1991. A constitution was adopted in 1994, and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. A border war with Eritrea late in the 1990s ended with a peace treaty in December 2000.
Geology
The Orogenic belts of the Arabian Nubian Shield (ANS) and the Mozambique Belt (MB) both outcrop in Ethiopia, rocks belonging to these orogenic belts are only exposed in a few areas, which have not been affected by Cenozoic volcanism and rifting, and where the Phanerozoic cover rocks have been eroded away (Tefera et al., 1996)
Outhcrops of Precambrian basement are restricted to the southern, southwestern, northern, eastern and western parts of Ethiopia. Therefore, mapping and exploration activities for Gold and base metal mineralization have also been largly limited to these regions. The proterozoic basement rocks are poly-deformed and poly-metamorphosed, high grade ortho- and paragneisses and schists, which are associated with less deformed and metamorphosed mafic-ultramafic suites and meta-sedimentary rocks. Mafic and felsic plutonic rocks, which are either deformed or undeformed, sporadically intruded crystalline basement rocks. The highest metamorphic grade, at granulite facies, is recorded in gneisses and schists of the southern and southwestern Ethiopia. This terrane is believed to form the northern extension of the Mozambique Belt (Gichile, 1991; Davidson, 1983).
Most of the geological studies related to the understanding of the geodynamic evolution of the Proterozoic, Paleozoic to Mesozoic, and Cenozoic terranes of Ethiopia were intended to determine whether the Proterozoic basement and other rocks have potential for economic mineral deposits. Systematic regional geological mapping and mineral exploration activities by the EIGS and others were successful in locating economic mineral deposits in different regions of the country. These investigations showed that the most promising regions for gold and base metal deposits are the low-grade belts of volcano-sedimentary successions and associated intrusives in the north, south and west of the country.
Several metallic and non-metallic deposits and occurrences have been identified since then. Among the metals, Gold is considered the most promising resource. Industrail minerals such as rock salt, potash, phosphate, soda ash, feldspar, dolomite, bentonite, graphite, lime, silica and kaolin are found. Hydrocarbon deposits and occurrences, such as natural gas, oil shale, and lignite, have been found in the Mesozoic and Tertiary sediments in various parts of the country. Lastly, dimension stones including marble, granite, sandstone, limestone, and ignimbrite, raw materials for cement and aggregate manufacturing, and gemstones of different type and quality are also available in many parts of the country.
The Ethiopian Government recently subscribed to a policy that allows any exploration company (Domestic or foreign) to take a concession in an area of potential. Accordingly, many private exploration companies are currently conducting exploration activities in different part of the country
Adapted from the paper " A short introduction to the Geology of Ethiopia" by Solomon Gerra
