Atlas Trail
New Ground: Four Countries and the Forces That Shaped Them
This wave minted four requested countries, Tanzania, Mongolia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, alongside the landforms already on file that first flagged them missing. This trail walks each country to its signature landform and on to the physical process that built it: Kilimanjaro to volcanism, the Gobi to desertification, Victoria Falls to the rock cycle that carved it.
Stop 1 of 10.
Countries
Tanzania, home to Africa's highest peak.
Stop 2 of 10.
Landforms
Mount Kilimanjaro, the dormant stratovolcano the country is best known for.
Stop 3 of 10.
Physical Processes
Volcanism, the process that built Kilimanjaro over hundreds of thousands of years.
Stop 4 of 10.
Countries
Mongolia, stretching from the Gobi Desert in the south to mountains in the north.
Stop 5 of 10.
Landforms
The Gobi Desert, spanning southern Mongolia and northern China.
Stop 6 of 10.
Physical Processes
Desertification, the process by which land turns arid, a term coined in 1949.
Stop 7 of 10.
Countries
Zambia, on the north bank of the Zambezi.
Stop 8 of 10.
Countries
Zimbabwe, on the south bank of the same river.
Stop 9 of 10.
Landforms
Victoria Falls, where the Zambezi drops between the two countries.
Stop 10 of 10.
Physical Processes
The rock cycle, first described by James Hutton in 1785, and the slow reshaping of rock that carved the falls' gorge.
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