Final Assessment

     The Okavango Delta is one of earth's most unique and exciting places. The area features plant and animal life that for most of the world can only be found in books and zoos. Out of the Angola Highlands flows the Okavango River which spills out into the Kalahari sands creating the vast waterways of the delta. This inland delta is made possible by a few unique geological features. The delta is a low lying plane between two fault areas on its southern and northern edge. This is what causes the delta to both fan out and to stay within its southern boundary, never reaching the sea. These faults are caused by the Great African Rift Valley found northeast of Botswana in Ethiopia. This rift valley and its plate tectonics may hold the secrets of the future for the Okavango.

10,000 Years in the Future:
     Speculations for the future of the Okavango Delta must include the impact of humans on the delta area. This impact was studied in 2010 by a non-profit group Elephants Without Borders (EWB). EWB conducted and aerial study of the delta that produced some shocking results. The numbers of large mammal species were decreasing rapidly. 11 of the large mammal species had declined in the delta by, on average, 61%. Some species like the wildebeest had declined by around 90%. These startling numbers along with the conflicts faced upstream over the usage of the water that will eventually make up the delta lead to one dismal hypothesis. The now lush fertile lowlands could become a desolate desert much like the Kalahari below. The difference however between this area and the Kalahari is the seismic activity in the delta.

Here you can see the path the rift valley will take as it tears Africa apart.

1,000,000 Years in the Future
     The African Rift Valley to the northeast in Ethiopia holds all of the secrets to the Okavango's future. The African Rift Valley is an area where the African and Somali plates are tearing apart creating a massive tear, or rift. Due to recent seismographic findings in the Okavango we can assume that the rift valley takes a westerly angle and cuts right through the delta. This means that as the rift continues to separate, the faults that create the Okavango will also continue to separate and create a large valley out of the current delta. We can hypothesize from this that in the future the delta will look much like the rift valley of today and the current rift valley will be a massive bay area as the Indian Ocean begins to flood into Africa. The current rift valley is characterized by jagged hills and large volcanoes, this is the future of the Okavango as well.

This map shows the frequencies of earthquakes in the Okavango. It is estimated they receive one significant quake a day.

This image shows the large jagged peaks on the edge of the large open valley that characterize the East African Rift Valley. This will eventually be flooded to form the boundary between the two new continents.

100,000,000 Years in the Future
     By this time in the future the Okavango Delta will be but a distant memory. In its place will lie a vast sea. This sea will separate Africa from a new continent that will split from the mainland of Africa. The Rift Valley will have torn the continent apart directly across the former Okavango Delta. Home once to the great mammals of land it will now house the great animals of the sea.

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/e/eldredge-life.html