In total, the glaciers in the southern highlands covered an area of more than 350 km² during their maximum. "The cross-comparisons show that the tropical mountains in Eastern Africa have experienced a more pronounced cooling than the surrounding lowlands," Groos concludes. The enigma of the stone stripesDuring their fieldwork on the central Sanetti Plateau in the Bale Mountains, the researchers also came across gigantic stone stripes (up to 1,000 m long, 15 m wide and 2 m deep) outside the area of the former ice cap. The large boulders and basalt columns that make up the stone stripes originally came from heavily eroded rock formations and volcanic plugs. As things stand, the researchers assume that the stone stripes were formed during the last glacial period through natural sorting of the previously chaotically distributed rocks in the course of the periodic freezing and thawing of the ground near the former ice cap.

Source: Ethiopian News March 12, 2021 18:56 UTC