A group of Chinese scientists left Beijing on Tuesday for a 15-day scientific study tour of the East African Rift Valley.

Organized by the China Association for Scientific Expedition, the tour is the first Chinese scientific expedition to the valley.

The team will research tectonic plate movements and geological changes, and explore the origin of the hominid line, said professor Gao Dengyi, team leader and president of the China Association for Scientific Expedition.

"The East African Rift Valley is an ideal place for scientific studies in various fields, including palaeoanthropology, geology, biology and meteorology," Gao said Tuesday.

"Since this is the first expedition to the rift zone by Chinese scientists, the trip aims to collect basic information and make preliminary studies, laying foundations for further research trips," Gao said.

The team has 18 members, including eight scientists and researchers and several media specialists.

Team member Huang Wanbo, a palaeoanthropologist, will try to trace the origin of the first modern man in the rift zone, which is believed to be the cradle of hominids.

Geologist Sui Jianli will study the area's geology, including plate movements and volcanic activity.

Research on typical African animals, such as baboons and bats, will be done by professor Zhang Shuyi, a researcher with the Institute of Zoology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Gao, also a researcher with the Institute of Atmospheric Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, will focus on studies of environmental changes. Zhang Bo, publisher of Deep magazine, a monthly scientific expedition journal, will also join the research team.

"Our magazine will publish a special issue covering the details of this expedition, aiming to promote popular sciences among readers," Zhang said.

Zhang, who is one of the main organizers of the expedition, said he will explore the culture and life of the ancient tribal people in East Africa.

Dubbed the "encyclopedia of geosciences," the East African Rift Valley is also called the Afro-Arabian Rift Valley. This area is one of the most extensive rifts on the Earth's surface, extending from Jordan in southwestern Asia through eastern Africa to Mozambique. The valley is about 6,400 kilometers long, averages 48 to 64 kilometers wide and has a depth from a few hundred to several thousand meters.

The whole valley consists of two branches: The eastern or the main branch, extending from the southern end of the Red Sea to Lake Victoria in southeastern Kenya, and the western branch, extending more than 2,000 kilometers from Uganda in the north to Mozambique in the south. It runs through eight countries.

The expedition team will mainly do research in southern Ethiopia, the widest area of the valley, stretching about 1,300 kilometers across.

The East African Rift Valley has been a rich source of anthropological discovery. Because the rapidly eroding highlands have filled the valley with sediment, a favorable environment has been created for the preservation of remains.

The bones of several hominid ancestors have been found there, including those of "Lucy," a nearly complete australopithecine skeleton, which was discovered by US anthropologist Donald Johanson in the 1970s.

(China Daily August 3, 2005)