Kenyan Rift
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Kenyan Rift
The Great Rift Valley is part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. It is part of the Gregory Rift, the eastern branch of the East African Rift, which starts in Tanzania to the south and continues northward into Ethiopia. It was formed on the "Kenyan Dome", a geographical upwelling created by the interactions of three major tectonics: the Arabian, Nubian, and Somalian plates. In the past, it was seen as part of a "Great Rift Valley" that runs from Madagascar to Syria. Most of the valley falls within the former Rift Valley Province. The valley contains the Cherangani Hills and a chain of volcanoes, some of which are still active. The climate is mild, with temperatures usually below . Most rain falls during the March–June and October–November periods. The Tugen Hills to the west of Lake Baringo contain fossils preserved in lava flows from the period 14 to 4 million years ago. The relics of many hominids, ancestors of humans, have ...
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Lake Turkana
Lake Turkana () is a saline lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world's fourth-largest salt lake after the Caspian Sea, Issyk-Kul, and Lake Van (passing the shrinking South Aral Sea), and among all lakes it ranks 24th. Lake Turkana is now threatened by the construction of the Gilgel Gibe III Dam in Ethiopia due to the damming of the Omo river which supplies most of the lake's water. Although the lake commonly has been—and to some degree still is—used for drinking water, its salinity (slightly brackish) and very high levels of fluoride (much higher than in fluoridated water) generally make it unsuitable for drinking directly, and it has also been a source of diseases spread by contaminated water. Increasingly, communities on the lake's shores rely on underground springs for drinking water. The ...
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Hell's Gate National Park
Hell's Gate National Park is a national park situated near Lake Naivasha in Kenya. The park is named after a narrow break in the cliffs, once a tributary of a prehistoric lake that fed early humans in the Rift Valley. It was established in 1984. The park is notable for its wide variety of wildlife and for its scenery. This includes the Fischer's Tower and Central Tower columns and Hell's Gate Gorge. The national park is also home to five geothermal power stations at Olkaria. The park features three basic campsites and includes a Maasai Cultural Center, providing education about the Maasai culture and traditions. History Hell's Gate National Park is named after a narrow break in the cliffs, once a tributary of a prehistoric lake that fed early humans in the Rift Valley. It received the name "Hell's Gate" by explorers Gustav Fischer of Germany and Joseph Thomson of Britain during their rival expeditions in 1883. In the early 1900s, Mount Longonot erupted, and ash can still ...
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Lake Naivasha
Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in Kenya, outside the town of Naivasha in Nakuru County, which lies north west of Nairobi. It is situated in the Great Rift Valley. The name derives from the local Maasai name ''ɛnaɨpɔ́sha '', meaning "that which heaves," a common Maasai word for bodies of water large enough to have wave action when it is windy or stormy. Naivasha arose from a British attempt to pronounce the Maasai name. Literally, ''Lake Naivasha'' means "Lake Lake." Location Lake Naivasha is at the highest elevation of the Kenyan Rift valley at in a complex geological combination of volcanic rocks and sedimentary deposits from a larger Pleistocene Era lake. Apart from transient streams, the lake is fed by the perennial Malewa and Gilgil rivers. There is no visible outlet, but since the lake water is relatively fresh it is assumed to have an underground outflow. The lake had a normal surface area of "THE OUTFLOW OF LAKE NAIVASHA BASED ON THE STABLE ISOTOPE CO ...
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Mount Kipipiri
Mount Kipipiri is an isolated volcano in the Wanjohi Valley, on the Kinangop Plateau near to the Aberdare Range. It is about northeast of Lake Naivasha, which is visible from the summit. Wildlife includes Colobus and Sykes monkeys, elephants and buffalo and abundant birdlife. The name of the mountain means "butterfly" in the Gikuyu language, a reference to its profile from a distance. The Mount Kipipiri Forest Reserve is part of the Aberdare National Park. In 2005 it was estimated that the forest reserve was home to about 13 elephants. In June 2009 lengthy negotiations were concluded over the alignment of a wildlife corridor A wildlife corridor, also known as a habitat corridor, or green corridor, is a designated area habitat (ecology), that connects wildlife populations that have been separated by human activities or structures, such as development, roads, or land ... between Kipipiri and the main Aberdare park, with plans to fence the corridor. Grids of rolling bars with ...
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Lake Elementaita
Lake Elmenteita is a soda lake, in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. Geography Elmenteita is derived from the Maasai word , meaning "dust place", a reference to the dryness and dustiness of the area, especially from January to March. The town of Gilgil is near the lake. In the south-to-north sequence of Rift Valley lakes, Elmenteita is between Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru. Along the nearby escarpment, the major Nairobi- Nakuru highway ( A104 Road) gives motorists a spectacular vista of the lake. Today the lake is a protected area due to its bird life and has been named as a UNESCO heritage site together with Lake Nakuru and Lake Bogoria. About 10,000 years ago, Lake Elementaita, together with the neighboring Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha (60 km further south), formed one single, deep freshwater lake that eventually dried up, leaving the three lakes as remnants. At the southern end of the lake are the "Kekopey" hot springs, in which a ...
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Lake Nakuru
Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley lakes, located at an elevation of above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park. About 10,000 years ago, Lake Nakuru, together with neighboring Lake Elementaita and Lake Naivasha (60 km further south), formed one single, deep freshwater lake that eventually dried up, leaving the three lakes as remnants. Water levels in Lake Nakuru have since varied considerably, with the lake almost drying up several times over the past 50 years. A significant drop happened in the early 1990s. In 2013, levels again increased rapidly, leading to the migration of many flamingos to Lake Bogoria in search of food supply. Between 2010 and 2020 Lake Nakuru increased in surface area from . 677 households, parts of Nakuru town and some National Park areas had been flooded. Since 2021, there has been an alarming increase in the rising water levels at the lake caused by climate change ...
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Menengai
Menengai Crater is a massive shield volcano with one of the biggest calderas in the world, in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. It is the largest volcano caldera in Kenya and the second largest volcano caldera in Africa. Volcanic formed rich loam soils enrich the adjacent farmland around its flanks. The crater is on the floor of the Rift Valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear .... The volcano formed about 200,000 years ago and the prominent 12 x 8 km caldera formed about 8000 years ago. The caldera floor is covered with numerous post caldera lava flows. The Menengai volcano is considered one of the best-preserved Krakatau-style calderas in the world. Menengai has very little sediment in the caldera which is a thick mass of lava boulders and inaccessible ridges. ...
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Lake Bogoria
Lake Bogoria (formerly Lake Hannington) is a saline, alkaline lake that lies in a volcanic region in a half-graben basin south of Lake Baringo, Kenya, a little north of the equator. Lake Bogoria, like Lake Nakuru, Lake Elementeita, and Lake Magadi further south in the Rift Valley, and Lake Logipi to the north, is periodically home to one of the world's largest populations of lesser flamingos. The lake is a Ramsar site and Lake Bogoria National Reserve has been a protected National Reserve since November 29, 1973. History The lake was formerly named after Anglican missionary James Hannington who visited in 1885. Description Lake Bogoria is located in Baringo County, about 120 km north of Nakuru city and 240 km north of Nairobi. It is in the Gregorian Rift Valley. It was once part of a larger freshwater lake, joined with the current Lake Baringo. As shown on the satellite picture at the top of this page, it is divided in three lobes: a large center one and two smal ...
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Lake Baringo
Lake Baringo is, after Lake Turkana, the most northern of the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes, with a surface area of and an elevation of . The lake is fed by several rivers: the Molo River, Molo, Perkerra River, Perkerra and Ol Arabel. It has no obvious outlet; the waters are assumed to seep through lake sediments into the Fault (geology), faulted volcanic bedrock. It is one of the two freshwater lakes in the Rift Valley in Kenya, the other being Lake Naivasha. See "Kenya designates freshwater lake in Great Rift Valley," aRamsar 2009 - 2002 The lake is in a remote hot and dusty area with over 470 species of birds, occasionally including migrating flamingos. A Goliath heronry is located on a rocky islet in the lake known as Gibraltar. The existence of Lake Baringo was first reported in Europe by Ludwig Krapf and J. Rebmann, German missionaries stationed at Mombasa, about 1850; in J. H. Speke’s map of the Nile sources (1863) Baringo is confused with Kavirondo Gulf of Victoria Nyanza; ...
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Mount Korosi
Korosi is a shield volcano located in the Gregory Rift at the northern end of Lake Baringo, Kenya. See also * List of volcanoes in Kenya This is a short list of active and extinct volcanoes in Kenya.For a more comprehensive list of volcanoes and craters in Kenya, see :sw:Orodha ya volkeno nchini Kenya List of volcanoes in Kenya (non-exhaustive) References * Volcanoes of ... References * Korosi Korosi Korosiol Shield volcanoes of Africa {{Kenya-geo-stub ...
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Paka (volcano)
Paka is a shield volcano located in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. Geothermal activity is widespread in Paka. Paka means "ochre" in Pokot. See also * List of volcanoes in Kenya This is a short list of active and extinct volcanoes in Kenya.For a more comprehensive list of volcanoes and craters in Kenya, see :sw:Orodha ya volkeno nchini Kenya List of volcanoes in Kenya (non-exhaustive) References * Volcanoes of ... References * Mountains of Kenya Volcanoes of Kenya Polygenetic shield volcanoes Active volcanoes Shield volcanoes of Africa {{Kenya-geo-stub ...
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