Amazing geological history of Mount Kilimanjaro!

• HISTORY tells that in August 1861, a notorious colonial officer named Karl Klaus von der together with a British geologist made one of the first attempts by foreigners to climber mount Kilimanjaro, since then every from northern to the southern hemisphere more than 30,000 hikers conquer Kibo the tallest peak in Africa.

By REGINALD STANISLAUS MATILLYA 

Standing for about 5,895 meters from the sea level above East African plains, mount Kilimanjaro is located about 330 kilometers south of Equator and 270 kilometers from the Indian ocean which contribute on its weather through equatorial trade winds from thousands of years ago.History also tells us that from Phoenicians, Romans, Germany to the mighty British Empire mount Kilimanjaro was the center of attraction to traders, explorer and colonialists who were engaged in war which involved more than 2,186 soldiers from different parts of the world but resulted into unrecorded injuries and death to local people.

The above account shows the uniqueness of mount Kilimanjaro but geologists say after the continental drift which happened about 150 million years when the present continents of the world were placed were they are found today.

That happened as a result of underneath volcanic activities which rocked to cause thermal which tore apart the Earth’s crust which broke a mother or super continent into smaller ones which drifted away to form Africa, Americas, Australia and Eurasia.

Geologists say that the volcanic activities continued to shape the Earth’s surface but 40 millions ago, the Great Rift Valley which started from Lebanon made tremendous impacts when it flexed its muscles for about 6,000 kilometers to what is known today as East Africa to form the East African Rift Valley.

Geologists describe a Rift Valley as a long or extending lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault, it is formed on a divergent plate boundary which is spreading apart on the surface.

A rift valley is a result of volcanic activity which create strong tensional forces capable of splitting a continental plate into two parts, when this happen the center block drops between and on the edge original plates to form parallel steeply dipping walls of a rift valley.

While on its way to different parts of East Africa, the Great Rift Valley created water bodies such lake Abaya of Ethiopia, lake Turkana, Lake Naivasha of Kenya, Lake Natron, Lake Manyara, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa of Tanzania.

Geologists say after crossing into the present day East Africa about about 30 million years ago when it stretched itself to the area which is known today as Kenya where through stratovolcano it contributed into the formation of Mount Kenya from about 3 million years ago.

Geological history shows the formation of Mount Kenya happened after the East African rift valley crossed to Tanzania about 12 million years ago when tensional forces created faults which made the eastern arm or what is known to some scientists as Gregory Rift Geologists say about 8 million years ago the rift valley extended its tentacles southward but when it met a strong rock called Tanzanian craton it formed the western arm or Albertine Rif which is located about 1,300 kilometers from the original rift.

Geological researches indicate about 3.5 million years ago, huge tremors made by volcanic activities around the East African Rift Valley caused the collapse of an ancient volcanic mountain in Ngorongoro which had five peaks with the tallest standing more than 5,900 meters above sea level.

It was a big mountain taller than the modern days mount Meru but its structure could not withstand against the forces of nature from the East African Rift Valley which sent it peak to collapse and form a caldera with 610 meters depth while stretching 260 square kilometers which makes it one of the largest on Earth.

While standing 1,796 from the sea level, Engitati hill which is located inside Ngorongoro crater today is a remnant of the ancient mountain which dominated the skyline of the Maasai plains. The above factors indicate the northern zone of modern Tanzania was hit by a supervolcano which reduced temperature of the area for many years due to huge amount of sulfur which was released into the sky above the East African plains.

Geological features indicate at a certain time in history, Ngorongoro was an epicenter of major volcanic activities which destructed ancient mountains and created others like Makarot, Oldeani, Losirua, Lolmalasin, Kerimasi, Ngorongoro, Empakaai, Olmoti and two active volcanoes of Oldonyo and Gelai. Scientists consider it as a supervolcano because it covered a wider area causing more collapses on other two volcanic mountains lost their peak to form Empakaai and Olmoti calderas.

It was a supervolcano which was made up by series of big volcanic activities, mount Isatiman erupted between 2.0 and 3.5 million years ago blowing huge cloud of ashes which covered whole area including Laetoli where ancient foot prints are found today.

Scientific researches indicate the first layer of volcanic lave which created the base of mount Kilimanjaro was put in place one of the earliest volcanic activities in the region which happened between 1.9 and 2.5 million years ago with its epicenter on the modern Shira plateau.

About 1.9 million years ago the East African rift valley continue to play a key role on the formation of volcanic mountain when it made a 80.4 kilometers long fracture which enabled molten lava to create pressure with eruption which pushed part of the Earth’s crust skywards, creating the Shira volcano, the oldest peak on mount Kilimanjaro.

For about 1.4 million, at different time the volcano on Shira continued to erupt to form Kilimanjaro massif, with God’s grace the deadly volcano lost its steam and ceased erupting about 500,000 years ago when its peak collapsed to form a huge and deep caldera.

Geologists estimate that before the collapse, Shira stood 4,900 meters above sea level but internal ring fracture caused the mountain to lose its peak and height to the current status of 3, 962 meters above sea level.

Meanwhile geological evidence on the Great Barranco gorge shows the East African Great Rift Valley made another impact when it brought huge pressure on the Earth’s crust which caused gigantic volcanic eruption that set the base of both Mawenzi and Kibo between 486,000 and 1, 000, 000 years ago.

That was one of the most volatile periods in the history of East Africa region because volcanic activities continued to shape the area when Mawenzi was formed about 448,000 years ago from an eruption which occurred in a caldera on the oldest Shira summit.

From that point between 460,000 and 486,000years ago the stretching and thinning of the Earth’s crust laying under the East African region which shoved a volcanic duct that threw on the Earth’s surface the first lava on 4,600 meters above sea level.

Geological data shows that a group of second volcanic material made of cinders, ash, and lava were laid between 460,000 and 360,000 years ago, the third layer which is made mainly by lava flowed between 359,000 and 337,000 years ago but between 274,000 and 170,000 years ago another layer of lava was laid on the crater rim which was cemented between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago during the last eruption on Kibo.