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GEO Week 10: Extreme Weather

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  Extreme Weather of Kenya: Drought & Flooding        The climate of Kenya is generally sunny, dry and temperate. The country experiences two rainy seasons per year;  masika lasts from the middle of March to May - this is the period with the heaviest rains,  vuli is a short period of rain lasting from November to December. The country experiences a prolonged dry season that extends from May to October. Kenya's climate is one of extremes with lengthy droughts punctuated by periods of intense rain. Climate change continues to force these periods to intensify, drought periods grow longer, dryer & hotter while periods of rain decrease in length or increase in severity causing disastrous flooding. Clean drinking water is scarce in Kenya, roughly forty-three percent of the population do not have access to clean water. The increasing severity rain  periods within the country may do more harm than good in some places as the flood waters can c...
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Geo Week 9: Mass Wasting Events

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  Mass Wasting Events in Kenya   Landslides:      The Highland regions of Kenya are particularly prone to landslides due to high annual rainfall, roughly 1000mm to 1300mm with the longest periods of rainfall occurring between the months of April and May. The topography of the region also plays a key role in the abundance of landslides within the region; the Kenyan Highlands range in elevation from 1200m to 2700m with temperatures ranging from 15 °C  to 31 °C.           Nairobi is the capitol city of Kenya and also the largest city in Kenya with a population of 5.7 million. Despite its status, Nairobi is highly vulnerable to mass wasting events. The proposed causes for these events are:   Increasing populations causing people to move into steeper areas. Heavy rains brought about due to climate change. Industrialization/Infrastructure weakening the land.        As recent as October 31st of 2025 heavy...
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Geology 9 - WK3 - Earthquakes

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 Seismic Activity of the East African Rift System           Seismic activity of the East African Rift System (EARS) is characterized by shallow normal faults that occur due to earthquake rupturing from the extension of the crust and volcano-tectonic earthquakes. Volcano-tectonic earthquakes occur as a result of regular tectonic forces, stresses caused by shifting magma and movement of liquids between existing crevices. Kenya is home to twenty-one volcanoes that have shaped its landscape over millennia. Pictured below is Menengai Caldera, which is the largest volcano caldera in Kenya.   The Subukia Valley Earthquake of 1928           Subukia Valley is situated within the Kenya (Gregory) Rift valley which is known to experience large, infrequent earthquakes. The Subukia Valley earthquake is the largest known to have occurred in Kenya at a magnitude 6.9. The earthquake was felt within a 460km radius, it occurred in a spa...
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GEO 9 WK2 - Plate Tectonics - East African Rift

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Plate Tectonics of Kenya                      The East African Rift System (EARS) is a network of rifts that extends through the Horn of Africa. Rifts are the result of tectonic plates moving away from each other causing the lithosphere to thin. The Somali plate is slowly moving away from the larger African Plate and will eventually split Africa into two separate continents. Visible signs of this have been noted in Southeastern Kenya where a massive, multiple miles long crack has formed on the surface.   The Great Rift Valley:           Kenya is home to a portion of the extensive Great Rift Valley, which is part of the eastern branch of the East African rift. The valley was formed on an area referred to as the "Kenyan Dome", which had been formed from activity between the Arabian, Nubian (African), and Somali tectonic plates. The Great Rift valley contains eight of the sixty-four total la...
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Geology 9 - Week 1

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  Kenya     Kenya is a country located on the eastern coast of Africa. The geography of Kenya is widely varied displaying: temperate, dry, arid, semi-arid, and desert regions as well as snowy mountains encirled by lush forests. Great variation in environments entails a similarly great variation of environmental hazards, disasters and catastrophes. In environmental terms hazards are natural phenomenon that have the potential to negatively impact communities, economic functions, and local ecology. Hazards are described as the 'origin of disasters.'  There are several classifications of hazards:
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