Earth Catastrophies and Disasters (GEO9)

 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...

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...