The coffee-growing area of the highest mountain in Africa, the Kilimanjaro Mountain Fire area.

Crustal movement still exists in the East African Rift Valley to this day, and Kilimanjaro is the result of more recent volcanic activity. Its formation began about 750000 years ago and was originally made up of three large craters: Sheila, Kibo and Mavitz. Then the Sheila cone collapsed and disappeared, followed by Mavenz. However, Mount Kibo has remained alive, with a massive eruption about 360000 years ago, releasing black lava over the Sheila crater and forming a Kilimanjaro saddle on the site of Mavinz. [1]

Due to the unclear historical record of Africa, there is no record of volcanic eruptions on Mount Kilimanjaro, but according to research, the most recent major eruption may have been 15-200000 years ago.

Kilimanjaro, Mt.

Kilimanjaro, Mt.

Major mountain editor

Mountain system composition

The whole Kilimanjaro mountain range stretches more than 80 kilometers from east to west, and is mainly composed of three peaks: Mavenji (Mawensi,5149 meters), Shira (Shira,3962 meters) and Kibo (Kibo,5892 meters), among which Mavenzi and Kibo are the most famous.

Mount Kilimanjaro has two main peaks, one called Uhuru and the other Ma Wenji. There is a saddle-shaped ridge more than 10 kilometers long between the two peaks. At the top of Mount Kilimanjaro's Uhuru equator, there is a crater 2400 meters in diameter and 200 meters deep. The walls of the mouth are crystal-clear huge ice sheets, and at the bottom stands huge icicles, covered with ice and snow, just like huge jade basins. [2]

Other peaks

Kilimanjaro, Mt.

Kilimanjaro, Mt.

Sheila Ridge is just a remnant of an earlier crater at 3778 meters above sea level. Below the saddle ridge, the main body of Mount Kilimanjaro tilts to the plain below with a typical volcanic curve, which is about 900 meters above sea level.

Although Kibo looks like a dome covered with snow, there is a crater 2 kilometers in diameter and 300 meters deep to the south. There is an inner cone in this crater that shows residual volcanic activity. Although Kibo Peak is still dormant, its volcanic vents release volcanic gas from time to time. An expedition by scientists in 2003 confirmed that the lava was only 400 meters deep from the surface of the crater at the peak, and there was no sign of eruption. Unlike the regular cone of Hulu Peak, Mawenxi Peak is strongly eroded, the mountain is rugged and steep, and is split by east-west narrow valleys. Kibo's ice sheet survives along the edge of the ice sheet, forming large scattered blocks of ice. On the southwest slope of Kibo, the glacier ends at 4270 meters (14000 feet) and descends only a short distance below its peak on the north side. There is no permanent ice and almost no snow on Mount Mawensi.