location of mount Kilimanjaro and it is characteristics,Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro (/klmndro/) is a dormant volcano.
Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira are the three volcanic cones found there.
The mountain rises to a height of5,895 meters(19,341 feet) above sea level and 4,900 meters (16,100 feet) above the plateau base, making it the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free standing mountain in the world. It is the tallest volcano in both the Eastern Hemisphere and Africa.
mount kilimanjaro
Back ground of Mount Kilimanjaro
In 1860, Johann Ludwig Krapf noted that coastal Swahilis referred to the mountain as Kilimanjaro.
He asserted that Kilimanjaro meant either a mountain of greatness or a mountain of caravans, but he made no further arguments.
In the second sense, kilima denoted a mountain and jaro, a caravan.
Again without evidence, Jim Thompson asserted in 1885 that the term Kilima-Njaro “has generally been understood to mean” the mountain of greatness (kilima) (njaro).
Additionally, he mentioned the white mountain, saying “though not improbably, it may mean.”
Shining is described by the old Kiswahili word njaro.
Similar to this, Krapf noted that a Wakamba chief he met in1849“had been to Jagga and had seen the Kima jajeu, mountain of whiteness, the name given by the Wakamba to Kilimanjaro.
This would be kiima kyeu more accurately in the Kikamba language, and this potential derivation has gained popularity among many researchers.
Some people think the word “kilima” means “mountain” in Kiswahili.
This assumption is incorrect because the word “kilima” actually means “hill,” making it the diminutive of the word “mlima,” which is the correct Kiswahili word for mountain.
However, it is possible that an early European visitor, whose [Kiswahili] knowledge was not extensive, changed mlima to kilima by analogy with the two Wachagga names: Kibo and Kimawenzi.”
mount kilimanjaro
An alternative perspective is to assume that the kileman in Kilimanjaro derives from the Kichagga words kileme, which mean to defeat, or kilelema, which mean to be difficult or impossible.
The word “jaro” would then “then be derived from njaare, a bird; or, in the opinion of other informants, a leopard; or, possibly, from jyaro, a caravan”
Given that the Wachagga people have never used the name Kilimanjaro, it’s possible that porters mistook the Wachagga proclamation that the mountain was insurmountable—kilemanjaare or kilemajyaro—for the mountain’s actual name.
Geology and geography of Mount Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro is a large dormant stratovolcano, composed of three distinct volcanic cones. Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo’s crater rim. Mawenzi and Shira are extinct, while Kibo is dormant and could erupt again.
A map of the Kibo cone on Mount Kilimanjaro was published by the British government’s Overseas Surveys Department in 1964. In 1989 and 1990, tourist maps were produced at a scale of 1:75,000 with 100 metres (330 ft) contour intervals.
Kilimanjaro’s volcanic interior is poorly understood because there hasn’t been much erosion to reveal the igneous strata that make up the volcano’s structure.
The Shira center began erupting around 2.5 million years ago, and the last significant phase happened just before the northern part of the structure collapsed, at about 1.9 million years ago.
mount kilimanjaro
At 3,800 meters (12,500 feet), Shira is topped by a broad plateau that may be a filled caldera.
The remaining caldera rim has suffered significant erosion damage.
Shira might have been between 4,900 and 5,200 m (16,100 and 17,100 ft) high before the caldera formed and erosion started.
With some pyroclastics, it is mostly made of basic lavas.
The caldera’s formation was accompanied by ring fractures were spewing lava, but there was no significant explosive activity.
Later, the doleritic Platzkegel in the caldera’s center and the phonolitic cone at the ridge’s northwest end formed.
A million years ago, Mawenzi and Kibo both first started to erupt.
The Saddle Plateau, which is located at an elevation of 4,400 meters (14,400 feet), divides them.
The oldest rocks at Mawenzi are 448,000 years old on average.
With pinnacles and ridges opening to the northeast, Mawenzi forms a horseshoe-shaped ridge. Its tower-like shape is the result of extensive erosion and a mafic dike swarm.
The ring was cut into by several substantial cirques.
On top of the Great Barranco gorge is the largest of these. The East and West Barrancos, which are located on
the mountain’s northeastern side. Erosion has removed the majority of the mountain’s eastern side.
The 4,425-meter (14,518-foot) Neumann Tower is a subpeak of Mawenzi.
