Mount Kilimanjaro

Coordinates: 03°04′33″S 37°21′12″E

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"Kilimanjaro" redirects here. For other uses, see Kilimanjaro (disambiguation).

Mount Kilimanjaro

View of Kibo (5892 m) in 2006.

Highest point

Elevation 5,895 m (19,341 ft) [1]

Prominence 5,885 m (19,308 ft)

Ranked 4th

Isolation 5,510 km (3,420 mi)

 Great Rift Valley

Listing
 List of highest mountain peaks of Africa

 Seven Summits

 Seven Third Summits

 ultra-prominent peak

 Volcanic Seven Summits

Coordinates 03°04′33″S 37°21′12″E

Geography
Mount Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro's location in Tanzania

Show map of TanzaniaShow map of AfricaShow map of EarthShow all

Location Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania

Parent range The Eastern Rift mountains

Topo map Kilimanjaro map and guide by Wielochowski[2]

Geology

Age of rock 4 million years

Mountain type Stratovolcano

Last eruption Between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago

Climbing

First ascent 6 October 1889 by Hans Meyer and Ludwig

Purtscheller

Easiest route Hiking

 Mount Kilimanjaro from space, illustrating its
diverse vegetation zones. [3]

Mount Kilimanjaro (/ˌkɪlɪmənˈdʒɑːroʊ/)[4] is a dormant volcano located in Kilimanjaro

Region of Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the
highest mountain in Africa and the highest single free-standing mountain above sea level in the
world: 5,895 m (19,341 ft) above sea level and about 4,900 m (16,100 ft) above its plateau base.
It is the highest volcano in Africa and the Eastern Hemisphere.

Kilimanjaro is the fourth most topographically prominent peak on Earth. It is part of Kilimanjaro
National Park and is a major hiking and climbing destination. Because of its shrinking
glaciers and ice fields, which are projected to disappear between 2025 and 2035, it has been the
subject of many scientific studies.

An aerial view of Kilimanjaro, taken while

departing Amboseli Airport, showing a larger ice and snow cap in 1979.

Toponymy[edit]
 The historical map with "Kilima-Ndscharo"
during the German East Africa in the year 1888.
The origin of the name Kilimanjaro is not known, but several theories exist. European explorers
had adopted the name by 1860 and reported that Kilimanjaro was the
mountain's Kiswahili name.[5] The 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia also records the
name of the mountain as Kilima-Njaro.[6]

Johann Ludwig Krapf wrote in 1860 that Swahilis along the coast called the mountain
Kilimanjaro. Although he did not offer any support,[7] he claimed that Kilimanjaro meant either a
mountain of greatness or a mountain of caravans. Under the latter meaning, kilima meant
mountain, and jaro meant caravans.[5] Jim Thompson claimed in 1885, again without support,
[7]
that the term Kilima-Njaro "has generally been understood to mean" the mountain (kilima) of
greatness (njaro). He also suggested "though not improbably it may mean" the white mountain. [8]

Njaro is an ancient Kiswahili word for shining.[9] Similarly, Krapf wrote that a chief of
the Wakamba people, whom he visited in 1849, "had been to Jagga and had seen the Kima
jajeu, mountain of whiteness, the name given by the Wakamba to Kilimanjaro ..." [10] More
correctly in the Kikamba language this would be kiima kyeu, and this possible derivation has
been popular with several investigators.[7]

Others have assumed that kilima is Kiswahili for mountain. The problem with this assumption is
that kilima actually means hill and is, therefore, the diminutive of mlima, the proper Kiswahili word
for mountain. However, "[i]t is ... possible ... that an early European visitor, whose knowledge of
[Kiswahili] was not extensive, changed mlima to kilima by analogy with the
two Wachagga names: Kibo and Kimawenzi."[7] A different approach is to assume that the
kileman part of Kilimanjaro comes from the Kichagga kileme, which means that which defeats,
or kilelema, which means that which has become difficult or impossible. The jaro part would
"then be derived from njaare, a bird; or, according to other informants, a leopard; or, possibly
from jyaro, a caravan". Considering that the name Kilimanjaro has never been current among
the Wachagga people, it is possible that the name was derived from Wachagga saying that the
mountain was unclimbable, kilemanjaare or kilemajyaro, and porters misinterpreting this as being
the name of the mountain.[7]

In the 1880s, the mountain became a part of German East Africa and was called Kilima-
Ndscharo in German following the Kiswahili name components.[11] On 6 October 1889, Hans
Meyer reached the highest summit on the crater ridge of Kibo. He named it Kaiser-Wilhelm-
Spitze (Kaiser Wilhelm peak).[12] That name was used until Tanzania was formed in 1964,[13] when
the summit was renamed Uhuru Peak, meaning freedom peak in Kiswahili.[14]

Geology and geography[edit]

Kilimanjaro is a large dormant stratovolcano composed of three distinct volcanic cones: Kibo, the
highest; Mawenzi at 5,149 m (16,893 ft);[15] and Shira, the lowest at 4,005 m (13,140 ft).
[16]
Mawenzi and Shira are extinct, while Kibo is dormant and could erupt again.[17]

Uhuru Peak is the highest summit on Kibo's crater rim. The Tanzania National Parks Authority, a
Tanzanian government agency,[1] and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization[18] lists the height of Uhuru Peak as 5,895 m (19,341 ft), based on a British survey in
1952.[19] The height has since been measured as 5,892 m (19,331 ft) in 1999, 5,902 m (19,364 ft)
in 2008, and 5,899 m (19,354 ft) in 2014.[19]

A map of the Kibo cone on Mount Kilimanjaro was published by the British
government's Directorate of Overseas Surveys (DOS) in 1964 based on aerial photography
conducted in 1962 as the "Subset of Kilimanjaro, East Africa (Tanganyika) Series Y742, Sheet
56/2, D.O.S. 422 1964, Edition 1, Scale 1:50,000".[20] Tourist mapping was first published by
the Ordnance Survey in England in 1989 based on the original DOS mapping at a scale of
1:100,000, with 100 ft (30 m) contour intervals, as DOS 522.[21] West Col Productions produced a
map with tourist information in 1990, at a scale of 1:75,000, with 100 m (330 ft) contour intervals;
it included inset maps of Kibo and Mawenzi on 1:20,000 and 1:30,000 scales respectively and
with 50 m (160 ft) contour intervals.[21] In recent years, numerous other maps have become
available, of various qualities.[2]

Volcanology[edit]
The volcanic interior of Kilimanjaro is poorly known because there has not been any significant
erosion to expose the igneous strata that comprise the volcano's structure.[22]

Eruptive activity at the Shira center commenced about 2.5 million years ago, with the last
important phase occurring about 1.9 million years ago, just before the northern part of the edifice
collapsed.[17] Shira is topped by a broad plateau at 3,800 m (12,500 ft), which may be a
filled caldera. The remnant caldera rim has been degraded deeply by erosion. Before the caldera
formed and erosion began, Shira might have been between 4,900 and 5,200 m (16,100 and
17,100 ft) high. It is mostly composed of basic lavas, with some pyroclastics. The formation of the
caldera was accompanied by lava emanating from ring fractures, but there was no large-
scale explosive activity. Two cones formed subsequently, the phonolitic one at the northwest end
of the ridge and the doleritic Platzkegel in the caldera center.[17][22][23]

Both Mawenzi and Kibo began erupting about 1 million years ago.[17] They are separated by the
Saddle Plateau at 4,400 m (14,400 ft) elevation.[24]: 3

The youngest dated rocks at Mawenzi are about 448,000 years old.[17] Mawenzi forms a
horseshoe-shaped ridge with pinnacles and ridges opening to the northeast, with a tower-like
shape resulting from deep erosion and a mafic dike swarm. Several large cirques cut into the
ring. The largest of these sits on top of the Great Barranco gorge. Also notable are the East and
West Barrancos on the northeastern side of the mountain. Most of the eastern side of the
mountain has been removed by erosion. Mawenzi has a subsidiary peak, Neumann Tower,
4,425 m (14,518 ft).[17][22][23]

An aerial view of Kilimanjaro in December

2009.
Kibo is the largest cone on the mountain and is more than 24 km (15 mi) wide at the Saddle
Plateau altitude. The last activity here, dated to 150,000–200,000 years ago, created the current
Kibo summit crater. Kibo still has gas-emitting fumaroles in its crater.[17][22][23] Kibo is capped by an
almost symmetrical cone with escarpments rising 180 to 200 m (590 to 660 ft) on the south side.
These escarpments define a 2.5 km-wide (1.6 mi) caldera[25] caused by the collapse of the
summit.

Within this caldera is the Inner Cone and within the crater of the Inner Cone is the Reusch
Crater, which the Tanganyika government in 1954 named after Gustav Otto Richard Reusch,
upon his climbing the mountain for the 25th time (out of 65 attempts during his lifetime). [26][27] The
Ash Pit, 350 m (1,150 ft) deep, lies within the Reusch Crater.[28] About 100,000 years ago, part of
Kibo's crater rim collapsed, creating the area known as the Western Breach and the Great
Barranco.[29]

An almost continuous layer of lava buries most older geological features, except
exposed strata within the Great West Notch and the Kibo Barranco. The former exposes
intrusions of syenite.[22] Kibo has five main lava formations:[17]

 Phonotephrites and tephriphonolites of the Lava Tower group, on a dyke cropping out
at 4,600 m (15,100 ft), dated to 482,000 years ago.
 Tephriphonolite to phonolite lavas "characterized by rhomb mega-phenocrysts of
sodic feldspars" of the Rhomb Porphyry group, dated to 460,000–360,000 years ago.
 Aphyric phonolite lavas, "commonly underlain by basal obsidian horizons", of the
Lent group, dated to 359,000–337,000 years ago
 Porphyritic tephriphonolite to phonolite lavas of the Caldera Rim group, dated to
274,000–170,000 years ago
 Phonolite lava flows with aegirine phenocrysts, of the Inner Crater group, which
represents the last volcanic activity on Kibo
Kibo has more than 250 parasitic cones on its northwest and southeast flanks that were formed
between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago[17] and erupted picrobasalts, trachybasalts, ankaramites,
and basanites.[17][22][23] They reach as far as Lake Chala and Taveta in the southeast and the
Lengurumani Plain in the northwest. Most of these cones are well preserved, except the Saddle
Plateau cones which were heavily affected by glacial action. Despite their mostly small size, lava
from the cones has obscured large portions of the mountain. The Saddle Plateau cones are
mostly cinder cones with terminal effusion of lava, while the Upper Rombo Zone cones mostly
generated lava flows. All Saddle Plateau cones predate the last glaciation. [22]

According to reports gathered in the 19th century from the Maasai, Lake Chala on Kibo's eastern
flank was the site of a village that was destroyed by an eruption.[30]
Glaciers[edit]

An aerial view of the Kibo summit of

Kilimanjaro in 1938. Kilimanjaro's glaciers

retreat in 1912–2018.
Kibo's diminishing ice cap exists because Kilimanjaro is a little-dissected, massive mountain that
rises above the snow line. The cap is divergent and at the edges splits into individual glaciers.
The central portion of the ice cap is interrupted by the presence of the Kibo crater. [24]: 5 The summit
glaciers and ice fields do not display significant horizontal movements because their low
thickness precludes major deformation.[31]

Geological evidence shows five successive glacial episodes during the Quaternary period,
namely First (500,000 BP), Second (greater than 360,000 years ago to 240,000 BP), Third
(150,000 to 120,000 BP), Fourth (also known as "Main") (20,000 to 17,000 BP), and Little
(16,000 to 14,000 BP). The Third may have been the most extensive, and the Little appears to
be statistically indistinguishable from the Fourth.[32]

A continuous ice cap covering approximately 400 km2 (150 sq mi) down to an elevation of
3,200 m (10,500 ft) covered Kilimanjaro during the Last Glacial Maximum in
the Pleistocene epoch (the Main glacial episode), extending across the summits of Kibo and
Mawenzi.[16][25] Because of the exceptionally prolonged dry conditions during the
subsequent Younger Dryas stadial, the ice fields on Kilimanjaro may have become extinct
around 11,500 years BP.[31] Ice cores taken from Kilimanjaro's Northern Ice Field (NIF) indicates
that the glaciers there have a basal age of about 11,700 years,[33] although an analysis of ice
taken in 2011 from exposed vertical cliffs in the NIF supports an age extending only to 800 years
BP.[34] Higher precipitation rates at the beginning of the Holocene epoch (11,500 years BP)
allowed the ice cap to reform.[31] The glaciers survived a widespread drought during a three
century period beginning around 4,000 years BP.[31][35]

Vertical margin wall of the Rebmann Glacier in

2005 with Mount Meru, which is 70 km (43 mi) away, in the background.
In the late 1880s, the summit of Kibo was completely covered by an ice cap about
20 km2 (7.7 sq mi) in extent with outlet glaciers cascading down the western and southern
slopes, and except for the inner cone, the entire caldera was buried. Glacier ice also flowed
through the Western Breach.[16][25] The slope glaciers retreated rapidly between 1912 and 1953, in
response to a sudden shift in climate at the end of the 19th century that made them "drastically
out of equilibrium", and more slowly thereafter. Their continuing demise indicates they are still
out of equilibrium in response to a constant change in climate over the past century. [16]

In contrast to the persistent slope glaciers, the glaciers on Kilimanjaro's crater plateau have
appeared and disappeared repeatedly during the Holocene epoch, with each cycle lasting a few
hundred years.[36]: 1088 It appears that decreasing specific humidity instead of temperature changes
has caused the shrinkage of the slope glaciers since the late 19th century. No clear warming
trend at the elevation of those glaciers occurred between 1948 and 2005. Although air
temperatures at that elevation are always below freezing, solar radiation causes melting on
vertical faces. Vertical ice margin walls are a unique characteristic of the summit glaciers and a
major place of the shrinkage of the glaciers. They manifest stratifications, calving, and other ice
features.[37] "There is no pathway for the plateau glaciers other than to continuously retreat once
their vertical margins are exposed to solar radiation."[16] The Kilimanjaro glaciers have been used
for deriving ice core records, including two from the southern icefield. Based on this data, this
icefield formed between 1,250 and 1,450 years BP.[38]
 A vertical glacier margin wall as seen from
Gilman's Point on the crater rim at sunrise in 1998
Almost 85 percent of the ice cover on Kilimanjaro disappeared between October 1912 and June
2011, with coverage decreasing from 11.40 km2 (4.40 sq mi) to 1.76 km2 (0.68 sq mi).[39]:
423
Between 1912 and 1953, there was about a 1.1 percent average annual loss of ice coverage.
[35]
The average annual loss for 1953 to 1989 was 1.4 percent, while the loss rate for 1989 to
2007 was 2.5 percent.[35] Of the ice cover still present in 2000, almost 40 percent had
disappeared by 2011.[39]: 425 Ice climber Will Gadd noticed differences between his 2014 and 2020
climbs.[40] The glaciers are thinning in addition to losing areal coverage,[35] and do not have active
accumulation zones; retreat occurs on all glacier surfaces. Loss of glacier mass is caused by
both melting and sublimation.[31] While the current shrinking and thinning of Kilimanjaro's ice fields
appear to be unique within its almost twelve-millennium history, it is contemporaneous with
widespread glacier retreat in mid-to-low latitudes across the globe.[35] In 2013, it was estimated
that, at the current rate of global warming, most of the ice on Kilimanjaro will disappear by 2040,
and "it is highly unlikely that any ice body will remain after 2060".[39]: 430

The Furtwangler Glacier on Kilimanjaro is a remnant of the ice cap that once covered the
mountain. This has retreated dramatically over the last century with over 80 percent glacial
retreat. The glacier is named after Walter Furtwangler, who along with Ziegfried Koenig, was the
fourth to ascend to the summit of Kilimanjaro in 1912.[41]

A complete disappearance of the ice would be of only "negligible importance" to the water budget
of the area around the mountain. The forests of Kilimanjaro, far below the ice fields, "are [the]
essential water reservoirs for the local and regional populations".[42]

Drainage[edit]

A 3D model of Kibo.
Kilimanjaro is drained by a network of rivers and streams, especially on the wetter and more
heavily eroded southern side and especially above 1,200 m (3,900 ft). Below that altitude,
increased evaporation and human water usage reduce the water flows.
The Lumi and Pangani rivers drain Kilimanjaro on the eastern and southern sides, respectively.[43]