Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira,
is a dormant volcano in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania and the
highest mountain in Africa at 5,895 metres or 19,341 feet above sea
level (the Uhuru Peak/Kibo Peak).
Kilimanjaro rises from its base,
and approximately 5,100 m (16,732 ft) from the plains near Moshi. Kibo
is capped by an almost symmetrical cone with scarps rising 180 to 200 m
on the south side. These scarps define a 2.5 km wide caldera. Within
this caldera is an inner crater, the Reusch Crater. This inner crater
was named after Dr. Richard Reusch. The name was conferred by the
government of Tanganyika in 1954 at the same time it awarded Reusch a
gold medal on having climbed Kilmanjaro for the 25th time. Reusch
climbed Kilimanjaro 65 times and helped to establish the exact elevation
of the crater. Within the Reusche Crater lies the Ash Pit. The Reusche
Crater itself is nearly surrounded by a 400 feet (120 m) high dune of
volcanic ash.
In
the late 1880s the summit of Kibo was completely covered by an ice cap
with outlet glaciers cascading down the western and southern slopes,
and, except for the inner cone, the entire caldera was buried. Glacier
ice flowed also through the Western Breach.
An
examination of ice cores taken from the North Ice Field Glacier
indicate that the "snows of Kilimanjaro" (aka glaciers) have a basal age
of 11,700 years. A continuous ice cap covering approximately 400 square
kilometers covered the mountain during the period of maximum
glaciation, extending across the summits of Kibo and Mawenzi. The
glacial ice survived drought conditions during a three century period
beginning ~2200 BCE.
The period from 1912 to present
has witnessed the disappearance of more than 80% of the ice cover on
Kilimanjaro. From 1912-1953 there was ~1% annual loss, while 1989-2007
saw ~2.5% annual loss. Of the ice cover still present in 2000, 26% had
disappeared by 2007. While the current shrinking and thinning of
Kilimanjaro's ice fields appears to be unique within its almost twelve
millennium history, it is contemporaneous with widespread glacier
retreat in mid-to-low latitudes across the globe. At the current rate,
Kilimanjaro is expected to become ice-free some time between 2022 and
2033.
