May 03 2008
The Chyulu hills
his post has absolutely nothing to do wth lions. It is about the place that I live though. And there are lions near the hills.
In 1997 a group of scientists investigated the tomography of the chyulu hills, and wrote a comprehensive paper describing their findings (A tomography study of the Chyulu Hills, Kenya: J. R. R. Ritter and T. Kaspar). If I understand it correctly, there are pockets of magma about 70km underneath the Chyulus, and that these are somehow related to the continued tearing apart of the East african rift. Its not bedtime reading, and for a non-geologically inclined person such as myself there is some language that deserves a special mention in the dungbeetle hall of fame. Such as,
“The major difficulty with teleseismic rays is vertical smearing of structures along the steep ray paths. This can be seen in Fig. 8 where the off-diagonal elements of the resolution matrix are biggest for blocks above and below neighbouring layers.”
I’ve met some nice geologists, but my goodness their work can be obscure in the extreme. Regardless of the difficulty with teleseismic rays, the chyulu hills are pleasant to look at. Most of them are extinct, well eroded cinder cones and have quite a soft, rounded shape with a collapsed crater at the summit. Here is an image of the hills northwest of camp.
7 responses so far
…and I thought I was the only one who suffered vertical smearing of the resolution matrix. Small world.
But a very beautiful one…
Engineers are quite an interesting, odd group as well. Spectacular pictures. Do cheetahs or lions ever utilize these hills as a lookout? Speaking of lions, Seamus, I read their numbers have decreased by 75% over the last 20 years! Please, very soon, let us know what your vision is for them, so we can all help. BTW, HR 1464, is up for a voice vote in Congress. Please, all American citizens, call the capital switchboard Monday morning 1-202-224-3121 and tell your representative to support the Great Cats and Rare Canids Bill, which authorize the US Fish and Wildlife Service to fund anti poaching projects. The animals included in this legislation are cheetahs, lions, leopards, wild dogs, Ethiopian wolves, etc. Total of 26 species. Oddly enough. tigers are not included! But if passed, it will certainly help with the conservation of all these amazing species.
You’d think that someone who lives underneath a dormant volcano would have some idea what you’re talking about seamus… I don’t have a clue! They are really pretty to look at though. =) Great photo.
LOL! William, very funny! LOL! What a hoot! Vey beautiful picture. Thank you for sharing it. Lisa
Great picture.
Hi Seamus, thats hilarous! I love the Chylus - they have got to be the most beautiful symmettrical mountains in Kenya, … from a distance they look like something out of a fairy tale.
Theresa,
I have found cheetahs and lions using the hills, but they don’t seem to spend a great proportion of their time up there. Perhaps because the prey is mainly down on the plains.
The “cats and dogs” bill (as it has come to be known) is probably worth supporting.
You’re correct. Populations of lions have dropped drastically in the last two decades. I use this fact to motivate the urgency of my work. As for my vision (isn’t that a bit of a grand term?): I think one of the most critical tasks is simply to try to understand how much of our wildlife we have left. Then its worth carefully testing conservation interventions, while documenting their success or otherwise. These may sound like simple ambitions, but I think they are worthwhile. Thus… I do extensive monitoring of the lion population here. Leela, Antony and Amy are running the Lion Guardians program.