Mbeya Range is a
volcanic
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
in
Mbeya Region, in southwestern Tanzania, East Africa. It forms an arc just north of the town of
Mbeya and includes
Loleza Peak (2656 m.), Mbeya Peak (2895 m.), Nyanuwa Peak (2332 m.), and Pungulumo (1909 m.). The range is at the junction of the eastern
Gregory Rift and western
Albertine Rift valleys.
and is in Rungwe volcanic province. The Songwe Scarp terminates the
Rukwa Trough at its southeast end and forms the northwestern side of the Mbeya Range.
The
Poroto Mountains and
Mount Rungwe lie to the south, and the
Kipengere Range to the southeast.
Ecology
Overgrazing and extensive wood cutting have in the mountains resulted in unstable slopes which has caused increased
surface runoff
Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...
, soil erosion, and
land degradation.
References
External links
*
photo
Mountain ranges of Tanzania
Geography of Mbeya Region
Southern Highlands, Tanzania
Southern Rift montane forest–grassland mosaic
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