Constraints to effective adoption of innovative livestock production technologies in the Rift Valley (Kenya)

We surveyed small-scale farmers in the Kenyan Rift Valley province (Narok and Nakuru districts) to describe constraints to, and changes in, livestock production and to assess the extent to which farmers have adopted new technologies promoted by extension services. In the arid areas of southern Narok, farmers' main constraints were drought and disease. Farmers in Nakuru district, situated in the fertile highlands of the Rift Valley, were also affected by disease but also lacked markets and capital. Although 83% of the farmers had regular contact with extension services that provided advice on new technologies and livestock production innovations, only about half of the respondents implemented the proposed changes. Many of those who did change (38%) improved pasture/nutrition/manure management and relatively few (16%) improved their animal breeding practices. Results of a multinomial logit model revealed that, apart from the significant differences between the two districts, the nature of the advice and the expected outcomes had the strongest influence on the probability of successfully implementing changes to livestock production. The results further suggest that adoption of new technologies is limited by lack of knowledge, inadequate support and a failure to target local needs and conditions and empower livestock keepers.     

Falling water-levels in saline lakes of the central Rift Valley of Kenya: The case of Lake Elmenteita

Reasons why Lake Elmenteita and rivers flowing into it decreased in volume during 1958–1987 were investigated. The effects of changing climate, landcover and landuse were considered. The study suggested that falling lake water-levels are not due to climate change alone: landuse changes and river abstraction and damming may also be important. Long-term trends in rainfall and evaporation reveal various patterns: monthly evaporation has slightly decreased recently but with no effect on lake levels; rainfall has remained more or less constant in total amount, but monthly falls show increased variability. Although flows in rivers and streams are primarily determined by rainfall, other factors operate near the lake so discharge into the lake cannot be predicted from rainfall. Increased settlement and farming on former forested areas within the catchment and irrigation along rivers also indirectly affect discharge values. Additionally, accelerated soil erosion from farmed lands has led to a reduced lake volume following soil deposition in the lake. It is noted that landuse changes need to be carefully monitored because of their effect on lake levels.     

A magnetotelluric study of the Alpine Fault, New Zealand

Magnetotelluric soundings have been made at seven locations on a 4  km profile crossing the Alpine Fault in the South Island of New Zealand. The 'distortion' techniques of Groom & Bailey (1989 ) and Lilley (1998a , b ) have been used to derive regional apparent resistivity and phase curves that correspond to electromagnetic induction in orientations parallel and perpendicular to the fault. 2-D inversion of the regional responses reveals that a narrow (<1  km wide) conductive zone is associated with the Alpine Fault. This conductor is most probably related to the heating of deep circulating meteoric water in a region in which enhanced temperatures occur at shallow depth due to the tectonic uplift of the Southern Alps.     

Early Holocene water budget of the Nakuru-Elmenteita basin, Central Kenya Rift

The Nakuru-Elmenteita basin in the Central Kenya Rift, contains two shallow, alkaline lakes, Lake Nakuru (1770 m above sea level) and Lake Elmenteita (1786 m). Ancient shorelines and lake sediments at 1940 m suggest that these two lakes formed a single large and deep lake as a result of a wetter climate during the early Holocene. Here, we used a hydrological model to compare the precipitation–evaporation balance during the early Holocene to today. Assuming that the Nakuru-Elmenteita basin was hydrologically closed, as it is today, the most likely climate scenario includes a 45% increase in mean-annual precipitation, a 0.5°C decrease in air temperature, and an increase of 9% in cloud coverage from the modern values. Compared to the modeling results from other East African lake basins, this dramatic increase in precipitation seems to be unrealistic. Therefore, we propose a significant flow of water from the early Holocene Lake Naivasha in the south towards the Nakuru-Elmenteita basin to compensate the extremely negative hydrological budget of this basin. Since we did not find any field evidence for a surface connection, as often proposed during the last 70 years, the hydrological deficit of the Nakuru-Elmenteita basin could have also been compensated by a subsurface water exchange.     

Thermal state of the Roer Valley Graben,part of the European Cenozoic Rift System

We performed a detailed analysis of the thermal state of the Cenozoic Roer Valley Graben, the north–western branch of the European Cenozoic Rift System, based on a new set of temperature data. We developed a numerical technique for correcting bottom hole temperatures, including an evaluation of the uncertainty of thermal parameters. Comparison with drill stem test temperatures indicated that the uncertainty in corrected bottom hole temperatures using a two‐component numerical model is approximately ± 4 °C, which is much more accurate than the up to 15 °C errors encountered in often‐used line‐source or Horner correction methods. The subsurface temperatures and the derived regional heat flow estimates of 53 ± 6 to 63 ± 6 mW m^?2 show no significant difference between the central rift and the adjacent structural highs. The absence of an elevated heat flow is attributed to the low amount of lithospheric thinning during the Cenozoic rifting phase (β=1.06–1.15). A local thermal anomaly exceeding +10 °C was found in five wells in the north–western part of the rift basin at depths of 1000–1500 m, and is most likely caused by the upward flow of fluids along faults, whereas lower temperatures in the upper 1500 m in the southern part of the rift basin could indicate cooling by topography‐driven groundwater flow. Conflicting ideas exist on the active or passive rifting mechanisms responsible for the formation of the different rift basins of European Cenozoic Rift System. The low spatial variation in heat flow found in this study suggests that the mechanism responsible for forming the Roer Valley Graben is passive rifting.     

The mapping of induced currents around the Kenya Rift: a comparison of techniques

Summary. Single-station and inter-station transfer functions are derived from data recorded by a magnetometer array in and around the Kenya Rift Valley. Different methods of presentation of the transfer function estimates are compared in terms of their ability to define lateral variations in electrical conductivity. When, as in East Africa, the conductivity structure is complex and three-dimensional, by far the most useful method of presentation is to use the transfer functions to simulate the anomalous internal fields associated with regional current flow at a particular azimuth. The use of inter-station rather than single-station transfer functions is almost essential where the amplitudes of anomalous horizontal fields are of the same size or greater than the normal fields. Horizontal field transfer functions prove to be just as useful as those usually calculated for the vertical component, and provide strong additional constraints on the internal current system.
Maps of simulated vertical and horizontal fields of internal origin indicate the importance of current channelling around the Rift Valley. A conductor just to the east of Nairobi apparently funnels regionally induced currents into two conductors associated with the Rift and dome; one at shallow depths beneath the Rift floor, and a deeper body to the east.     

Sulfur distribution in five Ethiopian Rift Valley soils under humid and semi-arid climate

The Rift Valley has diverse soil types with different fertility potential. The climate of the Rift Valley is also diverse. Five major soil types that lie in the humid, sub-humid, and semi-arid parts of the Rift Valley were studied. Total sulfur (S) in the subsoil of the Solonetz and Andosol approximates total S contents of similar soils in other parts of the world. Organic matter is the major source of total sulfur for the soils in the humid parts (Nitisol, Andosol and Vertisol), whereas gypsum is the major source for the soils in the drier parts (Fluvisol and Solonetz). The Nitisol has the lowest soluble sulfate, which is below the critical level for crop production. All other soils contain soluble sulfate which is adequate for crop production. Land degradation, crop residue removal, clearing and burning of forests and other vegetation, crop uptake, and use of non-S fertilizers are major causes of sulfur deficiency in the Rift Valley. Maintenance of the soil organic matter, utilization of subsurface inorganic S and proper management of soils should maintain the S status of the soils in the future.