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Introduction: About This Book

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The Kenya Rift Lakes: Modern and Ancient

Part of the book series: Syntheses in Limnogeology ((SYNLIMNO))

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Abstract

This chapter presents a broad overview of the Kenya Rift lakes and outlines the rationale for, and layout of, this book, which is divided into four major parts covering: (1) the background information needed to understand later chapters, (2) the major characteristics of the modern lakes, (3) the sediments laid down by Neogene palaeolakes and the environments that they record, and (4) the major controls on lacustrine sedimentation and their potential economic and environmental value. All the lakes have alkaline waters, but they are highly variable in terms of size, depth, sedimentation, salinity, pH, physical limnology and ecology with a rich and diverse fauna and flora. This diversity is also reflected in the characteristics of the Neogene sediments that preserve records of past environmental change. These former water bodies also varied temporally, changing between open and closed basin conditions with consequent changes in size, water chemistry and depositional patterns of the palaeolakes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

    Robin W. Renaut

  2. Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Richard Bernhart Owen

Authors
  1. Robin W. Renaut
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  2. Richard Bernhart Owen
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Renaut, R.W., Owen, R.B. (2023). Introduction: About This Book. In: The Kenya Rift Lakes: Modern and Ancient. Syntheses in Limnogeology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25055-2_1

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