Menengai consists of a caldera located on a shield volcano in the Kenya Rift Valley.
Lavas fill much of the caldera and push up against the inside of the rim.
Menengai has obviously erupted many times but only one eruption has been dated at about only 7,350 years ago. A Landsat TM satellite showing the different flows in varying dark colors. The reds represent older lavas that have been partly covered by vegetation, and the yellowish browns are the youngest lava flows. The Landsat TM images were processed by Herbert Blodgett of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The air photos are from the Geologic Survey of Kenya.