Mondo Knows Facts
The Rwenzori has glaciers almost on the equator
These peaks on the Uganda and Congo border carry ice despite sitting within a degree of the Equator The mountains are a raised block of crust, not volcanoes, pushed up between two branches of the rift. Margherita Peak reaches 5,109 metres, high enough for permanent ice in an otherwise tropical region. The glaciers have shrunk sharply over the past century and may disappear. It sits in Mondo's world geography collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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More facts like this
The Atlas Mountains grew as Africa pushed northConvergence with Europe crumpled and lifted the crust across Morocco, Algeria and TunisiaBlood Falls in Antarctica flows with crimson iron-rich waterEmerging from the Taylor Glacier, the waterfall gets its deep red colour from oxidised iron.Antarctica holds Earth's largest single ice sheetIt covers the whole continent and holds roughly sixty per cent of the world's fresh waterGlaciers flow downhill like very slow riversIce deforms under its own weight, so a glacier keeps moving while staying solidGlaciers carry boulders far from their bedrockErratics are rocks dumped many miles from any outcrop of the same stoneFjords are glacial valleys that the sea floodedIce cut the valleys below sea level, and when it melted the ocean moved in
🗺️ World Geographyfact 159 of 200
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Tags: mountains, africa, glaciers
The Rwenzori has glaciers almost on the equator: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- These peaks on the Uganda and Congo border carry ice despite sitting within a degree of the Equator. The figure is taken from British Geological Survey, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a world geography fact?
- Yes. It sits on the World Geography shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.