Lesson 1Geomorphological hazards: flooding in lowlands, slope failures, gully formation, and types of mass movementsThis lesson looks at landform hazards like floods, landslides, gullies, and earth movements. You'll connect causes, terrain features, and human activities to mapping dangers, assessing risks, and planning safeguards.
Floodplain zoning and inundation mappingSlope instability factors and indicatorsGully initiation and headcut migrationTypes of landslides and mass movementsRainfall thresholds and triggering eventsHazard mapping and mitigation planningLesson 2Land relief and slope study: hill shadows, slope steepness, direction, and effects on erosion and slidesThis lesson explains digital elevation models, hill shading, slope angles, and direction analysis to understand terrain shapes. You'll link these measures to soil loss, slide risks, water channels, and building plans in Kenya's varied terrains.
Sources and quality of elevation dataHillshade visualization and landform readingSlope gradient classes and mappingAspect patterns and microclimate effectsTopographic controls on erosion ratesSlope thresholds for landslide hazardsLesson 3River basin shapes and drainage networks: branching, grid-like, wheel-shaped, and ancient river systemsThis lesson studies river basin structures, stream orders, and patterns like branching, grid, and wheel types. You'll relate these to rock types, geology, elevation, and long-term land changes.
Watershed boundaries and stream orderDendritic, trellis, radial, and parallel patternsStructural and lithologic controls on drainageLongitudinal profiles and knickpointsBasin shape, relief, and hydrologic responseDrainage evolution and river captureLesson 4Geological mapping and rock layers: rock types, layering, structural influences on land shapesThis lesson introduces mapping rock units, focusing on rock kinds, layers, and geological structures. You'll see how folds, faults, and rock hardness shape hills, rivers, resources, and dangers.
Reading geological maps and legendsLithologic units and rock strength contrastsStratigraphic sequences and key contactsFaults, folds, and fracture networksStructural control on ridges and valleysLinking bedrock to resources and hazardsLesson 5River processes: channel changes, sediment movement, buildup, meandering rivers and sudden shiftsThis lesson covers river actions forming channels, like water flow types, sediment carry, and sandbars. You'll study bends, braids, shifts, and floodplain growth, relating actions to patterns and management.
Flow regimes and channel hydraulicsBedload, suspended load, and wash loadChannel patterns: straight, meandering, braidedPoint bars, levees, and overbank depositsMeander migration and cutoff formationAvulsion, anabranching, and channel managementLesson 6Climate effects on water flow: rain patterns, wet-dry seasons, moisture loss, and dry spell measuresThis lesson shows how weather systems, rain sources, and ground conditions affect rain, runoff, moisture loss, and dry periods. You'll connect climate measures to water patterns and supply in Kenya's regions.
Global circulation and moisture transportPrecipitation seasonality and intensity patternsPotential and actual evapotranspirationSoil moisture balance and runoff responseDrought indices and hydrologic droughtClimate variability and change impactsLesson 7Useful datasets and sources: national geology offices, global elevation data (SRTM, ASTER), rock map libraries, climate data (CRU, CHIRPS)This lesson shares key free datasets for geography and geology, like elevation models, rock maps, and weather products. You'll check quality, details, and combine them for studying Kenyan landscapes.
Global and regional DEM productsNational geological survey map portalsOnline geological map repositoriesGridded climate datasets and indicesData resolution, accuracy, and metadataIntegrating multi-source datasets in GISLesson 8Satellite basics for land features: using images to spot hills, rivers, and plant coverThis lesson introduces satellite tools, detail levels, and colour bands for mapping features. You'll interpret images for shapes, rivers, plants, moisture, and spot common image issues.
Optical vs radar sensors and resolutionsSpectral signatures of water, soil, and rockIdentifying major landforms from imageryMapping river channels and floodplainsVegetation indices and canopy conditionCommon image corrections and artifactsLesson 9Surface deposits and soils: river sands, slope debris, broken bedrock, soil types and productivityThis lesson studies loose deposits and soils like river sands, slope rubble, and weathered rock. You'll link source materials, feel, and build to soil types, richness, drainage, and land uses.
Alluvial, colluvial, and residual materialsWeathering profiles and regolith formationSoil horizons, texture, and structureMajor soil classification systemsSoil fertility, nutrients, and limitationsSoil erosion risk and conservation needs
