Mechanical weathering

Mechanical weathering is the process that involves disintegration or breakdown of rocks into smaller fragments without any chemical changes in the composition of the rock.

Mechanical weathering occurs under the conditions of temperature fluctuations which may lead to alternate heating and cooling or freezing and thawing as well as by biotic factors like the  action of roots of plants or activities of living organisms that break the rock into rock fragments without changing mineral composition of the rock.

The areas in East Africa where physical weathering dominate include:-Central! Tanzania. North Eastern Kenya around Turkana, North Eastern Uganda in Kaabong, Moroto, Kondo districts, some parts of Central Tanzania and on upper slopes of high mountains of East Africa like Kilimanjaro, Rwenzori and Kenya at an altitude above 4500m