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Report on Nyamulagira (DR Congo) — September 1992


Nyamulagira

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 17, no. 9 (September 1992)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Nyamulagira (DR Congo) Continued lava production from fissure vent

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1992. Report on Nyamulagira (DR Congo) (McClelland, L., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 17:9. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN199209-223020



Nyamulagira

DR Congo

1.408°S, 29.2°E; summit elev. 3058 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Activity continued in September with intermittent emission of lava and solid ejecta from Vent 20 (figure 12) . . . . During fieldwork on 11 September, lava fountaining was observed every 10-13 minutes. Lava flowed in a channel as much as 6-7 km N. Its front was advancing at 2-3 km/h on 12 September. Microtremor recorded at a nearby seismic station (Katale) had declined significantly.

[Continuous liquid lava extrusion continued until 24 November 1992. Short-lived lava fountaining at 5-10 day intervals took place at a fresh, previously inactive fissure, until 8 February 1993 (Zana and others, 1993; see 19:06).]

Geological Summary. Africa's most active volcano, Nyamulagira (also known as Nyamuragira), is a massive high-potassium basaltic shield about 25 km N of Lake Kivu and 13 km NNW of the steep-sided Nyiragongo volcano. The summit is truncated by a small 2 x 2.3 km caldera that has walls up to about 100 m high. Documented eruptions have occurred within the summit caldera, as well as from the numerous flank fissures and cinder cones. A lava lake in the summit crater, active since at least 1921, drained in 1938, at the time of a major flank eruption. Recent lava flows extend down the flanks more than 30 km from the summit as far as Lake Kivu; extensive lava flows from this volcano have covered 1,500 km2 of the western branch of the East African Rift.

Information Contacts: N. Zana, CRSN, Bukavu.