Logo link to homepage

Report on Nyamulagira (DR Congo) — 31 May-6 June 2023


Nyamulagira

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 31 May-6 June 2023
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2023. Report on Nyamulagira (DR Congo) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 31 May-6 June 2023. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (31 May-6 June 2023)

Nyamulagira

DR Congo

1.408°S, 29.2°E; summit elev. 3058 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


On 1 June the Observatoire Volcanologique de Goma (OVG) reported that seismicity at Nyamulagira remained at lower levels, similar to those recorded before the 17 May increase in activity. Incandescence above the crater had been absent for the past three days, but satellite imagery showed continuing lava effusion within the summit crater. The recent flows on the flanks covered an estimated 0.6 square kilometers.

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.

Source: Observatoire Volcanologique de Goma (OVG)