Due to the US Government shutdown, the Smithsonian is temporarily closed. The Global Volcanism Program website will remain available but will not be monitored or updated. Status updates will be available on the Smithsonian homepage.
Logo link to homepage

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.