The west rim of the summit caldera provides a view of two lava flows that traveled across a bench on the caldera floor. The darker flow in the foreground was produced during an eruption in 1972. It partially overrode the gray-colored flow beyond it produced in a 1965 eruption. Both flows traveled across the broad bench, one of four large platforms within the caldera, before dropping to the lower floor of the Choungou-Chahale caldera. The morphology of the compound, 3 x 4 km summit caldera has frequently been modified during historical eruptions.

Copyrighted photo by Katia and Maurice Krafft, 1980.

Copyrighted image used with permission. All Rights Reserved. Contact photographer for any usage requests.

Karthala