Report on Nyamulagira (DR Congo) — 25 June-1 July 2014
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 25 June-1 July 2014
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2014. Report on Nyamulagira (DR Congo) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 25 June-1 July 2014. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Nyamulagira
DR Congo
1.408°S, 29.2°E; summit elev. 3058 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
On 29 June NASA reported that Nyamuragira vented steam and other volcanic gases and there was a glow from the lava lake. NOAA reported that an Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite detected high SO2 concentrations above Nyamuragira. The University of Hawaii reported that Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data detected thermal anomalies and issued six MODVOLC alerts for the volcano’s N side.
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.
Sources: NASA Earth Observatory, NOAA Satellite and Information Service, Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) Thermal Alerts Team