Global Volcanism Program

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Menengai.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Menengai.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Menengai.

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

222060

6050 BCE

2,278 m / 7,474 ft

0.2°S
36.07°E

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Shield

Volcano Types
Shield
Caldera
Pyroclastic cone(s)

Rock Types

Major
Trachyte / Trachydacite
Rhyolite
Basalt / Picro-Basalt

Tectonic Setting

Rift zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

2,192
204,608
886,293
4,259,089

Geological Summary

The massive Menengai shield volcano occupies the floor of the East African Rift. Construction of a 30 km³ shield volcano beginning about 200,000 years ago was followed by the eruption of two voluminous ash-flow tuffs, each preceded by major pumice falls. The first took place about 29,000 years ago and produced a large caldera. The second, producing about 30 km³ of compositionally zoned peralkaline trachytic magma about 8000 years ago, was associated with formation of the present-day 8 x 12 km summit caldera. More than 70 post-caldera lava flows cover the caldera floor, the youngest of which may be only a few hundred years old. No historical eruptions are known. Fumarolic activity is restricted to the caldera.

This volcano is located within the Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage property.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Leat P T, 1984. Geological evolution of the trachytic caldera volcano Menengai, Kenya Rift Valley. J Geol Soc London, 141: 1057-1069.

Leat P T, Macdonald R, Smith R L, 1984. Geochemical evolution of the Menengai Caldera volcano, Kenya. J. Geophys. Res, 89: 8571-8592.

Macdonald R, Navarro J M, Upton B G J, Davies G R, 1994. Strong compositional zonation in peralkaline magma: Menengai, Kenya Rift Valley. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res., 60: 301-325.

Richard J J, Neumann van Padang M, 1957. Africa and the Red Sea. Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World and Solfatara Fields, Rome: IAVCEI 4: 1-118.

Smith M, 1991. (pers. comm.).

Williams L A J, Macdonald R, Chapman G R, 1984. Late Quaternary caldera volcanoes of the Kenya Rift Valley. J. Geophys. Res, 89: 8553-8570.

Eruptive History

There is data available for 2 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.

6050 BCE (?) Confirmed Eruption (Explosive / Effusive) VEI: 6

Episode 1 | Eruption (Explosive / Effusive)

6050 BCE (?) - Unknown

Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (uncalibrated)

List of 5 Events for Episode 1

Start Date	End Date	Event Type	Event Remarks
- - - -	- - - -	Explosion
- - - -	- - - -	Pyroclastic flow
- - - -	- - - -	Ash
- - - -	- - - -	Caldera	Explosion
6050 BCE (?)	- - - -	VEI (Explosivity Index)

7350 BCE ± 500 years Confirmed Eruption (Explosive / Effusive)

Episode 1 | Eruption (Explosive / Effusive)

7350 BCE ± 500 years - Unknown

Evidence from Correlation: Tephrochronology

List of 3 Events for Episode 1

Start Date	End Date	Event Type
- - - -	- - - -	Explosion
- - - -	- - - -	Phreatic activity
- - - -	- - - -	Ash

The Global Volcanism Program has no synonyms or subfeatures listed for Menengai.

Photo Gallery

Farmlands occupy the flanks of Menengai shield volcano on the floor of the East African Rift. A major explosive eruption about 8,000 years ago resulted in formation of the 12 x 8 km wide caldera seen in this Landsat image. More than 70 post-caldera lava flows cover the caldera floor, the youngest of which may be only a few hundred years old. Most lava flows erupted from vents near the center of the caldera and ponded against the caldera walls. The city of Nakuru lies at the bottom of the image, south of the caldera.

NASA Landsat image, 1999 (courtesy of Hawaii Synergy Project, Univ. of Hawaii Institute of Geophysics & Planetology).

The Menengai shield volcano contains a roughly 8 x 12 km caldera with 300-m-high caldera walls, seen in this 28 November 2019 Sentinel-2 satellite image (N is at the top; this image is approximately 25 km across). Caldera formation occurred during two explosive eruptions, and since then there have been more than 70 events producing lava flows, pumice deposits, and scoria cones. The city of Nakuru lies at the bottom of the image, south of the caldera.

Satellite image courtesy of Copernicus Sentinel Data, 2019.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Menengai in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

External Sites

Copernicus Browser

The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions.

MIROVA

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

MODVOLC Thermal Alerts

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments.

Volcanic Hazard Maps

The IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk has a Volcanic Hazard Maps database designed to serve as a resource for hazard mappers (or other interested parties) to explore how common issues in hazard map development have been addressed at different volcanoes, in different countries, for different hazards, and for different intended audiences. In addition to the comprehensive, searchable Volcanic Hazard Maps Database, this website contains information about diversity of volcanic hazard maps, illustrated using examples from the database. This site is for educational purposes related to volcanic hazard maps. Hazard maps found on this website should not be used for emergency purposes. For the most recent, official hazard map for a particular volcano, please seek out the proper institutional authorities on the matter.

IRIS seismic stations/networks

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Menengai. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Menengai. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player.

DECADE Data

The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO₂ to the atmosphere, but installing CO₂ monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere.

Large Eruptions of Menengai

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).