Global Volcanism Program

The Global Volcanism Program has no activity reports available for Chyulu Hills.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Chyulu Hills.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Chyulu Hills.

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

222130

1855 CE

2,188 m / 7,178 ft

2.68°S
37.88°E

Morphology

Volcano Landform
Cluster

Volcano Types
Volcanic field

Rock Types

Major
Trachybasalt / Tephrite Basanite
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Foidite

Tectonic Setting

Rift zone
Continental crust (> 25 km)

Population

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

14,889
14,889
91,280
1,784,980

Geological Summary

The 100-km-long NW-SE-trending Chyulu Hills volcanic field is located 150 km E of the Kenya Rift. It contains several hundred small cones and flows, including numerous recent cinder cones. Two of these, Shaitani and Chainu, erupted during the mid-19th century. Volcanic activity began about 1.4 million years ago with eruptions in the northern Chyulu Hills and migrated to the SE, where a large number of Holocene cones are found. Many of the cinder cones are aligned along dominantly NW-trending older faults and younger NNE-trending fissures. The silica contents of the lava flows increased with time. Early flows consisted of foidites; later Holocene lava flows are basanites and alkali basalts. Six tephra deposits from Lake Chala were attibuted by Martin-Jones et al. (2020) to Pleistocene eruptions in the Chyulu Hills (~87-16.8 ka), along with one Holocene mafic cryptotephra ¹⁴C dated at about 4.2 ka.

References

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

Haug G H, Strecker M R, 1995. Volcano-tectonic evolution of the Chyulu Hills and implications for the regional stress field in Kenya. Geology, 23: 165-16.

Martin-Jones C, Lane C, Van Daele M, Van Der Meeren T, Wolff C, Moorhouse H, Tomlinson E, Verschuren D, 2020. History of scoria-cone eruptions on the eastern shoulder of the Kenya–Tanzania Rift revealed in the 250-ka sediment record of Lake Chala near Mount Kilimanjaro. Journal of Quaternary Science 35(1-2) 245–255. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3140

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.

Saggerson E P, 1963. Geology of the Simba-Kibwezi area. Geol Surv Kenya Rpt, 58: 1-70.

Spath A, Le Roex A P, Opiyo-Akech N, 2001. Plume-lithosphere interaction and the origin of continental rift-related alkaline volcanism--the Chyulu Hills volcanic province, southern Kenya. J Petr, 42: 765-787.

Eruptive History

There is data available for 3 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.

1855 ± 5 years Confirmed Eruption (Explosive / Effusive) VEI: 2

Episode 1 | Eruption (Explosive / Effusive)

Shaitani and Chaimu

1855 ± 5 years - Unknown

Evidence from Correlation: Anthropology

List of 3 Events for Episode 1 at Shaitani and Chaimu

Start Date	End Date	Event Type
- - - -	- - - -	Explosion
- - - -	- - - -	Lava flow
1855 ± 5 years	- - - -	VEI (Explosivity Index)

1470 ± 200 years Confirmed Eruption (Explosive / Effusive)

Episode 1 | Eruption (Explosive / Effusive)

Umani

1470 ± 200 years - Unknown

Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (uncalibrated)

List of 1 Events for Episode 1 at Umani

	Start Date	End Date	Event Type	Event Remarks
	- - - -	- - - -	Lava flow

2250 BCE ± 110 years Confirmed Eruption (Explosive / Effusive) VEI: 3

Episode 1 | Eruption (Explosive / Effusive)

CH-3.68 cryptotephra layer

2250 BCE ± 110 years - Unknown

Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (uncalibrated)

List of 1 Events for Episode 1 at CH-3.68 cryptotephra layer

	Start Date	End Date	Event Type	Event Remarks
	- - - -	- - - -	VEI (Explosivity Index)	Lake Chala cryptotephra layer at least 70 km away.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Aseba, Ol Doinyo

Cone

1110 m

2° 20' 0.00" S

37° 38' 0.00" E

Chaimu
Cheimu
Ngulia Hills

Cone

1615 m

2° 56' 0.00" S

38° 4' 0.00" E

Duani

Cone

1134 m

2° 17' 0.00" S

37° 44' 0.00" E

Elmau

Cone

1311 m

2° 29' 0.00" S

37° 41' 0.00" E

Engeloreti, Ol Doinyo

Cone

1277 m

2° 24' 0.00" S

37° 40' 0.00" E

Ithundu

Cone

1190 m

2° 20' 0.00" S

37° 42' 0.00" E

Kakambui

Cone

2° 21' 0.00" S

37° 44' 0.00" E

Kenze

Cone

1148 m

2° 26' 0.00" S

37° 53' 0.00" E

Kwadisha

Cone

1192 m

2° 29' 0.00" S

37° 38' 0.00" E

Lalasho, Ol Doinyo

Cone

2° 25' 0.00" S

37° 33' 0.00" E

Lambagai, Ol Doinyo

Cone

2° 24' 0.00" S

37° 37' 0.00" E

Lolrupande, Ol Doinyo

Cone

1209 m

2° 23' 0.00" S

37° 36' 0.00" E

Mabuani

Cone

2° 22' 0.00" S

37° 46' 0.00" E

Mathaioni

Cone

1190 m

2° 19' 0.00" S

37° 42' 0.00" E

Migululu

Cone

1471 m

2° 23' 0.00" S

37° 44' 0.00" E

Mubonyakya

Cone

1161 m

2° 22' 0.00" S

37° 46' 0.00" E

Mutonaju

Cone

1423 m

2° 22' 0.00" S

37° 42' 0.00" E

Mwailo
Makinku

Cone

1137 m

2° 15' 0.00" S

37° 43' 0.00" E

Nemashi

Cone

2° 14' 0.00" S

37° 35' 0.00" E

Ngalata

Cone

1090 m

2° 17' 0.00" S

37° 38' 0.00" E

Ngazani

Cone

2° 18' 0.00" S

37° 40' 0.00" E

Olgoreti, Ol Doinyo

Cone

2° 19' 0.00" S

37° 37' 0.00" E

Olgurtam

Cone

2° 24' 0.00" S

37° 34' 0.00" E

Olmoti

Cone

2° 11' 0.00" S

37° 39' 0.00" E

Olorerer

Cone

1172 m

2° 20' 0.00" S

37° 34' 0.00" E

Oojini

Cone

2° 16' 0.00" S

37° 41' 0.00" E

Osogot

Cone

1097 m

2° 12' 0.00" S

37° 39' 0.00" E

Sambu, Ol Doinyo

Cone

1341 m

2° 22' 0.00" S

37° 38' 0.00" E

Shaitani

Cone

1667 m

2° 52' 0.00" S

37° 58' 0.00" E

Tindima

Cone

1529 m

2° 24' 0.00" S

37° 44' 0.00" E

Umani

Cone

1131 m

2° 28' 0.00" S

37° 54' 0.00" E

Photo Gallery

The 100-km-long NW-SE-trending Chyulu Hills volcanic field, located 150 km east of the Kenya Rift, contains several hundred small cinder cones and lava flows. Many are Holocene in age, including two that erupted during the mid-19th century. Volcanic activity began about 1.4 million years ago with eruptions in the northern Chyulu Hills and migrated to the SE, where most of the younger cones are found.

Copyrighted photo by Katia and Maurice Krafft, 1976.

The Chyulu Hills volcanic field in southern Kenya covers an area of over 2,800 km² and is located around 150 km E of the southern Kenya Rift Valley. More recent activity has occurred in the southern part of the field, containing a 50-km-long main central ridge with numerous cones and craters seen here in this 3 February 2019 Sentinel-2 satellite image (N at the top).

Satellite image courtesy of Copernicus Sentinel Data, 2019.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Chyulu Hills 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 Chyulu Hills. 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 Chyulu Hills. 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 Chyulu Hills

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).