Nyiragongo Volcano
Updated: Apr 18, 2024 23:37 GMT -
Stratovolcano 3470 m / 11,384 ft
DRCongo, -1.52°S / 29.25°E
Current status: erupting (4 out of 5)
DRCongo, -1.52°S / 29.25°E
Current status: erupting (4 out of 5)
Last update: 27 Mar 2024 (Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report)
The lava lake of Nyiragongo volcano
Nyiragongo (also spelled Niragongo), one of the world's most beautiful and active volcanoes, is a large stratovolcano near Lake Kivu at the eastern border of DRCongo with Rwanda in the Virunga National Park.
It has a 1.2 km diameter summit caldera containing the world's most active and largest lava lake.
Nyiragongo is infamous for its extremely fluid lava that runs as water when the lava lake drains. On January 17, 2002, Nyiragongo erupted and the lava lake drained from fissures on its western flanks. The city centre of the Goma town, the capital of the East Virunga province, had been destroyed by voluninous lava flows. 200,000 people were left homeless, adding to the human desaster caused by frequent civil wars.
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Nyiragongo volcano eruptions: 1884, 1894, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1905, 1906, 1908(?), 1911, 1918, 1920-21, 1927-77, 1977, 1982, 1994-96, 2002 (17 Jan-3 Feb, south flank), 2002-2021 (lava lake), 2021 (22-23 May, flank eruption)
Latest nearby earthquakes
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Background
Nyiragongo, located in the Western branch of the Rift Valley near Lake Kivu and the Congolese-Rwandese border, is one of the world's most active volcanoes. It is notorious for its lava lake and producing lateral eruptions with extremely fluid, fast-moving lava flows that repeatedly devastated areas around the volcano, such as the Goma desaster on January 2002, when a lava flow destroyed much of the city's commercial center and promted 200,000 people to flee.The large lava lake contained in its deep summit crater, now active again, became famous in the 1960's and 70's when volcanologists such as the Kraffts and Tazieff studied it. It had been active for half a century before it drained in one of the volcano's recent most catastrophic eruptions in 1977: through openings in its outer flanks in 1977, a huge lava flow poured out and killed hundreds of people. A similar event happened again in January 2002, when lava flows from flank vents drained the lake and cut through Goma, reaching Lake Kivu.
In contrast to its neighbor volcano, Nyamuragira,- a typical, and very active shield volcano comparable with Mauna Loa,- the 3470-m-high Nyiragongo displays the steep slopes of a stratovolcano. Terraces inside the steep-walled, 1.2-km-wide summit crater mark levels of former lava lakes, which have been observed since the late-19th century.
Two older volcanoes, Baruta and Shaheru, are partially overlapped by Nyiragongo on the north and south and look like lateral cones. About 100 parasitic cones are located primarily along radial fissures south of Shaheru, east of the summit, and along a NE-SW zone extending as far as Lake Kivu. Many cones are buried by voluminous lava flows that extend long distances down the flanks of the volcano.
Nyiragongo Volcano Photos
As morning approaches, the intense red and yellow light of the lava once again mixes with the blue of the sky, creating a unique spectacle. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Again the Nyiragongo lava lake. The red glow of the lava was clearly visible through the day. (Photo: shinkov)
The lights of Goma town in the background left remind me of standing on Etna volcano and looking down to Catania... (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer)
Time to wake up and enjoy the last hour of darkness before sunrise! As usual, Gilles is already up before all others and standing at the crater rim behind, to watch the l...
Latest satellite images
Nyiragongo Volcano Tours
8-days expedition to Nyiragongo volcano & mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park
8 days / 7 nights - Moderate to Challenging
Price $ 3950
Price $ 3950
no scheduled dates at present
