Contacto | RSS | EN | DE | EL | ES | FR | IT | RU

Nyiragongo volcano

Actualizado: 31 mar. 2023 18:39 GMT -
Stratovolcano 3470 m / 11,384 ft
DRCongo, -1.52°S / 29.25°E
Current status: erupción (4 out of 5)
Last update: 1 mar 2023 (Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report)
The lava lake of Nyiragongo volcano
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.

Mostrar mapa interactivo
Typical eruption style: Grandes erupciones efusivas; persistente lago de lava en el cráter de cumbre.
Erupciones del volcán Nyiragongo: 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

No hay terremotos recientes

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 Fotos




See also: Sentinel hub | Landsat 8 | NASA FIRMS

Nyiragongo Tour Volcán

8-days expedition to Nyiragongo volcano & mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park
8 days / 7 nights - Moderate to Challenging
Price $ 3950
no scheduled dates at present
Links and recommended reading:

Publications:

  • Allard P., P. Baxter, Halbwachs M., Kasareka M., J.C. Komorowski, Joron J.L. (2003), la erupción efusiva más destructiva en la historia moderna: Nyiragongo 2003, Geophysical Research Abstracts, v. 5, 11970

Older publications:

  • Verhoogen, Jean: Les volcans Virunga et l'éruption du Nyamlagira de 1938 / par J. Verhoogen, S. 326 - 353. (Frankfurt University Library, Germany)
  • Meyer, André: Estudio del volcán Nyiragongo: un informe de progreso / by André Meyer y Thure G. Sahama. -Bruxelles: Hayez, 1958 (biblioteca de la Universidad de Frankfurt)
mié, 1 mar 2023, 15:00

Nyiragongo volcano (DR Congo) - Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 22 February-28 February 2023 (Continuing Activity)

The Observatoire Volcanologique de Goma (OVG) reported that the lava lake on Nyiragongo's crater floor continued to be active during 13-19 February; faint glow emanated from the crater on 15 February. Seismicity was generally low, characterized by a few long-period earthquakes located up to 15 km deep along the large fracture connecting the Nyamuragira and Nyiragongo. A seismic station near the volcano registered a minor increase in the intensity of signals on 17 February. ... Read all
mié, 13 jul 2022, 14:00

Nyiragongo volcano (DR Congo) - Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 6 July-12 July 2022 (Continuing Activity)

Thermal anomalies from lava effusion on Nyiragongo's crater floor were identified in satellite images on 1, 6, and 11 July. ... Read all
Try our free app!
Volcanoes & Earthquakes - new app for Android
Android | iOS version

Más en VolcanoDiscovery

Support us - Help us upgrade our services!

We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world. Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources.
We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team. We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated. If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please make a donation (PayPal or Online credit card payment).

Planned features:
  • Improved multilanguage support
  • Tsunami alerts
  • Faster responsiveness
Thanks to your past donations, these features have been added recently:
  • Design upgrade
  • Detailed quake stats
  • Additional seismic data sources
Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online:
Android | IOS
Thank you!
Sources: VolcanoDiscovery / VolcanoAdventures and other sources as noted.
Use of material: Most text and images on our websites are owned by us. Re-use is generally not permitted without authorization. Contact us for licensing rights.
Volcanoes & Earthquakes
VolcanoDiscovery Home
Volcanes | Sismos | Fotos | News | App
Adventure & Study Travel
Tours to Volcanoes and Volcanic Areas: walking tours, photo tours, study tours
Tours & Dates | FAQ | About us
Get our newsletter!
Company info
Contact | Legal info | Terms & conditions
Follow us
Follow us on facebook Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Twitter Visit our Youtube channel
EN | DE | EL | ES | FR | IT | RU
VolcanoDiscovery GmbH, Germany, Reg. nr.: HRB 103744, EU Tax Id: DE 310 395 322 owned and created by
Dr. Tom Pfeiffer, volcanologist, volcano photographer, tour organizer member of
IAVCEI
Volcanological Society
Ecotourism Greece
Insured by R+V
VolcanoDiscovery © 2004- All Rights Reserved | Privacy - cookie settings