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Bishoftu Volcanic Field

Volcanic field · Ethiopia · 1850m

The Bishoftu volcanic field is a chain of lake-filled maars (dark-colored in this Landsat image), tuff cones, and scoria cones, lies along the Ethiopian Rift Valley. The city of Debre Zeit (left-center) lies between two maars, the irregular-shaped Lake Hora and the circular Lake Bishoftu. The Haro Maja tuff ring and its neighbor to the west, lake-filled Kilole maar (upper right), are offset to the east.
The Bishoftu volcanic field is a chain of lake-filled maars (dark-colored in this Landsat image), tuff cones, and scoria cones, lies along the Ethiopian Rift Valley. The city of Debre Zeit (left-center) lies between two maars, the irregular-shaped Lake Hora and the circular Lake Bishoftu. The Haro Maja tuff ring and its neighbor to the west, lake-filled Kilole maar (upper right), are offset to the east. · Photo: NASA Landsat image, 1999 (courtesy of Hawaii Synergy Project, Univ. of Hawaii Institute of Geophysics & Planetology). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Volcanic field
Country
Ethiopia
Region
Eastern Africa Volcanic Regions / Main Ethiopian Rift Volcanic Province
Elevation
1850m
Coordinates
8.780, 38.980
Last eruption
Unknown
Tectonic setting
Rift zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Cluster
Major rock type
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Geological summary

The Bishoftu volcanic field, also known as Debre Zeit, consists of an area of fissure-fed Holocene lava flows, cinder cones, tuff rings, and maars. Several of the maars are filled by lakes, which are popular recreational destinations from the nearby capital city of Addis Ababa. Most of the craters and cones are aligned NE-SW, parallel to the direction of the Ethiopian Rift Valley. The 750 x 1000 m Haro Maja tuff ring and its neighbor, lake-filled Kilole, are offset to the east. The cones and maars of the volcanic field were erupted through rhyolitic welded tuffs.

Eruption history

Detailed timeline

No eruption records available.

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.