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Mount Marsabit

Marsabit

Shield volcano · Kenya · 1707m

A Space Shuttle perspective shows part of Marsabit, a massive, 6,300 km2 shield volcano located 170 km E of the center of the East African Rift. Its slopes are dotted with 180 cinder cones and 22 maars, such as the prominent circular one below the thickly vegetated summit of the shield volcano. Most of these vents are concentrated along NW- and NE-trending belts cutting across the summit. The youngest lava flows are unvegetated, and the post-shield cinder cones were mapped as Pleistocene to Holocene in age.
A Space Shuttle perspective shows part of Marsabit, a massive, 6,300 km2 shield volcano located 170 km E of the center of the East African Rift. Its slopes are dotted with 180 cinder cones and 22 maars, such as the prominent circular one below the thickly vegetated summit of the shield volcano. Most of these vents are concentrated along NW- and NE-trending belts cutting across the summit. The youngest lava flows are unvegetated, and the post-shield cinder cones were mapped as Pleistocene to Holocene in age. · Photo: NASA Space Shuttle image STS026-37-2, 1988 (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Shield volcano
Country
Kenya
Region
Eastern Africa Volcanic Regions / Kenyan Rift Volcanic Province
Elevation
1707m
Coordinates
2.320, 37.970
Last eruption
Unknown
Tectonic setting
Rift zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Shield
Major rock type
Basalt / Picro-Basalt
Geological summary

Marsabit is a massive basaltic shield volcano located 170 km E off the center of the East African Rift. There are 22 maars and 180 cinder cones on its slopes, most of which are concentrated along NW- and NE-trending belts that cut across the thickly vegetated summit region. The main phase of shield construction occurred during the Pliocene. Quaternary activity shifted to explosive activity that formed maars accompanied by further extensive effusion of lava flows. The youngest dated lava flow has a Potassium-Argon age of 68,000 +/- 16,000 years, but more recent activity has also occurred. The youngest lava flows are unvegetated, and Key (1987) mapped the post-shield cinder cones as Pleistocene-to-Recent in age.

From Wikipedia

Marsabit is a 6300 km2 basaltic shield volcano in Kenya, located 170 km east of the center of the East African Rift, in Marsabit County near the town of Marsabit. This was primarily built during the Miocene, but some lava flows and explosive maar-forming eruptions have occurred more recently. At least two of the maars host crater lakes.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Detailed timeline

No eruption records available.

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.