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Menengai

Shield volcano · Kenya · 2278m

Farmlands occupy the flanks of Menengai shield volcano on the floor of the East African Rift. A major explosive eruption about 8,000 years ago resulted in formation of the 12 x 8 km wide caldera seen in this Landsat image. More than 70 post-caldera lava flows cover the caldera floor, the youngest of which may be only a few hundred years old. Most lava flows erupted from vents near the center of the caldera and ponded against the caldera walls. The city of Nakuru lies at the bottom of the image, south of the caldera.
Farmlands occupy the flanks of Menengai shield volcano on the floor of the East African Rift. A major explosive eruption about 8,000 years ago resulted in formation of the 12 x 8 km wide caldera seen in this Landsat image. More than 70 post-caldera lava flows cover the caldera floor, the youngest of which may be only a few hundred years old. Most lava flows erupted from vents near the center of the caldera and ponded against the caldera walls. The city of Nakuru lies at the bottom of the image, south of the caldera. · Photo: NASA Landsat image, 1999 (courtesy of Hawaii Synergy Project, Univ. of Hawaii Institute of Geophysics & Planetology). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Shield volcano
Country
Kenya
Region
Eastern Africa Volcanic Regions / Kenyan Rift Volcanic Province
Elevation
2278m
Coordinates
-0.200, 36.070
Last eruption
-6050
Tectonic setting
Rift zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Shield
Major rock type
Trachyte / Trachydacite
Geological summary

The massive Menengai shield volcano occupies the floor of the East African Rift. Construction of a 30 km3 shield volcano beginning about 200,000 years ago was followed by the eruption of two voluminous ash-flow tuffs, each preceded by major pumice falls. The first took place about 29,000 years ago and produced a large caldera. The second, producing about 30 km3 of compositionally zoned peralkaline trachytic magma about 8000 years ago, was associated with formation of the present-day 8 x 12 km summit caldera. More than 70 post-caldera lava flows cover the caldera floor, the youngest of which may be only a few hundred years old. No historical eruptions are known. Fumarolic activity is restricted to the caldera.

From Wikipedia

Menengai Crater is a massive shield volcano with one of the biggest calderas in the world, in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. It is the largest volcano caldera in Kenya and the second largest volcano caldera in Africa. Volcanic formed rich loam soils enrich the adjacent farmland around its flanks. The crater is on the floor of the Rift Valley. The volcano formed about 200,000 years ago and the prominent 12 x 8 km caldera formed about 8000 years ago. The caldera floor is covered with numerous post caldera lava flows. The Menengai volcano is considered one of the best-preserved Krakatau-style calderas in the world. Menengai has very little sediment in the caldera which is a thick mass of lava boulders and inaccessible ridges. Volcanic activity continues and a current project under the GDC is at an advanced stage towards geothermal power generation.

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Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
7350 BCE~7220 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?6180 BCE~6050 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 67350 BCE7090 BCE6700 BCE6440 BCE6180 BCE

Detailed timeline

  1. 6050 BCEVEI 6Geological estimate
    BCE 6050 – Ongoing
  2. 7350 BCE (±500 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 7350 – Ongoing

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.