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Ol Doinyo Lengai

Lengai, Ol Doinyo

Stratovolcano · Tanzania · 2962m

A herd of wildebeest graze in the foreground during an explosive eruption from Tanzania's Ol Doinyo Lengai in 1966. Explosive activity began in August 1966, near the end of an eruption that began in 1960 and consisted of quiet emission of lava flows in the summit crater. Ash deposits from previous eruptions whiten the volcano's slopes. This is the only volcano known to have erupted carbonatite in historical time.
A herd of wildebeest graze in the foreground during an explosive eruption from Tanzania's Ol Doinyo Lengai in 1966. Explosive activity began in August 1966, near the end of an eruption that began in 1960 and consisted of quiet emission of lava flows in the summit crater. Ash deposits from previous eruptions whiten the volcano's slopes. This is the only volcano known to have erupted carbonatite in historical time. · Photo: Photo by Gordon Davies, 1966 (courtesy of Celia Nyamweru, Kenyatta University). · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Stratovolcano
Country
Tanzania
Region
Eastern Africa Volcanic Regions / Kenyan Rift Volcanic Province
Elevation
2962m
Coordinates
-2.764, 35.914
Last eruption
2026
Tectonic setting
Rift zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Composite
Major rock type
Foidite
Geological summary

The symmetrical Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only volcano known to have erupted carbonatite tephras and lavas in historical time. The prominent stratovolcano, known to the Maasai as "The Mountain of God," rises abruptly above the broad plain south of Lake Natron in the Gregory Rift Valley. The cone-building stage ended about 15,000 years ago and was followed by periodic ejection of natrocarbonatitic and nephelinite tephra during the Holocene. Historical eruptions have consisted of smaller tephra ejections and emission of numerous natrocarbonatitic lava flows on the floor of the summit crater and occasionally down the upper flanks. The depth and morphology of the northern crater have changed dramatically during the course of historical eruptions, ranging from steep crater walls about 200 m deep in the mid-20th century to shallow platforms mostly filling the crater. Long-term lava effusion in the summit crater beginning in 1983 had by the turn of the century mostly filled the northern crater; by late 1998 lava had begun overflowing the crater rim.

From Wikipedia

Ol Doinyo Lengai is an active stratovolcano in northern Tanzania. It consists of a volcanic cone with two craters, the northern of which has erupted during historical time. Uniquely for volcanoes on Earth, it has erupted natrocarbonatite, an unusually low temperature and highly fluid type of magma. Eruptions in 2007–2008 affected the surrounding region.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
1550 BCE~1352 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?163 BCE~35 · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?630~828 · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?1224~1423 · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?1819~2017 · 23 eruptions · max VEI 31550 BCE757 BCE23410261819

Detailed timeline

  1. 2017VEI 0Observed
    2017-04-09 – 2026-03-31
    North Crater
  2. 2016VEI 0Observed
    2016-09-21 – 2016-10-13
    North Crater
  3. 2015VEI 0Observed
    2015-06-20 – 2015-08-24
    North Crater
  4. 2011VEI 0Observed
    2011-06-22 – 2014-07-15
    North Crater
  5. 2007VEI 3Observed
    2007-06-16 – 2010-10-09
    North Crater
  6. 1994VEI 1Observed
    1994-09-18 – 2006-07-16
    North Crater
  7. 1983VEI 2Observed
    1983-01-01 – 1993-09-24
    North Crater
  8. 1969VEI ?Geological estimate
    1969-07-16 – Ongoing
  9. 1967VEI 3Observed
    1967-07-08 – 1967-09-04
    North Crater
  10. 1960VEI 3Observed
    1960-03-16 – 1966-11-28
    North Crater
  11. 1958VEI 1Observed
    1958-02-06 – Ongoing
    North Crater
  12. 1955VEI 2Observed
    1955-01-19 – 1955-01-20
    North Crater
  13. 1954VEI 2Observed
    1954-07-26 – 1954-09-16
    North Crater
  14. 1940VEI 3Observed
    1940-07-24 – 1941-02
    North Crater
  15. 1926VEI 2Observed
    1926 – Ongoing
    North Crater
  16. 1921VEI 2Observed
    1921-02 – Ongoing
    North Crater
  17. 1916VEI 3Observed
    1916-12-01 – 1917-06
    North Crater
  18. 1914VEI 0Observed
    1914-08-15 – 1915
    North Crater
  19. 1913VEI 0Observed
    1913 – Ongoing
  20. 1907 (±3 yrs)VEI 0Observed
    1907 – 1910-08-04
    North Crater
  21. 1904VEI 0Observed
    1904 – Ongoing
    North Crater
  22. 1882VEI 2Observed
    1882 – 1883
    North Crater
  23. 1880VEI 2Observed
    1880-12 – Ongoing
    North Crater
  24. 1350VEI ?Geological estimate
    1350 – Ongoing
  25. 700VEI ?Geological estimate
    700 – Ongoing
  26. 50 BCEVEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 50 – Ongoing
  27. 1550 BCE (±1500 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 1550 – Ongoing

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.