The Most Dangerous Volcano in the World
Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano (3,470m above sea level), located inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 20km north of the town of Goma near Lake Kivu and just west Rwandan border. The main crater is about 2 km wide containing an estimated 600m deep lava lake making it one of the biggest fluid lava lakes on Earth.
The crater presently has two distinct cooled lava benches within the crater walls – one at about 3,175 m and a lower one at about 2,975 m. The depth of the lava lake varies considerably. A maximum elevation of the lava lake was recorded at about 3,250 m prior to the January 1977 eruption – a lake depth of about 600 m. A recent very low elevation of the lava lake was recorded at about 2,700 m.
Since 1882, Mt. Nyiragongo has erupted at least 34 times, notable ones being on 10 January 1977, when the crater walls raptured and the lava lake drained in 30 minutes. The lava flowed down the flanks of the volcano at speeds of up to 60 km/h (fastest lava flow recorded to date), overwhelming villages and burning more than 100 people alive. Lava lake reformed in the crater in eruptions in 1982–1983 and 1994. Another deadly eruption of the volcano began on January 17, 2002, after several months of increased seismic and fumarolic activity; taking 147 lives. Its activity is, for now, being confined to the crater, where the lake of lava is slowly rising once more.
The hazards posed by eruptions like this are unique to Nyiragongo. Nowhere else in the world does such a steep-sided stratovolcano contain a lake of such fluid lava. The unique presence of an alkali-rich volcanic rock, melilite nephelinite, creates a highly fluid consistency, allowing it to flow at very high speed consuming anything on it’s way.
Mount Nyiragongo (DRC, Congo)

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