When you purchase through link on our site , we may earn an affiliate charge . Here ’s how it works .
A volcano in Tanzania with magma that erupts like a garden hose has been steady sinking into the ground for the past 10 long time , a raw study shows , and the campaign could be a deflating reservoir directly beneath one of the volcano ’s two craters .
The novel research disclose that the ground around the summit of Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano , which sits along an active falling out zone in East Africa , subsided at a rate of 1.4 inch ( 3.6 centimeters ) per class between 2013 and 2023 . This mean the9,718 - foot - tall ( 2,962 meters)volcano shrank by about 1.2 feet ( 36 cm ) in the timeframe of the study , which was published June 8 in the journalGeophysical Research Letters .
Ol Doinyo Lengai spews extremely runny lava that becomes white when it dries.
investigator used data from two orbiter system , Sentinel-1 and Cosmo - SkyMed , to produce maps showing changes over clock time in the dry land around Ol Doinyo Lengai . Their single-valued function point that a orbitual fleck of ground around the volcano ’s northern volcanic crater was " moving forth from the artificial satellite with a steady rate of displacement reaction over sentence , " the researchers wrote in the study .
Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only known vent on Earth that isactively eruptingcarbonatite magma — extremely runny magma that is impregnate with alkali elements , such as Ca and sodium , and piteous in silica . Most tellurian magmas are rich in silica , a chemical compound made from stick Sir Ernst Boris Chain of silicon and atomic number 8 that binds molten stone together andgives it a sticky consistence . But unlike those other magma , whose system of weights is between 45 and 70 % silica , the magma that feast Ol Doinyo Lengai contains less than 25 % silica by weight , according toErik Klemetti , a volcanologist and associate prof at Denison University in Ohio .
Related : Antarctica is cover in volcano , could they erupt ?
" If you had to pick the most unparalleled vent on Earth , you ’d be hard pressed to find a upright prospect than Tanzania ’s Ol Doinyo Lengai , " Klemetti wrote in a2014 wire article . The lava that come out of Ol Doinyo Lengai is " some of the strangest stuff you ’ll ever see , " he wrote , producing unearthly " garden hose " eruptions that leave behind whitened stain .
Carbonatite lava weathers other than than silicate lava due to its chemic composition , Klemetti wrote . atomic number 20 and carbon dioxide in the lava combine to make calcite and other carbonate minerals , which break down quickly in the mien of piddle or humidness . This intend that although the lava is black or benighted gray when it erupts , it quickly turns white once it dries , he indite .
The magma that feed Ol Doinyo Lengai is so runny , it should theoretically only produce bam characterized by lava flows . But in September 2007 , the vent , which at that point only had one crater , suddenly blasted open a second crater over 330 feet ( 100 m ) deep in an area north of the summit meeting . This explosive natural process continued through spring 2008 , after which the vent restart bring forth lava flows .
Previousresearchsuggested the newly - blast crater may be settle , and the unexampled study confirms that the upper slopes of this crater have been sinking since 2013 . ( The researchers did not seem at data between 2008 and 2013 . ) According to the author , the likely cause for this subsidence is a deflating magma reservoir located 3,300 foot ( 1,000 thousand ) beneath the vent .
— An submarine bang rocked the Aegean 520,000 years ago
— Earth from infinite : Majestic ' yin - yang ' volcanic crater sits atop a abeyant volcano in Turkey
— solid ground from space : Lava shed blood down common iguana - infested volcano as it sprinkle out toxic accelerator
" The geometry and characteristic of the shallow magma plumbing system below Ol Doinyo Lengai remain problematic , " they write in the study , butprevious studiesalreadyhintedat a shallow man-made lake .
This reservoir may be connect to a great magma storage arena 9,900 invertebrate foot ( 3,000 m ) or deeper beneath the volcano , harmonize to the subject area .
Monitoring the remittal of Ol Doinyo Lengai is crucial to forecast bang , the research worker said . There is also a produce 330 - foot - foresightful lava - filled fissure along the western rim of the volcano that " could further stretch as Ol Doinyo Lengai continue to burst out and subside , " they noted in the cogitation .
