Ol Doinyo Lengai

 

by: Zack Buzzell

Eruption of T58B
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 Location of Ol Doinyo Lengai

Ol Doinyo Lengai is located along the Great Rift Valley of Africa, at the coordinates 2.75 degrees South and 35.9 degrees East.  In a remote area of Tanzania, Ol Doinyo Lengai is approximately 120 km from Arusha, Tanzania and about 193 km from Nairobi, Kenya.  The volcano is dramatically remote, with no major highways within 60 kilometers of the summit.  Consequently, research and information is relatively scare, as only locals and and the occasional adventurous volcanologists are close enough to observe the volcano.

photos courtesy of Volcano Discovery: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcano-tours/typo3temp/pics/6de6b63f2e.jpg and http://people.colgate.edu/vsimpson/geol220/zoom.htm

The tectonic setting of Ol Doinyo Lengai is very unique.  Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only active volcano in the Great Rift Valley.  The Great Rift Valley has experienced constant volcanic activity since the Miocene times, producing vastly different volcanic rocks.

The tectonic setting of Ol Doinyo Lengai is very unique.  Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only active volcano in the Great Rift Valley.  The Great Rift Valley has experienced constant volcanic activity since the Miocene times, producing vastly different volcanic rocks[1].  The movement of tectonic plates has begun to actively split the African plate, forming a rift valley in East Africa[2].  The cracks and fissures of this rift allow magma to extrude upwards, causing volcanic activity and forming volcanoes such as Ol Doinyo Lengai.  What results is a massive rift valley with deep valleys, sheer escarpments, and chains of large, deep lakes[3].  The Great Rift Valley will most likely ultimately become an ocean.

A diagram explaining the continental rifting and eventual tectonic setting of East Africa.

photo courtesy of http://blue.utb.edu/paullgj/physci1417/Lectures/Continental_Rifting.JPG
 


[1] C. King, G. R. Chapman, D. A. Robson and R. B. McConnell “Volcanism of the Kenya Rift Valley.”  Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Vol. 271, No. 1213.(Jan. 27, 1972), pp. 185-208.

[2] “Understanding Plate Motions.”  http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html#anchor3617237

[3] “East African Rift.”  http://web.mst.edu/~rhagni/ear-ol.html

 

Questions about this site? Contact me at zbuzzell@mail.colgate.edu