Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano

About Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano: 

• Location: It is located in northern Tanzania, at the southern end of Lake Natron.
• It is known to the local Maasai people as the “Mountain of God.
• It is an active stratovolcano with unique geological characteristics.
• It rises to an elevation of 9,442 feet (2,878 metres) and is one of the many volcanoes situated along the East African Rift System.
• It contains basalts rich in sodium and potassium, and is so alkaline that its lavas resemble washing soda.
• The volcano has more than one active centre and most of the recent eruptions were from its northern crater. 
• Why is it a rare volcano? This volcano is the only one existing on Earth which has an actively erupting and extremely runny carbonatite magma. The magma is saturated with alkali elements, like calcium and sodium and is poor in silica.

Details of the study

• As per the new study, the crater’s upper slopes have started sinking since 2013 and the likely cause for this sinking volcano was the deflating magma reservoir, which is located 3,300 feet (1,000 m) under the volcano.

Q1: What is a Stratovolcano?

The stratovolcano is a tall, steep, and cone-shaped type of volcano. Unlike flat shield volcanoes like in Hawaii, they have higher peaks. At the peak, stratovolcanoes usually have a small crater.

Source: This volcano, with continuous eruption of magma, is sinking inside Earth. Here’s why

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