Seafloor spreading, or seafloor spread, is a process that occurs at mid-ocean ridges, where new oceanic crust is formed through volcanic activity and then gradually moves away from the ridge.
The East African Rift (EAR) or East African Rift System (EARS) is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. It was formerly considered to be part of a larger Great Rift Valley that extended north to Asia Minor.
The Afar Triangle is a geological depression caused by the Afar Triple Junction, which is part of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. The region has disclosed fossil specimens of the very earliest hominins; that is, the earliest of the human clade, and it is thought by some paleontologists to be the cradle of the evolution of humans. The Depression overlaps the borders of Eritrea, Djibouti and the entire Afar Region of Ethiopia; and it contains the lowest point in Africa, Lake Assal, Djibouti, at 155 m (509 ft) below sea level.
The Hōei eruption of Mount Fuji started on December 16, 1707 and ended on February 24, 1708. It was the last confirmed eruption of Mount Fuji, with three unconfirmed eruptions reported from 1708 to 1854. The eruption took place during the reign of Emperor Higashiyama and the Shogun was Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. It is well known for the immense ash-fall it produced over eastern Japan and subsequent landslides and starvation across the country. Hokusai's One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji includes an image of the small crater at a secondary eruption site on the southwestern slope. The area where the eruption occurred is called Mount Hōei because it occurred in the fourth year of the Hōei era. Today, the crater of the main eruption can be visited from the Fujinomiya or Gotemba Trails on Mount Fuji.
Borale Ale is a stratovolcano located in the Great Rift Valley, Ethiopia.
Adwa is a stratovolcano in Ethiopia, located in the western Somali Region region and has a 4 by 5 km caldera. Due to the location of the volcano near the boundary between Afar and Issa tribes, little is known about the past and present behavior of the volcano. However, an earthquake and InSAR study conducted by Derek Keir and colleagues shows that a magma intrusion around 5 km deep and 8 km long emanated away from the eastern side of the volcano in May 2000.
Mount Hazalo, also known as Azalo, or Ayelu is an isolated, rhyolitic stratovolcano in eastern Ethiopia. Located in the Afar Region, near the South of the towns of Āfdem and Gewane, and has an altitude of 2,145 metres (7,037 ft).
Erta Ale is a continuously active basaltic shield volcano in the Afar Region of northeastern Ethiopia, which is itself part of the wider Afar Triangle. The volcano is located in the Danakil Depression, an area on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea that is below sea level. It is the most active of the volcanoes in Ethiopia.
Dalaffilla, also called Gabuli, or Alu-Dalafilla is a 578 m (1,896 ft) high stratovolcano in Ethiopia. It is the highest point of Gulina. The only recorded eruption of Dalaffilla occurred in 2008 when lava flows from its western and northwestern flanks traveled to the northeast.
The 2002 Kalehe earthquake occurred on October 24 at 06:08 UTC. This earthquake had a magnitude 6.2, and the epicenter was located in Democratic Republic of the Congo, near Lake Kivu. Two people were reported dead. Building damage was reported in Goma, Lwiro, Kalehe, and Mugeri. The seismicity, volcanism, and uplift in the basin of Lake Kivu delimits the rift of a tectonic plate. Lake Kivu belongs to the western branch of the East African Rift System (EARS). The western branch is usually divided into several segments, and Lake Kivu belongs to the northern segment.
The Danakil Depression is the northern part of the Afar Triangle or Afar Depression in Ethiopia and Eritrea, a geological depression that has resulted from the divergence of three tectonic plates in the Horn of Africa. It is the third lowest lying location on the continent of Africa.
The Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia, is a branch of the East African Rift that runs through Ethiopia in a southwest direction from the Afar Triple Junction. In the past, it was seen as part of a "Great Rift Valley" that ran from Mozambique to Syria. Known for its scenery and diverse wildlife in Ethiopia specifically the Rift Valley holds importance in the field of human evolution. It is recognized as an area for researching the stages of human development with crucial fossil findings such, as Lucy unearthed within its bounds.
Terry Ann Plank is an American geochemist, volcanologist and professor of earth science at Columbia College, Columbia University, and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. She is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow and member of the National Academy of Sciences. Her most prominent work involves the crystal chemistry of lava minerals in order to determine magma ages and movement, giving clues to how quickly magma can surface as lava in volcanoes. Most notably, Plank is known for her work establishing a stronger link between the subduction of ocean sediments and volcanism at ocean arcs. Her current work can be seen at her website.
Plank states that her interest in volcanoes began when her Dartmouth professor took her and other students to Arenal volcano in Costa Rica. He had them sit and have lunch while on top of a slow-moving lava flow and while watching bright red goops of lava crack out from their black casings. "It was totally cool, how could you not like that?" Plank recalled the event to State of the Planet, an Earth Institute News source at Columbia University.
Kathryn Anne "Kathy" Whaler OBE FRSE FAGU is a professor of geophysics at the University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences, in the Research Institute of Earth and Planetary Science and is a member of the Solid Earth Geophysics and Natural Hazards Research Group.
Volcano tectonics is a scientific field that uses the techniques and methods of structural geology, tectonics, and physics to analyse and interpret physical processes and the associated deformation in volcanic areas, at any scale.
Dallol is a unique, terrestrial hydrothermal system around a cinder cone volcano in the Danakil Depression, northeast of the Erta Ale Range in Ethiopia. It is known for its unearthly colors and mineral patterns, and the very acidic fluids that discharge from its hydrothermal springs.
Emily M. Klein is a professor of geology and geochemistry at Duke University. She studies volcanic eruptions and the process of oceanic crust creation. She has spent over thirty years investigating the geology of mid-ocean ridges and identified the importance of the physical conditions of mantle melting on the chemical composition of basalt.
John-Michael Kendall is a geophysicist and professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford.
Cynthia Ebinger is an American geoscientist at Tulane University known for her research on continental rifts and the movement of continental plate boundaries.
Juliet J. Biggs is a British geologist who is Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. Her research uses satellite geodesy and interferometric synthetic-aperture radar (InSAR) to understand the physics of the Earth's crust. She was awarded the American Geophysical Union John Wahr Award in 2017 and a European Research Council (ERC) consolidator grant in 2020.
