Ol Doinyo Eburru

Last updated
Ol Doinyo Eburru
Ututu.jpg
Looking south over the Elmenteita Badlands to Eburru in the background.
Highest point
Elevation 2,856 m (9,370 ft) [1]
Prominence 980 m (3,220 ft)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Coordinates 0°38′56″S36°11′14″E / 0.648866°S 36.187248°E / -0.648866; 36.187248
Geography
Kenya relief location map.jpg
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Ol Doinyo Eburru
Location in Kenya
Location Kenya

Ol Doinyo Eburru is an active complex of volcanoes in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya to the northwest of Lake Naivasha. [2] It is being exploited for geothermal energy. [3] Soysambu Conservancy is located to the north of the massif, between Lake Elmenteita to the east and Lake Nakuru to the west. [4]

Contents

Geology

Eburru is part of a group of volcanoes in the rift that also includes Suswa, Longonot, Olkaria, Elmenteita and Menengai. It is separated from Olkaria volcano to the south by the Akira plains. [1] In this part of the rift, the eastern margin is covered by trachytic tuffs, often ignimbritic, and some trachytic lavas. The western margin is covered by trachytic and pantelleritic pumice as well as deposits of ash falls ejected from Eburru. [5]

Landsat image of Eburru. Lake Naivasha in lower right. Lava flows of the Elmenteita Badlands at the top-center Ol Doinyo Eburru.jpg
Landsat image of Eburru. Lake Naivasha in lower right. Lava flows of the Elmenteita Badlands at the top-center

The Eburru massif rises to 980 metres (3,220 ft) above the floor of the rift. It developed in three stages. The products of the first stage, in the west, are now mostly buried apart from small pantelleritic lava outcrops. The second stage formed the 19.5 kilometres (12.1 mi) Waterloo Ridge on the eastern side of the massif. These rocks came from a series of pyroclastic eruptions originating in a fault zone. The third stage created craters, small cones, domes and lava flows. The summit has more than fifty craters with diameters from 200 metres (660 ft) to 1.25 kilometres (4,100 ft). The pumice lapilli and ash beds from these centers covers most of the massif as well as the western shoulder of the rift. The youngest formations are no more than a few hundred years old. [6]

The Eburru massif today is ridge-shaped and eroded, with an east–west orientation. [2] The volcanic complex has an area of 470 square kilometres (180 sq mi). There are two summits, Eburru hill and West hill. [1] There are young craters on the eastern part of the ridge. The east flank has rhyolitic domes that were probably created in the Holocene and are still only partly overgrown with vegetation. There are widespread fumaroles in cinder cones and craters along the faults in the massif. [2]

Geothermal development

In October 2009 Geothermal Development Associates announced that they had signed a contract with Kenya Electricity Generating Company Limited to design, supply and commission a wellhead geothermal power plant at Eburru. The plant would include a 2.5 MW steam turbine generator manufactured by Elliott Turbomachinery in Jeannette, Pennsylvania. [3] It has been estimated that Eburru could support a 20 MW geothermal power station. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newberry Volcano</span> Shield volcano in Oregon, United States

Newberry Volcano is a large active shield-shaped stratovolcano located about 20 miles (32 km) south of Bend, Oregon, United States, 35 miles (56 km) east of the major crest of the Cascade Range, within the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. Its highest point is Paulina Peak. The largest volcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, Newberry has an area of 1,200 square miles (3,100 km2) when its lava flows are taken into account. From north to south, the volcano has a length of 75 miles (121 km), with a width of 27 miles (43 km) and a total volume of approximately 120 cubic miles (500 km3). It was named for the geologist and surgeon John Strong Newberry, who explored central Oregon for the Pacific Railroad Surveys in 1855.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Mazama</span> Complex volcano in the Cascade Range

Mount Mazama is a complex volcano in the western U.S. state of Oregon, in a segment of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and Cascade Range. Most of the mountain collapsed following a major eruption approximately 7,700 years ago. The volcano is in Klamath County, in the southern Cascades, 60 miles (97 km) north of the Oregon–California border. Its collapse, due to the eruption of magma emptying the underlying magma chamber, formed a caldera that holds Crater Lake. The mountain is in Crater Lake National Park. Mount Mazama originally had an elevation of 12,000 feet (3,700 m), but following its climactic eruption this was reduced to 8,157 feet (2,486 m). Crater Lake is 1,943 feet (592 m) deep, the deepest freshwater body in the U.S. and the second deepest in North America after Great Slave Lake in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Longonot</span> Volcano in Kenya

Mount Longonot is a stratovolcano located southeast of Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Africa. It is thought to have last erupted in the 1860s. Its name is derived from the Maasai word Oloonong'ot, meaning "mountains of many spurs" or "steep ridges".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lascar (volcano)</span> A stratovolcano within the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes

Lascar is a stratovolcano in Chile within the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, a volcanic arc that spans Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. It is the most active volcano in the region, with records of eruptions going back to 1848. It is composed of two separate cones with several summit craters. The westernmost crater of the eastern cone is presently active. Volcanic activity is characterized by constant release of volcanic gas and occasional vulcanian eruptions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Meager massif</span> Group of volcanoes in British Columbia, Canada

The Mount Meager massif is a group of volcanic peaks in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc of western North America, it is located 150 km (93 mi) north of Vancouver at the northern end of the Pemberton Valley and reaches a maximum elevation of 2,680 m (8,790 ft). The massif is capped by several eroded volcanic edifices, including lava domes, volcanic plugs and overlapping piles of lava flows; these form at least six major summits including Mount Meager which is the second highest of the massif.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ampato</span> Dormant Stratovovlcano in Southern Peru

Ampato is a dormant 6,288-metre (20,630 ft) stratovolcano in the Andes of southern Peru. It lies about 70–75 kilometres (43–47 mi) northwest of Arequipa and is part of a north-south chain that includes the volcanoes Hualca Hualca and Sabancaya, the last of which has been historically active.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menengai</span> Shield volcano in Kenya

MenengaiCrater is a massive shield volcano with one of the biggest calderas in the world, in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya. It is the largest volcano caldera in Kenya and the second largest volcano caldera in Africa. Volcanic formed rich loam soils enrich the adjacent farmland arounds its flanks. The crater is on the floor of the Rift Valley. The volcano formed about 200,000 years ago and the prominent 12 x 8 km caldera formed about 8000 years ago. The caldera floor is covered with numerous post caldera lava flows. The Menengai volcano is considered one of the best-preserved Krakatau-style calderas in the world. Menengai has very little sediment in the caldera which is a thick mass of lava boulders and inaccessible ridges. Volcanic activity continues and a current project under the GDC is at an advanced stage towards geothermal power generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Tendürek</span> Shield volcano in eastern Turkey

Mount Tendürek is a shield volcano on the border of Ağrı and Van provinces in eastern Turkey, near the border with Iran. The volcano, which is mostly known for being near the supposed wreck site of Noah's Ark, is very large; its lava flows cover roughly 650 km2 (251 sq mi) across a swath of flat land. The mountain's two main features are the main summit crater Greater Tendürek, and a smaller crater known as Lesser Tendürek which lies to the east of the main crater. The slopes are very gentle and resemble a shield, after which the type is named. Mount Tendürek is known to have erupted viscous lava like that of volcanoes on the island of Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volcanism of Canada</span> Volcanic activity in Canada

Volcanic activity is a major part of the geology of Canada and is characterized by many types of volcanic landform, including lava flows, volcanic plateaus, lava domes, cinder cones, stratovolcanoes, shield volcanoes, submarine volcanoes, calderas, diatremes, and maars, along with less common volcanic forms such as tuyas and subglacial mounds.

The Barrier is an active shield volcano located in the north of Kenya. It is last known to have erupted in 1921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elmenteita Badlands</span>

The Elementeita Badlands, also known as the Otutu Forest or Ututu Forest, is a lava flow in Kenya that covers approximately 36 square kilometres. The area was previously covered in thick dryland forest characterized by cedar trees,, and Leleshwa bushes. In addition, Wild Jasmine and Boophone are also found.

Mawe Mbili is a volcanic rock formation on the northern edge of the Elmenteita Badlands and within the Soysambu Conservancy, in Nakuru County of Rift Valley Province, southern Kenya. The rock formation is located at the base of Scout Hat Hill, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of Lake Elmenteita and northwest of Nairobi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puyehue-Cordón Caulle</span> Volcanic complex in Chile

Puyehue and Cordón Caulle are two coalesced volcanic edifices that form a major mountain massif in Puyehue National Park in the Andes of Ranco Province, in the South of Chile. In volcanology this group is known as the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex (PCCVC). Four volcanoes constitute the volcanic group or complex, the Cordillera Nevada caldera, the Pliocene Mencheca volcano, Cordón Caulle fissure vents and the Puyehue stratovolcano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ardoukoba</span> Volcano in Djibouti

Ardoukôba is a fissure vents volcano in Djibouti. Located on the coast 100 kilometres (62 mi) from Djibouti City, its summit is situated at 298 metres (978 ft) above sea level. It last erupted in November 1978 following an earthquake, the area having been dormant for 3,000 years. The volcano's rift is 17 kilometres (11 mi) in width, and has a depth of 800 metres (2,600 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Rift</span>

The Gregory Rift is the eastern branch of the East African Rift fracture system. The rift is being caused by the separation of the Somali plate from the Nubian plate, driven by a thermal plume. Although the term is sometimes used in the narrow sense of the Kenyan Rift, the larger definition of the Gregory Rift is the set of faults and grabens extending southward from the Gulf of Aden through Ethiopia and Kenya into Northern Tanzania, passing over the local uplifts of the Ethiopian and Kenyan domes. Ancient fossils of early hominins, the ancestors of humans, have been found in the southern part of the Gregory Rift.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olkaria</span> Geothermal region in Kenya

The Olkaria Area is a region located immediately to the south of Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Africa. It is geothermally active and is being used to generate clean electric power. The region has an estimated potential of 2,000 MW. This is almost double the maximum daily electricity peak demand recorded in 2008/2009 for the entire country.

Menengai Forest is an urban forest situated within the town of Nakuru in Kenya. The Menengai Crater is within the forest. It was gazetted as a forest in the 1930s. It is surrounded by residential areas of Milimani Estate in the South, Ngachura and Bahati in the East, Solai in the North and Olo-Rongai in the West. Various Government of Kenya facilities have been hived off from the forest; these include the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and the Nakuru G.K Prison. There is also a geothermal exploration project by the Geothermal Development Company inside the Menengai Crater floor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sete Cidades Massif</span> Stratovolcanic complex

Sete Cidades Massif is a stratovolcanic complex, referring to a polygenetic volcano and caldera, located in western part of the island of São Miguel, in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. More recognizable for the Lagoa das Sete Cidades at its centre, the volcanic complex includes centuries of geomorphological structures that include lava domes, cones, lava flows and maar geomorphology that have marked its history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honolulu Volcanics</span> Volcanic field in Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi

The Honolulu Volcanics are a group of volcanoes which form a volcanic field on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, more specifically in that island's southeastern sector and in the city of Honolulu from Pearl Harbor to the Mokapu Peninsula. It is part of the rejuvenated stage of Hawaiian volcanic activity, which occurred after the main stage of volcanic activity that on Oʻahu built the Koʻolau volcano. These volcanoes formed through dominantly explosive eruptions and gave rise to cinder cones, lava flows, tuff cones and volcanic islands. Among these are well known landmarks such as Diamond Head and Punchbowl Crater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ol Doinyo Lengai</span> Active volcano in Arusha Region, Tanzania

Ol Doinyo Lengai is an active volcano in Tanzania. It consists of a volcanic cone with two craters, the northern of which has erupted during historical time. Uniquely for volcanoes on Earth, it has erupted natrocarbonatite, an unusual, cold and highly fluid type of magma. Recent eruptions in 2007-2008 impacted the surrounding region.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Seach 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 Smithsonian 1999.
  3. 1 2 Richter 2010.
  4. Soysambu Conservancy.
  5. Woolley 2001, p. 127.
  6. Woolley 2001, p. 128.

Sources