GORISK Eruption Report n°1
“2nd January 2010, ERUPTION OF NYAMULAGIRA”
Mount Nyamulagira, one of the most active volcano in Africa, erupted on 2nd January at 1:07am (local time, UTC+2).
The eruption is located in the main crater, a 2 x 2,3 km caldera, and along a fracture on the south-eastern flank of the volcano. The eruptive activity corresponds to lava fountains, gas and ash plume, and lava flows. No precursor signs were observed before the eruption.
The first days of the eruption, a small lava lake with lava fountains appeared in the pit crater located north-east in the caldera and a lava flow covered the south and south-western part of the caldera. On the south-eastern flank of Nyamulagira, a ~200 m long wall of lava fountains has appeared and lava flows have flown towards the South in two branches (the western lava flow and the eastern lava flow). After few days, a spatter cone has been created on the eruptive fracture south-east of the caldera and the eruptive activity has been concentrated in this cone, still feeding the lava flows that travel toward the South.
