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A vent in Tanzania with magma that erupts like a garden hosepipe has been steadily go under into the ground for the past 10 years , a new study shows , and the campaign could be a deflate reservoir direct beneath one of the volcano ’s two craters .
The new research reveals that the reason around the summit of Ol Doinyo Lengai vent , which sits along an fighting rift geographical zone in East Africa , subsided at a charge per unit of 1.4 in ( 3.6 centimeters ) per class between 2013 and 2023 . This means the9,718 - foot - tall ( 2,962 meters)volcano shrank by about 1.2 feet ( 36 centimetre ) in the timeframe of the study , which was published June 8 in the journalGeophysical Research Letters .
Ol Doinyo Lengai spews extremely runny lava that becomes white when it dries.
research worker used information from two orbiter systems , Sentinel-1 and Cosmo - SkyMed , to bring forth map showing change over time in the undercoat around Ol Doinyo Lengai . Their maps designate that a circular spot of ground around the vent ’s northern volcanic crater was " moving away from the satellite with a steady rate of displacement over clock time , " the research worker wrote in the study .
Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only known volcano on Earth that isactively eruptingcarbonatite magma — extremely runny magma that is saturate with alkali elements , such as calcium and sodium , and poor in silica . Most planetary magma are rich in silica , a chemical compound made from bonded chains of Si and atomic number 8 that bind molten tilt together andgives it a gluey consistency . But unlike those other magma , whose weight is between 45 and 70 % silica , the magma that fertilise Ol Doinyo Lengai check less than 25 % silica by weight , according toErik Klemetti , a volcanologist and associate prof at Denison University in Ohio .
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" If you had to foot the most unique vent on Earth , you ’d be heavily pressed to find a unspoilt campaigner than Tanzania ’s Ol Doinyo Lengai , " Klemetti wrote in a2014 Wired clause . The lava that hail out of Ol Doinyo Lengai is " some of the strangest hooey you ’ll ever see , " he wrote , grow eldritch " garden hose " eruptions that leave behind white stains .
Carbonatite lava atmospheric condition other than than silicate lava due to its chemic makeup , Klemetti wrote . Calcium and C dioxide in the lava corporate trust to make calcite and other carbonate mineral , which collapse down cursorily in the mien of water or humidity . This means that although the lava is black or dark gray when it recrudesce , it promptly turns white once it dries , he wrote .
The magma that feeds Ol Doinyo Lengai is so fluid , it should theoretically only produce eruptions characterized by lava menstruum . But in September 2007 , the vent , which at that point only had one crater , short savage open a 2nd volcanic crater over 330 feet ( 100 m ) deep in an country northerly of the tip . This explosive activity continue through spring 2008 , after which the vent resumed producing lava flow .
Previousresearchsuggested the fresh - blasted volcanic crater may be subsiding , and the newfangled work confirms that the upper side of this crater have been fall off since 2013 . ( The researchers did not look at data point between 2008 and 2013 . ) According to the generator , the likely cause for this cave in is a deflating magma reservoir located 3,300 feet ( 1,000 m ) beneath the volcano .
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" The geometry and feature of the shallow magma plumbing system below Ol Doinyo Lengai stay baffling , " they write in the report , butprevious studiesalreadyhintedat a shallow reservoir .
This reservoir may be connected to a bigger magma computer memory area 9,900 feet ( 3,000 m ) or deeper beneath the vent , according to the study .
monitor the subsidence of Ol Doinyo Lengai is important to augur eruptions , the researchers say . There is also a grow 330 - foot - farseeing lava - replete fissure along the westerly rim of the volcano that " could further elongate as Ol Doinyo Lengai bear on to recrudesce and subside , " they noted in the study .
