First published at 19:44 UTC on November 2nd, 2022.
🔥 Erta Ale volcano (Danakil depression, Ethiopia): intense activity in southern pit crater reported from field observations
👉 Courtesy: Volcano Discovery
Our expedition leader and guide from VolcanoDiscovery Ethiopia, Enku Mulugeta, visited the vo…
MORE
🔥 Erta Ale volcano (Danakil depression, Ethiopia): intense activity in southern pit crater reported from field observations
👉 Courtesy: Volcano Discovery
Our expedition leader and guide from VolcanoDiscovery Ethiopia, Enku Mulugeta, visited the volcano in mid-October to make new observations. A couple of significant changes in the southern pit crater have been observed since the last update.
Vigorous lava spattering continues to eject hot, fresh and plastic lava clots that in turn have piled into 5-7 meters high deposits (so-called hornitos) at the northern and southern walls of the crater due to short travel distance from and/or above the vent. Hornito is considered to be rare hawaiian-type phenomena that is formed when part of lava, flowing within lava tube, escapes through a hole out of lava tube due to strong degassing in the form of spattering.
Furthermore, both hornitos are formed on the thin solidified crust of the pit crater, among which a gap resembling a cave-like lava tube appears to be prone to collapse into a large lava lake as it used to be before.
Slabs of dark, solidified crust continue to shift on the lava lake surface accompanied by typical bright orange lava glow between them.
LESS