What type of magma does Erta Ale have?
Fresh-looking basaltic lava flows from these fissures have poured into the caldera and locally overflowed its rim. The summit caldera is renowned for one, or sometimes two long-term lava lakes that have been active since at least 1967, or possibly since 1906.
What type of rock does Erta Ale have?
basalt
Since the Afar region is under extension, conditions are favorable for the injection of dikes and sills. Barrat and others (1998) looked at the chemistry of the rocks at Erta Ale. Rocks range in composition from basalt to rhyolite.
What is the magma composition of a composite volcano?
Composite volcano magma is felsic, which means it contains silicate-rich minerals rhyolite, andesite, and dacite. Low-viscosity lava from a shield volcano, such as might be found in Hawaii, flows from fissures and spreads.
What is so special about Erta Ale?
Its persistent lava lake has been active throughout most of the past decades, a feature that is shared with just a few other volcanoes in the world. On the top of Erta Ale, visitors will be amazed by the volcano’s elongated caldera (measuring 1700 x 600 meters) with its vast lava flows and numerous pit craters.
What type of eruptions does Erta Ale produce?
| Erta Ale | |
|---|---|
| Parent range | Erta Ale Range |
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | Shield volcano |
| Last eruption | 2005 to 2020 |
How did the Erta Ale volcano form?
Erta Ale is centered over the East African Rift system, which is a triple junction setting whose movements are resulting in the formation of a pull-apart basin or rift. The volcano comprises mainly mafic material which has been brought up to the surface caused by unroofing of the mantle due to this rift formation.
What type of magma is in a stratovolcano?
The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and hardens before spreading far, due to high viscosity. The magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica (as in rhyolite, dacite, or andesite), with lesser amounts of less-viscous mafic magma.
What is the lava like in a composite volcano?
Composite volcanoes have the following characteristics: Acidic lava, which is very viscous (sticky). Steep sides as the lava doesn’t flow very far before it solidifies. Alternate layers of ash and lava.
What is one thing you learned about volcanoes like Erta Ale in Ethiopia?
While there are only five known volcanos with lava lakes globally, Erta Ale often has two active lava lakes – making it a unique site. Erta Ale was discovered in 1906, making it the longest-known lava lake.
How did Erta Ale volcano form?
How is Kilauea formed?
Like all Hawaiian volcanoes, Kīlauea was created as the Pacific tectonic plate moved over the Hawaiian hotspot in the Earth’s underlying mantle. The Hawaii island volcanoes are the most recent evidence of this process that, over 70 million years, has created the 6,000 km (3,700 mi)-long Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain.