Volcano earthquakes and Volcano earthquake notifications – Eritrea and Ethiopia

Last update: July 4, 2012 at 11:18 am by By

Eritrea and Ethiopia volcanoes with historically proved eruptions

Eritrea – Nabro – Dubbi volcano complex – Last eruption Dubbi : 1861 – Last eruption Nabro : 2011
Nabro volcano
The 2218-m-high Nabro stratovolcano is the highest volcano in the Danakil depression of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Located at the SE end of the Danakil Alps, Nabro lies in the Danakil horst. Nabro is the most prominent and NE-most of three volcanoes with large summit calderas aligned in a NE-SW direction SW of Dubbi volcano. These three volcanoes, along with Sork Ale volcano, collectively comprise the Bidu volcanic complex. The complex Nabro stratovolcano is truncated by nested calderas, 8 and 5 km in diameter. The larger caldera is widely breached to the SW. Nabro was constructed primarily of trachytic lava flows and pyroclastics. Post-caldera rhyolitic obsidian domes and basaltic lava flows were erupted inside the caldera and on its flanks. Some very recent lava flows were erupted from NNW-trending fissures transverse to the trend of the Nabro volcanic range.
Dubbi volcano
Dubbi, located east of the Erta Ale Range and south of the crystalline basement rocks of the Danakil Alps, is a large volcanic massif that rises to 1625 m above the western shore of the Red Sea. About 20 small cinder cones are located at the summit, and extensive basaltic lava fields to the north and NE, known as the Edd lava field, cover an area of 2700 sq km and reach the Red Sea coast. The two most-recent eruptive centers are fissure systems that extend NW-SE and NNE-SSW. The former produced lava flows that reached the Red Sea in 1400 AD. The second created 19 small craters at the summit in 1861. Ash fell more than 300 km from the volcano. Two villages were destroyed and more than 100 persons were killed during Africa’s largest eruption in historical time. Lava flows from the 1861 eruption traveled as far as 22 km and reached the coast

SRC Location UTC Date/time M D INFORMATION
GEOFON Ethiopia Jul 01 16:19 PM 4.6 10 MAP I Felt It
EMSC Near The Coast Of Eritrea Jul 01 16:19 PM 4.8 10 MAP I Felt It
USGS Eritrea - Ethiopia Region Jul 01 16:19 PM 4.8 10 MAP I Felt It
EMSC Eritrea - Ethiopia Region Mar 20 19:34 PM 3.7 2 MAP I Felt It
  • Addis Abeba - Apres un an de suivi dans la corne d'Afrique , j'ai pu deduire que dans 80% des cas , apres un seisme en Iran a proximite de la plaque tectonique , une repercution avait lieu dans les 4 jours sur la corne d'Afrique. j'espere que cette info vous sera utilite
    		•
    EMSC Eritrea - Ethiopia Region Mar 12 01:30 AM 3.7 1 MAP I Felt It
    EMSC Eritrea - Ethiopia Region Mar 03 04:47 AM 3.1 1 MAP I Felt It
    James Daniell CATDAT Eritrea, Ethiopia Jun 17 07:00 AM 5.6 10 MAP I Felt It
    James Daniell CATDAT Eritrea, Ethiopia Jun 12 07:00 AM 5.7 10 MAP I Felt It

    Ethiopia – Erta Ale volcano – Last eruption : 2007
    Erta Ale is an isolated basaltic shield volcano that is the most active volcano in Ethiopia. The broad, 50-km-wide volcano rises more than 600 m from below sea level in the barren Danakil depression. Erta Ale is the namesake and most prominent feature of the Erta Ale Range. The 613-m-high volcano contains a 0.7 x 1.6 km, elliptical summit crater housing steep-sided pit craters. Another larger 1.8 x 3.1 km wide depression elongated parallel to the trend of the Erta Ale range is located to the SE of the summit and is bounded by curvilinear fault scarps on the SE side. 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. Recent fissure eruptions have occurred on the northern flank of Erta Ale.

    SRC Location UTC Date/time M D INFORMATION
    ER Erta Ale, Ethiopia (startup Record) Jan 01 00:00 AM 0.1 0 MAP I Felt It

    Ethiopia – Alayta – Last eruption : 1907
    The massive Alayta shield volcano covers an area of 2700 sq km in the western Danakil depression SW of Lake Afrera. A series of very recent craters is aligned along the NNW-trending axis of the basaltic-to-trachytic shield. The Alayta lava field, covered by very fresh lava flows, was erupted from N-S-trending fissures along the east side of the shield volcano and laps up against the western flank of Afderà volcano. Two historical eruptions that were formerly attributed to Afderà volcano actually originated from Alayta. One of those eruptions, in 1907, produced a large lava flow from a SE-flank vent. Fumarolic activity occurs at two locations in the southern part of the complex.

    SRC Location UTC Date/time M D INFORMATION
    ER Alayta, Ethiopia (startup Record) Jan 01 00:00 AM 0.1 0 MAP I Felt It

    Ethiopia - Tullu Moje – Last probable eruption : 1900
    Tullu Moje is a youthful trachytic-to-rhyolitic pumice cone with a 700-m-wide summit crater, located in the middle of one of the most active parts of the Ethiopian Rift Valley. A large silicic lava flow at Giano was erupted about two centuries ago from a regional fissure. Flank fissures have produced silicic lava flows as recently as about 1900 AD. The same fissures have also erupted prehistorical basaltic lava flows.

    SRC Location UTC Date/time M D INFORMATION
    ER Tullu Moje, Ethiopia (startup Record) Jan 01 00:00 AM 0.1 0 MAP I Felt It

    Ethiopia -  Dama Ali – Last eruption : 1631
    Dama Ali is a broad shield volcano that rises above the NW shore of Lake Abbe (also known as Lake Abhe) in eastern Ethiopia. The 25-km-wide volcano was constructed at the southern end of the Kalo Plain. Nested circular craters are located at the summit of the dominantly basaltic volcano, which also displays an older caldera rim. An arcuate chain of rhyolitic lava domes occupies the northern, western, and southern flanks. Youthful basaltic lava flows surround these domes and blanket the flanks of the volcano, and recent flows cover the young sediments of the Kalo and Abhe basins. The Asmara basaltic pyroclastic cone located in the southern Kalo basin SW of the base of Dama Ali volcano and was considered to have had activity during the last 2000 years (International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior, 1973). Dama Ali is considered the most likely source of an eruption reported to have occurred in 1631 (Gouin, 1979). Major fumarolic activity occurs in the summit crater, and abundant hot springs are found on the volcano.

    SRC Location UTC Date/time M D INFORMATION
    ER Dama Ali, Ethiopia (startup Record) Jan 01 00:00 AM 0.1 0 MAP I Felt It

    Ethiopia -  Fentale – Last eruption : 1250 or 1820 ?
    Fentale, also known as Fantale, is a large stratovolcano at the northern end of the Main Ethiopian Rift. It consists primarily of rhyolitic obsidian lava flows with minor tuffs. Welded pantelleritic ash flows accompanied formation of a 2.5 x 4.5 km summit caldera, which has steep-sided walls up to 500 m high. The WNW-ESE-trending elliptical caldera has an orientation perpendicular to the Ethiopian Rift, and post-caldera vents occur along the same orientation. Trachytic and obsidian lava flows occur on the caldera floor, and fresh-looking lava flows descend the flanks from satellitic vents. An eruption from Fentale during the 13th century destroyed an Abyssinian town and church south of the volcano. In 1820 basaltic lava flows were extruded onto the Main Ethiopian Rift from a 4-km-long fissure on the south flank, and lava flows were erupted on the floor of the caldera.

    SRC Location UTC Date/time M D INFORMATION
    ER Fentale, Ethiopia (startup Record) Jan 01 00:00 AM 0.1 0 MAP I Felt It

    SHARE YOUR EARTHQUAKE EXPERIENCE WITH US

    Enter Email (not compulsory)
    City/Village where you felt the earthquake
    MMI II (Very weak shaking) ?
    People :
    Felt by persons at rest, on upper floors or favorably placed.
    MMI III (Weak shaking) ?
    People :
    Felt indoors; hanging objects may swing, vibration similar to passing of light trucks, duration may be estimated, may not be recognized as an earthquake.
    MMI IV (Light shaking) ?
    People :
    Generally noticed indoors but not outside. Light sleepers may be awakened. Vibration may be likened to the passing of heavy traffic, or to the jolt of a heavy object falling or striking the building.
    Fittings :
    Doors and windows rattle. Glassware and crockery rattle. Liquids in open vessels may be slightly disturbed. Standing motorcars may rock.
    Structures :
    Walls and frames of buildings, and partitions and suspended ceilings in commercial buildings, may be heard to creak.
    MMI V (Moderate shaking) ?
    People :
    Generally felt outside, and by almost everyone indoors. Most sleepers awakened. A few people alarmed.
    Fittings :
    Small unstable objects are displaced or upset. Some glassware and crockery may be broken. Hanging pictures knock against the wall. Open doors may swing. Cupboard doors secured by magnetic catches may open. Pendulum clocks stop, start, or change rate.
    Structures :
    Some large display windows cracked. A few earthenware toilet fixtures cracked.
    MMI VI (Strong shaking) ?
    People Felt by all. People and animals alarmed. Many run outside. Difficulty experienced in walking steadily.
    Fittings :
    Objects fall from shelves. Pictures fall from walls. Some furniture moved on smooth floors, some unsecured free-standing fireplaces moved. Glassware and crockery broken. Very unstable furniture overturned. Small church and school bells ring. Appliances move on bench or table tops. Filing cabinets or "easy glide" drawers may open (or shut).
    Structures :
    Slight damage to buildings with low standard. Some stucco or cement plaster falls. Large display windows broken. Damage to a few weak domestic chimneys, some may fall.
    Environment :
    Trees and bushes shake, or are heard to rustle. Loose material may be dislodged from sloping ground, e.g. existing slides, talus slopes, shingle slides.
    MMI VII (Very strong shaking) ?
    People
    General alarm. Difficulty experienced in standing. Noticed by motorcar drivers who may stop.
    Fittings :
    Large bells ring. Furniture moves on smooth floors, may move on carpeted floors. Substantial damage to fragile contents of buildings.
    Structures :
    Unreinforced stone and brick walls cracked. Low standard buildings cracked with some minor masonry falls. A few instances of damage to buildings of ordinary workmanship. Unbraced parapets, unbraced brick gables, and architectural ornaments fall. Roofing tiles, especially ridge tiles may be dislodged. Many unreinforced domestic chimneys damaged, often falling from roof-line. Water tanks Type I burst. A few instances of damage to brick veneers and plaster or cement-based linings. Unrestrained water cylinders (hot-water cylinders) may move and leak. Some common windows cracked. Suspended ceilings damaged.
    Environment :
    Water made turbid by stirred up mud. Small slides such as falls of sand and gravel banks, and small rock-falls from steep slopes and cuttings. Instances of settlement of unconsolidated or wet, or weak soils. Some fine cracks appear in sloping ground. A few instances of liquefaction (i.e. small water and sand ejections).
    MMI VIII (Severe shaking) ?
    People Alarm may approach panic. Steering of motorcars greatly affected. Structures : Low standard buildings heavily damaged, some collapse. ordinary workmanship buildings damaged, some with partial collapse. Reinforced masonry or concrete buildings damaged in some cases. A few instances of damage to buildings and bridges designed and built to resist earthquakes. Monuments and pre-1976 elevated tanks and factory stacks twisted or brought down. Some pre-1965 infill masonry panels damaged. A few post-1980 brick veneers damaged. Decayed timber piles of houses damaged. Houses not secured to foundations may move. Most unreinforced domestic chimneys damaged, some below roof-line, many brought down. Environment : Cracks appear on steep slopes and in wet ground. Small to moderate slides in roadside cuttings and unsupported excavations. Small water and sand ejections and localized lateral spreading adjacent to streams, canals, lakes, etc.
    MMI IX (Violent shaking) ?
    Structures Many low standard buildings destroyed. Ordinary workmanship buildings heavily damaged, some collapse. Reinforced masonry or concrete buildings damaged, some with partial collapse. Buildings and bridges designed and built to resist earthquakes damaged in some cases, some with flexible frames seriously damaged. Damage or permanent distortion to some buildings and bridges, designed and built to normal use standards. Houses not secured to foundations shifted off. Brick veneers fall and expose frames. Environment : Cracking of ground conspicuous. Landsliding general on steep slopes. Liquefaction effects intensified and more widespread, with large lateral spreading and flow sliding adjacent to streams, canals, lakes, etc.
    Write your experience and/or additional text here (max. 500 characters)

    Speak Your Mind

    *