On May 22nd, 2021, at 20:00 local time, one of the deadliest volcanoes in the world erupted.
The volcano I am referring to is called Nyiragongo, which is uniquely deadly for one of its unusual
phenomena.
This volcano produces the fastest flows of lava on the planet, which have been recorded
at speeds exceeding 100 kilometers or 60 miles per hour.
As I am writing this video, a large volume of lava is heading towards several major population
centers, where millions of people live.
This video will discuss this volcano, and its current ongoing eruption.
The Nyiragongo stratovolcano can be found in the central portion of Africa within the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Specifically, it can be found 10 kilometers west of the border with Rwanda, and is 16
kilometers north of the city of Goma.
In terms of volcanic hazards, you might be surprised to learn that normally, the danger
lava flows pose is quite low.
Lava generally moves quite slowly, typically less than a kilometer per hour.
However, this isn't always the case.
You see, the speed which lava flows at is inversely proportional to the amount of silicon
dioxide in its crystal structure.
This is why flows of lava from Kilauea in Hawaii which has 50% silica, move much more
quickly than the lavas at Mount Saint Helens which has 64% silica.
With this being said, the lavas at Nyiragongo only contain 36.7% silica, causing the lavas
to have a viscosity close to that of water.
Since Nyiragongo is more than 3400 meters tall, the low viscosity combines with the
steep slopes of the volcano to cause 100 kilometer per hour flows of lava.
Nyiragongo has almost consistently contained an active lava lake right at its summit since
1927.
Major eruptions from this volcano are caused when the lava contained there rapidly drains
away due to cracks in the area.
In both 1977, and then again in 2002, lava rapidly drained from the summit crater and
raced towards Goma, causing high levels of destruction.
The 2002 lava flow was much more destructive as that flow reached the Goma International
Airport, flowed across a large section of Goma, and then reached lake Kivu.
The eruption which is occurring right now appears to be originating from two distinct
fissure vents.
One of these fissures has opened to the east of the volcano, causing lava to flow towards
Buhumba and into Rwanda.
However, a secondary fissure vent is causing lava to travel southwards, towards downtown
Goma.
As of the writing of this video, several volcanologist contacts and the US Embassy in Kinshasa confirmed
that a flow of lava had reached the Goma international airport.
Due to the current path of lava, you need to evacuate if you live in the following cities;
in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Goma, Buhumba, Kibati, Rukoko.
In Rwanda, evacuate if you live in the town of Giseni.
If you are in Rwanda, evacuate to the east.
If you are in Democratic Republic of Congo, evacuate to the west unless your exits are
blocked.
With this being said, there is another hazard I need to mention.
Those of you who live in this part of the world might be familiar with the disasters
at Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun in Cameroon.
There, large volumes of carbon dioxide rapidly degassed from those volcanic lakes, and flowed
into nearby communities in what was called a limnic eruption.
These deadly limnic eruptions also regularly occur at Lake Kivu, although one has not happened
since the area was settled.
How do we know this?
According to core samples scientists have taken, every 1,000 years, a vast amount of
sediment washes into Kivu.
The sediment contains abundances of plant and animal life, indicating that everything
with a several kilometer radius suddenly died and was washed there during the next rainstorm.
Although a limnic eruption is highly unlikely, I need to mention this potential hazard as
one could TECHNICALLY be triggered by large volumes of lava entering lake Kivu via the
current eruption.
If you see any of the following warning signs displayed on screen, get away from the lake,
and travel at least 5 kilometers away in an uphill direction.
If any more significant updates occur, I will release another update video.
I hope that you enjoyed this video.
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