Ardoukôba ( ar, أردوكوبا) is a

fissure vent A fissure vent, also known as a volcanic fissure, eruption fissure or simply a fissure, is a linear volcanic vent through which lava erupts, usually without any explosive eruption, explosive activity. The vent is often a few metres wide an ...

s volcano in

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

. Located on the coast from

Djibouti City Djibouti (also called Djibouti City and in many early English texts and on many early maps, Jibuti; so, Magaalada Jabuuti, french: link=no, Ville de Djibouti, ar, مدينة جيبوتي, aa, Gabuutî Magaala) is the eponymous capital of Dji ...

, its summit is situated at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

. It last erupted in November 1978 following an earthquake, the area having been dormant for 3,000 years. The volcano's rift is in width, and has a depth of . The Government of Djibouti has initiated a proposal with

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

to declare the Lake Assal zone including the Ardoukoba volcano and its surroundings as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Geography

Culminating at an altitude of 298 meters, the Ardoukôba is a volcano born from a volcanic fissure and composed of a pile of basaltic slag forming three cones emitting two flows of fluid basaltic lava. These eruptive characteristics classify the Ardoukôba among the red volcanoes fed by a rift magma. This northwest-southeast trending volcanic fissure is part of the Great Rift Valley fault system between the Danakil block in the northeast and the

Afar depression The Afar Triangle (also called the Afar Depression) is a geological depression caused by the Afar Triple Junction, which is part of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. The region has disclosed fossil specimens of the very earliest hominins; tha ...

in the southwest.

History

The Ardoukôba experienced only one eruption, that of its birth, from November 7 to 14, 1978, which follows a volcanic rest of 3,000 years in this part of the rift. Preceding the onset of the eruption, a total of 800 earthquakes of magnitude less than 3.3 occurred for 24 hours six kilometers from the Ardoukôba, towards

Ghoubbet-el-Kharab The Ghoubbet al-Kharab or Lake Ghoubbet ( ar, قبة الخراب, "the Gulf of the Demons") is a Djiboutian cove separated from the Gulf of Tadjoura by a narrow channel historically known to have violent currents. Ghoubbet al-Kharab is surrounded ...

. An episode of high volcanic gas emission was triggered just before the opening of a 500-meter-long crack through which fluid basaltic lava escaped at three points, quickly forming as many slag cones through which escaped two lava flows flowing over the bottom of the rift towards Lake Assal and

. The lava emission was accompanied by the formation of a volcanic plume reaching a height of 300 meters, as well as by the projection of tephras up to a height of 70 meters. The initial flow of 500,000 m3 of lava per hour fell after the fifth to sixth day after the onset of eruption. In doing so, a single cone, Gira-le-Koma thirty meters high, 200 meters long and 25 meters wide, remained active from the ninth day. It contained a lava lake that lasted until the thirteenth day and the only lava emitted, in the form of slag and volcanic bombs, continued until the next day, which marked the end of the eruption. During this typically Hawaiian eruption of red volcanoes fueled by a rift, a total of twelve million cubic meters of fluid basaltic lava was emitted. Lava flows are usually one to two meters thick but can reach a thickness of 25 meters. Twenty-five normal and parallel cracks, one millimeter to two meters wide, opened in a northwesterly-south-easterly direction, reflecting the formation of an escarpment fifty centimeters high.

References

{{Authority control Volcanoes of Djibouti Rift volcanoes