Murara volcanic eruption on 8 January 1977

Murara was a small, short-lived,

cinder cone A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions o ...

on the flank of

Mount Nyamuragira Nyamuragira, also known as Nyamulagira, is an active shield volcano in the Virunga Mountains of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, situated about north of Lake Kivu. The name is derived from the Bantu verb ''Kuragira nyamu'', meaning to '' ...

, that began erupting on December 23, 1976. It is located about twelve kilometers south-southwest of the main crater of Nyamuragira. On 18 January 1977, the height of the cone was measured as 150 metres. Eruptions from Murara reduced considerably after the eruption of

Mount Nyiragongo Mount Nyiragongo ( ) is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift. It is located inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about north of the town of ...

on January 10, 1977 and ended completely in April 1977. During the Christmas and New Year holiday period, the

Virunga National Park , iucn_category = II , iucn_ref = , location = Democratic Republic of the Congo , map = Democratic Republic of the Congo , relief = 1 , coordinates = , area = , established = , nearest_city = Goma , photo =Virunga National Park-107997 ...

authorities organised a temporary camp, within a few hundred metres of Murara, so that visitors could observe the eruption and lava flow.

References

Further reading