Sascha is a U.K.-based trainee staff writer at Live Science. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Southampton in England and a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London. Her work has appeared in The Guardian and the health website Zoe.
A volcano in Tanzania with magma that erupts like a garden hose has been steadily sinking into the ground for the past 10 years, a new study shows, and the cause could be a deflating reservoir directly beneath one of the volcano's two craters.
Researchers used data from two satellite systems, Sentinel-1 and Cosmo-SkyMed, to produce maps showing changes over time in the ground around Ol Doinyo Lengai. Their maps indicate that a circular patch of ground around the volcano's northern crater was"moving away from the satellite with a steady rate of displacement over time," the researchers wrote in the study.
Carbonatite lava weathers differently than silicate lava due to its chemical makeup, Klemetti wrote. Calcium and carbon dioxide in the lava combine to make calcite and other carbonate minerals, which break down quickly in the presence of water or humidity. This means that although the lava is black or dark gray when it erupts, it quickly turns white once it dries, he wrote.
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.The magma that feeds Ol Doinyo Lengai is so runny, it should theoretically only produce eruptions characterized by lava flows. But in September 2007, the volcano, which at that point only had one crater, suddenly blasted open a second crater over 330 feet deep in an area north of the summit.
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