Volcano of the Week!

This week’s volcano of the week is:

Dubbi

Location: Eritrea, Africa

Type: Stratovolcano

Elevation: 1625 metres, 5330 feet

Last Eruption: 1900?

Status: Dormant

Details:

Dubbi is a stratovolcano located in south Eritrea, east of Erta Ale Range by the shore of the Red Sea as shown below.

The volcano consists of 20 small summit cinder cones and a basaltic lava field known as Edd lava field located to the north and northeast. Edd lava field covers an area of 2700 sq km and extends to the coast of the Red Sea.

Dubbi is known to have four historical eruptions; 1400, 1861, 1863 and 1900, in which 1400 and 1861 are confirmed by historical observations and 1863 and 1900 remain uncertain. The VEI 2 eruption in 1400 AD was sourced from vents along the northwest-southeast fissure system and was responsible for lava flows that travelled to the Red Sea.

On 8^th May 1861 an explosive eruption heard in Massawa located 330 km away took place. The eruption, rated as a VEI 3 followed on from a large earthquake which was felt in Yemen, ash fell over 300 km from the volcano, pumice fell into the red sea and lava flows with a volume of 3.5 km² traveled 22 km from source. According to research this was the largest reported historical eruption in Africa. 2 villages were destroyed and more than 100 inhabitants were killed during this eruption. Captain R. L. Playfair provided a description of the eruption:

"On the night of the 7th or the morning of the 8th of May, the people of Edd were awakened by the shock of an earthquake followed by others which continued with little intermission for about an hour. At sunrise, a quantity of fine white dust fell over the village. . . . About noon, the character of this dust . . . resembled red earth. Shortly afterwards, it increased to such an extent that the air was perfectly darkened and we had to light lamps in our houses. It was darker than the darkest night, and the whole place was covered with dust, nearly knee-deep. At night [on May 9], we saw fire and dense smoke issuing from a mountain called Djebel Dubbeh."

In June 2011 the volcano was mistakenly thought to have erupted again when the neighbouring volcano Nabro erupted.

Image Source: www.geog.cam.ac.uk