There ’s no rival – the weirdest volcano in the world is definitely in Tanzania . NamedOl Doinyo Lengai – mean “ Mountain of God ” in the local Maasai linguistic communication – it erupts lava so cool that someone oncefell into it and live .
Its lava erupt at temperature never exceeding 510 ° C ( 950 ° farad ) , far below the minimum for basalt ( 1,000 ° C/1,832 ° F ) , one of the most common lava type on the planet . It ’s so cold in fact that it ’s almost always black , as there ’s not enough heat radiating aside from it to make it take care red .
Back in 2007 , during part of an expedition , a local Maasai Cole Porter fell into one of these active lava flows in the crater . He actually manage to mount out , although one of his arms and both of his legs were seriously burn and he had to be hospitalized . As atrocious as this is , as far as anyone can order he is the only soul to have accrue into lava and survived .
Its viscosity , a measure of how “ gloopy ” it is , is also fabulously unearthly . Thanks to the want of fabric - making molecular chemical chain of silica , this weird lava flow like water supply , creating meandering “ rivers ” and pouring down slopes with comfort .
The weird and wonderful Mountain of God . Photovolcanicavia YouTube
Most lava hang across a flat tableland at speeds rarely exceeding10 kilometers per hour(about 6 Roman mile per hour ) , meaning that it ’s not difficult to simply step out of its direction . Ol Doinyo Lengai ’s lava can well outpace a man ’s running tread – so it ’s a beneficial affair it seldom undergoes a hefty , voluminous extravasation .
The case of lava effusing from this distinctly foreign edifice is known as a“carbonatite . ”Unlike most lavas , which are based around silica and oxygen , this arrest a destiny of alkali elements – calcium and sodium , mainly – along with a lot of dissolved carbon dioxide . This particular lava is so Na rich that it ’s a “ natrocarbonatite . ”
The melting peak of all of these molecular chain is far lower than that of any silicate lavas , which is why it erupts so nonchalantly . This combining entail that , on function , fire spring of fatal lava streak into the sky , freeze down in mid - air , and shatter into pieces that stray out in the wind .
This volcano exists at the item at which the African continent is tearing itself apart , and the unholy mantle is develop up to satisfy the gap . There are really a few place around the humankind that have carbonatite lava , although a third of all carbonatite volcanoes live in the East African Rift .
It ’s unclear why this finical combining of elements are so dominant at Ol Doinyo Lengai , but the leading theory is that a formal magma became so enriched in these constituent that they separated off and could no longer fuse properly – like oil and pee – and a raw magma eccentric was born .
This particular volcano did n’t always combust unearthly carbonatite lava either , but for modern man , it ’s in reality a good matter that it does . As pointed out byWired , this lava type hold in pot of uncommon earth elements , which are a vital component of advanced electronics .
In fact , this volcano is fairly unthreatening , even when it erupt explosively and produces an ash feather . The most recent take place in 2008 , and it did n’t have too much trouble . Actually , being around 370,000 years old , it ’s really proving to be quite useful for archaeologist .
Plenty of ancient humans and even some of our evolutionary ancestor have long swan around this volcano . Whenever it erupts explosively , ash tree litter the landscape , hominids take the air on it , and theirfootprints are often preservedfor all eternity .
Ol Doinyo Lengai hulk in the screen background . Yury Birukov / Shutterstock
