Abstract
Classical mechanisms of volcanic eruptions mostly involve pressure buildup and magma ascent towards the surface1. Such processes produce geophysical and geochemical signals that may be detected and interpreted as eruption precursors1–3. On 22 May 2021, Mount Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), an open-vent volcano with a persistent lava lake perched within its summit crater, shook up this interpretation by producing an approximately six-hour-long flank eruption without apparent precursors, followed—rather than preceded—by lateral magma motion into the crust. Here we show that this reversed sequence was most likely initiated by a rupture of the edifice, producing deadly lava flows and triggering a voluminous 25-km-long dyke intrusion. The dyke propagated southwards at very shallow depth (less than 500 m) underneath the cities of Goma (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Gisenyi (Rwanda), as well as Lake Kivu. This volcanic crisis raises new questions about the mechanisms controlling such eruptions and the possibility of facing substantially more hazardous events, such as effusions within densely urbanized areas, phreato-magmatism or a limnic eruption from the gas-rich Lake Kivu. It also more generally highlights the challenges faced with open-vent volcanoes for monitoring, early detection and risk management when a significant volume of magma is stored close to the surface.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 83-88 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Nature |
| Volume | 609 |
| Issue number | 7925 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 31 Aug 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Sentinel-1 SAR images and Sentinel-5P TROPOMI data are provided by ESA. ALOS-2 SAR images are provided by JAXA under the terms and conditions of the Second Earth Observation Research Announcement (PI No. ER2A2N086). We acknowledge S. Sobue and Y. Aoki for assisting in the quick response of JAXA. CSK images were obtained from ASI through the GEO GSNL Supersite initiative. We thank M. Poland, S. Ebmeier and M. Bonano for having helped unlock the delivery of CSK images to the Virunga Supersite, and C. Tinel and C. Proy (French Centre National d’Etude Spatiales (CNES)) for facilitating coordination between the scientific response and space agencies participating in the United Nation (UN) ‘Space and Major Disasters’ International Charter. TerraSAR-X SAR images were obtained from DLR through the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters' (© DLR e.V. 2021, Distribution Airbus DS Geo GmbH). Pléiades images were provided by the French CNES in the frame of DINAMIS project no. 2021 123 and ForM@Ter's CIEST2 activation. PlanetScope images were provided through the Planets Education and Research Standard plan (ID 81527/PI:R.G. and ID 581018/PI:BS). We thank S. Ebmeier for facilitating access to ICEYE satellite imagery. We thank the Capella company for rapid tasking. L. Clarisse and N. Clerbaux helped obtain SEVIRI data provided by EUMETSAT. GNSS and seismic data were provided by the KivuSnet and KivuGnet monitoring networks maintained by European Center for Geodynamics and Seismology/Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN Luxembourg), the Royal Museum for Central Africa, the Goma Volcano Observatory, the Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles de Lwiro, the Université Officielle de Bukavu, the Rwanda Petroleum and Mining Board (RMB) and the University of Bujumbura (Burundi). The Congolese Institute for Nature Preservation, MONUSCO and GVO staff provide support to ensure the security of these stations. The permanent ground-based monitoring infrastructures and the contributions from B.S., C.M. and J.B. benefited from several past and ongoing research projects funded by the STEREOIII Programme of the Belgian Science Policy Office, the Fonds National de la Recherche of Luxembourg and the Belgian Directorate General for Development Cooperation and humanitarian aid, a.o. RESIST (SR/00/305 and INTER/STEREOIII/13/05), VeRSUS (SR/00/382) and HARISSA. RMB assisted the deployment of the temporary seismic stations. Airborne campaigns were made possible with the support of MONUSCO. J. L. Froger and Y. Fukushima provided the unwrapping algorithm used for S1 interferograms. Y. Morishita, P. Lundgren and F. Delgado helped improve the processing and ionospheric corrections of the ALOS-2 interferograms. Deformation modelling benefited from the infrastructure and assistance of the Mésocentre from the University of Clermont Auvergne, from funds from French Government Laboratory of Excellence initiative no. ANR-10-LABX-0006. This is Laboratory of Excellence ClerVolc contribution no. 548. This work is a contribution to the EUROVOLC project, under the EU Horizon 2020 and Innovation Action, grant no. 731070. S.P. was supported by a FRS-FNRS postdoctoral fellowship at Université libre de Bruxelles . C.W. acknowledges funding by the National Science Foundation (grant no. EAR 1923943).
Funding Information:
Sentinel-1 SAR images and Sentinel-5P TROPOMI data are provided by ESA. ALOS-2 SAR images are provided by JAXA under the terms and conditions of the Second Earth Observation Research Announcement (PI No. ER2A2N086). We acknowledge S. Sobue and Y. Aoki for assisting in the quick response of JAXA. CSK images were obtained from ASI through the GEO GSNL Supersite initiative. We thank M. Poland, S. Ebmeier and M. Bonano for having helped unlock the delivery of CSK images to the Virunga Supersite, and C. Tinel and C. Proy (French Centre National d’Etude Spatiales (CNES)) for facilitating coordination between the scientific response and space agencies participating in the United Nation (UN) ‘Space and Major Disasters’ International Charter. TerraSAR-X SAR images were obtained from DLR through the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters' (© DLR e.V. 2021, Distribution Airbus DS Geo GmbH). Pléiades images were provided by the French CNES in the frame of DINAMIS project no. 2021 123 and ForM@Ter's CIEST2 activation. PlanetScope images were provided through the Planets Education and Research Standard plan (ID 81527/PI:R.G. and ID 581018/PI:BS). We thank S. Ebmeier for facilitating access to ICEYE satellite imagery. We thank the Capella company for rapid tasking. L. Clarisse and N. Clerbaux helped obtain SEVIRI data provided by EUMETSAT. GNSS and seismic data were provided by the KivuSnet and KivuGnet monitoring networks maintained by European Center for Geodynamics and Seismology/Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN Luxembourg), the Royal Museum for Central Africa, the Goma Volcano Observatory, the Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles de Lwiro, the Université Officielle de Bukavu, the Rwanda Petroleum and Mining Board (RMB) and the University of Bujumbura (Burundi). The Congolese Institute for Nature Preservation, MONUSCO and GVO staff provide support to ensure the security of these stations. The permanent ground-based monitoring infrastructures and the contributions from B.S., C.M. and J.B. benefited from several past and ongoing research projects funded by the STEREOIII Programme of the Belgian Science Policy Office, the Fonds National de la Recherche of Luxembourg and the Belgian Directorate General for Development Cooperation and humanitarian aid, a.o. RESIST (SR/00/305 and INTER/STEREOIII/13/05), VeRSUS (SR/00/382) and HARISSA. RMB assisted the deployment of the temporary seismic stations. Airborne campaigns were made possible with the support of MONUSCO. J. L. Froger and Y. Fukushima provided the unwrapping algorithm used for S1 interferograms. Y. Morishita, P. Lundgren and F. Delgado helped improve the processing and ionospheric corrections of the ALOS-2 interferograms. Deformation modelling benefited from the infrastructure and assistance of the Mésocentre from the University of Clermont Auvergne, from funds from French Government Laboratory of Excellence initiative no. ANR-10-LABX-0006. This is Laboratory of Excellence ClerVolc contribution no. 548. This work is a contribution to the EUROVOLC project, under the EU Horizon 2020 and Innovation Action, grant no. 731070. S.P. was supported by a FRS-FNRS postdoctoral fellowship at Université libre de Bruxelles. C.W. acknowledges funding by the National Science Foundation (grant no. EAR 1923943).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).