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Data from the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution
Details for: Mega Volcanic Field
Cones, maars, lava flows, and craters of the Mega Basalt Field located along the Ethiopia-Kenya border are visible across this December 2020 Planet Labs satellite image mosaic (N at the top). It is located near the villages Mega and Megado and covers an area of approximately 1,400 km2. Large lava flows were produced from scoria cones and spatter ramparts, and the largest Maar is El Sod (top right), reaching 2.3 km in diameter and 0.41 km deep. Satellite image courtesy of Planet Labs Inc., 2020 (https://www.planet.com/).
Volcano Number:
221330
Volcano Name:
Mega Volcanic Field
Country:
Ethiopia
Volcano Type:
Volcanic field
Elevation:
1500m
Tectonic Setting:
Rift zone / Intermediate crust (15-25 km)
Latitude:
3.971
Longitude:
38.213
Details
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The Mega Volcanic Field in southern Ethiopia is present on both sides of the 100-km-long NW-SE Mega escarpment, and covers about 1,400 km2. Franceschini et al. (2020) provides an excellent review of this field, from which most of this summary is taken. The field includes 114 monogenetic centers, primarily cinder cones and some maars; the largest maar is the 2.3-km-diameter El Sod. Uneroded lava flows often partially overly deeply eroded lava flows. Large lava flows are usually associated with cinder cones, but fissure-fed flows in the Megado area exhibit oriented spatter ramparts. One of the largest lava flows extends more than 10 km SW from the Mega escarpment and covers about 25 km2; it has a very fresh, black, glassy appearance of the surface, and minimal vegetation. Two samples analyzed by Franceschini et al. (2020) yielded 40Ar/39Ar ages of 0.116 ± 0.005 and 0.044 ± 0.008 Ma; two other samples indicated very recent Holocene ages. These are the first age dates available for this field, and are in agreement with the morphological interpretation of some young cinder cones and lava flows.
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Eruption Data from the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution
Sorry. No erruption data found for this volcano.
Emissions Data from the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution
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Data from the Earthchem Library
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Data from the Earthchem Portal
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Data from the SESAR Database
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Data from the MaGa Database
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Data from UNAVCO
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Data from USIEI
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Data from IRIS FDSNWS
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