Perplexing Eruption in Nigeria - No known active volcanoes nearby.

Possible eruption from the Oku Volcanic Field in Cameroon Erik Klemetti on November 6, 2010, 11:59 AM There are a couple brief articles that an eruption has occurred near the border region of Cameroon and Nigeria - in the state of Benue, which is midway along of the eastern border of the two countries. The report claims that "vibrations on the earth overwhelmed the area" and that then there was a "a sudden eruption from six points on the mountainous terrain", which then "lava from the mountain cover[ed] wells, streams, trees and houses in the area". People in the vicinity had to flee, but one person died in the "eruption" and many buildings were damaged. Also, water supplies were contaminated by the lava - although the report says that it was "polluted by the heavy magma," which feels like a missed translation. Overall, this sounds like a basaltic lava flow or flows that came from previously unidentified vents - and the fact it was described as "six points" makes me think it could be a fissue eruption. Figuring out exactly was is erupting is a little perplexing. First, there aren't any known active volcanoes in Nigeria near the state of Benue. Beyond the idea that the report if false or the location is wrong, we can look at a map of the known active volcanoes in neighboring Cameroon. The best suspect is the Oku Volcanic Field, which is a field of cinder cones and maars near the border with Nigeria, but in Cameroon. The field is part of a large Mt. Oku, which is a stratovolcano that is now cut by a caldera. There are no historical eruptions of the field, but it does host volcanic lakes like Lake Nyos and Monoun, both of which had catastrophic carbon dioxide releases in 1986 and 1984, respectively. These releases may have been a product of phreatic explosions that overturned the lake waters, but this has never been confirmed. If this eruption is, in fact, from the Oku Volcanic Field, it will be the first subaereal eruption there on record. Top left: Lake Nyos in the Oku Volcanic Field in Cameroon. Tags: Cameroon, Lake Monoun, Lake Nyos, lava flow, Oku Volcanic Field  SUBSCRIBE (RSS) PREVIOUS POST Friday Flotsam: Merapi now a "national emergency" and new monitoring tools for Newberry Caldera NEXT POST Merapi Mini-Update for 11/6/2010 You must be logged in to comment. Log in or Register DAMON HYNES on November 6, 2010, 12:23 PM Mud volcano? There's plenty of methane , obviously… Interesting. RENATO RIO on November 6, 2010, 12:29 PM @Erik: But the coordinates here: http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?cid=28428 Show a very big distance from Cameroon border, but perhaps they're just wrong. RENATO RIO on November 6, 2010, 12:30 PM Yet it is interesting the same way. Fissure eruption? Hmmm… RENATO RIO on November 6, 2010, 12:31 PM Must leave now, but will be back for more news. Thanks a lot. DANIEL LE CURIEUX on November 6, 2010, 12:32 PM Moved from last post. <a href="http://i52.tinypic.com/160uvl.jpg">Here</a> is a picture of this area. This is in the north east part of Nigeria. maybe this is the Oku field of which Erik mentioned. Anyway there are alot of signs that the area itself was once very very voilent and active. I could easily spot over 20 cones within a 20km radius. DANIEL LE CURIEUX on November 6, 2010, 12:40 PM Need to correct my self. The Oku Volcanic field seems to be some way down to the south in cameroon. However if you look at the map i linked there is a trail of cones leading down south. Could this be a remote part of the Oku field? It looks very similar to the Laki pattern in Iceland which was a fissure system of over 200 cones. LEON ROBERT GRAVESTOCK on November 6, 2010, 12:44 PM Iam looking on Stormpulse hurricane site and there is a lot of cloud cover in that area http://www.stormpulse.com/ and see what you think ERIK KLEMETTI on November 6, 2010, 12:45 PM @Renato: Yeah, I'm not sure I believe the coordinates in the RSOE link. With African eruptions, I have found that the location in the initial news reports can be quite off, especially in frontier areas. Until I hear otherwise, my guess still sits in the Oku Volcanic Field. PRINCESS FRITO on November 6, 2010, 12:49 PM 4TH ATTEMPT!!!!!! gsarwohadi 23:42 Huge volumes of lava followed by pyroclastic flow moving towards south and west. #merapi via 149.07 STEPHEN TIERNEY on November 6, 2010, 12:54 PM http://indepthafrica.com/news/westafrica/nigeria-volcanic-eruptions-in-benue-1-killed-property-destroyed/ GABRIELLE on November 6, 2010, 12:54 PM Princess, just a thought. If you find the blog won't let you post in quick succession it may be an idea to set up an alternate Princess Frito login (I'm sure Erik wouldn't mind you having two accounts for this) and you can keep them both open on separate tabs and post alternately. I'll be back later to help out. You're doing a brilliant job and so many people appreciate it. PRINCESS FRITO on November 6, 2010, 12:58 PM Other posters aren't able to post here today either…. ERIK KLEMETTI on November 6, 2010, 12:58 PM @All: Remember, let me know if you're having trouble posting. Rapid succession of posts likely are confusing the spam filter – heck, they might think it is an attack. If possible, collect a series of short comments into the same post to get the filter to like it. PRINCESS FRITO on November 6, 2010, 1:01 PM Erik, that's what I've been doing …. It takes time to find, translate and prepare my posts so it's not like I'm bombarding the place (at least I don't think so). Can you find out from BT what an acceptable period between posts would be? One other poster failed on her first attempt to post today after being away… ILVAR KHORSTOON on November 6, 2010, 1:05 PM Someone posted this news several hours ago. There are only two or three sources showing it, one of them the nigerian Sun News, which makes it a big headline on its first page. However there is not even a hint on this event over several other nigerian media. Nigerian forums show a very scheptical reaction to it and with some low humor. But this is Nigeria, where many don't care about the neighbor's house going down the flood. On MODIS it is hard to see this region now as it is heavily covered by clouds. But nothing extraordinary is seen for the last two days. So, it is quite possible that the news are a variant of a "Nigerian Letter". Anyway, if they were true then this is not only a major event but an historical one in terms of Earth itself as the Byu Plateau is directly related to the breakup of Africa and South America. Meanwhile there is some alarming data about lake Nyos: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-11/06/c_13594146.htm http://www.tribune.com.ng/sat/index.php/news/2495-fg-allays-fears-on-rumoured-eruption-of-lake-nyos.html GABRIELLE on November 6, 2010, 1:07 PM I also had trouble posting, Erik. It may be time for new Merapi thread. The other one could be getting too long to take the volume and you might like to keep this for the Nigerian eruption. BIRGIT AUSTRIA on November 6, 2010, 1:09 PM I had problems posting too. ERIK KLEMETTI on November 6, 2010, 1:15 PM New Merapi thread for today. PRINCESS FRITO on November 6, 2010, 1:19 PM waited 16 minutes then tried to post on new merapi thread. No luck. PRINCESS FRITO on November 6, 2010, 1:21 PM it's almost as if you can't have two or more active threads, Eric. PRINCESS FRITO on November 6, 2010, 1:23 PM One post finally worked for me on the other thread. ERIK KLEMETTI on November 6, 2010, 1:24 PM My guess is that if too many comments are being submitted simultaneously, things get a little strange. Will inquire with tech support. WALTER GERMAN on November 6, 2010, 1:33 PM @Ilvar Khorstoon What's alarming? This is an articel frome the Chinese News Agency about the installation of dams WALTER GERMAN on November 6, 2010, 1:40 PM ups, my last post flew into public due to a crash of IE. In Nigeria they are also installing a warning system. The facts about the hazards of the lakes are well known since years. In the second article the officals denied a current danger. It seems to me that there journalists or blogger misinterpretes the news. This could affect an avalange of wrong news. ROYAL7734 on November 6, 2010, 2:16 PM http://mhalb.pagesperso-orange.fr/nyos/webcam.htm Webcam of Lake Nyos. ILVAR KHORSTOON on November 6, 2010, 2:23 PM To Walter German. Well, I didn't choose the correct word – it should be "alarmist" not "alarming". But I stand by it as the news carry an alarmist tone. You may say they show how dams are built or officials assure things ain't that bad. Well, probably, but the text carries a "something is going on at Nyos" feeling. Anyway, for the moment, no "neutral" source is showing if anything important is going either at Nyos or Nigeria-Cameroon border. In fact, it is more probable that someone is spreading rumours about that region, specially if we consider that there is no current factual evidence. There are no photos about these new volcanos. News talk about earthquakes felt in a large region but I haven't found other corroborating sources, specially in neighboring Cameroon. Considering that news counted 6 spots where lava came up, it would be seen on MODIS. No matter that I haven't the exact spot, anyway, a large section of Nigeria-Cameroon border seems to even lack a hint of a fire. The only thing I noted – it seems that Western Africa has gone through some heavy rains and rivers seem quite flooded. But even that seems more remarkable on places near Congo. LEON ROBERT GRAVESTOCK on November 6, 2010, 3:40 PM I am afraid i have to agree with you all on this one nothing to confirm this eruption i did look for more info but nothing more than what already here. RENATO RIO on November 6, 2010, 5:18 PM I'm back. I've been reading the articles and comments and they make sense to me. The given coordinates and the referred Nigerian state is far away from both Cameroon border and Oku Volcanic field. Something must be wrong. As for Lake Nyos, I remember having had an interesting debate with some of our fellow readers (sorry for my bad memory, some guy from Belgium) who happened to be working on a dam in the region, or something related to CO2 emissions both from Nyos and Kivu, further South. Erik, is it possible that this could be a pre-holocen volcano that is not listed in SVI ? M. RANDOLPH KRUGER on November 6, 2010, 7:04 PM Someone shoot the lat/longs to me from the Smithsonian site. I have been loading stuff up for Indon all day at the airport… Whipped. Was there another eruption at Merapi? SHÉRINE FRANCE on November 6, 2010, 7:23 PM Randolph, I think it is still in eruption http://www.banjarmasinpost.co.id/read/artikel/2010/11/7/62360/gemuruh-dan-semburan-awan-panas-berkali-kali Good night MANUELA DEI GRANDI on November 6, 2010, 7:30 PM Hi. Can someone please explain what does Erik mean with 'subaereal eruption'? Thanks! DAMON HYNES on November 6, 2010, 7:34 PM @Manuela, "Subaerial" means, NOT under ice, NOT underwater. (Of course, I'd pay American money to see an aerial eruption :-) …) http://bigthink.com/ideas/24846 _       Free food packs.                     Sundance Global   BE PREPARED   htpp://heavenlyhands.mysundanceglobal.com                      15 Year shelf life _________________________________________________________________   Easily grow your own vegetables anywhere .      Click here: Easy Victory Garden