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African Plate

The African Plate is a major tectonic plate that underlies most of the African continent and the adjacent oceanic crust in the Atlantic, Indian, and Southern Oceans, making it one of Earth's largest lithospheric segments. Covering an area of approximately 61 million square kilometers, it ranks as the fourth-largest plate and straddles both the equator and the prime meridian. This plate encompasses ancient Precambrian cratons, rift zones, and volcanic features that define much of Africa's geological landscape.^[1] The African Plate's boundaries are predominantly divergent and transform, reflecting its role in the ongoing fragmentation of the continent. To the west, it is separated from the North and South American Plates by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a spreading center where new oceanic crust forms at rates of about 2.5 cm per year. In the north, it converges with the Eurasian Plate along the Mediterranean region, producing compressional tectonics and occasional subduction. The northeastern boundary with the Arabian Plate follows the Red Sea Rift, a divergent zone with spreading rates up to 1.5 cm per year, while the eastern edge interfaces with the Somali Plate along the East African Rift System, where extension occurs at 0.6–1 cm per year, potentially leading to the formation of a new ocean basin. To the south, it meets the Antarctic Plate along the Southwest Indian Ridge, another divergent boundary with spreading rates around 1.5 cm per year.^[2]^[3]^[4] Overall, the African Plate moves slowly northeastward relative to the Earth's mantle at approximately 2–2.5 cm per year, driven by mantle convection and slab pull forces. This motion contributes to the plate's internal deformation, particularly in the East African Rift, where the continent is gradually splitting into the Nubian (western) and Somalian (eastern) subplates—a process that began around 25 million years ago and has accelerated in recent geological time, with studies as of November 2025 indicating increased fault activity linked to regional climate change and lake level fluctuations.^[5] The plate hosts significant tectonic activity, including moderate earthquakes along rift zones and volcanic hotspots like the Afar Depression, as well as substantial hydrocarbon reserves in sedimentary basins such as the Niger Delta. These features highlight the African Plate's dynamic evolution from a stable cratonic core to an actively rifting system.^[1]^[6]^[7]

Overview

Definition and Extent

The African Plate is a major tectonic plate in the Earth's lithosphere, comprising the bulk of the African continent along with adjacent oceanic crust in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as well as surrounding islands such as Madagascar, the Seychelles, and the Comoros.^[8] It represents a rigid segment of the lithosphere that moves as a cohesive unit relative to other plates, driven by mantle convection processes.^[9] This plate covers an area of approximately 61 million square kilometers, accounting for about 12% of Earth's surface and ranking as the fourth-largest tectonic plate after the Pacific, North American, and Eurasian plates.^[10] Its extent spans from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the west, where it borders the South American and North American plates, to the East African Rift System to the east, separating it from the Somali subplate. To the north, the plate meets the Eurasian Plate along the Mediterranean Sea and Atlas Mountains, while to the south, it extends to the Southern Ocean, adjoining the Antarctic Plate along the Southwest Indian Ridge.^[8] Roughly half of the plate's surface consists of continental crust, with the remainder being oceanic lithosphere formed at spreading centers.^[9] The African Plate's lithosphere includes both continental and oceanic components, with the continental portion featuring a crust averaging 35-40 km thick beneath stable cratonic regions.^[9] Overall lithospheric thickness varies significantly, ranging from 90 km in tectonically active rift zones to over 200 km under ancient cratons, with an average of 100-200 km beneath the continental interior; this variation reflects the plate's heterogeneous thermal structure and tectonic stability.^[9] Oceanic segments of the plate are thinner, typically around 100 km, comparable to lithosphere aged up to 100 million years.^[8]

Role in Global Tectonics

The African Plate serves as a relatively stable core within the broader African-Eurasian-Antarctic tectonic system, characterized by minimal absolute motion compared to more dynamic neighboring plates.^[11] This stability stems from its position since the Mesozoic era, where it has remained largely stationary due to the absence of significant slab pull forces at its margins and the influence of underlying mantle plumes, allowing it to act as an enduring landmass amid surrounding oceanic expansions.^[12] In the context of supercontinent cycles, the African Plate occupied a central role in the assembly of Gondwana during the Late Proterozoic Pan-African orogeny (approximately 720–550 Ma), forming a key component of this megacontinent that later contributed to the stability of Pangea before its fragmentation.^[12]^[13] The subsequent breakup of Gondwana, initiated in the Late Carboniferous and accelerating through Jurassic rifting, positioned the African Plate as the residual core, influencing the dispersal of adjacent continental fragments and shaping long-term mantle convection patterns.^[13]^[12] In terms of interactions with adjacent plates, the African Plate functions as a primary reference frame for quantifying relative motions in the region, particularly for the Eurasian Plate to the north, the Arabian Plate to the northeast, and the Antarctic Plate to the south.^[14] Geodetic and plate kinematic models often fix the African (Nubian) Plate as the stable baseline to measure northward convergence with Eurasia, driven by the closure of the Neotethys Ocean, and the divergent separation from Arabia along the Red Sea rift.^[14]^[15] Similarly, its southern boundary with the Antarctic Plate along the Southwest Indian Ridge provides a divergent reference for tracking the ongoing separation that began in the Jurassic, contributing to the overall framework of Indo-Atlantic tectonics.^[15] This referential role underscores the African Plate's influence on regional stress fields, where its relative immobility amplifies the deformational effects on bordering plates without undergoing equivalent internal disruption.^[11] The African Plate plays a pivotal role in global seafloor spreading and continental rifting, exemplifying intraplate divergence through active zones like the East African Rift System, which represents a nascent ocean basin formation within a continental interior.^[16] Seafloor spreading along its surrounding mid-ocean ridges, including the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the west and the Central Indian Ridge to the east, has been integral to the post-Gondwana reconfiguration, accommodating the expansion of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans since the Early Cretaceous.^[15] This process not only recycles oceanic crust but also drives far-field stresses that propagate into the plate's interior, fostering rifting as a key mechanism in the global tectonic budget of extension and contributing to the Earth's heat loss through enhanced mantle upwelling.^[15]^[16]

Geological History

Formation of Cratons

The stable core of the African Plate comprises several Precambrian cratons assembled through the accretion of Archean and Proterozoic terranes between approximately 3.5 and 1 billion years ago, involving episodic magmatism, sedimentation, and tectonic deformation that formed granite-greenstone belts and associated orogenic structures.^[17] This assembly process created a mosaic of ancient crustal blocks resistant to later tectonic disruption, with stabilization achieved via high-grade metamorphism and plutonic intrusions that thickened and strengthened the lithosphere. Geochronological evidence, primarily from U-Pb dating of zircon grains in igneous and metamorphic rocks, reveals that many of these cratons reached their stable configuration by around 2.7 Ga, marking the cessation of significant juvenile crustal addition in the Archean.^[18] The Kaapvaal Craton in southern Africa exemplifies early Archean crustal evolution, with initial terrane accretion beginning around 3.6 Ga through volcanic and sedimentary deposition in proto-basins, followed by widespread granitic magmatism and greenstone belt formation between 3.2 and 2.8 Ga. Orogenic events, including collision and thickening of the crust, culminated in stabilization by 2.7 Ga, as confirmed by U-Pb ages on detrital and igneous zircons that document the final assembly of its granite-greenstone architecture.^[19]^[20] This craton's core consists of tonalitic gneisses and supracrustal sequences intruded by syn- to post-tectonic granites, reflecting a progression from arc-like magmatism to continental collision. In central Africa, the Zimbabwe Craton developed through multiple Archean accretion phases, featuring greenstone belts deposited between 3.5 and 2.7 Ga amid volcanic arcs and sedimentary basins, with subsequent stabilization driven by the intrusion of voluminous TTG (tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite) suites and orogenic deformation around 2.65 Ga. U-Pb geochronology indicates that its central nucleus formed by 2.9 Ga, with peripheral terranes added via subduction-related processes before final welding along shear zones.^[21] The craton's granite-greenstone belts, such as the Bulawayan Supergroup, preserve evidence of this assembly, where compressive tectonics exhumed and preserved the thickened crust against later erosion. The Congo Craton in central-western Africa represents a composite structure assembled from at least six Archean nuclei, including the Tanzania and Kasai blocks, welded together around 2.1 Ga during Paleoproterozoic orogenic events that incorporated Proterozoic terranes along its margins. Stabilization occurred through Eburnean-age (ca. 2.0-1.8 Ga) collisional orogeny, involving granite intrusions and high-grade metamorphism that overprinted older Archean greenstone belts dated to 3.5-2.7 Ga via U-Pb methods.^[18]^[22] This assembly created a stable platform with minimal post-formation reworking, as evidenced by the preservation of Archean protoliths beneath Proterozoic cover sequences.^[23] Eastern Africa's Tanzania Craton formed primarily in the Neoarchean, with crustal accretion spanning 2.82 to 2.61 Ga through episodic granitoid plutonism and greenstone volcanism, where orthogneisses and supracrustal belts record arc accretion and basin development before stabilization via orogenic compression around 2.7 Ga. U-Pb dating of zircon from the Dodoma and Singida suites confirms this timeline, highlighting a contiguous crustal block with mantle-derived inputs from as early as 3.9 Ga.^[24] The craton's core features TTG-dominated batholiths intruding mafic-ultramafic sequences, with deformation events that exhumed the assembly without significant Proterozoic overprint in its interior.^[25] The West African Craton assembled from two Archean nuclei in its northwestern and southwestern domains, accreting Paleoproterozoic terranes between 2.3 and 2.0 Ga via subduction and collision, culminating in stabilization during the Eburnean orogeny around 2.15 Ga through widespread granitic magmatism and greenstone belt deformation. U-Pb geochronology reveals Archean ages exceeding 3.0 Ga in basement gneisses, with Proterozoic orogenic belts marking the final incorporation of juvenile material.^[26] This process formed a cratonic kernel of granite-greenstone terranes surrounded by Birimian supracrustal belts, ensuring long-term rigidity.^[27]

Key Evolutionary Events

The assembly of the supercontinent Gondwana marked a pivotal phase in the tectonic evolution of the African plate, primarily driven by the Pan-African orogeny during the late Precambrian to early Paleozoic era. This orogenic event, spanning approximately 870 to 550 million years ago (Ma), involved the closure of multiple ocean basins and the collision of continental cratons, forming extensive orogenic belts that sutured the African cratons—such as the Congo, West African, and Kalahari cratons—to adjacent blocks including those of South America, India, Antarctica, and Australia. Key collisions, including those in the Arabian-Nubian Shield and Mozambique Belt between 630 and 550 Ma, facilitated the accretion and stabilization of these cratons into a cohesive landmass, with final suturing and high-grade metamorphism occurring around 550 to 520 Ma. By 540 to 530 Ma, the orogenic assembly of East Gondwana, incorporating much of the African plate, was largely complete, setting the stage for subsequent supercontinent cycles.^[28]^[29] The breakup of Gondwana initiated a contrasting phase of fragmentation for the African plate, beginning around 180 Ma with the rifting and opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean, which separated North Africa from North America and Eurasia. This early Jurassic event was accompanied by widespread magmatism from the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, influencing initial extensional tectonics along the plate's northern and western margins. Further dispersal occurred with the opening of the South Atlantic around 137 Ma in the Early Cretaceous, where rifting transitioned to seafloor spreading by approximately 132 Ma, progressively separating the southern African plate from South America and reorienting the plate's boundaries. These processes, culminating in the isolation of the African plate by the Late Cretaceous, were modulated by hotspots like the Paraná-Etendeka Large Igneous Province, which contributed to asymmetric rifting and the development of transform faults.^[30]^[31] During the Mesozoic to Cenozoic, convergence between the African and Eurasian plates drove the formation of the Atlas Mountains through the inversion of pre-existing Mesozoic rift basins, with significant tectonic shortening occurring between approximately 100 and 30 Ma. This period encompassed Late Cretaceous to Oligocene compression, where northward motion of the African plate at rates of 2-4 cm/year led to thrusting and folding, elevating the High, Middle, and Anti-Atlas ranges to over 4,000 meters. Concurrently, the East African Rift initiated around 25 Ma in the late Oligocene, marking the onset of intra-continental extension linked to mantle upwelling beneath the African superswell; this event produced initial volcanism and faulting in the eastern branch, from Ethiopia to Tanzania, and synchronously in the western branch near Lake Tanganyika.^[32]^[33] In the Paleogene to Neogene, rifting in the Afar region intensified between 30 and 5 Ma, forming a triple junction that propagated extension northward and facilitated the opening of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Oligocene-Miocene volcanism and faulting thinned the continental crust in Afar, transitioning from continental rifting to oceanic spreading in the Red Sea by around 20-25 Ma and in the Gulf of Aden by approximately 20 Ma, effectively separating the Arabian plate from Africa. This episode, characterized by oblique rifting and magma-poor segments, represented a critical step in the ongoing dismemberment of the African plate's northeastern margin.^[34]

Plate Boundaries

Divergent Boundaries

The divergent boundaries of the African Plate are characterized by regions where it is separating from adjacent plates, leading to the formation of new oceanic crust through seafloor spreading along mid-ocean ridges and continental rifts. These boundaries play a crucial role in the plate's overall westward and northward motion relative to the global tectonic framework.^[3] Along its western margin, the African Plate diverges from the North American Plate to the north and the South American Plate to the south at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a slow-spreading mid-ocean ridge system extending from the Arctic to the South Atlantic. This divergence occurs at a rate of approximately 2-4 cm per year, facilitating the upwelling of mantle-derived magma that solidifies to form new basaltic crust. The Romanche Fracture Zone, a major transform fault, offsets the ridge axis by about 900-950 km near the equator, influencing the segmentation and stress distribution along this boundary.^[35]^[36]^[37] The southern boundary of the African Plate involves divergence from the Antarctic Plate along the Southwest Indian Ridge, an ultraslow-spreading ridge in the Southern Indian Ocean that has been active since the breakup of Gondwana around 160 million years ago. This ridge features segments with oblique spreading, where the direction of plate separation deviates from the perpendicular to the ridge axis, resulting in asymmetric crustal accretion and variations in magmatic supply. Such obliquity contributes to the ridge's rugged topography and localized tectonic complexity.^[38]^[39] On its eastern margin, the African Plate (specifically the Nubian subplate) diverges from the Arabian Plate along the Red Sea Rift and Gulf of Aden, forming a propagating rift system that connects to the Afro-Arabian dome. The separation rate here is approximately 1-2 cm per year, with higher rates (up to 1.6 cm/year) in the central Red Sea, driving the initial stages of continental breakup and the inundation of the rift by seawater. Additionally, the incipient East African Rift represents an intraplate divergent zone within the African Plate, where the Somalian subplate is pulling away from the Nubian subplate, marking the early development of a new plate boundary.^[40]^[41]

Convergent and Transform Boundaries

The northern boundary of the African Plate with the Eurasian Plate along the Mediterranean Sea features convergent tectonics, characterized by the subduction of African lithosphere beneath Eurasia. This subduction is prominently manifested at the Hellenic Trench, where the African Plate is being consumed at a convergence rate of approximately 35 mm per year, influencing the tectonic regime of the eastern Mediterranean and exerting compressive stresses on the North African margin.^[42] Remnants of the Atlas orogeny in northwest Africa reflect ongoing compressional deformation associated with this convergence, with present-day crustal shortening rates of about 1 mm per year across the High Atlas, accommodating partial plate motion through thrust faulting and folding.^[43] Transform boundaries within and adjacent to the African Plate include intraplate and oceanic features that facilitate lateral motion. The Central African Shear Zone (CASZ), a major sinistral (left-lateral) intraplate transform system extending over 1,000 km from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sudanese plains, originated during the Neoproterozoic Pan-African orogeny and has experienced up to 200 km of horizontal displacement, influencing the distribution of rift basins in central Africa through strike-slip tectonics.^[44] These transform elements contrast with the plate's predominant divergent margins by enabling lateral offset without significant crustal creation or destruction.

Internal Components

Major Cratonic Blocks

The African Plate encompasses several major cratonic blocks, which are ancient, stable portions of continental crust that form the rigid core of the plate. These blocks, primarily of Archean and Paleoproterozoic age, have remained largely undeformed since their stabilization, providing key insights into the early tectonic evolution of the continent.^[45] The West African Craton represents one of the primary stable nuclei within the African Plate, featuring an Archean core overlain by Paleoproterozoic Birimian greenstone belts formed between 2.2 and 2.0 Ga. These greenstones consist of volcanic and sedimentary sequences that record early orogenic events, with the craton achieving stability following the Eburnean orogeny around 2.0 Ga and remaining intact since approximately 1.7 Ga. Spanning about 4.5 million km², the craton underlies much of the Sahel region, including parts of Mauritania, Mali, and Burkina Faso, where it forms the basement beneath younger sedimentary covers like the Taoudeni Basin.^[46]^[26]^[47] In central Africa, the Congo Craton stands as a vast shield comprising multiple Archean blocks amalgamated during the Paleoproterozoic between 2.1 and 1.8 Ga, covering an extensive area that includes portions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Angola. This craton is characterized by granulite-facies metamorphism along its margins, such as in the Nyong Complex, where high-pressure conditions reflect collisional tectonics, but the central regions exhibit minimal deformation after 1.8 Ga, underscoring its long-term tectonic stability. The craton's interior preserves a thick lithospheric root, with granulite terrains indicating peak metamorphic events around 2.0 Ga.^[48]^[49]^[50] The East African Cratons, particularly the Tanzania Craton extending into parts of Kenya, include Archaean cores exposed in the Dodoma and Singida blocks of central Tanzania, where Neoarchean granitoids and greenstone belts date to 2.7-2.5 Ga. These cores are sutured to surrounding younger terranes by the Neoproterozoic Mozambique Belt, which marks a collisional zone to the east with high-grade metamorphic rocks but leaves the cratonic interior relatively undeformed. The Dodoma-Singida region preserves contiguous Archaean basement, with geochronological data indicating stabilization by the late Archean and minimal subsequent alteration.^[24]^[25]^[51] In the southern portion of the African Plate, the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe Cratons form interconnected stable blocks, with the Kaapvaal featuring prolific kimberlite pipes that host world-class diamond fields, such as those near Kimberley, South Africa. These cratons stabilized through collisions around 2.7-2.6 Ga, including the incorporation of the Transvaal Supergroup—a major sedimentary-volcanic sequence spanning 2.67 to 2.1 Ga that blankets much of the Kaapvaal and records basin development on the maturing craton. The Zimbabwe Craton, adjacent to the east, shares similar Archean basement and also contains kimberlite intrusions, contributing to the region's economic significance in diamond production while maintaining structural integrity since the late Archean.^[45]^[52]^[53]

Sedimentary and Rift Zones

The African Plate hosts several major sedimentary basins that overlie or border its cratonic cores, characterized by thick accumulations of Paleozoic to Mesozoic strata formed in intracratonic settings. The Taoudeni Basin, spanning approximately 1,300,000 km² across West Africa, exemplifies this with its Phanerozoic sedimentary fill dominated by Paleozoic sandstones, shales, and carbonates up to several kilometers thick, deposited in a stable intracratonic depression during periods of minimal tectonic activity.^[54] Similarly, the Murzuq Basin in southern Libya represents a large intracratonic depression filled with Paleozoic to Mesozoic sequences, including Devonian sandstones and Cretaceous carbonates, reaching thicknesses of up to 4 km and reflecting episodic subsidence and marine incursions.^[55] In southern Africa, the Karoo Basin preserves Permian-Triassic coal measures linked to Gondwana's glacial and fluvial environments, with up to 12 km of sedimentary succession including Glossopteris-bearing shales and thick coal seams formed in fluvio-deltaic systems.^[56] These basins contrast with the underlying cratonic stability by recording phases of deformation, erosion, and hydrocarbon generation. The East African Rift System (EARS) constitutes a prominent non-cratonic feature on the plate, extending over 3,000 km from the Afar Triple Junction in the north to the Beira region in Mozambique.^[57] It divides into three main branches: the Western Branch (also known as the Albertine Rift in its northern segment), featuring lake-filled half-grabens like Lake Tanganyika and extending south to Lake Malawi; the Eastern Branch, including the Kenya Rift Valley and basins in northern Tanzania with asymmetric border faults; and the Afar Branch, where continental rifting transitions to oceanic spreading.^[58] This system accommodates extension at rates of 5-7 mm/year, driven by asthenospheric upwelling and localized faulting that has produced half-graben basins filled with Cenozoic volcaniclastic and lacustrine sediments.^[59] Associated with the EARS are extensive volcanic provinces manifesting rift-related magmatism. The Ethiopian Highlands, part of the broader Ethiopian Plateau, comprise Oligocene flood basalts up to 2 km thick, erupted as fissure-fed flows during initial rifting stages and covering over 600,000 km² with alkali basalts derived from asthenospheric sources.^[60] In the Western Branch, the Virunga Volcanic Province features Quaternary alkali basalts and trachytes from stratovolcanoes like Nyiragongo, formed through metasomatized lithospheric melting and contributing to the region's potassic volcanic signature.^[61] These provinces highlight the interplay of extension and mantle-derived magmas in shaping the plate's dynamic margins.

Modern Tectonics

Plate Motion Rates

The African Plate exhibits a predominantly northward motion relative to a fixed Eurasian reference frame at rates ranging from 1.8 to 2.5 cm/year, characterized by minimal rotational component due to an Euler pole positioned in the eastern Atlantic Ocean (approximately 21°N, 21°W). This slow, steady translation reflects the plate's overall rigid behavior, with velocities increasing slightly toward the southern margins as distance from the rotation pole grows. Geodetic models derived from global plate kinematic frameworks, such as updates to the NUVEL series incorporating GPS data, consistently support this vector, emphasizing the plate's northeastward drift over the past several million years without significant changes in direction.^[62]^[63] Satellite geodesy, particularly dense GPS networks deployed across Africa since the 1990s, provides the primary constraints on these motion rates, achieving sub-millimeter annual precision through repeated observations at permanent and campaign stations. These measurements confirm the African Plate's internal rigidity, with deformation rates below 1 mm/year outside active rift zones like the East African Rift System, aligning observed site velocities to within 0.6 mm/year weighted root-mean-square residuals of rigid-block models. Influential studies, including continent-wide velocity solutions, have integrated GPS with DORIS data to refine the plate's Euler vector (latitude ≈ -2.3°N, longitude ≈ 23.9°W, angular rate ≈ 0.059°/Myr), validating the absence of widespread intraplate strain and enabling accurate predictions of boundary interactions.^[63]^[64]^[65] Relative to adjacent plates, the African Plate diverges from the South American Plate at a full spreading rate of approximately 2.5 cm/year along the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, as evidenced by magnetic anomaly reconstructions and GPS-constrained models showing consistent symmetric seafloor accretion since the Late Cretaceous. At the Southwest Indian Ridge, divergence from the Antarctic Plate occurs at about 1.5 cm/year (full rate), classifying it as an ultraslow-spreading center with limited magmatism, based on high-resolution plate motion estimates from Quaternary magnetic data and earthquake focal mechanisms. In the Red Sea, the plate diverges from the Arabian Plate at 1–2 cm/year (full rate), varying latitudinally from higher rates near 15°N (≈1.4 cm/year) to lower near 27°N (≈0.6 cm/year), derived from GPS observations of coastal stations that capture the oblique extension without substantial strike-slip offset.^[66]^[67]^[63]

Ongoing Rifting Dynamics

The East African Rift System (EARS) represents a prime example of active intraplate rifting within the African Plate, driven primarily by mantle plume upwelling beneath the Afar hotspot. This upwelling generates thermal anomalies that weaken the lithosphere, facilitating extension rates of approximately 6-8 mm/year across various segments of the rift.^[68]^[69] The process often results in asymmetric rifting, where strain localizes unevenly due to variations in lithospheric thickness and pre-existing crustal weaknesses, with one flank experiencing greater subsidence and magmatism than the other.^[70] In the Afar region, this plume-driven dynamics has been ongoing since approximately 25 million years ago, promoting bi-directional continental breakup that combines northward pull from the Arabian Plate and east-west extension.^[71] The divergence between the Nubian and Somali subplates exemplifies these rifting processes, initiated around 25 Ma and characterized by clockwise rotation of the Somali Plate at rates approaching 1 cm/year relative to the Nubian Plate. This rotational motion accommodates east-west extension along the rift axis, potentially leading to the formation of a new ocean basin over the next 10-50 million years as continental breakup progresses.^[69] Geophysical models indicate that continued plume influence and plate separation could flood the rift valley, transforming the Somali Plate into an independent oceanic entity.^[72] Recent 2025 geophysical observations, including GPS and seismic data, reveal localized accelerations in Afar spreading rates up to 15 mm/year along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden segments, attributed to enhanced plume activity and rift localization.^[73] In the southern EARS, particularly the Malawi Rift, emerging microplate formation is evident through differential rotations and strain partitioning, with the Victoria microplate exhibiting independent kinematics that fragment the rift system further.^[74] These developments underscore the dynamic evolution of the African Plate, where intraplate rifting continues to reshape continental architecture on multimillion-year timescales.^[75]

Geological Hazards and Features

Seismicity Patterns

The seismicity of the African Plate exhibits distinct spatial patterns tied to its divergent and convergent margins, as well as intraplate features. The East African Rift System (EARS) is a dominant zone of activity, where earthquakes typically reach moderate magnitudes up to M6.5 and are primarily driven by normal faulting along extensional structures. These shallow events (<40 km depth) reflect ongoing continental rifting, with focal mechanisms indicating extension perpendicular to the rift axis. For instance, the 2017 M6.5 Botswana earthquake within the rift's southern extension exemplifies this regime, occurring on a normal fault in a region of minimal surface deformation.^[76]^[77] In contrast, the northern margin, particularly the Atlas Mountains, hosts compressional seismicity with events in the M5-6 range resulting from the ongoing convergence between the African and Eurasian plates at rates of 3-5 mm/year. This transpressional setting produces reverse and strike-slip faulting, often at depths of 10-30 km, as evidenced by the 2023 M6.8 Al Haouz earthquake, which ruptured a blind thrust fault in the High Atlas. Such activity underscores the plate's interaction with the Eurasian Plate, concentrating seismic energy release in northwest Africa, where about 21% of the continent's total radiated energy occurs.^[78] The western margin along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge shows subdued seismicity due to the slow divergent spreading rate of approximately 2.5 cm/year, resulting in fewer and smaller events compared to faster-spreading ridges. Intraplate earthquakes here are rare, with the 1960 Agadir event (M5.7) serving as a notable example of shallow thrust faulting linked to localized compression near the African-Eurasian boundary transition. Overall, the plate's western and central regions contribute minimally to seismic output, with low event frequencies reflecting stable cratonic interiors.^[3]^[79] Broader seismicity patterns reveal approximately 300-500 earthquakes per year exceeding M4 across the African Plate, based on ISC and USGS catalogs from 2023-2025, with the EARS accounting for a significant portion (around 26% of energy release). B-value analyses from declustered catalogs yield values of 0.92 in the EARS, lower than the global average of 1.0, indicating higher stress drops and potential maturation of the rift through increased fault maturity and strain accumulation. Historical sequences, such as the 1954 Bulawayo swarm in southern Africa (including events >M5), illustrate episodic intraplate activity associated with incipient rifting in the Kalahari Craton.^[80]^[81]^[82]

Volcanic Activity

The volcanic activity on the African Plate is predominantly associated with extensional tectonics along the East African Rift (EAR) system and intraplate hotspots, producing a range of magma compositions from alkaline basalts to unique carbonatites.^[83] In the EAR, volcanism features mildly alkaline basalts erupted from fissures and central vents, reflecting partial melting of metasomatized lithospheric mantle influenced by upwelling asthenosphere.^[84] A notable example is Ol Doinyo Lengai in northern Tanzania, the world's only active natrocarbonatite volcano, which has produced low-viscosity, sodium- and potassium-rich lavas since at least the Holocene, with its current eruptive phase involving ongoing thermal activity in the summit crater since April 2017.^[85] This volcano's edifice has been building for approximately 500,000 years within the EAR's Gregory Rift Valley.^[86] In the Afar Depression, where the EAR meets the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden rifts, shield volcanism dominates, exemplified by Erta Ale, which maintains persistent lava lakes in its summit craters.^[87] Erta Ale's activity shifted to explosive phases in July 2025, producing ash plumes and new lava flows within the southern crater, classified as a low-intensity event (VEI 0) but marking a departure from its typical effusive style.^[87] This eruption involved both explosive and effusive components, with satellite observations detecting thermal anomalies and minor ash emissions.^[88] Intraplate hotspot volcanism occurs along the Cameroon Volcanic Line, a 1,600 km chain of alkaline volcanoes unrelated to plate boundaries, where Mount Cameroon, Africa's highest peak at 4,095 meters, exemplifies stratovolcanic activity with basanitic to hawaiitic compositions.^[89] The most recent eruption at Mount Cameroon began on February 3, 2012, producing ash and brief explosions from flank fissures.^[90] Similarly, the Comoros hotspot in the western Indian Ocean drives activity at Karthala on Grand Comore Island, a massive shield volcano that has erupted more than 20 times since the 19th century, with an average recurrence interval of about 11 years and ongoing seismic and fumarolic unrest indicating persistent magmatic input.^[91] Broader volcanic patterns on the plate include large-scale flood basalt provinces, such as the Oligocene Ethiopian Traps on the northwestern Ethiopian Plateau, which erupted approximately 30 million years ago with an estimated volume exceeding 350,000 km³, forming a thick sequence up to 2,000 meters that covers over 600,000 km².^[92] Today, the African Plate hosts over 30 Holocene-active volcanoes, primarily in the EAR and associated rifts, monitored by the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program (GVP).^[93] In 2025, elevated sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions have been recorded from several sites, including persistent plumes from Nyamuragira and Nyiragongo in the Virunga volcanic field, with satellite data showing respectable ongoing degassing rates indicative of sustained magmatic unrest.^[94]

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[9]
African upper mantle and its relationship to tectonics and surface ...
The lithosphere is thin beneath the Pan-African terranes of northern Africa but appears to be thicker beneath the Pan-African Damara Belt in southern Africa.3 The Tomographic Model · 5 Mantle Temperature And... · 6.1 The Cratons<|control11|><|separator|>
[10]
The geodynamic setting of the Phanerozoic basins of Africa
The present African plate occupied a relatively central position in Gondwana, with only the north-westernmost (Rif-Tell/Atlas) and southernmost (Cape Fold Belt) ...Missing: cycles | Show results with:cycles
[11]
The role of megacontinents in the supercontinent cycle | Geology
Nov 25, 2020 · Here we demonstrate that the past three cycles of supercontinent amalgamation were each preceded by ∼200 my by the assembly of a megacontinent akin to Gondwana.
[12]
Nubia–Arabia–Eurasia plate motions and the dynamics of ...
We use geodetic and plate tectonic observations to constrain the tectonic evolution of the Nubia–Arabia–Eurasia plate system.
[13]
Dynamics of the African Plate 75 Ma: From Plate Kinematic ...
Jul 7, 2021 · Geometry of African plate boundaries and velocities 75 Ma. Both relative velocities (vrel) of the surrounding plates with respect to Africa ...
[14]
Why is Africa rifting? | Geological Society, London, Special ...
African plate dynamics have a more significant contribution from ... The Afar Depression: transition between continental rifting and sea-floor spreading.Driving Forces Of Rifting · Radial Tractions And... · Geophysical Signature Of...
[15]
African cratonic lithosphere carved by mantle plumes - PMC
Jan 3, 2020 · The African continent is composed primarily of Precambrian terranes, assembled in the Late Neoproterozoic-Early Paleozoic Pan-African orogeny.
[16]
None
### Summary of Congo Craton Formation, Archean Nuclei, and Assembly Around 2.1 Ga
[17]
Felsic crust development in the Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa
The crust of the Kaapvaal craton accreted throughout the Archaean over nearly 1 billion years. It provides a unique example of the various geological ...
[18]
Reassessment of Archean crustal development in the Barberton ...
This paper presents U-Pb ages for 23 samples from the Barberton Mountain Land, an Archean granite-greenstone terrain in the Kaapvaal craton of South Africa.
[19]
[PDF] Accretion and stabilisation of the Archaean Zimbabwe Craton ...
The evolution of the Zimbabwe Craton involved a num- ber of crustal formation events. Each of these com- prised the emplacement of a greenstone sequence and.
[20]
Crustal structure of Precambrian terranes in the southern African ...
May 18, 2015 · The Kaapvaal Craton is a conglomerate of several terranes and predominantly consists of granitoids with gneisses and narrow greenstone belts ...
[21]
Lithospheric structure of an Archean craton and adjacent mobile belt ...
Jun 25, 2013 · Major Archean cratonic segments (Kaapvaal and Congo) are delineated from Proterozoic (Rehoboth Terraine) and Neoproterozoic (Damara belt) ...
[22]
Geochronology of the central Tanzania Craton and its southern and ...
The Neoarchaean geochronology of the central Tanzania Craton (Singida and Dodoma blocks) is essentially the same, suggesting that they form a contiguous part of ...
[23]
[PDF] Geochronology of the central Tanzania Craton and its southern and ...
The aim of this paper is to outline the findings of the new geological mapping within and around the. Tanzania Craton, to present the new geochronological data, ...
[24]
Review of Paleoproterozoic tectonics in the southern West African ...
Jun 15, 2025 · The West African Craton (WAC), as defined by Kennedy (1964), consists of two Archean nuclei in the north-western and south-western parts of the ...
[25]
The boundaries of the West African craton, with special reference to ...
The West African craton (WAC) is composed of three Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic metamorphic and magmatic shields separated by two cratonic sedimentary basins ...
[26]
None
### Summary of Pan-African Orogeny Timing and Role in Assembling Gondwana for African Cratons
[27]
Tectonic trigger to the first major extinction of the Phanerozoic
Mar 29, 2024 · The orogenic assembly of Gondwana was largely concluded by ~540 to 530 Ma, although some deformation and metamorphism continued afterward (48).
[28]
Thermochronological insights into reactivation of a continental shear ...
Nov 9, 2018 · Time sequence map showing the evolution of Gondwana break-up in the Atlantic ocean. (a) The evolution of Gondawana break-up between 150 Ma ...
[29]
[PDF] Break-up of Gondwana and opening of the South Atlantic
The timing of final Gondwanide break- up is constrained by seafloor magnetic anomalies and the rotation poles derived from them. The opening of the SW. Weddell ...
[30]
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-34769-x
[31]
None
### Timing of East African Rift Initiation (Western Branch)
[32]
Geologic and geochronologic constraints on the evolution of the ...
The new age data indicate that the initiation of the Aden and Red Sea rifts was not accompanied by active volcanism on land until the Oligocene-Miocene (30-5 Ma ...
[33]
Mid-Atlantic Ridge - Plate Margins - The Geological Society
The Ridge extends into the South Atlantic Ocean between the South American and African Plates. The ocean ridge rises to between 2 to 3 km above the ocean floor, ...
[34]
What is a mid-ocean ridge? - NOAA Ocean Exploration
Jul 8, 2014 · The Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs down the center of the Atlantic Ocean, slowly spreading at a rate of 2 to 5 centimeters (0.8 to 2 inches) per year ...Missing: African | Show results with:African
[35]
Transform migration and vertical tectonics at the Romanche fracture ...
Nov 10, 1994 · The Romanche transform offsets the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) axis by about 950 km in the equatorial Atlantic. Multibeam and high-resolution ...
[36]
High resolution reconstructions of the Southwest Indian Ridge, 52 ...
The Southwest Indian Ridge (hereafter SWIR) has accommodated motion between the Africa and Antarctic plates since the breakup of Gondwanaland at 160 Ma (Lawver ...
[37]
Spreading rate, spreading obliquity, and melt supply at the ultraslow ...
Apr 1, 2008 · We use bathymetry, gravimetry, and basalt composition to examine the relationship between spreading rate, spreading obliquity, ...
[38]
Current plate motions across the Red Sea - Oxford Academic
The fastest spreading rate, ≈16 mm yr−1, occurs near 18°N, whereas the slowest rate, 10 mm yr−1, occurs at 25.5°N and is consistent with the rate predicted from ...
[39]
Present‐day kinematics of the East African Rift - AGU Journals - Wiley
Mar 20, 2014 · The current kinematics of this ~5000 km long divergent plate boundary between the Nubia and Somalia plates is starting to be unraveled.Missing: intraplate | Show results with:intraplate
[40]
Elastic Fault Interactions and Earthquake Rupture Along the ...
Jun 9, 2020 · These deficits account for ~15% and ~20% of the total African-Eurasian convergence-rate (~35 mm/yr), which is consistent with the <20% locking ...
[41]
Decoupled crust‐mantle accommodation of Africa‐Eurasia ...
Aug 16, 2011 · The convergence rate between the African and European plates on the NW Moroccan margin is ∼3.5 mm yr−1 in a WNW direction, predicted from ...
[42]
A case study of the High Atlas range - ScienceDirect
Nov 15, 2024 · This, together with the arid to semi-arid climatic conditions and slow convergence rates (5 mm/yr) (Koulali et al., 2011), supports moderate ...
[43]
tectonic development of the Central African Plateau: evidence from ...
The shear zone's tectonic evolution is poorly known but it is assumed to be a plate-scale sinistral shear zone that experienced up to 200 km of horizontal ...
[44]
Arabia‐Somalia plate kinematics, evolution of the Aden‐Owen ...
Apr 15, 2010 · AR, Arabian plate; FZ, fracture zone ... Before Chron 5, the Owen fracture zone was probably connected directly to the Owen transform fault.
[45]
The lithospheric architecture of Africa: Seismic tomography, mantle ...
Feb 1, 2009 · The cratonic margins, and some intracratonic domain boundaries, have played a major role in the tectonics of Africa.
[46]
Crystalline Basement of the West African Craton - Semantic Scholar
The West African craton is a very extensive portion of Precambrian crust (~4500000 km2), stable since 1700 Ma ago, bounded on all sides by more recent ...
[47]
Origins of Birimian (ca 2.2 Ga) mafic magmatism and the ...
Oct 21, 2013 · The Birimian of the West African Craton is an important repository of Paleoproterozoic mafic magmatism, described by many workers as ...Missing: size | Show results with:size
[48]
A review of the Intraplate Mafic Magmatic Record of the Greater ...
The intraplate record of the Greater Congo craton (GCC) in central-eastern Africa remains largely poorly constrained. Ninety-seven events are currently ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[49]
Age of the granulitic metamorphism of the Nyong complex in the ...
Aug 28, 2025 · Along the northern margin of the Congo Craton, the Yaoundé HP granulitic metamorphic facies forms the core of the Pan-African nappe thrust onto ...
[50]
(PDF) Age of the granulitic metamorphism of the Nyong complex in ...
Sep 28, 2025 · The purpose of this work is to constrain P-T conditions and age to provide criteria for geodynamic models. The study area is made up of ...
[51]
Geological overview of the Mozambique belt and adjacent units in...
The occurrences of the northern Archean anorthosites are where the present Archean Tanzania Craton juxtaposes against Neoproterozoic Mozambique Belt. Hence ...
[52]
Major influences on the evolution of the 2.67-2.1 Ga Transvaal basin ...
Aug 7, 2025 · The Transvaal is one of three structural basins of the Transvaal Supergroup preserved on the Kaapvaal craton. The evolution of the ...
[53]
[PDF] Kimberlite-hosted diamond deposits of southern Africa
The pipe intruded rocks of the Transvaal Supergroup as well as igneous rocks of the Bushveld Igneous Complex. The kimberlite has been radiometrically dated ...
[54]
[PDF] Geology and Petroleum Resource Assessment of Onshore ...
Taoudeni Basin. The Taoudeni intracratonic basin has a total area of approximately 1,300,000 km2 (500,000 mi2), with a total volume of Phanerozoic sedimentary ...
[55]
[PDF] Petroleum Geology Of Libya
Jul 31, 2025 · Murzuq Basin: This southern basin is a large intracratonic depression with thick. Paleozoic to Mesozoic sedimentary sequences. Although less ...
[56]
[PDF] Taphonomic Trends of Macrofloral Assemblages Across the ...
In total, a rock se- quence with a maximum thickness of 12 km accumulated within the basin (the Karoo Supergroup), providing for one of the few continuous ...
[57]
[PDF] Tectonic Summaries of Magnitude 7 and Greater Earthquakes from ...
Dec 7, 2015 · The East African Rift system (EARS) is a 3,000-km-long Cenozoic-age continental rift extending from the Afar triple junc- tion, between the ...
[58]
[PDF] by (1982) (1986) LL~L - DSpace@MIT
May 5, 1988 · The Western rift, the western branch of the East African rift system, comprises a series of discrete half-graben that are bounded along one ...
[59]
ethiopian rift valley: Topics by Science.gov
The extension is restricted to the Quaternary volcanotectonic axis of the rift, namely the Wonji fault belt, and is occurring at rates of 3 to 6 mm/yr in the ...
[60]
[PDF] ETHIOPIAN RIFT AND PLATEAUS: SOME VOLCANIC ... - CORE
1. The rift basalts may have higher Si, Fe, Ca, and Na/K and lower Al, K, and Mg/Fe.
[61]
Isotopic and geochemical evidence for a heterogeneous mantle ...
Virunga volcanics in the western rift of the East African Rift system (EARS) show silica-undersaturated, ultra-alkaline, alkalic-mafic compositions.
[62]
The relative motion between Africa and Eurasia as derived from ...
Aug 16, 2003 · Figure 2 shows the relative angular velocity and motion of Africa with respect to Eurasia along their boundary as predicted by DEOS2k and NUVEL ...Introduction · Data · Africa and Eurasia Motion in... · Africa-Eurasia Relative Motion
[63]
GPS constraints on Africa (Nubia) and Arabia plate motions
1). The WRMS GPS velocity residuals for Nubia, Arabia and Eurasia are 0.6, 0.8 and 0.6 mm yr−1, respectively.
[64]
A new velocity field for Africa from combined GPS and DORIS space ...
Mar 4, 2013 · This study provides the first continent-wide position/velocity solution for Africa, expressed in International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF2008).
[65]
[PDF] GPS constraints on continental deformation in the Africa-Arabia
... GPS-derived plate velocities (mm/yr) relative to Eurasia. Curved arrows show sense of block rotation relative to. Eurasia. Dark, heavy arrows show ...
[66]
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge between 29°N and 31°30′N in the last 10 Ma
Relative plate motion changes over the last 10 Ma in our survey area have included a decrease in spreading rate from ∼ 32 mm a−1 to ∼ 24 mm a−1, as well as a ...
[67]
[PDF] 21. TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE ATLANTIS II FRACTURE ZONE1
Ridge spreading axis indicate a total Africa-Antarctica spreading rate of ~16 km m.y.~1. ... total spreading rate of 1.6 cm/yr for the Southwest Indian. Ridge ( ...
[68]
The Electrical Structure of the Central Main Ethiopian Rift as Imaged ...
Jun 9, 2018 · The extension rate of about 6 mm/year in the CMER (Kogan et al., 2012) is accompanied by a moderate number of smaller earthquakes (ML< 3 ...
[69]
Volcanism records plate thinning driven rift localization in Afar ...
May 21, 2025 · ... rate of 26.7 ± 2.3 mm/year, considerably faster than the half extension rate in Central Afar of ~10 mm/year. On the SW side of the Tendaho ...Missing: length branches
[70]
Persisting influence of continental inheritance on early oceanic ...
Mar 25, 2025 · Rifting would have been extremely asymmetric around 19–20°N and 24–25°N, thereby shifting the area of maximum lithospheric thinning towards the ...
[71]
Mantle upwelling at Afar triple junction shaped by overriding plate ...
Jun 25, 2025 · Afar, East Africa, is a classic triple junction comprising three rifts at various stages of evolution thought to be underlain by a mantle upwelling or plume.
[72]
A Global Plate Model Including Lithospheric Deformation Along ...
May 5, 2019 · ... 1 cm/year. During the Cenozoic, most boundaries of rapid trench ... We implement the East African Rift following the rigid plate model of ...
[73]
We detected deep pulses beneath Africa—what we learned could ...
Jul 20, 2025 · The three rifts in Afar are spreading at different rates. The Red Sea Rift and Gulf of Aden Rift are moving faster at about 15mm per year ...
[74]
(PDF) Constraining the Kinematics of the Victoria Microplate and the ...
Oct 30, 2025 · This study examines part of the African continent to investigate how the Victoria microplate moves relative to the Nubian plate and examines ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[75]
The East African Rift System - Rooney - 2025 - AGU Journals - Wiley
Apr 11, 2025 · The East African Rift System (EARS) is the iconic continental rift and is now recognized as a profoundly interconnected system, ...
[76]
The April 2017 Mw6.5 Botswana Earthquake: An Intraplate Event ...
Jul 13, 2018 · The 2017 M w 6.5, Bostwana normal faulting earthquake occurred in a region devoid from recent tectonic activity and where present-day deformation is negligible.
[77]
M 5.6 - 29 km NE of ?d?grat, Ethiopia - Earthquake Hazards Program
Seismicity in the East Africa Rift is widespread, but displays a distinct pattern. Seismicity is characterized by mainly shallow (< 40 km) normal faults ( ...
[78]
Tectonics of the Mw 6.8 Al Haouz earthquake (Morocco) reveals ...
Nov 21, 2024 · The Moroccan High Atlas is a doubly vergent intracontinental orogenic belt formed during Cenozoic convergence between the African and Eurasian ...
[79]
M 5.9 - 2 km WNW of Agadir, Morocco - Earthquake Hazards Program
An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 people were killed and 25,000 were injured by this earthquake. Over one-third of the population of Agadir was killed and at ...
[80]
Full article: Seismicity pattern of African regions from 1964–2022
Apr 9, 2023 · African plate · subduction zone · Previous article View issue table of contents Next article. 1. Tectonics of African continent ... stable ...
[81]
Africa and the Red Sea Earthquakes Archive: Past Quakes in 2024
In 2024, Africa and the Red Sea has had 2,917 quakes of magnitudes up to 5.9: 38 quakes above magnitude 5; 290 quakes between magnitude 4 and 5; 225 quakes ...
[82]
Evidence for Incipient Rifting in Southern Africa - ResearchGate
Okavango since a seismic swarm occurred there in 1952 to 1954, and which included. two events of magnitude greater than. 6. (Cane. &. Oliver 1953; Oliver 1956) ...
[83]
Volcanic activity and hazard in the East African Rift Zone - Nature
Nov 25, 2021 · Tectonic activity in East Africa is often attributed to the presence of mantle upwellings at various scales, but the number and depth extent of ...
[84]
Geochemistry of East African Rift basalts: An overview - ScienceDirect
The two plume sources may both be derived from the South African Superplume, which is likely to be a compositionally heterogeneous feature of the lower mantle.
[85]
Ol Doinyo Lengai - Global Volcanism Program
The current eruption period began in April 2017 and recently has consisted of ongoing thermal activity in the summit crater (BGVN 48:03). This report covers ...
[86]
[PDF] Geologic Map of Oldonyo Lengai (Oldoinyo Lengai) Volcano and ...
Jan 9, 2014 · active since at least 500,000 years ago. This interpretation ... sequence of the East African Rift escarpment in the Oldoinyo. Lengai ...
[87]
Erta Ale - Global Volcanism Program
Each pit crater harbors an active lava lake. During October 2021-November 2022, thermal anomalies at the S crater were almost persistent, while activity in the ...
[88]
Erta Ale Volcano (Ethiopia): Dramatic Changes to Caldera and new ...
Erta Ale volcano (Ethiopia): dramatic changes to caldera and new lava flow. Fri, 18 Jul 2025, 07:30 | BY: MARTIN. The timelapse combining Sentinel-1 and ...
[89]
The Mount Cameroon southwest flank eruptions - ScienceDirect.com
In recent times (since the 20th century), there have been seven significant eruptions at Mount Cameroon, making it one of the most active volcanoes in Africa ( ...
[90]
Cameroon - Global Volcanism Program
Mt. Cameroon began erupting during the night of 28 May 2000. On 29 May, following a violent explosion, red-tinged fumaroles were observed at an elevation of 3, ...
[91]
Karthala - Global Volcanism Program
The volcano is one of the largest volcanoes in activity in the world. Over the last two hundred years, it has erupted every eleven years on average.
[92]
The northwestern Ethiopian Plateau flood basalts - ScienceDirect.com
In Ethiopia, this huge volume of lavas (about 350,000 km3) which forms a pile up to 2,000 m thick, and covers more than 600,000 km2 (Mohr and Zanettin, 1988) ...
[93]
Volcanoes, Eruptions and Earthquakes in Africa and the Red Sea
At least 31 volcanoes have been active in Africa and the Red Sea, including Nyamuragira, Ol Doinyo Lengai, and Jebel Zubair volcanoes.
[94]
Nyamulagira/Nyiragongo, 2024/2025 (Oct. 7, 2025, 1349 UTC)
Nov 3, 2024 · TROPOMI SO2 continues to detect respectable amounts of sulfur emissions from both volcanoes. It would be nice if DRC and Rwanda could ...