"A long-quiet volcano in Ethiopia spewed ash nine miles into the sky on Sunday, marking the first known major eruption from this volcano for more than 12,000 years. Under-studied and situated in Ethiopia's arid, rural northeast, volcano Hayli Gubbi's towering ash column may be a clue to other, undetected eruptions in that period, says Juliet Biggs, an earth scientist at the University of Bristol in England. I would be really surprised if [more than 12,000 years ago] really is the last eruption date, Biggs says."
"Hayli Gubbi sits in the East African Rift Zone, a region where the African and Arabian plates are pulling apart at a rate of about 0.4 to 0.6 inches a year, says Arianna Soldati, a volcanologist at North Carolina State University. If the two plates keep moving apart, then eventually the Arabian Sea and rift valley will become a new ocean. As the Earth's crust pulls apart, it stretches and thins, and hot rocks rise up from the mantle, melting into magma toward the surface."
Hayli Gubbi in northeastern Ethiopia produced an eruption that sent ash nine miles into the sky, recorded as the first known major eruption from the volcano in over 12,000 years. The volcano is under-studied and located in an arid, rural region; its towering ash column may indicate other undetected eruptions in that timespan, and satellite imagery hints at recent lava activity. As a shield volcano, Hayli Gubbi typically would emit oozing lava flows rather than explosive ash columns, making this event unusual. The volcano lies in the East African Rift Zone, where plate separation stretches and thins the crust, allowing mantle rocks to rise, melt, and form magma, so eruptions can occur after millennia of dormancy.
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