Nyiragongo contains one of the world’s largest persistent lava lakes at its summit. The volcano is in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, close to the city of Goma and the border with Rwanda.
Nyiragongo is a steep stratovolcano with unusually fluid, low-silica lava. Its summit crater has hosted a lava lake for much of the modern observational record, although the lake level and presence have changed after major eruptions. The volcano’s fluid lava can travel rapidly when lava-lake drainage occurs.
A major eruption in January 1977 caused deadly lava flows, and another in May 2021 sent lava toward Goma. Nyiragongo is distinct from nearby Nyamuragira, which is also highly active but has a broader shield-volcano form. Both volcanoes are part of the volcanically active Virunga region.