Photo credit: Olivier Grunewald
Here’s a mind-blowing and rare look at the world’s largest lava lake at the Nyiragongo Crater in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lava lakes are basically “large volumes of molten lava, usually basaltic, contained in a volcanic vent, crater, or broad depression.” Continue reading for two videos, more pictures, and additional information.
Videos
In June 2010, a team of scientists and intrepid explorers stepped onto the shore of the lava lake boiling in the depths of Nyiragongo Crater, in the heart of the Great Lakes region of Africa. The team had dreamed of this: walking on the shores of the world’s largest lava lake. Members of the team had been dazzled since childhood by the images of the 1960 documentary “The Devil’s Blast” by Haroun Tazieff, who was the first to reveal to the public the glowing red breakers crashing at the bottom of Nyiragongo crater.
