An introductory account of Suswa Volcano,Kenya |
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| Authors: | G J H McCall C M Bristow |
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| Institution: | 1. Geology Department, University of Western Australia, Australia
3. the Hydrogeological Section, Ministry of Works, Kenya
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| Abstract: | The authors have visited Suswa, a complex caldera-volcano situated thirty miles north-west of Nairobi, a feature surprisingly neglected by geologists. While they do not pretend to do more than present an introductory account of the general geology of this unique volcano, they are able to augment the brief references of earlier workers, Gregory, Spink and Richard. The principal rock types are described in general terms, and are found to include unusual rhomb-porphyry types of lava, vitrophyres of phonolitic composition (closely related to the kenytes, but devoid of modal nepheline). The earliest eruptions were of quite normal lava type, phonolites of Kenya type, erupted over a wide area in central Kenya in Plio-Pleistocene times (not later than 1.7 m.y. ago), and the rhomb-porphyries are restricted to a secondary eruptive sequence, of probable Pleistocene age. There was a minor reactivation in recent times, represented by restricted, bare, fresh flows, of type at present unknown. Chemical analyses of representative specimens of the two major suites are provided, and are supported by modal analyses of related specimens. Two summit calderas have been recognised, both apparently subsidence structures related to cauldron subsidence in depth. The earlier and larger caldera covers about 40 square miles, and is interpreted as ofGlencoe type with weakly developedKrakatoan characteristics. The inner caldera covers seven square miles, and is interpreted as aGlencoe type structure: it is not a simple caldera but contains an island — block of four square miles extent — a feature which may perhaps be reasonably compared with island features within the Lake Toba cauldron, Sumatra and Nyamlagira caldera, Congo. The terminal eruptions of the first volcano seem to have largely stemmed from a ring feeder, analogous with a body reported from Crater Lake caldera, Oregon, U.S.A. The outer caldera is now partly obscured by products of later eruption, from a secondary cone eccentric to the first caldera — Ol Doinyo Nyukie — and from minor parasitic vents. Ol Doinyio Nyukie volcano possessed an axial pit-crater, nearly a mile in diameter, now transected by the boundary fault of the inner caldera: this might reasonably be regarded as a third,Kilauean, summit caldera, since it was apparently drained by low-level, adventive eruptions. Fumarolic activity is rife within Suswa at the present time: steam is being emitted, probably derived from meteoric water but charged with CO2 and probably nitrogen. Analogies between the Suswa pattern of calderas and certain lunar crater patterns are briefly mentioned. |
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