Towards a Volumetric Variation of Lake Kivu Gases by the Nyamulagira and Nyiragongo Volcanoes

Abstract

After the volcanic eruption of January 17th, 2002, Goma Volcano Observatory (OVG) initiated carbon dioxide (CO2) monitoring in the fractures south of the Nyiragongo volcano and at the northern edge of Lake Kivu. During the period from March 17th, 2017 to June 10th, 2020, twice a week, a GA 5000 gasometer was used for CO2 in the fractures as well as in the mazukus, respectively, as part of a project funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands through the Lake Kivu Monitoring Program (LKMP) in Rwanda. The level of volcanic activity was determined by the volume of gas emitted by the volcano and measured by a DOAS and the seismicity measured by a network of 15 seismometers managed by the OVG. The results show that the concentration of CO2 in the active fractures from recent Nyiragongo eruptions varies with volcanic activity and the occurrence of a large earthquake in the East African Rift; but in the mazukus there is almost no relationship between CO2 content and volcanic activity. The study also shows that the influence of carbon dioxide in mazukus on the carbon dioxide into the Lake Kivu waters remains a major research question. The purpose of this study is to establish the relationship between the existing Carbon Dioxide (mazukus) in the Northern watershed and that of the deep waters of Lake Kivu.