Volcanoes by country

Tanzania

Volcanoes in Tanzania

Map, activity and eruption history

The Holocene catalogue of the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program lists 5 volcanoes in Tanzania. This page brings together the map, report status, eruption history and the surroundings of every single volcano. None of them currently has a running eruption report.

Earthquakes · Tanzania
With a current report
None No current eruption report
Volcanoes in the catalogue
5
Documented eruptions
18
Highest volcano
4,550 mMeru
Last documented eruption
2026Lengai, Ol Doinyo

Map

Volcano map of Tanzania

Every volcano in the country with plate boundaries, air traffic within 50 km, airports and nuclear power plants. Earthquakes can be added on top.

Map layers

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Markers show the catalogue position of a volcano, not the extent of a hazard zone. Plate boundaries after Bird (2003), PB2002.

All volcanoes in Tanzania

Sorted by report status and elevation. Every entry opens the full volcano profile.

Volcano catalogue
  1. Meru No current eruption report
    Type
    Stratovolcano
    Elevation
    4,550 m
    Last eruption
    1910
    Eruptions
    4
  2. Lengai, Ol Doinyo No current eruption report
    Type
    Stratovolcano
    Elevation
    2,962 m
    Last eruption
    2026
    Eruptions
    8
  3. Rungwe No current eruption report
    Type
    Stratovolcano
    Elevation
    2,953 m
    Last eruption
    1250
    Eruptions
    3
  4. Ngozi No current eruption report
    Type
    Caldera
    Elevation
    2,614 m
    Last eruption
    1450
    Eruptions
    2
  5. Kyejo No current eruption report
    Type
    Stratovolcano
    Elevation
    2,176 m
    Last eruption
    1800
    Eruptions
    1

“Last eruption” is a catalogue record, not evidence of activity in progress.

Significant volcanic eruptions in Tanzania

Eruptions with fatalities, damage or high explosivity from the NOAA NCEI database of significant volcanic eruptions.

  1. 1966 Lengai, Ol Doinyo VEI 4 Damage: limited (below 1 million USD)
  2. 1967 Lengai, Ol Doinyo VEI 3 Damage: limited (below 1 million USD)
  3. 1917 Lengai, Ol Doinyo VEI 3 Damage: limited (below 1 million USD)
  4. 1940 Lengai, Ol Doinyo VEI 2 Damage: limited (below 1 million USD)
  5. 1800 Kyejo VEI 2 Deaths: many (roughly 101–1000) Damage: severe (roughly 5–24 million USD)

Explosivity of the documented eruptions

VEI · 15

VEI 0
5
VEI 1
1
VEI 2
4
VEI 3
1
VEI 4
2
VEI 5
2
VEI 6
0

The Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) runs from 0 (effusive) to 8 (super-eruptive). Each step stands for roughly ten times the erupted mass.

Eruptions per century

1800–1899
3
1900–1999
4
2000–2099
5

Documented eruptions since 1500. Earlier centuries are recorded less completely, so a rise also reflects better observation.

Earthquakes near volcanoes – Tanzania

0 events in the last 30 days within 50 km of a volcano in Tanzania.

Earthquakes · Tanzania

No event within 50 km of a volcano in Tanzania was recorded in the last 30 days.

Spatial proximity does not establish a volcanic origin. Many events in volcanic regions are tectonic.

Tectonic setting and volcano types

What the volcanic landscape of Tanzania is made of and which tectonic setting it sits in.

Tectonic setting

  • Rift zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)5

Most common volcano types

  • Stratovolcano4
  • Caldera1

Infrastructure within 100 km

Airports with scheduled service and nuclear power plant sites near a volcano in Tanzania.

Airports 4

  • Arusha Airport18.9 km · ARK
  • Songwe Airport31.9 km · MBI
  • Kilimanjaro International Airport41.3 km · JRO
  • Amboseli Airport86.9 km · ASV

Nuclear power plants 0

No site from the included datasets lies within this radius.

This selection shows geographic proximity, not a hazard zone or confirmed impacts.

Volcanoes in profile – Tanzania

Short descriptions of the country's best-known volcanoes.

Meru

Stratovolcano · 4,550 m · Last eruption: 1910

Mount Meru is a dormant stratovolcano located 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of Kilimanjaro in southeast Arusha Region, Tanzania. At a height of 4,562.13 metres (14,968 ft), it is visible from Mount Kilimanjaro on a clear day, and is the eighth-highest mountain of Africa.

Lengai, Ol Doinyo

Stratovolcano · 2,962 m · Last eruption: 2026

Ol Doinyo Lengai is an active stratovolcano in northern Tanzania. It consists of a volcanic cone with two craters, the northern of which has erupted during historical time. Uniquely for volcanoes on Earth, it has erupted natrocarbonatite, an unusually low temperature and highly fluid type of magma. Eruptions in 2007–2008 affected the surrounding region.

Rungwe

Stratovolcano · 2,953 m · Last eruption: 1250

Mount Rungwe is a volcanic mountain in Mbeya Region, in Tanzania's Southern Highlands. At an altitude of 2,981 metres (9,780 ft), it is southern Tanzania's second-highest peak. Rungwe's volcano is currently inactive.

Ngozi

Caldera · 2,614 m · Last eruption: 1450

Lake Ngozi (or Lake Ngosi) is the second largest crater lake in Africa. It can be found near Tukuyu, a small town in the highland Rungwe District, Mbeya Region, of southern Tanzania in East Africa. It is part of the Poroto Mountains and the northern rim of the caldera is the highest point in the range. The caldera mostly composed from trachytic and phonolitic lavas. Ngozi is a Holocene caldera that generated the Kitulo pumice 12,000 years ago during a Plinian eruption, most likely in the same eruption that generated the caldera. Other eruption deposits are the Ngozi Tuff (less than thousand years ago) and the Ituwa Surge base surge deposits of uncertain age, but intermediary to the Kitulo pumice and Ngozi Tuff. The youngest activity generated a pyroclastic flow that flowed southwards for 10 km around 1450 CE. Some pyroclastic cones surround the volcano. The walls of the caldera are forested, with the exception of segments scoured by landslides and high cliffs that inhibit access to the water. The inner caldera is forested with Maesa lanceolata, Albizia gummifera and Hagenia abyssinica, far fewer tree species than neighbouring mountains consistent with the recent geological origin o

Kyejo

Stratovolcano · 2,176 m · Last eruption: 1800

Kyejo is an active stratovolcano in the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania. It is located northwest of Lake Malawi. Eruptions at Kyejo are typically effusive although some moderately-sized explosions occur at its summit. Its numerous parasitic cones, a combination of spatter and cinder cones, are mostly distributed along its southern flanks. Volcanic activity in the area initiated during the mid-Pleistocene. Its last eruption was dated to around 1800 and is the only historically documented eruption on Kyejo. This eruption occrred at the Sarabwe and Fiteko parasitic cones along a northwest trending fissure at its northwestern slope. The three-day eruption produced lava flows that travelled 8 km (5.0 mi).

Short descriptions: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Frequently asked questions about volcanoes in Tanzania

How many volcanoes are there in Tanzania?
The Holocene catalogue of the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program lists 5 volcanoes in Tanzania. It covers volcanoes with eruptions during the last roughly 12,000 years.
Which volcano in Tanzania is the highest?
The highest recorded volcano is Meru at 4,550 m.
When was the last documented eruption in Tanzania?
The most recent eruption documented in the catalogue dates from 2026 (Lengai, Ol Doinyo).
Are the volcanoes in Tanzania active?
None of the 5 volcanoes currently has an eruption report. That does not mean they are extinct – source coverage differs from volcano to volcano.
Why does the map show aircraft around volcanoes?
Volcanic ash endangers aircraft engines. The map therefore shows live positions within 50 km of a volcano so that the proximity of air traffic to an active volcano becomes visible.
Where does the data on this page come from?
Catalogue data and eruption history from the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program, significant eruptions from NOAA NCEI, alert levels and bulletins from USGS, GeoNet and INGV, earthquakes from the QuakeMap24 database, flight positions from ADSB.lol.

Volcanoes in other countries

Countries with at least 5 volcanoes in the catalogue.

All countries with volcanoes

Sources and data dates

Everything shown comes from the public sources listed below and is updated automatically.

QuakeMap24 is not a warning authority. Follow the responsible authorities when making local decisions.