Volcano Live
volcanolive.com
Katwe-Kikorongo Volcano | John Seach
Uganda
0.08 S, 29.92 E
summit elevation 1067 m
Tuff cones
Katwe-Kikorongo volcano is located on the NE shore of Lake Edward. It is part of a kamafugite-carbonatite province of southwest Uganda in the western rift valley branch.
Volcanic rocks at Katwe-Kikorongo volcano contain katungite, which is a potassium-rich glassy olivine melilitite tephra.
Volcanic rocks in the field cover 180 sq km, and are separated by the Kazinga Channel from Bunyaruguru volcano 15 km SE. Eighty explosion craters at Katwe-Kikorongo volcano cover 350 sq km.
The volcano lies at an elevation of approximately 900 m in the rain shadow of the Rwenzori mountains. The Katwe area is characterised by low precipitation and high
rates of evaporation with reduced surface flow. Evaporation exceeds precipitation.
Murumuli Crater
Murumuli crater is located on the southeastern side of the Katwe-Kikoringo field, 13 km ENE of Katwe town. The crater is 1 km in diameter and contains a saline lake.
Lake Katwe
Lake Katwe lies on the floor of an explosion crater formed in tuffs, only 250m from Lake Edward. There is no hydrological connection between the two lakes despite
Lake Edward being 30m higher than Lake Katwe.
Katwe-Kikorongo geothermal areas
The geothermal areas are probably recharged from high ground in the Rwenzori Mountains. The Katwe-Kikorongo hot spring water is probably a mixture of high-elevation component, local ground water (Katwe cold springs) and water from lakes in the area. It is possible that high altitude lakes in the Rwenzori mountains that are recharged from snowmelt are losing water through fractures that connect with the Katwe-Kikorongo and Buranga geothermal reservoirs. The source of sulphate for the Katwe-Kikorongo hot spring water is magmatic and hydrothermal.
Further reading
Bahati, Godfrey, Kato Vincent, and Nyakecho Catherine. "Geochemistry of Katwe-Kikorongo, Buranga and Kibiro Geothermal Areas, Uganda." Proceedings of the Third East African Rift Geothermal Conference. 2010.
Lloyd, F. E., et al. "Phlogopite-biotite parageneses from the K-mafic-carbonatite effusive magmatic association of Katwe-Kikorongo, SW Uganda." Mineralogy and Petrology 74.2 (2002): 299-322.
Katwe-Kikorongo Volcano Eruptions
No recent eruptions.