At the base of Oldoinyo Lengai

Carnegie Fellow Wendy Nelson recently returned from fieldwork at the Oldoinyo Lengai volcano, Tanzania, where she attempted to sample fresh carbonatite lava from the volcano’s crater floor. The trip to Oldoinyo Lengai, the only active carbonatite volcano in the world, was originally organized by the Geophysical Laboratory's Andrew Steele and colleagues from University College London and Imperial College London to collect samples of recent lavas near the volcano vents.

Nelson standing on the lower 1/3 of Oldoinyo Lengai's 2006 lava flow

Nelson’s previous work involving the East African Rift system allowed her to join the group to sample Oldoinyo Lengai and collect mantle xenoliths from surrounding volcanoes.  She will use the xenoliths to better understand the influence of the upwelling mantle plume and active continental rifting on volcanism as recorded in the lithospheric mantle. Nelson and the UK researchers hiked to the top of Oldoinyo Lengai, but unfortunately, the crater had grown such that they were unable to reach the bottom for sampling. Click here for more information on Nelson’s research.