Petrology of Mt. Nyiragongo: a review

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Abstract
This paper gives a review of the work dealing with the petrology and petrogenesis of the active volcano Mt. Nyiragongo in the eastern part of Congo. The volcano has been drilled through an essentially granitic Pre-Cambrian substratum. The rocks represent melilitite (bergalite) tuffs and lavas overlain by leucitites and, on top of the mountain, by nephelinites. The volcano is the only one known so far in which extrusive and effusive bergalitic materials play an important role. The various rock types are considered derivatives of a nephelinitic parent magma. The differentiation, resulting in the rock sequence mentioned, is interpreted as mainly through gas transport and carbonation of the top parts of the magma chamber. Evidence for such an interpretation is largely based on information from some other African alkaline volcanoes with carbonatite-type volcanism. The carbonation in Nyiragongo is considered as belonging to the differentiation of the nephelinitic magma itself without limestone syntexis.

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