An Ethiopian volcano erupted with an explosion of ash, waking up after 12,000 years of calm
After nearly 12,000 years of dormancy, an Ethiopian volcano erupted and sprayed ash onto unsuspecting communities. Hayli Gubbi, located in the Afar region of northeastern Ethiopia, is believed to have not erupted during the Holocene – the ongoing geological epoch that began 11,700 years ago.
The volcanic eruption occurred around 8:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, November 23, 2025, and the explosive activity continued for several hours before ending. Although no casualties have been reported by local authorities, there are concerns about the ash that has covered villages and started drifting towards the Arabian Peninsula.
Learn more: One of Alaska’s most famous volcanoes could wake up
Volcano emerging from its dormancy
Hayli Gubbi is the southernmost volcano of the Erta Ale Range, a chain of mainly shield volcanoes located above the East African Rift.
Erta Ale itself is Ethiopia’s most active volcano, erupting continuously since at least 1967, according to Oregon State University. Despite its unique features, including a lava lake in its summit crater, much is still unknown about Erta Ale. This is primarily due to the inhospitable nature of the surrounding area, with scorching temperatures that regularly exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit and low average rainfall.
Hayli Gubbi, on the other hand, had not experienced any outbreaks in history until now. However, just like Erta Ale, information on the history of Hayli Gubbi is limited due to its remoteness and harsh conditions.
The recent eruption of Hayli Gubbi reportedly sent a plume of ash about 45,000 feet into the air. The Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center was the first to observe the event and warned that air travel could be affected by ash clouds drifting over Yemen, Oman, Pakistan and India. Observations of the eruption also showed that a cloud of sulfur dioxide was released from the volcano, according to Discovery of the volcano.
The volcanic history of East Africa
Hayli Gubbi is in a region where volcanic activity has occurred since ancient times. The volcano is a product of the East African Rift (EAR), an approximately 4,000-mile-long system that initially formed during the Miocene Epoch, approximately 25 million years ago, according to the Geological Society.
The EAR likely formed when heat flow caused the Earth’s crust to stretch and fracture. This created a “horst and graben” topography, defined by alternating raised (horst) and lowered (graben) crustal blocks. The result is a landscape of deep valleys and high plateaus across Ethiopia and Kenya.
The EAR is a divergent plate boundary, where tectonic plates are currently moving apart. Beneath the surface of East Africa, three plates are moving away from each other: the Arabian plate and two parts of the African plate, the Nubian and Somali plates. In Ethiopia’s Afar region, where Hayli Gubbi and other volcanoes are located, the three plates intersect at what is called a “triple junction.”
Volcanism is common along the EAR, where colossal mountains rise from the Earth. Africa’s highest peaks are found here, including Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Mount Kenya. Mount Kilimanjaro, which last erupted around 360,000 years ago, is considered a dormant volcano. Mount Kenya is an extinct volcano, which last erupted more than 2 million years ago and will never erupt again.
Tectonic consequences
Volcanic eruptions may become a more common occurrence for Ethiopians in the future, given the tectonic activity taking place in East Africa. Ethiopia is believed to have around 50 active volcanoes during the Holocene. The only countries with more Holocene volcanoes are the United States (165), Japan (118), Russia (107), Indonesia (101) and Chile (90), according to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History’s Global Volcanism Program.
According to the British Geological Survey, more than 46 percent of Ethiopia’s population lives within 100 km (62 miles) of a Holocene volcano and is exposed to volcanic hazards. Ethiopia also frequently experiences earthquakes due to tectonic activity; Between late 2024 and early 2025, several earthquake swarms – a series of small earthquakes in a local area – struck near the Fentale and Dofan volcanoes in Ethiopia’s Awash National Park.
For the moment, the consequences of the recent eruption of Hayli Gubbi are still being studied, in particular its effects on livestock and local breeders, shaken by the ash falling from the sky.
Learn more: AI reveals what’s behind Santorini earthquakes in early 2025
Article sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review them for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. See the sources used below for this article:
