Earthquake swarms are not often associated with volcanic activity, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Geological Survey. Instead, the swarms can be the result of plates spreading away from each other or stretching themselves, and that's exactly what's happening in East Africa, the statement said.
The African plate, which covers the entire continent, is in the middle of tectonic change.
That would mean that the quake swarm and whatever is happening on Ol Doinyo Lengai could be "strictly fortuitous," said Harry Pinkerton, a professor of physical volcanology at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.
"The Rift Valley wall is next to Lengai, and the East African rift is still active," he added.
Shaky Data
Scientists are having such a hard time telling what exactly happened last week in part because there are no monitoring stations on Ol Doinyo Lengai.
Also last week, the Daily Nation newspaper in Nairobi reported that four of the five seismological stations in Kenya are not working properly.
As a result, Kenya has had to rely on data from the USGS.
(Related: "Earthquake Prediction Remains a Moving Target" [July 14, 2004].)
"We've been trying to set up a national seismographic network for [Kenya] since 2000," said Shadrack Kimomo, a geologist with the Kenyan government's Department of Mines and Geology.
"But because of the competing priorities of the government, it has not been possible."
Many fear the new quake activity will trigger eruptions on Ol Doinyo Lengai.
So far, the evidence is "not sufficient to determine if the current activity reflects a geologic process that might lead to a change in the eruptive behavior of Ol Doinyo Lengai," according to the USGS statement.
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