Editing Mount Nyiragongo (section)

=== 1977 eruption ===
Between 1894 and 1977 the crater contained an active lava lake.  On 10 January 1977, the crater walls fractured, and the lava lake drained in less than an hour.<ref name="GVP-Nyiragongo" /> The lava flowed down the flanks of the volcano at speeds of up to {{convert|60|km/h|0|abbr=on}} on the upper slopes, the fastest lava flow recorded to date,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Glenday |first=Craig |year=2013 |title=Guinness Book of World Records 2014 |publisher=The Jim Pattison Group |isbn=978-1-908843-15-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/015 15] |url=https://archive.org/details/guinnessworldrec0000unse_r3e7/page/015 }}</ref> overwhelming villages and killing at least 50 people in the villages of Kibati and Moniki, according to reports made at the time. <ref>"Volcano Deaths Estimated at 50", AP report in ''Omaha World-Herald'', January 15, 1977, p.6; A brief sentence in a BBC online report more than 40 years after the event ("The volcano's deadliest eruption happened in 1977, when more than 600 people died") is not supported by reports made in the first few years after the event. </ref> 

Within 30 minutes, the lava lake had emptied, flowing north, south, and west of the volcano. Nowhere else in the world does such a steep-sided [[stratovolcano]] contain a lake of such fluid lava.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}  Nyiragongo's proximity to heavily populated areas increases its potential for causing a [[natural disaster]].  The 1977 eruption raised awareness of the unique dangers posed by Nyiragongo, and because of this, in 1991 it was designated a [[Decade Volcanoes|Decade Volcano]], worthy of particular study.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iavcei.org/documents/newsletters/1996/1996.pdf |title=IAVCEI NEWS 1/2 1996 |access-date=2014-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713165434/http://www.iavcei.org/documents/newsletters/1996/1996.pdf |archive-date=2010-07-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The 1977 eruption was preceded by the creation of a new small volcanic vent, [[Murara]], a short distance away on the slopes of [[Nyamuragira]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Nakamura |first1=Y. |last2=Aoki |first2=K. |year=1980 |title=The 1977 eruption of Nyiragongo volcano, eastern Africa, and chemical composition of the ejecta |language=ja |journal=Bulletin of the Volcanological Society of Japan |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=17–32 |doi=10.18940/kazanc.25.1_17 }} (English abstract)</ref>