No latest activity reported for Central Island.

Below is a summary of eruption dates and Volcanic Explosivity Indices (VEI).

The following references are the sources used for data regarding this volcano. References are linked directly to our volcano data file. Discussion of another volcano or eruption (sometimes far from the one that is the subject of the manuscript) may produce a citation that is not at all apparent from the title. Additional discussion of data sources can be found under Volcano Data Criteria.

Bloomer S H, Curtis P C, Karson J A, 1989. Geochemical variation of Quaternary basaltic volcanoes in the Turkana Rift, northern Kenya. {J African Earth Sci}, 8: 511-532

Dunkley P N, Smith M, Allen D A, Darling W G, 1993. The geothermal activity and geology of the northern sector of the Kenya Rift Valley. {Brit Geol Surv Res Rpt}, SC/93/1: 1-185

Ferguson A J D, Harbott B J, 1982. Geographical, physical and chemical aspects of Lake Turkana. {In}: Hopson A J (ed) {Lake Turkana: a Report on the Findings of the Lake Turkana Project 1972-75}, London: Rpt Overseas Devel Admin, p 1-107

Karson J A, Curtis P C, 1994. Axial Quaternary volcanic centers in the Turkana rift, N. Kenya. {J African Earth Sci}, 18: 15-35

Richard J J, Neumann van Padang M, 1957. Africa and the Red Sea. {Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World and Solfatara Fields}, Rome: IAVCEI 4: 1-118

Wilkinson A F, 1988. Geology of the Allia Bay area. {Rpt Mines Geol Dept Kenya}, 109: 1-54

Central Island, also known as Crocodile Island, occupies the middle of Lake Turkana and is composed of more than a dozen craters and cones, three of which are filled by small lakes. The two largest lakes partially fill craters up to a km wide and about 80 m deep whose floors lie near sea level. The highest point on the dominantly basaltic island reaches 550 m, about 170 m above the lake surface. An E-W-trending chain of small explosion craters cuts the eastern side of the 3-km-wide island. Several small islands to the SE represent partially submerged crater rims, and other cones and lava plugs lie beneath the lake surface near the island. The youngest Central Islands tuffs and lavas may be as young as Holocene (Karson and Curtis, 1992). Fumarolic activity is concentrated along the NE-to-SE rim of the central crater, and sprays of sulfur from the fumaroles were observed by visitors in the 1930s. In 1974 intense emission of molten sulfur and steam clouds were seen from the mainland.