- Also called:
- Haily Gubbi
Hayli Gubbi
What type of volcano is Hayli Gubbi?
When did Hayli Gubbi last erupt?
What are the main rock types found in Hayli Gubbi?
What happened during the 2025 eruption of Hayli Gubbi?
Hayli Gubbi, shield volcano that erupted on November 23, 2025, its first documented eruption in about 12,000 years, though unrecorded eruptions may have occurred during that time. Hayli Gubbi is situated near the southern end of the Erta-Ale range, a line of volcanoes in the Afar region of eastern Ethiopia.
Geology and features
Like most shield volcanoes, Hayli Gubbi is made of basalt and features trachyte and rhyolite rock. Hayli Gubbi’s summit rises about 1,620 feet (500 meters) above sea level. The volcano’s sides are punctuated by several fissures and lava-built cones. The volcano has a graben (a trenchlike depression between parallel strips of land) at its summit. A cone of volcanic rock rests in the center of the graben and features a 656-foot- (200-meter-) wide crater with vents that release steam and gas.
- Basalt: A dark volcanic rock that forms when very hot, fluid lava cools.
- Trachyte: A light-colored and fine-grained volcanic rock rich in silica.
- Rhyolite: A light-colored volcanic rock that forms from silica-rich magma. Because it traps a lot of gas, rhyolite is linked to explosive eruptions and tall ash plumes.
Little is known about previous volcanic activity at Hayli Gubbi. Plumes had been observed in July 2025, but the first major eruption on record took place on November 23, 2025, when the volcano erupted explosively.
Geography
Hayli Gubbi is situated in the Denakil Plain of eastern Ethiopia. It is roughly 9 miles (15 km) southeast of Erta-Ale, Ethiopia’s most active volcano. Hayli Gubbi sits near the southern end of the Erta-Ale range, a line of volcanoes aligned with the Afar rift valley—a region where tectonic activity pulls the land apart, producing long fissures across the plains. Past lava flows from the southern branch of this fissure system reached the Giulietti plain, spreading across sedimentary deposits about 8,200 years old and preserving them beneath a layer of hardened lava.
The region is sparsely populated, with only a few small settlements such as Afdera village, where communities rely on salt mining, pastoralism, and limited trade.
Eruption in 2025
The absence of a record of major volcanic activity at Hayli Gubbi during the current geological age, the Holocene Epoch, before November 23, 2025, could imply that the volcano may have been dormant since the end of the Pleistocene ice age. However, the volcano may have experienced past eruption events that went unrecorded as the volcano is located in a sparsely populated area and is not studied in detail.
On November 23, 2025, about 8:30 am UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), Hayli Gubbi erupted explosively, ejecting an ash plume rising about 9 miles (15 km). Satellite observations showed the plume splitting into two distinct trajectories: a high plume drifting northeast and a lower plume headed northwest. Strong winds of more than 62 miles (100 km) per hour drove the high plume far to the east, over the Red Sea and the Arabian Peninsula, to reach the Indian subcontinent and China. The significant height of the traveling plume led regional aviation authorities in countries along the plume’s path to issue flight warnings.
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Closer to the volcano, ash from the eruption blanketed Afdera village, which serves as a stopping point for tourists traveling into the Denakil Plain. The sudden fallout reduced visibility and hindered movement, leaving both tourists and their local guides temporarily stranded in the village.
Shield volcanoes are large dome-shaped mountains with gentle slopes. Their domes are made of lava that has sloped down in a convex track and solidified over a long time. Once the lava sets the volcanoes resemble shields lying face-up, hence their name. Another notable example of this type of volcano is Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
Shield volcanoes usually erupt effusively, meaning basalt-rich lava flows out along their slopes during eruptions. But geologists note that several volcanoes in the East African Rift eject both basaltic lava as well as more silica-rich types such as trachyte- or rhyolite-rich lava. This kind of magma is more viscous, trapping more gas and leading to pressure build-up within the volcano. When that pressure is suddenly released, it can trigger an explosive eruption—an effect that helps explain the unusually tall ash plumes produced during the 2025 eruption of Hayli Gubbi.