The Weird Active Volcano with Blue Lava; Kawah Ijen in Indonesia

Within Indonesia is one of the world's weirdest volcanoes. This volcano erupts bright blue lava that flows downhill creating a series of flames, marking it as a truly unique active volcano. The volcano in question is called Kawah Ijen, which erupts sulfur enriched lava. This video covers the recent eruptions from this volcano, and states the general hazard which it poses in the future.

0:00 Blue Lava
0:29 Ijen Volcano Location
0:49 Why the Lava is Blue
1:27 Geologic History
3:09 Acidic Crater Lake
Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers

[GeologyHub]

This is a re-upload of my most popular video. Several changes and improvements were made to the overall video, (sound, graphics, etc) to increase its level of accuracy. So, what are your thoughts on this unusual blue lava? Similar blue lava flows are also known to occur near the Dallol volcano (below sea level) in Ethiopia!

[Edit 1] This video was re-reuploaded as a rendering issue added in a graphic about glaciers for some weird reason.

[Bouch]

I genuinely appreciate this channel not only for what I’ve learned so far, but for the fact that he doesn’t drag things along. “You all clicked on this video for one reason, now I’ll actually tell you your answer rather than string you along for 10 minutes and tell you once sentence at the end that kinda explains it.”

[AlkautsarPA]

I want to clarify that this blue thing is not a lava. Rather, it is a flow of high concentration sulfur gas. The magmatic gases supply on this volcano is very intense, so, combined with the high temperature it emits, it yields blue fire from the burning sulfur gas, and it's only visible at night. As an Indonesian volcanologist myself, I learned that Ijen is very rarely erupting magmatic eruption. Most of its history shows phreatic to phreatomagmatic eruption, with only one magmatic eruption recorded (1817 eruption). The 1817 eruption yielded thick ash and pumice falls near the summit, and also triggering a deadly acidic lahar flow on Banyupait River, flowing for 40 km until it reached the sea. The youngest lava flow itself was dated to be around 2950 years old (Pratama et al., 2018). So if you asked what is the current main hazard from this volcano, I would say it's toxic gas and acidic lahar.

I hope you would reconsider to add/change some of the info on this video.

[edwardcardinal]

I saw blue lava in the title, and immediately knew where in the world we were headed. Thank you for covering this volcano again!

[ajaxtheunderkin]

This is the volcano that made me want to study geology and get a PhD in volcanology

[luukwolf]

Very interesting, I just gave this subject in my lessons as geography teacher 😁

[toddhoatson]

Keren banget! Great video - very interesting. Glad to see Indonesian geology getting coverage!

By the way, the pronunciation is KA-wah EE-jen. Kawah is Indonesian for crater, not mountain; so it is Ijen crater, not Mount Ijen (to correct another poster). The mountain (gunung) is Merapi (Flaming Mountain?).

Makasih banyak!

[packrat]

Incredible stuff! Thank for bringing to us.

[TakoyakiStore]

I have known of this volcano but because I was sick on my honeymoon in the area we had no chance to stop by. My wife grew up in Bandung in Java and nearby was a volcano called Kawah Putih. It too has an abundance of sulfur deposits. The sulfur dioxide emissions are concerning as our eyes burned like you had put too much chlorine in the pool. The dead vegetation in the yellow mud and water had turned purple although we were unsure if it was an optical illusion from all the yellow in the area. Some locals had even began illegally mining the sulfur clay. There were hot springs in a more tolerable area.

Makes me wonder if Kawah Putih at some point in the past had blue lava just due to the abundance of sulfur and being geologically nearby (761km away) to Kawah Ijen.

[sixthsenseamelia]

💙 I LOVE Kawah Ijen!
It's so blimmin AMAZING.

[jfu]

I can see why this is your most popular video, this may be the best reason I've ever had to see Hawaii!

[Ronin]

Thanks for the reposting this one. I saw the color and thought it might be sulfur, given heat it is in. The color is sure tempting but oh so dangerous. Lava is intriguing as it flows beneath us all the time. I have always wondered just what it is in that flow that disrupts it and brings it through the Earth’s crust? Are there eroded spots, or something like an aneurysm that results in eruptions? Thanks again!

[rogerc]

Sulphur fire used to be called brimstone fire.

[robbabcock_]

Fascinating! A dangerous volcano but quite beautiful.🌋🌋🌋

[StuffandThings_]

Also, the crater lake is held back by only a very thin bit of rock, which could quite realistically break and send out a deluge of acid. It almost sounds like a bad sci fi movie scenario.

[Palaeogeobicho]

your channel is great! fellow geologist here!

[sheilacoulton]

Loved this video when I first it, wish it was longer

[nozrep]

ok that is awesome. But so some of my questions are: if the recent eruptions did not produce the blue lava, where did all the recently internet-viral (of the past decade) blue lava photos come from? Which eruption was it? Those photos must in fact be super old then, I would assume? And the chart you had up had the most recent eruption as almost 20 years ago? Super fascinating, regardless.

[wrongplanet]

Pretty neat ! I had my first real chemistry set before the first grade, , I couldn't pull out the element before you told me luta my memory, I should known, instantly,

[Michaelca]

A video about Mount Boucherie in West Kelowna would be interesting.