Photo of the Day

A boiling lava cauldron in the Nyiragongo volcano in the Congo
April 17, 2012

Lava Cauldron, Democratic Republic of the Congo

This Month in Photo of the Day: Nature and Weather Photos

Exhaling clouds of gas, a cauldron of lava boils in the mile-wide crater of Nyiragongo, an active volcano in the Congo that threatens two million people. Eruptions have blistered the region for millions of years, since the African tectonic plate began to split apart to create the Albertine Rift.

See more pictures from the November 2011 feature story "Rift in Paradise."


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Photograph by Carsten Peter, National Geographic

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