No known Holocene or active volcanoes exist in Mali. (See the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program and USGS country data for reference: Smithsonian GVP, USGS.)
Understand why a search for “Volcanoes in Mali” comes up empty. Mali sits on very old, stable bedrock called the West African Craton. This crust formed billions of years ago and is not near the edges of tectonic plates where most modern volcanoes form. Expect volcanoes where plates pull apart, collide, or where hot spots rise through thin crust. Mali has none of those active settings today. Know that geologists record volcanoes if they erupted in the last 10,000 years (the Holocene). No such Holocene or currently active volcanoes are listed for Mali in major volcano databases. That makes a clear, factual answer simple: Mali has no recorded active or Holocene volcanoes.
Accept that “no results” for volcanoes in Mali does not mean the land is geologically boring. Ancient volcanic rocks can exist inside old cratons. Mali’s rocks include very old igneous and metamorphic units that formed during deep-time mountain building and ancient volcanism billions of years ago. These rocks are now worn and changed by heat and pressure, so they do not look like fresh volcano cones or lava fields. Also note that Mali sits far from Africa’s major active volcanic zones. The nearest well-known volcanic regions are the Cameroon Volcanic Line to the southeast (example: Mount Cameroon and volcanic islands like Bioko and São Tomé), the East African Rift to the east (examples: Erta Ale and other Ethiopian rift volcanoes), and the volcanic Canary Islands to the northwest (example: Teide in Tenerife). For authoritative lists and maps of active systems, consult the Global Volcanism Program and regional geology reviews (Smithsonian GVP, USGS Africa volcano overview).
Explore related topics that will answer the questions behind your search. If you want to know whether Mali ever had volcanoes, read about the West African Craton and its ancient greenstone belts and granitoid terrains. If you want to see real, active volcanoes within reach from West Africa, study the Cameroon line (Mount Cameroon), the Tibesti and Emi Koussi farther east in the Sahara/Chad region, the East African Rift volcanoes in Ethiopia, and the Canary Islands off northwest Africa. Use maps and the Global Volcanism Program country pages to compare locations and ages. For a quick next step, open the GVP map to view where Holocene and active volcanoes are clustered, and then look at geological maps of Mali to see how old rocks there differ from the younger volcanic provinces nearby.
Explore Cameroon’s Mount Cameroon, Ethiopia’s Erta Ale, or the Canary Islands for active volcanic examples instead. For Mali, focus on ancient bedrock, mineral resources, and landscape shaped by very old geology rather than recent volcanic cones.
