The Danakil Desert is a desert in northeast

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, southern Eritrea, and northwestern

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

. Situated in the

Afar Triangle The Afar Triangle (also called the Afar Depression) is a geological depression caused by the Afar Triple Junction, which is part of the Great Rift Valley in East Africa. The region has disclosed fossil specimens of the very earliest hominins; t ...

, it stretches across of arid terrain. It is inhabited by a few Afar, who engage in salt mining. The area is known for its volcanoes and

extreme heat A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

, with daytime temperatures surpassing . Less than of rainfall occurs each year. The Danakil Desert is one of the lowest and hottest places on Earth.

Climate

Dallol (92 metres below sea level), has the hottest average temperature recorded on earth:

Geology

Local geology is characterized by

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

and tectonic activity, various climate cycles, and discontinuous

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

. The basic geological structure of this area was caused by the movement of tectonic plates as Africa moved away from Asia. Mountain chains formed and were eroded again during the

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

. Inundations by the sea caused the formation of layers of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

was deposited further offshore. As the land rose again, further sandstone formed above the limestone. Further tectonic shifts caused

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

to pour out of cracks and cover the sedimentary deposits. The Danakil Desert has a number of lakes formed by lava flows that dammed up several valleys. Among these is Lake Afrera, which has thick saline crusts on its banks. Other areas of the Danakil became sinks, dry

endorheic basin An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

s as precipitation evaporates faster than it can collect in permanent lakes. The area is flanked toward the east by the Danakil Alps, a tabular mountain system that has a few

volcanic cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and ...

s which peak in height in Mount Ramlo (). A deposit of salt up to thick can also be found in the Salt Plain flatlands. Other local lakes include Lake Asale ( below sea level) and Lake Giuletti/Afrera below sea level, both of which possess

cryptodepression A cryptodepression is a depression in the Earth's surface that is below mean sea level, and which is filled by a lake. The term is derived from the Ancient Greek word ('hidden') and depression. Description A cryptodepression is often due to ...

s in the

Danakil Depression The Danakil Depression is the northern part of the Afar Triangle or Afar Depression in Ethiopia, a geological depression that has resulted from the divergence of three tectonic plates in the Horn of Africa. Geology The Danakil Depression lie ...

. The Afrera contains many active volcanoes, including the Maraho, Dabbahu, Afdera and

Erta Ale Erta Ale (or Ertale or Irta'ale; Amharic: ኤርታሌ) is a continuously active basaltic shield volcano in the Afar Region of northeastern Ethiopia. It is situated in the Afar Depression, a barren desert area. Erta Ale is the most active volcano ...

Human presence

The Afar people mine salt, loading each of their camels with up to thirty salt bricks weighing four kilograms each. It will then take two days to get to the nearest town, with guards watching the camels and guarding them from bandits. There is a project to flood the depression by carrying out a channel from the ocean.

References

External links

{{Deserts Afar Region Ecoregions of Djibouti Ecoregions of Eritrea Ecoregions of Ethiopia Geography of Djibouti Geography of Eritrea Deserts of Ethiopia Great Rift Valley

Climate

Geology

Human presence

See also

References

External links