Erta Ale Range is the most important axial

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure 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 fo ...

chain of the

Afar Depression 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; ...

Afar Region The Afar Region (; ; ), formerly known as Region 2, is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in northeastern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Afar people. Its capital is the planned city of Semera, which lies on the paved Awash, Ethiopia, Awash� ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. It consists mostly of

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more viscous lava ...

es. The active volcano

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, which is itself part of the wider Afar Triangle (a barren desert region straddling Djibouti, ...

is a prominent feature of the range. The highest volcano of the range is

Ale Bagu Ale Bagu is a stratovolcano located in the Afar Region, Ethiopia. It is the highest volcano of Erta Ale Range. The village of El Dom sits at the base of Ale Bagu. Ale Bagu is a rare example of a mountain with a prominence higher than its elevat ...

, with an elevation of above sea level. Other named peaks (with their elevations) include Alu (),

Dalaffilla Dalaffilla, also called Gabuli, or Alu-Dalafilla is a high stratovolcano in Ethiopia. It is the highest point of Gulina. The only recorded eruption of Dalaffilla occurred in 2008 when lava flows from its western and northwestern flanks traveled ...

() and

Borale Ale Borale Ale is a stratovolcano located in the Great Rift Valley, Ethiopia. It is part of the Erta Ale Volcanic Segment in the northern Afar Region of Ethiopia, which contains seven volcanoes including Erta Ale Erta Ale (or Ertale or Irta'ale ...

().

Erta Ale

This volcano of

is the most active in Ethiopia and rises to at its highest point. It is one of many shield volcanoes in the area and is wide with a elliptical summit containing many steep pit craters. Its perpetually active pit craters are renowned for their churning

lava lakes Lava lakes are large volumes of molten lava, usually basaltic, contained in a volcanic vent, crater, or broad depression. The term is used to describe both lava lakes that are wholly or partly molten and those that are solidified (sometim ...

Erta Ale

See also

References

Further reading