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Danakil Depression

Short answer: The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia's Afar region lies mostly about 100 m below sea level, reaching around 124 m. It has a mean annual temperature of about 35 °C.

The colorful terrain in the Reel's footage is the Dallol hydrothermal field. There, hot, hyperacidic, iron-rich brines rise through a thick salt deposit, and the iron oxidizes into yellow, green and orange crusts.

VideoWrite-up3 sources

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What should you know about Danakil Depression?

Quick facts. Each one stands alone and has a stable ID you can cite.

  1. Dallol's springs have measured pH values as low as about -1.7.

    DD-055-F01 · Write-up · Exhibit C (Dallol's brines)

  2. Most of the Danakil Depression lies about 100 m below sea level, reaching around 124 m.

    DD-055-F02 · Write-up · Exhibit A (Below sea level)

Video transcript: Danakil Depression: One of the Hottest, Driest and Lowest Places on Earth

DID YOU KNOW? The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the hottest, driest, and lowest places on Earth, famous for its otherworldly landscape of acidic hot springs, salt flats, lava lakes, and colorful mineral deposits. Despite its extreme conditions, some stunning natural phenomena occur there, including salt formations that sometimes appear in shades of blue or green, due to mineral-rich brines. NOW YOU KNOW!

Burned-in captions, read frame by frame (see transcript.md) · 20.4s Reel ·

Video coming soonDanakil Depression · Instagram Reel
Danakil Depression: One of the Hottest, Driest and Lowest Places on Earth Instagram Reel · · 20.4s

The write-up

One of the hottest, driest and lowest places on Earth. Dallol's acid springs get their colors mostly from iron.

  1. Exhibit A

    Below sea level

    The Danakil Depression is a narrow lowland about 250 km long. Most of it lies about 100 m below sea level, and it reaches around 124 m below at Lake Assale and near Dallol. That makes it one of the lowest land areas in Africa and in the world. Its northern part is a salt plain of about 4,000 square km.

  2. Exhibit B

    Hot and dry

    The area has a hot desert climate. Mean annual temperature is about 35 °C, and annual rainfall is usually below 50 mm. More than 2 km of evaporite salts were laid down by repeated incursions of the Red Sea, the most recent about 32,000 years ago.

  3. Exhibit C

    Dallol's brines

    At Dallol, basaltic magma heats the buried salts. The result is a hydrothermal system with springs at up to 108 °C. They are supersaturated with salt, contain no oxygen, have pH values from about 0.1 down to -1.7, and carry up to 150 g of iron per liter.

  4. Exhibit D

    Where the colors come from

    The researchers found that the colorful pools and crusts come from slow oxidation of dissolved ferrous iron, from iron-chloride and iron-sulfate complexes, and from evaporation. Together these precipitate jarosite-group minerals and iron oxyhydroxides over salt. They conclude that life, if present, does not play a dominant role in this mineral cycling.

  5. Exhibit E

    The lava lake is elsewhere

    Dallol itself is a low dome with a summit crater about 100 m wide, last shaped by a phreatic eruption in 1926. The Depression's lava lake belongs to Erta Ale, a volcano farther south on the same rift segment that hosts a perennial lava lake.

Questions people ask about Danakil Depression

What mainly gives Dallol's pools and crusts their colors?

The researchers attribute the colors to progressive oxidation of dissolved ferrous iron.

Source: Write-up · Exhibit D (Where the colors come from) · Kotopoulou et al. (2019), A Polyextreme Hydrothermal System Controlled by Iron: The Case of Dallol at the Afar Triangle, ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (PMC)

Roughly how acidic can Dallol's springs get?

Measured pH ranges from about 0.1 down to -1.7.

Source: Write-up · Exhibit C (Dallol's brines) · Kotopoulou et al. (2019), A Polyextreme Hydrothermal System Controlled by Iron: The Case of Dallol at the Afar Triangle, ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (PMC)

Which Danakil volcano hosts a perennial lava lake?

Erta Ale, farther south, hosts the lava lake.

Source: Write-up · Exhibit E (The lava lake is elsewhere) · Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program: Dallol; Cavalazzi et al. (2019), The Dallol Geothermal Area, Northern Afar (Ethiopia): An Exceptional Planetary Field Analog on Earth, Astrobiology

How far below sea level does the Depression reach?

It reaches around 124 m below sea level at Lake Assale and near Dallol.

Source: Write-up · Exhibit A (Below sea level) · Cavalazzi et al. (2019), The Dallol Geothermal Area, Northern Afar (Ethiopia): An Exceptional Planetary Field Analog on Earth, Astrobiology

What is the area's mean annual temperature?

About 35 °C, with a hot desert climate.

Source: Write-up · Exhibit B (Hot and dry) · Kotopoulou et al. (2019), A Polyextreme Hydrothermal System Controlled by Iron: The Case of Dallol at the Afar Triangle, ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (PMC)

Test Your Knowledge

All quizzes →

5 questions, all from this case file. Answers are revealed instantly.

  1. What mainly gives Dallol's pools and crusts their colors?

    1. Iron oxidizing and precipitating
    2. Algae blooms
    3. Copper salts
    4. Reflected sky
    Show the answer

    Answer: A. Iron oxidizing and precipitating The researchers attribute the colors to progressive oxidation of dissolved ferrous iron. Source: Write-up · Exhibit D (Where the colors come from) · Kotopoulou et al. (2019), A Polyextreme Hydrothermal System Controlled by Iron: The Case of Dallol at the Afar Triangle, ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (PMC)

  2. Roughly how acidic can Dallol's springs get?

    1. pH 4
    2. pH 2.5
    3. pH about -1.7
    4. pH 6
    Show the answer

    Answer: C. pH about -1.7 Measured pH ranges from about 0.1 down to -1.7. Source: Write-up · Exhibit C (Dallol's brines) · Kotopoulou et al. (2019), A Polyextreme Hydrothermal System Controlled by Iron: The Case of Dallol at the Afar Triangle, ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (PMC)

  3. Which Danakil volcano hosts a perennial lava lake?

    1. Dallol
    2. Erta Ale
    3. Kilimanjaro
    4. Ol Doinyo Lengai
    Show the answer

    Answer: B. Erta Ale Erta Ale, farther south, hosts the lava lake. Source: Write-up · Exhibit E (The lava lake is elsewhere) · Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program: Dallol; Cavalazzi et al. (2019), The Dallol Geothermal Area, Northern Afar (Ethiopia): An Exceptional Planetary Field Analog on Earth, Astrobiology

  4. How far below sea level does the Depression reach?

    1. About 10 m
    2. About 124 m
    3. About 400 m
    4. About 1 km
    Show the answer

    Answer: B. About 124 m It reaches around 124 m below sea level at Lake Assale and near Dallol. Source: Write-up · Exhibit A (Below sea level) · Cavalazzi et al. (2019), The Dallol Geothermal Area, Northern Afar (Ethiopia): An Exceptional Planetary Field Analog on Earth, Astrobiology

  5. What is the area's mean annual temperature?

    1. About 20 °C
    2. About 28 °C
    3. About 35 °C
    4. About 45 °C
    Show the answer

    Answer: C. About 35 °C About 35 °C, with a hot desert climate. Source: Write-up · Exhibit B (Hot and dry) · Kotopoulou et al. (2019), A Polyextreme Hydrothermal System Controlled by Iron: The Case of Dallol at the Afar Triangle, ACS Earth and Space Chemistry (PMC)

Cite this case file

Easterling, Marcus. "Danakil Depression." The Detail Department (DetailEnjoyer), case file DD-055, last updated May 30, 2025. https://detailenjoyer.com/case/danakil-depression/

Permalink: https://detailenjoyer.com/case/danakil-depression/ · Last updated

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Cite a single fact by its ID, for example DD-055-F01 → https://detailenjoyer.com/case/danakil-depression/#DD-055-F01

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