Page 84 - Super Earth Encyclopedia

PAINTED POOLS

DALLOL HOT SPRINGS

Dallol in Ethiopia is an alien landscape of vividly
colored hot springs that are fueled by the heat of
a hidden volcano. The whole area is a vast salt flat
almost a mile deep, dotted with steaming fumaroles
and simmering pools fed by hot springs. Salt, sulfur,
potash, and iron erupting from the fumaroles and hot
springs have created fields of colored minerals. Some
of these minerals dissolve in water to form pools of
greenish sulfuric acid. Lying well below the sea level
in the blistering heat of the Danakil Depression,
Dallol is one of the most hostile places on Earth.

AT A GLANCE

• LOCATION Danakil Depression,
Ethiopia, northeast Africa
• FORMATION Hydrothermal field
in salt flat
• ELEVATION 148 ft (45 m) below
sea level
• AVERAGE TEMPERATURE 93°F (34°C)

STATS AND FACTS

MINERALS FUMAROLES
The hot springs of The salt fields The air smells of
Dallol are at the north supply nearly rotten eggs due
end of the Great Rift 100 percent of to the hydrogen
Valley in the Danakil Ethiopia’s salt. sulfide released
Depression, the TEMPERATURE Maximum temperature in by the fumaroles.
lowest point in Africa.
FIRE AND STEAM lies 328 ft (100 m) °C 50 20 100 40 60 150
Part of the Depression
June reaches 116°F (47°C).
below sea level.

°F
DALLOL VOLCANO
LAST
1926

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