60 pieces · NaturePhoto by A.Savin, Free Art License, via Wikimedia Commons. Acid pools and mineral terraces of yellow sulfur, white salt, and red iron oxide at the Dallol hydrothermal field in the Danakil Depression, Afar Region, Ethiopia.
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Dallol's Sulfur Springs, Ethiopia
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Dallol's Sulfur Springs, Ethiopia
Dallol sits in the Danakil Depression of Ethiopia's Afar Region, a stretch of land that drops to roughly 125 meters (410 feet) below sea level and ranks among the hottest, driest places on the planet. The hydrothermal field takes its name from an Afar word meaning dissolution or disintegration, a nod to the acid ponds, salt pillars, and crumbling mineral crust that make up the landscape. Phreatic eruptions in 1926 carved the crater at its center, and the vents here are among the lowest-lying active volcanic features on Earth.
The colors come from chemistry, not dye: iron oxide stains the ground rust-red and brown, sulfur deposits build up in bright yellow mounds, and potash and salt crystallize into pale white crusts around springs that discharge brine hotter than 100°C (212°F) and far more acidic than vinegar. The springs shift in shape and color from one season to the next as new vents open and old ones dry into crumbling salt cones, so no two visits — or photographs — show quite the same formation.
In this puzzle, the saturated yellow sulfur mound at the center gives a bright, high-contrast block to assemble first, with the surrounding white salt crust and pooled green-yellow brine as a second easy read. The rust-colored, cracked terrain filling the rest of the frame is the slower part, won by matching subtle shifts in texture and tone.
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Frequently asked questions
- Where is Dallol?
- Dallol is a hydrothermal field in the Danakil Depression, in the Afar Region of northeastern Ethiopia, near the Eritrean border.
- What causes the bright colors at Dallol?
- The yellow comes from sulfur deposits, the red and brown from iron oxide, and the white from salt and potash crystallizing out of the hot, acidic spring water.
- How was the Dallol landscape formed?
- Basaltic magma intruded into ancient salt deposits beneath the Danakil Depression, driving a hydrothermal system whose springs and phreatic eruptions — including one in 1926 — built the mineral terraces and crater seen today.
- Why is Dallol considered one of the most extreme places on Earth?
- It lies about 125 meters (410 feet) below sea level in one of the hottest, driest regions on the planet, and its springs discharge brine that is both scalding hot and more acidic than almost anywhere else on Earth's surface.