2019 – Posted in: Daily News

Danakil Depression

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topics covered:

A new study says that active and naturally occurring life cannot be sustained at Danakil.

It identifies two barriers: magnesium-dominated brines that cause cells to break down; and an environment having simultaneously very low pH and high salt, a combination that makes adaptation highly difficult.

The Danakil Depression in northeastern Ethiopia is one of the world’s hottest places, as well as one of its lowest, at 100 metres below sea level.
At the northern end of the Great Rift Valley, and separated by live volcanoes from the Red Sea, the plain was formed by the evaporation of an inland water body.
All the water entering Danakil evaporates, and no streams flow out from its extreme environment. It is covered with more than 10 lakh tonnes of salt.

The Danakil Depression lies at the triple junction of three tectonic plates and has a complex geological history. It has developed as a result of Africa and Asia moving apart, causing rifting and volcanic activity.
Erosion, inundation by the sea, the rising and falling of the ground have all played their part in the formation of this depression.
Sedimentary rocks such as sandstone and limestone are unconformably overlain by basalt which resulted from extensive lava flows.

Important Information

Here at Danakil Depression, the Awash River dries up in a chain of salt lakes such as Lake Afrera, never reaching the Indian Ocean.
Mount Ayalu is the westernmost and older of the two volcanoes at the southern end of the Danakil Depression.
The other active volcano, Erta Ale, is one of several crater lakes of lava bubbling from the Earth’s mantle.
This area contains the Dallol sulfur springs, or hot springs.
These wet environments at the Danakil Depression are being investigated to help understand how life might arise on other planets and moons.
Among the geological points of interest to tourists are the hydrothermal system of Dallol and the Yellow Lake.