DANAKIL DEPRESSION: THE HOTTEST PLACE ON EARTH

Danakil Depression or Afar Depression or Afar Triangle is a geographical feature in the form of a depression and spans Eritrea and Ethiopia, two East African countries. The Afar Triangle area includes the lowest point on earth – Lake Asal, 509 m below MSL. Also forming part of this depression is Dallol, the hottest place anywhere on earth.

This extremely hot and dry area is actually a part of the Africa's Great Rift Valley. In this seemingly inhospitable area there live the nomadic Afar people who number about 3 million. Their external borders are Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. 

The Afar Depression is a plate tectonic triple junction where the spreading ridges that are forming the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden emerge on land and meet the East African Rift. The floor of the Afar Depression is composed mostly of basaltic lava.

This place used to be part of the Red Sea and has kilometres of salt deposits. In some places the salt deposits are about 5 km thick. Below the salt lake is a substantial source of volcanic heat which causes hot water to rise through layers of salt and anhydrite deposits. Minerals get dissolved and are deposited, near the springs, and form vertical shapes in yellow colour.

The area is extremely dry with annual rainfall average about 4 to 7 inches. Temperatures range from 25 ° C in monsoons to 48 ° C in the dry season.

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