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Pinnacles of brightly colored mineral salts form a labyrinth of spiky rain-eroded terrain on the SW side of Dallol hot spring. Dallol is part of a system of salt domes that are linked to an upwelling of magma and geothermal fluids. The uplift of the salt dome has thrust these brightly-colored layers of salty lake sediments to the surface, where they collapse into a chaotic jumble. This natural spring is some 50 m. below sea level in the middle of a salt flat. The geothermal heat of the East African Rift turns the minerals of the lake bed into a spectacular chemistry experiment in salt precipitation.

Filename
STNMTZ_20110314_02129.tif
Copyright
©2011 George Steinmetz
Image Size
5616x3744 / 60.2MB
Contained in galleries
Afar Depression
Pinnacles of brightly colored mineral salts form a labyrinth of spiky rain-eroded terrain on the SW side of Dallol hot spring. Dallol is part of a system of salt domes that are linked to an upwelling of magma and geothermal fluids. The uplift of the salt dome has thrust these brightly-colored layers of salty lake sediments to the surface, where they collapse into a chaotic jumble. This natural spring is some 50 m. below sea level in the middle of a salt flat. The geothermal heat of the East African Rift turns the minerals of the lake bed into a spectacular chemistry experiment in salt precipitation.

All images ©George Steinmetz. Please contact us for usage.