Erta Ale

Erta Ale
height	613  m
location	Ethiopia , East Africa
Coordinates	13 ° 36 '11 "  N , 40 ° 39' 50"  E Coordinates: 13 ° 36 '11 "  N , 40 ° 39' 50"  E
Type	Shield volcano
rock	Basalt , andesite
Last eruption	2009 (ongoing)

The Erta Ale ( Afar 'Ertá'alé or ' Irtá'alé "mountain that smokes") is a basaltic shield volcano in the Afar triangle (Danakil) in northeast Ethiopia , which rises to 613  m .

It lies on the rift zone of the East African Rift Valley , a continental seam that crosses East Africa for a length of 6000 km to Mozambique . The volcano rises above the floor of a dry sea that was formed when the Danakil Block was lifted by plate tectonics , separating the Afar Triangle from the Red Sea .

Its crater on the summit measures 700 m × 1600 m. Another depression belonging to the Erta Ale is located southeast of the main summit, is delimited by steep slopes and has dimensions of 1800 m × 3100 m.

The Erta Ale is part of the Erta Ale volcano chain named after it, the highest volcano of which is the Ale Bagu at 1031  m .

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  Lava lake in the Erta Ale caldera

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  Active lava flows in the crater, night shot

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  Dry lava field near the crater

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  Erta Ale Volcano (EA), captured from a space shuttle

Lava lake

The Erta Ale is one of only a few volcanoes in the world with an active lava lake in its caldera . The crater has a diameter of 50 m and is 85 m deep, halfway up there is a terrace that arose from solidified lava . The lake's lava has also solidified on the surface; the convection breaks it into thin plates that float across the lake. The processes that control the formation and movement of these plates correspond on a very small scale to those of continental drift and plate tectonics .

In January 2017, strong activities were observed inside this lava lake, which led to a strong change in the amount of lava, even to overflow of the lake.

literature

• Axel Bojanowski : Africa is breaking in two . The bottom of a future ocean is already forming in the East African Rift. In: the standard . February 17, 2009 (also in: Süddeutsche Zeitung No. 28, February 4, 2009, p. 22 (knowledge)).
• Didier Morin: 'Ertá'alé , in: Dictionnaire historique afar (1288–1982) ; Karthala Editions 2004; ISBN 9782845864924 ; P. 95

Web links

Commons : Erta Ale  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Erta Ale in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
• Rolf Cosar: Photos: Fascination Volcanoes-January 2008
• Side of an expedition
• Florian Wizorek: Continental drift in miniature - The lava lake of Erta Ale , xflo.net, April 2010 (Very nice and many pictures and a video of the volcano with its lava lake (overflow and high lava level))
• vulkane.net: Detailed site with photos and videos of the Erta Alé
• Axel Bojanowski: Volcanic inferno creates new ocean in Africa . In: Spiegel . January 19, 2011.
• Volcanoes of the World: Photos and Videos by Erta Ale

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Global Volcanism Program | Erta Ale. Retrieved July 5, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Fissure Eruptions on Erta Ale. January 28, 2017, accessed July 5, 2019 .