Danakil Depression – Where Continents Split and Life’s Origins Resurface

The Danakil Depression, part of the larger Afar Depression, formed from the slow drift of the African and Arabian tectonic plates—pulling apart at 1–2 cm per year. This tectonic rift zone created one of the lowest, hottest, and most geologically active places on Earth.

Located at the triple junction of three tectonic plates, the Danakil spans northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti. Its northernmost section—the Danakil Depression—sits more than 100 meters below sea level and features surreal terrain: lava lakes, salt flats, sulfur springs, and alien-like colors that defy belief.

But it’s not just the landscape that makes Danakil extraordinary.

In 1974, the world-famous hominid fossil “Lucy” was discovered here—one of humanity’s earliest known ancestors, dating back 3.2 million years. And at the Dallol Crater, scientists study acid pools and salt chimneys in search of extremophile microbes, offering clues to how life may have formed on Earth—and possibly even on Mars.