Erta Ale is 613 metres (2,011 ft) high, with one or sometimes two active lava lakes at the summit which occasionally overflow on the south side of the volcano.[1] It is notable for holding the longest-existing lava lake, present since at least 1906.[4] Volcanoes with lava lakes are rare: there were only eight in the world reported in 2019.[5]
Erta Ale means "smoking mountain" in the local Afar language and its southernmost pit is known locally as "the gateway to hell". In 2009, it was mapped by a team from the BBC using three-dimensional laser techniques,[6] in order for the mapping team to maintain a distance and avoid the lakes' searingly hot temperatures.
A major eruption occurred on 25 September 2005 which killed 250 heads of livestock and forced thousands of nearby residents to flee.[9] There was further lava flow in August 2007, forcing the evacuation of hundreds and leaving two missing.[10] A new eruption started in November 3, 2008 at the Alu-Dalafilla volcanic centre, at the northern end of the Erta Ale range.[11][12] The latest eruptive activity started in January 2017,[13] with outpouring of lava flows extending for kilometers from the vent, and lasted until March 2020; volcanic pulses have occurred since that time,[14] lasting until at least April 2024.[15][16]
Tourists standing at the crater and watching the lava lake's activity
Erta Ale is the most regularly visited volcano in the Danakil Depression.[17] However, not much is known about the volcano, and the surrounding terrain is some of the most inhospitable on Earth, making travel difficult and dangerous. The Afar region also experiences intermittent ethnic violence due to unification struggles by the native Afar people. On January 17, 2012, a group of European tourists was attacked at Erta Ale. Five tourists were killed, two taken as hostages and seven others wounded.[18] The Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF) claimed responsibility for the attack[19] and released the two kidnapped tourists in March 2012.[20] One travel guide recommends hiring "one or maybe two armed guards or police" as guides to visit Erta Ale.[21] Commercial tour companies offer tours to Erta Ale which are generally accompanied by military escort.
In December 2017, a German tourist was fatally shot while descending Erta Ale.[22]
Erta Ale was featured in the episode "Volcano" of the 2008 documentary series Earth: The Biography. The lava lake on Erta Ale was shown briefly during the 2010 movie Clash of the Titans during the journey sequence where Perseus travels to the underworld. Erta Ale is featured in the 2016 Werner Herzog documentary, Into the Inferno.
^Barnie, T.D., Oppenheimer, C., and Pagli, C. (2016). Magmatic Rifting and Active Volcanism. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 420, 181–208. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP420.15
^Hurman, G.L., Keir, D., Bull, J.M., McNeill, L.C., Booth, A.D., and Bastow, I.D. (2023). Quantitative analysis of faulting in the Danakil Depression Rift of Afar: The importance of faulting in the final stages of magma-rich rifting. Tectonics, 42, e2022TC007607. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022TC007607
^Moore, C., Wright, T., Hooper, A., & Biggs, J. (2019). The 2017 eruption of Erta 'Ale Volcano, Ethiopia: Insights into the shallow axial plumbing system of an incipient mid-ocean ridge. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 20, 5727–5743. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GC008692
^Crafford, A.E.; Venzke, E., eds. (May 2022). "Report on Erta Ale (Ethiopia)". Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network. 47 (5). Smithsonian Institution. doi:10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN202205-221080.
