Abstract
So much is happening in northern Afar that it will be helpful to begin with a brief recapitulation. Figure 22.1 summarises the events that are going on in and around Afar today. The Arabian Plate is moving away from Africa in an anticlockwise rotation with a hinge at the northern end of the Red Sea , and is colliding with the Eurasian Plate to form the Zagros Mountain belt.
The current situation. The large black arrows represent the direction of movement of the plates, the small blue arrows the direction in which the spreading axes are opening. The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are widening at about 2 cm per year and the northern part of the Main Ethiopian Rift at 0.5 cm per year. Note that everything south of the subduction zone shown by the toothed line is moving northwards toward the Eurasian Plate. This general northward movement is not shown on the figure; the black arrows show movements relative to the African Plate (as though the African Plate were standing still). Notice also that the spreading axes are not opening at right angles to the general direction of the axes. The axes consist of segments which are offset from each other in en échelon fashion, and are connected by fracture zones marked as thin black lines
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- 1.
These are sometimes referred to in the geological literature as axial ranges, volcanic segments or magmatic segments, but for consistency I will stay with the descriptive term volcanic ranges.
- 2.
This number varies between three and seven depending upon the source one consults.
- 3.
There are fascinating stories associated with both these explorers. Hildebrandt, for example, having suffered extreme hardships on his ascent and descent of the volcano, and with his feet swollen from the heat, war furious to return to his camp and find that his companions had eaten all the food. Pastori claims to have crossed Afar from west to east taking with him only water and an onion to quench his thirst!
- 4.
Lake Afrera used to be called Lake Giulietti after the unfortunate explorer mentioned in the previous chapter.
- 5.
Lake Karum is sometimes also known as Lake Asal, resulting in confusion with the lake of that name in Djibouti.
- 6.
At least, this is way it used to be. Over the past few years the formations at Dallol have deteriorated markedly. The reasons for this are controversial.
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Williams, F.M. (2016). Northern Afar: The Birth of an Ocean. In: Understanding Ethiopia. GeoGuide. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02180-5_22
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02180-5_22
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