Erta Ale volcano lava lakes. Erta Ale volcano lava lakes Erta Ale volcano Ethiopia

In the northeast of Ethiopia, in the Danakil Desert, is located active volcano Erta Ale, in the crater of which you can see streams of molten lava escaping from the very center of the earth. Due to the constant activity, as a result of which clouds of smoke continually appear above the surface of the volcano, Erta Ale volcano got its name, which means “Smoking volcano” in Russian.

Erta Ale is a basalt shield volcano, one of the five volcanoes on our planet, in the heart of which there is a lava lake. But only Erta Ale has not one, but two such sites. The tectonic pattern on the surface of the lava lakes of the Erta Ale volcano is constantly changing. Here you can see both long-frozen areas of magma, forming a thin crust, and very fresh, easily destroyed islands. This process is accompanied by chaotic splashes of bright red molten lava and emissions of accumulated gas. According to the chemical composition of Erta Ale magma, they are compared with deep-sea volcanoes located in the middle part of mountain range at the bottom of the ocean. In both cases, there is a low content of silicic acid in the magma.

IN last years the volcano became more unpredictable. If in 2004 the lake in the crater of the volcano turned into a tectonic stronghold, holding out in this state for almost 20 months, then in November 2010 the volcano woke up with unexpected force. The eruption was accompanied by aftershocks, which significantly affected the state of the faults in the northeast. Scientists are closely monitoring changes in the activity of the volcano, as it is located in an important seismic zone called the Afar Triangle. Noticeable plate shifts and an increase in the width of faults can significantly change geographical map our planet, in particular, affect the entire African continent.

From year to year, steadfastly overcoming all the difficulties of a dangerous journey, about 500-1000 tourists and researchers get to the crater of the volcano. Being so close to the center of the volcano is incredibly difficult due to high temperature air (about 50°C) and acid fumes. Moreover, to get to the lava lakes in the mouth of the volcano, you need to walk about 13 km on foot.

Erta Ale Volcano - PHOTO

Night. Legs are aching, rain is pouring down the tent. The wind seeps through the cracks under the awning and walks around the light tropical tent, forcing us to snuggle closer and closer to each other. You wonder what are we doing here? But the rain subsides, and, emerging from under the wet hem of the tent, we take a couple of steps to the edge of the volcano's crater. A gust of wind blows away the steam coming from the crater, and we no longer remember either the wet tent or the chill. Even my legs no longer hurt, but they want to jump from excitement, but it’s impossible - fragile pumice stone is under the boots, and an orange-red lava lake is boiling a few hundred meters below us. We already managed to give the volcano a tripod, fortunately without a camera - it was blown away by a gust of wind when it was left on the edge for just a second. Let's consider it a ritual sacrifice.

Like a giant kaleidoscope, the oval of the lake is constantly changing. Bright scarlet cracks open in the black crust of slag on its surface, like lightning splitting the night sky. Fountains of lava spewing from cracks push slabs of slag to the rim of the crater, where they melt and sink, only to rise again to the surface of this giant seething cauldron. In minutes, tens or even hundreds of millions of years of the history of the planet flash before us: the movement of black plates on the “smooth surface” of the lake is a miniature copy of the movement of tectonic plates on the surface of the Earth.

We have dreamed of climbing Nyiragongo for over two years. Having visited the lava lake at the top of the volcano Erta Ale (Erta Ale) in Ethiopia, we "lit up" volcanoes. Since then, we have been able to visit Krakatau and a couple of other active fire mountains in Indonesia, as well as the notorious (Eyjafjallajökull) in Iceland. But only lava lakes allow you to really get closer to the seething bowels of the earth and feel the power of our planet hidden under the earth's crust.

lava lakes Cauldrons of seething molten basalt periodically appear and disappear in volcanoes around the world, but only a few of these lakes are known for their permanence. In addition, all of the five existing this moment lava lakes are very difficult to access. One in general in Antarctica, in the crater of the volcano Erebus (Erebus). Try it, get it! Another - recently reappeared in the crater of Halemaumau (Halemaumau) Hawaiian volcano Kilauea (Kilauea) - is closed to visitors for security reasons: apparently, the Americans are playing it safe. There are also lava lakes in the craters of the Marum and Benbow volcanoes on the island of Ambrim in Vanuatu, but getting there is also not easy, and because of weather conditions they are not always visible. And finally, two lava lakes are located in Africa. The lake in Erta-Ale volcano, which we have already mastered, can only be reached during an expensive multi-day jeep expedition through one of the hottest and most unsuitable deserts in the world. Another - in the crater of the Nyiragongo volcano - is located just a dozen and a half kilometers from the million-plus city of Goma, and it is easy to reach it in just a day. But - and with lava lakes there is always a but - it is located on the territory of the Congo, and this imposes its own characteristics on a visit.

Goma is located on the coast of Lake Kivu (Kivu) right on the border with Rwanda. This former prestigious Belgian resort has been in the news in recent decades, not in the best light: in connection with the armed groups that are hiding in the Congo after the Rwandan genocide, then in connection with the volcanic eruption in 2002, which wiped out half the city, then in apocalyptic forecasts of a limnological catastrophe, the cause of which will be the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide and methane dissolved in the depths of the Kivu.

If you are worried "for our tourists in the Congo", do not worry - it is in the Congo that the largest contingent of peacekeepers in the world is stationed - about 20 thousand. Of these, about a quarter are located in the province of Nord-Kivu, and several thousand - directly in Goma. So Goma is a place of calm, at least compared to the chaos that is going on in other parts of the former Zaire.

Military conflicts in the area have long subsided, but for several years the volcano remained closed to visitors. The Virunga Park Authority was forced to restrict access to some parts of the park, including the volcano, due to coal burners. Those who live close to the office of Gazprom should be reminded that food in Africa is mostly cooked on charcoal, as a result, deforestation is big business. For several years, armed groups of coal burners fought with the rangers of the national park, until finally the "forest brothers" were pacified. Since March 2010, the park has been reopened to tourists.

At the border we were met by a guide named Emmanuel (a pygmy, although he himself denies this). After giving him dollars for visas, we froze in anticipation on a bare patch of land between Rwanda and Congo, not daring to take out our cameras and capture photogenic African women who rushed from border to border with amazing dexterity, carrying huge basins of watermelons or cabbage on their heads. Soon Emmanuel returned with a letter from the head of immigration himself, and just half an hour later, after our names, ages and places of work were manually recorded in three places, yellow fever vaccination certificates were carefully examined, and passports were stamped, we were freed from bureaucratic ties. .

A car with equipment was waiting for us on the other side of the barrier. A year ago, when we first visited the city on foot, burdened with backpacks, Goma seemed to us an ominous post-apocalyptic hole. But now, looking at her from the window of a jeep, Goma was not much different from another large African city. Picking up tickets at the central office of the national park and a cook with provisions at the watchtowers of the airport's partially lava-filled 2002 eruption, we rushed to the volcano.

At the bottom we were met by rangers with AK-47s, to each of which several additional magazines with cartridges were attached with electrical tape. According to the guest book, ascents occur several times a week. The first part of the climb leads through a tropical forest, whose trees, those that survived the charcoal burners, seem to be embraced by solidified lava, which, surprisingly, did not burn the tree, but simply decided to envelop its base. Orchids are nodding overhead. The Gaboon viper, one of the deadliest snakes on the continent, lurks in the bushes, but we notice it and bypass it. On the passes, sharp porous stones dig into tired buttocks - this is reminiscent of the lava of the 2002 eruption, when a crack opened in the volcano at an altitude of 2800 meters, through which a lake of fire flowed out, but the lava did not reach the city, but stopped here. Lava from another fissure that opened just a few kilometers from the airport flattened half of Goma and stopped just as it reached Lake Kivu. From a crack at an altitude of 2800 meters, steam is coming down - this, as the guide explained, is rainwater that has seeped into hot rocks.

At an altitude of 3000 meters, the landscape changes dramatically - we are suddenly surrounded by a forest of giant lobelia. At this height they stand like bizarre trees, but the higher up the slope they get smaller and smaller, more like plantations of cabbages than trees.

Another steep climb and we reach the edge of the crater. It hasn't gotten dark yet. The walls of the crater go down in terraces, marking the past levels of the lava lake. It seethes a few hundred meters below us. In daylight, the lake looks almost calm, but as darkness falls, the activity of the volcano increases, and it begins to resemble a huge boiling cauldron of tomato soup. We set up camp and taste our chef's cooking.

Climbing Nyiragongo, contemplating a lava lake and descending took less than a day and cost five thousand dollars per person, that is, about the same amount as visiting other famous sights of the region costs. We tasted these delights earlier - and flew in balloons over the vast expanses of the Serengeti, and looked into the eyes of mountain gorillas in Rwanda, and visited other lava lakes ... But, standing on the edge of the Nyiragongo crater, holding hands tightly, as if holding each other from the alluring kaleidoscope of the deadly lake, we did not for a second remember the spent forces, money, kilometers or time that we had to sacrifice in order to see for ourselves, with our own eyes, what our planet is capable of.

In hot Ethiopia there are many natural attractions. Interestingly, they are completely opposite in their own way. appearance. The picturesque Lake Tana, which is a real breath of life among the hot deserts, National parks, savannas and many kilometers of desert sands, amazing volcanoes. Erta Ale Volcano is a landmark of Ethiopia, which is as famous all over the world as fantastic.

Ancient volcano in Ethiopia

"Smoking Mountain" - this is how the name of this hot "lake" is translated from the local dialect. Erta Ale is located below sea level in the "Afar triangle", where constant volcanic activity is manifested.

The caldera of the volcano has dimensions of 1.6 x 0.7 km. It is a basalt shield volcano in origin. Since 1967, a troubled education has periodically disturbed environment new lava eruptions.

Lava lake in Erta Ale crater

In the north-east of the country, in the hot region of Afar, there is the famous one, in the crater of which a hot lake splashes, in which instead of water there is viscous boiling lava. There are only five such volcanoes in the world. Erta Ale "distinguished himself" here as well. It is the only one in which there are two boiling lakes at once!

From a bird's eye view, boiling water looks very beautiful. Red-orange fiery streaks are visible on its surface, the pattern of which is constantly changing. At times, lava overflows the bowl of the lake of fire and flows out in powerful streams.

In 2007, a hot lava flow formed a new pattern. February 2010 was the starting point when lava levels began to skyrocket. 30 meters - and in November of the same year, hot drops with pops and explosions rose into the air.

Erta Ale Research

One of the unique wonders of nature attracts daredevils who are not afraid of high temperatures and the risk to life. Researchers began studying lava lakes in depth in 1971. The expedition, led by Garun Taziyev, for the first time conducted a thorough analysis of the lava and the state of the volcano.

The gases escaping to the surface were heated to 1220C. The power of thermal radiation reached 30 kW per 1 sq. meter. In the molten mass, the temperature was incredible: about +600C on the surface of the volcanic crust, and at a depth of 60-70 cm it reached +900C!

Mysterious and scorched by the hot sun, there are many surprises. The unusual volcano Erta Ale is a natural attraction that is both dangerous and attractive at the same time.

Lava lakes of Erta Ale volcano photo

Seeing the photographs of this volcano, I immediately remembered Volcano Nyiragongo ! Well, look, they are even easy to confuse. Perhaps I saw both volcanoes on the Internet before, I did not think that they were the same. Let's take a closer look at this fiery lake!

In the northeast of Ethiopia, in the Danakil Desert, the active Erta Ale volcano is located, in the crater of which you can see flows of molten lava escaping from the very center of the earth. Due to the constant activity, as a result of which clouds of smoke continually appear above the surface of the volcano, Erta Ale volcano got its name, which means “Smoking volcano” in Russian.

This is the most inaccessible volcano on the planet. This is not one volcano, but a whole chain called Erta Ale. This is the only volcano in the world that has two lava lakes at once.

Erta Ale is a basalt shield volcano, one of the five volcanoes on our planet, in the heart of which there is a lava lake. But only Erta Ale has not one, but two such sites. The tectonic pattern on the surface of the lava lakes of the Erta Ale volcano is constantly changing. Here you can see both long-frozen areas of magma, forming a thin crust, and very fresh, easily destroyed islands. This process is accompanied by chaotic splashes of bright red molten lava and emissions of accumulated gas. The chemical composition of Erta Ale magma is compared with deep-sea volcanoes located in the middle part of the mountain range at the bottom of the ocean. In both cases, there is a low content of silicic acid in the magma.

The Afar tectonic basin is a piece of land melted by magma between three tectonic plates. The Danakil Desert is the hottest and most inhospitable desert on the planet. The desert has never been hospitable to travelers, especially because of the cruel customs of the Afars, one of their favorite rites was castration.

At the bottom of a huge destroyed crater is the lava lake Erta Ale. The lake is surrounded by faults, which were formed by mini shocks, which can throw whole pieces out of the lake. The lava in the lake is more seething than that of the Nyiragongo volcano, which also has a lava lake.

A lava lake is a huge accumulation of magma, which is gradually mixed with the help of a current. These currents arise from the bowels of the earth and never stop, thus, the red-hot magma rises higher and higher, comes to the surface, cools down, and again plunges into this process is called convective exchange. Since the lava lake exists for a long time for warm flows that change the lake, it becomes necessary to compensate for the loss of heat from the flows on the surface by further sinking. This balance is very fragile and complex. When this balance is disturbed, the lake cools down, as happened in 2004, for example. In a frozen state, the lake remained for 20 months, it froze, became like soil, and it was possible to walk on it. A lava lake is part of the life of a volcano, Erta Ale did not always have such a lake, because it arose under water. Erta Ale grew to its current size in about 3-4 million years.

The first evidence of the emergence of a lava lake on Erta Ala dates back to 1890. At that time, no one got here, but thanks to the red reflections, it could be assumed that there was a lava lake at the top. The first researchers appeared here in 1960, by that time there are documented evidence of the presence of a lake of fire.

Here, a delicate balance is observed between the surface of the lake, air temperature and recharge from below. Red-hot lava rises from the womb, cools, forming a black shell, and immediately rolls down, displaced from its pedestal by a new portion of red-hot stones rising from below. Sometimes the pressure reaches such proportions that the lake literally explodes, throwing up fiery splashes to a height of up to 40 meters.

Approximately every 30 years, the volcano shows its true strength, forcing everyone living in the vicinity to save themselves.

In recent years, the volcano has become more unpredictable. If in 2004 the lake in the crater of the volcano turned into a tectonic stronghold, holding out in this state for almost 20 months, then in November 2010 the volcano woke up with unexpected force. The eruption was accompanied by tremors that significantly affected the state of faults in northeast Africa. Scientists are closely monitoring changes in the activity of the volcano, as it is located in an important seismic zone called the Afar Triangle. Noticeable plate shifts and an increase in the width of faults can significantly change the geographical map of our planet, in particular, affect the entire African continent.

From year to year, steadfastly overcoming all the difficulties of a dangerous journey, about 500-1000 tourists and researchers get to the crater of the volcano. Being so close to the center of the volcano is incredibly difficult due to the high air temperature (about 50 ° C) and acid fumes. Moreover, to get to the lava lakes in the mouth of the volcano, you need to walk about 13 km on foot.

A few tourists can come to the very edge of the crater, there are no fences and prohibitions - it is suggested to be guided by common sense.

The sight is fascinating, as the lake lives its own life - lava splashes, freezes, cracks, breaks, sinks into pieces in fresh magma and all this is accompanied by flashes of glow, a cacophony of sounds and jets of steam.

This is how the blogger describes his trip to the volcano vikaspb :

it's worth it, the impressions that you get when you stand on the edge for half an hour and look into the real Hell of the boiling magmatic Lake Erta Ale….

In January 2011, I finally got to the north of Ethiopia, which I had been dreaming about for almost a year. Getting there is not easy, and not exactly cheap. To reduce costs, 9 more fellow travelers were found, 4 cars were ordered that can withstand complete impassability, sands, lava fields, acidic soils.

Almost 3 days of travel ... .. One car broke down in the sand and had to be abandoned, in the remaining 3, besides us, 10, 4 drivers, a guide, 2 cooks, a couple more armed guards were planted to guard ( they would have planted more, but there was no longer a place, some had to go on the roof))) and even in the trunk). Before approaching the volcano, we passed a local village in the province of Afar, where they paid quite a decent amount for travel through their territory, they took 1 more person:

We arrived at the camp at the foot of the volcano quite late, almost at 5 pm. We wanted to before, but because of the constant breakdowns of cars, we lost a lot of time. And we still had to march towards the crater - almost 13.5 km along the lava field! Taking water, putting on a photo backpack and a tripod, I and two other frisky guys *ran* to the top in 2.5 hours!)))))) We could hardly hold our legs by the end, but we were not going to give up the main thing - the trip to the Crater itself .

The spectacle struck us even on the way ... ... Darkness, the crunch of lava under our feet, the constant search for places where you can step on and where you can’t (by the light of a flashlight, little is clear at all), and .... a fiery glow over the Crater! The ejection of magma is accompanied by a strong emission of gases, which, when illuminated from below, form an unrealistically beautiful plume ....

For almost an hour we made our way to this crater, in the dark trying to find *solid* ground ... .. To say that it was scary means to say nothing .... To say that it was mortally dangerous means also to say nothing. The risk of this event is 100 percent. It was not easy for us to run through the frozen lava field, we were on the upper thin magmatic crust. And at any moment they could fall into any *pit* with the boiling brew of the Earth. At some point this happened to me... the thin upper layer broke and the knee-deep leg went inside, from where it wafted heat. I almost panicked, as I well remembered my trip to Guatemala, with a trip to the Pacaya volcano, where we wandered 3 meters from the flowing lava, and all the cracks around were blazing with heat. And, ... thank God, everything worked out ....

Crater……

Incredible spectacle of real HELL!! A huge cauldron with gurgling and boiling liquid. Fascinating….attracting….and frightening…..

general information

The constant activity of the volcano has been going on since 1967; at the same time, hot lava flows periodically pour out of its crater (such volcanoes, formed from layers of spilled lava, are called shield volcanoes). With each of its eruption, it rises higher and higher above the Danakil depression; now its height is already 613 m.

In 1971, an expedition led by Garun Taziev conducted the first study of the Erta Ale volcano. The temperature of the gas outlet varied from 1125 to 1200 ° C. The thermal radiation power of the lake averaged 30 kilowatts per square meter. The temperature directly in the mass of the melt was 600° on the surface of the dark crust, and 900° at a depth of 70 centimeters.

In recent years, the Erta Ale volcano has become more unpredictable. If in 2004 the lake in the crater of the volcano turned into a tectonic stronghold, holding out in this state for almost 20 months, then in November 2010 the volcano woke up with unexpected force. The lake now and then changes its level and pattern of fiery bands, lava flows periodically flow out of it. Since February 2010, the level of the lake has risen by more than 30 meters, which eventually led to the overflow of the lake and explosive ejections of red-hot lava drops into the air from November 2010. The eruption was accompanied by shocks that significantly affected the condition of the faults in the East Africa. Scientists are closely monitoring changes in the activity of the volcano, as it is located in an important seismic zone called the Afar Triangle. Noticeable plate shifts and an increase in the width of faults can significantly change the geographical map of our planet, in particular, affect the entire African continent.