What is "dallol"

n. (context geography English) A kind of watercourse found in parts of West Africa.

Dallol is one of the woredas in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. This woreda is named for the former mining settlement of Dallol, which set the record for the hottest inhabited place on Earth, with an average temperature of 34° C. Located at the northernmost point of the Administrative Zone 2, Dallol's territory includes part of the Afar Depression. This woreda is bordered on the south by Koneba, on the west by the Tigray Region, on the north by Eritrea, and on the east and south by Berhale. Detailed information is not available for the settlements in this woreda.

The average elevation in this woreda is 660 meters above sea level; high points include Mount Hayle and Mount Dabshado, which are part of the Ethiopian highlands. Rivers include the Ragali. , Afambo has 150 kilometers of all-weather gravel road; about 22.33% of the total population has access to drinking water.

Dallol is a volcanic explosion crater (or maar) in the Danakil Depression, northeast of the Erta Ale Range in Ethiopia. It has been formed by the intrusion of basaltic magma in Miocene salt deposits and subsequent hydrothermal activity. Phreatic eruptions took place here in 1926, forming Dallol Volcano, numerous other eruption craters dot the salt flats nearby. These craters are the lowest known subaerial volcanic vents in the world, at over 45 m (150 ft) below sea level. The most recent major activity was in October 2004 when the shallow magma chamber beneath Dallol deflated and fed a magma intrusion southwards beneath the rift.

Numerous hot springs are discharging brine and acidic liquid here. Widespread are small, temporary geysers which are forming cones of salt.

The term Dallol was coined by the Afar people and means dissolution or disintegration describing a landscape made up of green acid ponds ( pH-values less than 1) iron oxide, sulfur and salt desert plains. The area resembles the hot springs areas of Yellowstone Park.

Dallol may refer to:

• Dallol, Ethiopia
• Dallol (woreda)
• Dallol (volcano)