Dallol Alien Crater - Astounding Alien Landscape On Earth

Dallol in Ethiopia has the landscape akin to an alien planet. Dallol means in Ethiopian "disintegrated". The Dallol volcano crater has earned the name nickname Alien Crater. Dallol Volcano is not a real volcano. Here, in the thick salt layers has intruded basaltic magma. As the groundwater descends deeper, it meets overheated rocks and turns into vapour. When the pressure of vapour reaches critical level, the ground (here - salt) above this superheated vapour is blown off in spectacular explosion, leaving a crater - maar. Last time such explosion took place in 1926, some 1.5 km to the south-west from the main crater of Dallol Volcano. Now in the site of this explosion is located deep, 30 m wide, round pit, filled with orange brine. The temperature there is rather hot, even for the desert. On average it has between 90 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The colors there range from white yellow, to green to red. This is due to the presence of sulfur, iron oxide and salt minerals.