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Photograph by George Steinmetz
Evoking a scene from biblical times, caravans arrive at the salt mines of Lake Asele, 381 feet below sea level. For centuries salt blocks, called amole, were used throughout Ethiopia as money.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
Workers at Lake Afrera process raw salt. Production was temporarily halted last year when a volcano in neighboring Eritrea erupted, blanketing the salt in ash.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
At a salt-extraction facility in northern Ethiopia, briny water is pumped from hypersalty Lake Afrera into evaporation ponds.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
Ancient lava flows near the Awash River in Ethiopia resemble the vertebrae of a fossilized beast.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
Sulfur and algae turn hot springs into pools of living color. The water is condensation from hot gases rising from magma chambers. As the water evaporates, salts and minerals form a vivid crust.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
Groundwater heated to boiling goes up in steam at a geyser field northwest of Lake Abbe.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
A lake of lava bubbles atop Erta Ale, the region's most active volcano.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
Restless faults have tilted these massive slabs of bedrock like dominoes. One of the canyons provides a highway corridor for truck traffic moving between Ethiopia and Djibouti.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
Sculpted by winds that consistently blow from east to west, sand dunes called barchans migrate across an ancient seafloor, rising about six feet and spreading 20 to 30 feet across.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
Ramparts of salt, mud, and potash, some 80 feet tall, rise above a maze of canyons and crags on the flank of Dallol Mountain. The tortuous shapes are the work of storms and flash floods.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
Spires called travertine chimneys are fashioned by mineral-bearing vapor rising from underground magma chambers. As the vapor evaporates, it deposits minerals around each vent.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
Djibouti's Lake Assal is one of the world's saltiest lakes. Intense heat and strong winds fuel rapid evaporation, leaving a bathtub ring of minerals around the lake's shore.
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Photograph by George Steinmetz
Lake Assal marks Africa's lowest point, 512 feet below sea level. A Djibouti-based salt-production company calls the lake the "largest undeveloped salt reserve in the world."
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