Wonder
Allalobed geysers and hot springs
In short
Surprisingly little known is the beautiful geothermal area south from Tendaho and Dubti.
42.3%
GPS coordinates
Alternate names
Map of the site
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In detail
This area is named "Allalobad" – "the waters of Allah", but often is named after the nearby villages.
Allolabad is dotted with steam vents and small craters of hot mud and hissing gases, but most beautiful are several pools of hot water. These pools have an unusual, deep green, blue and yellow color. They are incredibly deep and are filled with hot, steaming water.
In one pool there is observed nearly constant geyser – Allallobeda Spouter, which often is 6 m tall but in rare cases – even 30 m tall. The surface of the water in this pool is 97°C hot.
There is one more geyser in another spring – it is just 0.3 m tall. Some more springs are pulsating, sometimes boiling more intensely.
Springs are depositing sinter deposits and there are fossilized remnants of plants and insects. Local Afar people are washing their clothes in less hot pools nearby – water has fine abilities to remove stains.
Further to the north-west there are remnants of an earlier, extinct geothermal field.
References
- John Kalb. Adventures in the Bone Trade. The race to Discover Human Ancestors in Ethiopia’s Afar Depression. 2001.
- Image of geyser by Mark Haldane, Flickr.
Allalobed geysers and hot springs are included in the following article:
Linked articles
Wonders of Ethiopia
Ethiopia is a very interesting country with a rich cultural and natural heritage. Highlights of Ethiopian heritage are its rock-cut churches, ancient stelae, and megaliths as well as places, where are found some of the oldest hominins and humans in the world.
Geysers
Hasty hydrogeologists would say: geysers are thermodynamically and hydrodynamically unstable hot springs. “Normal” people would say – geysers are hot springs that at more or less regular intervals shoot up a fountain of boiling water and steam. Sometimes these fountains are even 100 m tall… or even 450 m!
Springs
Powerful natural freshwater springs belong to the most fascinating monuments of nature. Even more exciting is the diversity of unusual springs – mineral springs, hot springs, submarine springs as well as the unusual black smokers. Especially beautiful are such natural rarities as travertine, silica, or salt terraces created by warm and hot springs and, especially, geysers.
Recommended books
Landscapes and Landforms of Ethiopia
This book provides a succinct but comprehensive presentation of key geomorphological locations and topics including information about geomorphological heritage and maps to visit the most important sites.
Ethiopia
The bestselling guide to Ethiopia in recent years, this fully updated seventh edition of Philip Briggs’ acclaimed guide reveals an ancient country that continues to surpass all expectations: from the ancient Judaic cultures of the fertile highlands to the Animist people of the South Omo Valley, from the Afroalpine moorland of the Bale Mountains National Park to the thundering Blue Nile Falls.
