Afar Rift Home Page
Map of the Afar region. Inset: Africa
The Afar Rift, Ethiopia
In the remote Afar depression in northern Ethiopia, the African Continent is slowly splitting apart and a new ocean is forming.
In September 2005, a series of fissures opened along the Afar Depression. Over 10 days, the rift pulled apart by eight metres. Local people told of a series of earthquakes and how ash darkened the air for three days.
This process of ocean formation is normally hidden deep beneath the seas, but in Afar we can walk across the region as the Earth's surface splits apart.
The Afar Rift Consortium is a project funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The consortium is made up of scientists from the Universities of Leeds, Bristol, Oxford, Edinburgh, and Cambridge, and the British Geological Survey, with partners in Ethiopia, France and the US. Its aim is to conduct a major set of experiments in this unique natural laboratory, to further understand the processes involved in shaping the surface of the Earth.
NEWS
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR THE MAGMATIC RIFTING AND ACTIVE VOLCANISM CONFERENCE
The conference is being held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between 11th and 13th January to mark the end of the five year Afar Rift project. For more details follow the link.
NEW ERUPTION IN AFAR
On 12th June between 15:30 and 21:50 (local time) a series of magnitude five earthquakes were recorded on the Eritrean/Ethiopian border. The source is believed to be an eruption of the Nabro volcano. Local people have been evacuated from the area amid reports of smoke and large rocks falling from the sky. Huge explosions were heard in Afdera 55 miles (90km) and ash falls have been reported in Mekele 150 miles (240 km) west and Semera 130 miles (210km) to the south.
Do you want to hear an earthquake?
Click here for the audio recording of a series of earthquakes along the Gulf of Aden in November 2010 and click here for a more detailed explanation and more earthquake noises
Magmatic Rifting and Active Volcanism Conference, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, January 2012
