Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake in the Afar Region of Ethiopia linked to activity on Mount Dafan.

The Ethiopian Geological Institute has reported a Magnitude 5.8 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km, in the Awash Fentale Woreda (District) of the Afar Region of Ethiopia, about 150 km to the northeast of Addis Ababa, slightly after 4.50 am local time (slightly after 0.50 am GMT) on Saturday 4 January 2025. There are no reports of any damage or injuries arising from this quake, but it was felt as far away as Addis Ababa, and it is possible that some minor damage has occurred.

The approximate location of the 4 January 2024 Ethiopian Earthquake. USGS.

This is the latest in a series of Earthquakes in the Central Ethiopia, which began in the third week of December 2024. Clusters of Earthquakes are concerning in northern or central Ethiopia, as the area is volcanic, and seismic movements can be linked to magma moving into chambers beneath volcanoes from deeper in the Earth, which in turn can be a predictor of future volcanic eruptions. On this occasion the Ethiopian Geological Institute has suggested that the Earthquakes may be linked to a fissure eruption on Mount Dafan, a shield volcanoe in the Dulacha Woreda, which opened on 2 January producing a sustained jet of steam and hot water. Residents of the area have been evacuated as a precaution against a future, larger eruption.

A vent which opened on Mount Dafan in the Dulacha Woreda of Ethiopia on 3 January 2024, producing a sustained jet of steam and hot water. Ethiopian Geological Institute/Facebook.

The deserts of Northern Ethiopia and Southern Eritrea are extremely volcanically active, with dozens of volcanoes fed by an emerging divergent margin along the East African Rift. The African Plate is slowly splitting apart along the Ethiopian Rift and the East African Rift to the south (which is splitting the Nubian Plate to the West from the Somali Plate to the East). Arabia was a part of Africa till about thirty million years ago, when it was split away by the opening of the Red Sea Rift (part of the same rift system), and in time the Ethiopian and East African Rifts are likely to split Africa into a number of new landmasses. This rifting exerts pressure on the rocks around the margin of the sea, slowly pushing them apart, not smoothly but in fits and starts as the pressure overcomes the tendency of the rocks to stick together, creating shocks that we experience as Earthquakes.

Rifting in East Africa. The Danakil Microplate is the red triangle to the east of the Afar depression at the southern end of the Red Sea. Università degli Studi di Firenze.

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Magnitude 5.6 Earthquake to the south of Massawa, Eritrea.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.6 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km, roughly 42 km to the south of the city of Massawa in central Eritrea, at about 8.15 pm local time (about 5.15 pm GMT) on Tuesday 1 August 2023. There are no reports of any damage or injuries from this quake, but people have reported feeling the event in Asmara, the capitol of Eritrea, as well as in Tigray Province, Ethiopia.

The approximate location of the 1 August 2023 Eritrea Earthquake. USGS.

The deserts of Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea are extremely volcanically active, with dozens of volcanoes fed by an emerging divergent margin along the East African Rift; the volcano Erta Ale is on the Ethiopian Rift, the boundary between the Nubian Plate and the Danakil Microplate. The African Plate is slowly splitting apart along the Ethiopian Rift and the East African Rift to the south (which is splitting the Nubian Plate to the West from the Somali Plate to the East). Arabia was a part of Africa till about thirty million years ago, when it was split away by the opening of the Red Sea Rift (part of the same rift system), and in time the Ethiopian and East African Rifts are likely to split Africa into a number of new landmasses. This rifting exerts pressure on the rocks around the margin of the sea, slowly pushing them apart, not smoothly but in fits and starts as the pressure overcomes the tendency of the rocks to stick together, creating shocks that we experience as Earthquakes.

Rifting in East Africa. The Danakil Microplate is the red triangle to the east of the Afar depression at the southern end of the Red Sea. Università degli Studi di Firenze.

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Magnitude 5.5 Earthquake in southern Eritrea.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.5 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km, in southern Eritrea, roughly 64 km to the north of the city of Ādīgrat in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, slightly after 3.20 pm local time (slightly after 12.20 pm GMT) on Monday 26 December 2022. There are no reports of any damage or injuries from this quake, but people may have felt it locally.

The approximate location of the 26 December 2022 Eritrea Earthquake. USGS.

The deserts of Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea are extremely volcanically active, with dozens of volcanoes fed by an emerging divergent margin along the East African Rift; the volcano Erta Ale is on the Ethiopian Rift, the boundary between the Nubian Plate and the Danakil Microplate. The African Plate is slowly splitting apart along the Ethiopian Rift and the East African Rift to the south (which is splitting the Nubian Plate to the West from the Somali Plate to the East). Arabia was a part of Africa till about thirty million years ago, when it was split away by the opening of the Red Sea Rift (part of the same rift system), and in time the Ethiopian and East African Rifts are likely to split Africa into a number of new landmasses. This rifting exerts pressure on the rocks around the margin of the sea, slowly pushing them apart, not smoothly but in fits and starts as the pressure overcomes the tendency of the rocks to stick together, creating shocks that we experience as Earthquakes.

Rifting in East Africa. The Danakil Microplate is the red triangle to the east of the Afar depression at the southern end of the Red Sea. Università degli Studi di Firenze.

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Magnitude 4.4 Earthquake in northeast Eritrea.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 4.4 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km, roughly 91 km to the north of the city of Ak'ordat in the Gash-Barka Region of Eritrea, slightly after 1.20 am local time on Friday 25 December 2020 (slightly after 10.20 pm on Thursday 24 December GMT). There are no reports of any damage or injuries from this quake, but people may have felt it locally.

 

The approximate location of the 25 December 2020 Eritrea Earthquake. USGS.

The deserts of Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea are extremely volcanically active, with dozens of volcanoes fed by an emerging divergent margin along the East African Rift; the volcano Erta Ale is on the Ethiopian Rift, the boundary between the Nubian Plate and the Danakil Microplate. The African Plate is slowly splitting apart along the Ethiopian Rift and the East African Rift to the south (which is splitting the Nubian Plate to the West from the Somali Plate to the East). Arabia was a part of Africa till about thirty million years ago, when it was split away by the opening of the Red Sea Rift (part of the same rift system), and in time the Ethiopian and East African Rifts are likely to split Africa into a number of new landmasses. This rifting exerts pressure on the rocks around the margin of the sea, slowly pushing them apart, not smoothly but in fits and starts as the pressure overcomes the tendency of the rocks to stick together, creating shocks that we experience as Earthquakes.

 

Rifting in East Africa. The Danakil Microplate is the red triangle to the east of the Afar depression at the southern end of the Red Sea. Università degli Studi di Firenze.

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A Middle Pleistocene Acheulean Site from the Central Ethiopian Highlands.

High altitude environments provide a unique set of survival challenges for Modern Humans, and presumably also the earlier Hominins from which we are descended, including reduced oxygen levels, higher exposure to ultra-violet radiation, higher rates of water loss and higher nutrition requirements to support a stressed metabolism. For this reason, the conquest of these environments has always been assumed to be a relatively modern phenomenon, which occurred when Holocene Humans with rising populations began to fill up lowland environments, leading them to explore the less optimal highlands of Europe and Asia.

In a paper published in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology on 24 September 2018, Ralf Vogelsang of the Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Cologne, Olaf Bubenzer of the Institute of Geography at Heidelberg University, Martin Kehl and Svenja Meyer of the Institute of Geography at the University of Cologne, Jürgen Richter, also of the Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Cologne, and Bahru Zinaye of the School of Earth Sciences at Addis Ababa University, describe an Middle Pleistocene Acheulean Site from the Dendi Caldera in the Western Central Highland Plateaus of Ethiopia.

The Dendi Caldera is an extinct volcano on the Yerer-TulluWellel Volcano Tectonic Lineament, which stretches west from the Main Ethiopian Rift as far as the border with Sudan. The volcano is thought to have begun erupting in the Middle Miocene, with activity ceasing less than a million years ago. The rocks of the caldera are largely rhyolites and trachytes, overlain by lava flows with a significant proportion of obsidian (likely to have been valued by stone age tool makers), which are in turn overlain by volcanic ash deposits. The caldera is surrounded by a rim which rises 440 m above the central depression, which contains a double lake fed by springs and seeps within the caldera. The River Huluka, a tributary of the Blue Nile, originates in the caldera.

Mount Dendi. (a) View of Mount Dendi (looking west). (b) View of the two crater lakes within the caldera. (c) Map showing the location of archaeological sites. Vogelsang et al. (2018).

Archaeological material was first discovered in the caldera during a survey by the Collaborative Research Center of the University of Cologne, and two successive expeditions in 2013 and 2015 have revealed a total of 75 archaeological sites. The majority of these are Later Stone Age and Middle Stone Age sites, yielding small amounts of material, but ten of the sites yield Early Stone Age material and are dated to the Middle Pleistocene. Vogelsang et al. concentrate on one of these sites, DEN-12-A02.

DEN-12-A02 is located in the eastern Dendi Caldera, at an altitude of 3000 metres above sea level. The site has yielded both Early Stone Age and Middle Stone Age material, with a total of 65 artifacts (33 flakes, 8 cores, 5 blades, 8 large bifacial tools, 7 small facially retouched points) from two terraces exposed during road construction work. The Early Stone Age material comprises Acheulean material (a technology that appeared about 1.8 million years ago and which is associated with Homo erectus, and sometimes other members of the genus Homo) originating from a layer of dark, reddish clayey soil. This material includes two elongated hand axes, three ovate hand axes, one cordate hand axe, two leaf-shaped scrapers, one ‘Keilmesser’ backed bifacial knife, and a cleaver. The production method of these tools is consistent, which probably implies that they originate from a single temporary occupation of the site. Based upon the complexity of this technology the occupation is considered to date from the Middle-to-Late Acheulean, between 500 000 and 200 000 years ago, a period that brackets the emergence of the first Modern Humans in East Africa.

DEN12-A02 bifacial tools. (1) Flat cordate hand axe, (2) bifacial scraper, (3) ovate hand axe, (4) cleaver-like biface, (5) elongated hand axe, and (6) ‘Keilmesser’ bifacial knife. Vogelsang et al. (2018). 

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Magnitude 5.2 Earthquake in the Afar Region of Ethiopia.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.2 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km, in the northern part of the Afar Region of Ethiopia, slightly before 1.30 pm local time (slightly before 10.30 am GMT) on Saturday 24 March 2018. There are no reports of any damage or injuries arising from this quake, but it was feltlocally, and it is possible that some minor damage has occurred.

The approximate location of the 24 March 2018 Ethiopian Earthquake. USGS.

The deserts of Northern Ethiopia and Southern Eritrea are extremely volcanically active, with dozens of volcanoes fed by an emerging divergent margin along the East African Rift; Erta Ale is on the Ethiopian Rift, the boundary between the Nubian Plate and the Danakil Microplate. The African Plate is slowly splitting apart along the Ethiopian Rift and the East African Rift to the south (which is splitting the Nubian Plate to the West from the Somali Plate to the East). Arabia was a part of Africa till about thirty million years ago, when it was split away by the opening of the Red Sea Rift (part of the same rift system), and in time the Ethiopian and East African Rifts are likely to split Africa into a number of new landmasses. This rifting exerts pressure on the rocks around the margin of the sea, slowly pushing them apart, not smoothly but in fits and starts as the pressure overcomes the tendency of the rocks to stick together, creating shocks that we experience as Earthquakes.

Rifting in East Africa. The Danakil Microplate is the red triangle to the east of the Afar depression at the southern end of the Red Sea. Università degli Studi di Firenze.

Witness accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events, and the structures that cause them. The international non-profit organisation Earthquake Report is interested in hearing from people who may have felt this event; if you felt this quake then you can report it to Earthquake Report here.

 

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German tourist killed on Erte Ale volcano, Ethiopia.

A German tourist has been killed and a local guide injured in a shooting incident on Erte Ale volcano in northeastern Ethiopia on Sunday 3 December 2017. The incident was originally thought to have been carried out by a local militant group, the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Front, who attacked a group of tourists on the volcano in 2012, killing five and abducting several more, but is now thought to have been a tragic accident. The tourist apparently became separated from his group during a walking trip earlier in the day, and was later found by the guide, who had remained on the mountain to search for him after the rest of the party had returned to camp. The two then attempted to make their way off the mountain, but encountered a group of armed guards, sent to the area to protect tourists following the 2012 incident, whom they surprised, approaching them from an unexpected direction and causing them to open fire.

The approximate location of the Erte Ale volcano. Google Maps.

The deserts of Northern Ethiopia and Southern Eritrea are extremely volcanically active, with dozens of volcanoes fed by an emerging divergent margin along the East African Rift; Erta Ale is on the Ethiopian Rift, the boundary between the Nubian Plate and the Danakil Microplate. The African Plate is slowly splitting apart along the Ethiopian Rift and the East African Rift to the south (which is splitting the Nubian Plate to the West from the Somali Plate to the East). Arabia was a part of Africa till about thirty million years ago, when it was split away by the opening of the Red Sea Rift (part of the same rift system), and in time the Ethiopian and East African Rifts are likely to split Africa into a number of new landmasses.

 Rifting in East Africa. The Danakil Microplate is the red triangle to the east of the Afar depression at the southern end of the Red Sea. Università degli Studi di Firenze.

The area is also extremely poor, and politically unstable. Eritrea was a part of Ethiopia until 1993, and fought a long and bloody war for its independence. Since Eritrean independence the two countries have not got on well, and have come into conflict on a number of occasions. An attempt by the United Nations to patrol the border was abandoned some years ago. The border region is home to Eritrean backed rebels against the Ethiopian Government, Ethiopian backed rebels against the Eritrean Government and bandits of little political inclination. The Ethiopian Government has blamed Eritrean backed rebels for the incident, but it is unclear if this claim is backed by any evidence; the Eritrean Government denies this and accuses the Ethiopians of 'fabricating lies' to tarnish Eritrea's reputation.

Western tourists are an attractive target to bandits in impoverished areas such as the Danakil, since they are wealthy by local standards, and are seldom well armed. This makes them easy to rob, and in extreme cases, worth holding for ransom. In addition, where tourists make an important contribution to the local economy the tourist industry, then rebel groups may choose to attack tourists to damage the economy. East and North Africa have seen a number of attacks on tourists in recent decades, at least some of which have clearly been intended specifically to harm the tourist industry.

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