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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Eruptive activity on Erte Ale.

Eyewitnesses have reported a bout of fresh activity on Erte Ale (or Erta Ale), an active shield volcano in the north of Ethiopia, during the first weeks of January 2017. Infrared cameras mounted on satellites recorded a sharp increase in temperatures beneath the volcano on 19 December 2016, with temperatures remaining high at the time of writing. The volcano was visited by a group of tourists travelling with Volcano Discovery on 16-19 January, who reported lava fountains and lava overtopping the crater, producing lava rivers on several flanks. On 21 January local residents reported a new fissure on the southeast flank of the volcano, about 7 km from the caldera, producing a significant lava flow.

Lava overflowing the caldera of Erta Ale on 17 January 2017. Enku Mulugeta/Volcano Discovery.

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.

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The magma chamber beneath the Erta Ale Volcano.

Erta Ale (or Erte Ale) is an active shield volcano in the north of Ethiopia, close to the border with Eritrea. Geologically it 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.

In a paper in the April edition of the journal Nature Geoscience a team of scientists lead by Carolina Pagli of the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds detail the mapping of a magma chamber beneath Erta Ale using an array of seismic monitoring stations across Ethiopia, combined with data from a number of satellites, and its implications for the Ethiopian Rift.

Map of Ethiopia showing the location of seismic monitoring stations used in the study (white triangles), epicenters of quakes monitored during the survey and location of Erta Ale (black box). The team were able to measure the shape of the magma chamber by monitoring the way pressure waves from Earthquakes were deflected. Pagli et al. (2012), supplementary information.

The study revealed that Erta Ale has a shallow elongate magma chamber extending from the volcano several kilometers to the northeast. The rock formations beneath the volcano were also crosscut by a dike (vertical sheet intrusion) and a sill (horizontal sheet intrusion).

Diagrammatic map of Erta Ale. Contour lines reflect surface elevation. The grey area is the magma chamber, the red line the dike, the blue squares on the grid of the sill. Pagli et al. (2012).

An elongate magma chamber has implications for the Ethiopian Rift. This is usually considered to be a slow moving rift as it is currently spreading at a rate of about 12 mm a year. Shallow elongate magma chambers are more usually associated with fast spreading rifts, over 40 mm per year, whereas volcanoes on slow moving rifts tend to have deeper and more-or-less circular magma chambers. Pagli et al. theorise that the extreme dry climate of northern Ethiopia may facilitate the preservation of a chamber structure that would be unstable in a wetter climate.

During the course of the study the team were able to monitor an eruption on Erta Ale in October-November 2008 (this is a very common event here), during which magma flowed through the magma chamber into the sill and dike system before erupting as a lava flow at the surface.

Fresh lava in the crater of Erta Ale in 2008. Stromboli online.

See also Earthquake off the coast of Mozambique, Earthquake shakes Lake Turkana in Kenya, Tourists attacked on Erte Ale volcano, Eruption in the Zubair Archiapelago, in the southern Red Sea and Volcanoes on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

Tourists attacked on Erte Ale volcano.

News has emerged this week of a group of tourists being attacked on the crater rim of the Erte Ale volcano, in the Danakil Depression in Northern Ethiopia at about 1.00 am local time on Tuesday 17 Januar 2012. The reported to have resulted in the death of five tourists, two Germans, two Austrians and a Hungarian. A further two German tourists and two Ethiopians have apparently been abducted, while seven more members of the party, are being treated at a hospital in Semera; one local policeman and six tourists from Germany, Hungary and Italy. The group were traveling with the tour company Volcano Discovery, who are trying to find out more about the incident.

A permanent lava-lake in the crater of Erte Ale makes the volcano popular with tourists, despite it's remote location.

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; Africa is literally splitting in two along the Great Rift Valley. To the north Arabia has already split away from Africa, forming the Red Sea, and the Danakil Depression is likely to unzip in a similar fashion in the next few million years.

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.

A number off attacks on tourists in Kenya, close to the Somali border, have been blamed on Islamic militants linked to the al-Shabab religious faction in Somalia. This has provoked a strong reaction from Kenya, including several military incursions into Somalia. Kenya has also accused Eritrea of backing the militants, a charge which Eritrea denies.

Somali pirates have also targeted pleasure cruisers and private yachts on the Indian Ocean, as well as container ships and oil tankers, though this is probably more motivated by the potential for financial gain than political considerations.

In 1999 Rwandan Rebels attacked and killed a number of western tourists in Bwindi National Park in Uganda, in a direct move to harm the Ugandan tourist industry. The Ugandan Government is a close ally of the Rwandan Government of Paul Kagame, who came to power in a bloody conflict following the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.

Egypt has also seen a string of attacks on Western tourists by suspected Islamic militants, throughout the 90s and 00s. It is unclear what the future will bring, as a number of formerly banned religious groups in Egypt seem keen to take part in the democratic process following the popular uprisings of 2011, and may therefore be less enthusiastic to harm the economy.

See also Eruption in the Zubair Archipelago, Eruptions on Mount Nyamuragira in the Virungu National Park, Eruptions on Mount Ebro and Volcanoes on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.