The strain triggered by the splitting Nubian and Somalian plates has created a strange landscape around Lake Abbe.
As the two plates drift apart, the crust above them thins until it cracks.
Magma pushes to the surface through the thin spots and warm underwater springs.
Some of these chimneys reach heights of 50 meters, and puffs of steam vent from the top.
The depression is forming as the African plate splits into the Nubian and Somalian plates.
On the northwest shore rises Mount Dama Ali, a dormant volcano.
