Afar Dallol Drilling – ONset of sedimentary processes in an active rift basin (ADD-ON): Scientific drilling targets in the Afar (Ethiopia)

<p>Since the early days of the continental drift theory, the Afar triangle developed into an ideal field laboratory where the onset of continental and future oceanic rifting can be studied in detail. The Danakil Depression is the northern portion of the Afar triangle, bordered to the west by the Ethiopian Plateau and to the East by the Danakil Horst, and characterised by active rifting since Oligocene times. Seismo-stratigraphic interpretations based on industrial seismic sections, core and borehole data evidence the presence of Pleistocene evaporite units to a depth of about 900 m below the Dallol salt pan (central Danakil Depression, northern Afar). However, to date no sub-salt sedimentary core records have been available from the central part of the rift basin filled with likely more than 1.5 km of sediments.</p><p>The ADD-ON drilling project aims to get access to the sub-salt sedimentary archives of the Danakil basin. The overall goal is to understand sedimentary facies evolution in an active rift setting paced by global environmental fluctuations and their interplay with volcano-tectonic events. Having future access to scientific core records will give new insights into (1) the mechanical understanding of intermittent and incipient basin dynamics in an initial extensive continental rift basin: from rifting towards the development of passive margins, (2) East African climatic changes and Hominin evolution, (3) the limits of the deep biosphere in extreme hypersaline and high-temperature environments below the salt deposits, (4) natural fluid flow in an active geothermal system, and (5) monitoring of active faults, earthquakes and volcanic events in remote areas. Moreover, deep scientific drilling in Afar will be necessary in the rapid assessment of geothermal potential, the quest for ground water resources and advanced Potash exploitation.</p>

The Rise of New Forms of Power in Africa: The Emergence of Big Men in the Afar Region of Ethiopia

This article chronicles the emergence of a new form of power in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. The Afar people are predominantly Muslim pastoralists who live in a territory referred to as the Afar-Triangle (located in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea). Fieldwork for this study was conducted on Dobi in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, the second largest salt mining site in Ethiopia. In 2004, Dobi fell under the control of an individual by the name of As Mohammed Humed Yayyo. This article focuses on this specific Big Man. Since his emergence, this Big Man became the sole power figure who grants access to mine salt on Dobi and who collects taxes. The nature of the relation between the Big Man and the Ethiopian State has been fluid and is characterised by collaboration and conflict.

Janet Biggs

This is the first substantive career interview with installation artist Janet Biggs. Biggs discusses her motivation for making installations, rather than theatrical films, and the different ways in which moviegoers and visitors to installations experience moving image art. Biggs describes her experiences traveling to the ends of the earth to record compelling imagery in the Arctic, at a sulfur-mining operation inside a volcano in Indonesia, and in the Afar triangle region of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, Her many wide-ranging conceptual videos explore various forms of physical labor and athletic endeavor from football to water ballet and synchronized swimming to NASCAR, as well as the mysteries of Alzheimer’s disease and attempts to break the on-land speed record.