Michael Van Ewijk Gallery

Afar salt miner preparing salt blocks at Lake Assal

Afar salt miner preparing salt blocks at Lake Assal. Except during the heat of summer, Afar tribesmen make the 100 km round trip with camel caravans to the salt lakes. Blocks of salt are cut from the lake crust and loaded onto camels. Almost all of Ethiopia's salt production comes from Lake Assal. Danakil Depression, Afar Region, Ethiopia

© Michael Van Ewijk/AUSCAPE All rights reserved

The wreck of the Maheno once a luxury passenger ship that came to grief

The wreck of the Maheno once a luxury passenger ship that came to grief in June 1935. The wreck was used for bombing practice during World War II. Maheno Beach is part of Seventy-Five Mile Beach. Great Sandy National Park, Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia

© Michael Van Ewijk/AUSCAPE All rights reserved

Aground, Australia, Australian, Biosphere, Day, Famous Place, Fraser Island, Island, Outdoors, Reserve, Rusted, Seventy Five Mile Beach, Ship, Shipwreck, Stranded, Tourism, Travel Destination, Vessel, World Heritage Area, World Heritage Site, Wreck

Hydrothermal field at Dallol volcano in the Danakil Depression

Hydrothermal field at Dallol volcano in the Danakil Depression. At 48 metres below sea level, Dallol is Earth's lowest land volcano. Its craters contain hot springs that boast a whole range of otherworldly colours - including neon yellow - thanks to the hot magma bubbling below the surface. This magma heats the groundwater that flows into the area from the nearby highlands, and as the heated groundwater moves up towards the surface, it dissolves salt, sulphur, potash and other minerals and deposits them in the Dallol craters. The supersaturated brine emerges through hot springs in the floor of the craters. As the brines evaporate in the hot arid climate, extensive salt formations are formed on the floor of the craters. These are coloured white, yellow, brown, orange and green by sulfur, dissolved iron, mud and the life activity of halophile algae. Ethiopia

© Michael Van Ewijk/AUSCAPE All rights reserved