PHOTOS: Is This the Hottest Place on Earth?

Dallol sits on the Danakil Depression in northern Ethiopia. According to geology.com, salt deposits formed in the soil as water from the Red Sea flooded the basin as the depression was forming.

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The Dallol Volcano is the lowest known volcano on Earth, at 157 feet below sea level, according to National Geographic. A potash mining settlement of the same name existed nearby until the 1960s, and was recorded as one of the hottest continuously inhabited places on Earth. On average, the temperature in the Danakil Depression exceeds 100 every day of the year, except turing January and February, where the average is 97 degrees Christopher Burt recorded in his book Extreme Weather.

The landscape is dangerous, as the craters sometimes release toxic gases, and hot, acidic water exists just below the salty crust.

The most recent eruption occurred in 1926, but the existing magma below the surfice heats groundwater, creating hot springs. As the hot water moves through the mineral-rich soil, a brine is created in the neon colors seen in the above photos.