Jim McMahon
Welcome to the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia—one of the harshest environments on Earth! Conditions here are so extreme that some of its water pools host no life at all, according to new research.
The Danakil Depression sits at the intersection of three tectonic plates—large rock slabs that make up Earth’s crust. Cracks between the plates allow melted rock and hot gases to rise to the surface. Those substances make the pools hot, salty, and acidic, or able to eat away at other materials. Scientists collected samples of water to look for tiny organisms in them. In the saltiest and most acidic pools, they didn’t find any organisms at all.
On other planets, conditions are harsh. Studying extreme places on Earth can help scientists understand whether life could exist in those places too, says biologist and study author Purificación López-García.