Ethiopia's most active volcano is widely known as the "smoking mountain" and the "gateway to hell" as spills out large amounts of lava. 

Erta Ale (or Ertale or Irta'ale) is a continuously active basaltic shield volcano situated in the Afar Region of northeastern Ethiopia. It can be located in the Afar Depression, a badland desert area spanning the border with Eritrea. 

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It is standing at 613 metres (2,011 ft) high and is famous for the longest-existing lava lake within it that's been there since the early years of the twentieth century (1906). Erta Ale is at the heart of the East African Rift system, which is a triple junction setting whose motions' results are formations of a pull-apart basin or rift. The volcano is composed mainly of Mafic material which has been cultivated up to the surface due to the unroofing of the mantle by this rift formation.

On January 26, NASA satellite image from the Landsat 8 satellite showed the volcano's activity in a natural color and infrared composite picture.

The volcano appeared to have infrared hot spots that represent two distinct lava flows while plumes of volcanic gasses and steam are rising from the lava lakes

Located in Africa's Danakil (or Afar) Depression is Erta Ale, a shield volcano that has three tectonic plates separating and triggering volcanic action along the seams. It is broad and rounded accompanied by gently sloping sides has an active lava lake at its caldera, which is the basin-shaped depression that builds after an eruption. The recent volcanic activity reportedly occurred on its southeast flank.

Researchers have also tracked new fissures, or cracks on the volcano's surface from which the lava erupts, according to Volcano Discovery.

Did you know that he lava lake on Erta Ale was featured briefly during the 2010 movie Clash of the Titans where Perseus journeys to the underworld?