Carrion Rift

Here the world is wounded. A river of searing lava flows through a deep rift where fire and ice meet at the edge of the world. Great arcs of igneous rock and volcanic glass jut from the flows like the stripped skeletons of once majestic beasts. The edge of the rift is embroiled in perpetual storms and squalls, where the turbulent intersection of hot and cold air drench the rocks with freezing acidic rain and treacherous ice.

Geography

The Carrion Rift is a deep, wide rift valley with an extremely hot river of molten rock flowing through it. The lava is so hot, that the thin skin of cooled basalt can't form, and the entire river glows in shades of amber and yellow. Arcs and pillars of basaltic stone and volcanic glass jut from the flows. The shape of these formations resemble the ribcages of gigantic beasts, and lend the valley its name. The sides of the rift are practically sheer, and are pitted and eroded by the constant acidic rainfall and caked by thick ice.

Localized Phenomena

The lava flowing through the rift outputs a massive amount of heat, and the resulting convection cells cause consistently high wind speeds. At the edges of the rift, these hot air currents meet a cold, water saturated jet stream. The region in which the hot and cold air combines is marked by perpetual squall lines, bringing with them heavy rain and violent winds. Sulphurous chemicals outgassed from the lava flows mix and dissolve into the clouds, causing highly acidic rain.

Fauna & Flora

The searing, dry heat of the lava flows within the rift serve to strip the land of life and sterilise the exposed rock and glass surfaces, while the freezing ice coating the upper edges of the rift are entirely inhospitable. A small section up the side of the slope is warm, wet, and humid enough to be more hospitable to life, but only barely. Mosses and vines have colonised these edges, but the lack of suitable light and nutrients, as well as the ever present threat of both highly acidic rain and superheated steam, makes this a precarious place for life to cling on to.
As for the lava flows themselves? Surely nothing can survive there...

Type

Lava river

Location under

The Great Caldera