Posted on 03/31/2018 9:51:13 AM PDT by Simon Green
A large crack that has suddenly appeared in Kenyas Rift Valley is evidence that Africa will eventually break apart. The crack already stretches several miles and continues to grow, but it does not go all the way across the surface. If it does, it will split the continent into two.
The crack has caused part of the Nairobi-Narok highway to collapse and also accelerating seismic activity in the area, leading researchers to believe that something dramatic could happen in the future.
The Great Rift splits Africa into two plates. With what is happening we have established one plate which is the Somali plate is moving away from the other plate at a rate of 2.5cm. In the near future if this happens we shall have the Somali plate separating from the other Nubian plate, said geologist David Ahede.
You cannot stop a geological process because it occurs from deep within the crust of the Earth.
The Nubian tectonic plate is the larger one that encompasses most of the continent, whereas the smaller Somali plate constitutes the Horn of Africa.
Tectonic plates are constantly in motion. They often crash into, grind against or fall beneath one another, causing earthquakes in the process. When this happens, the plates disintegrate and form a lowland region known as a rift valley. Kenyas East African Rift is one of the largest rift valleys in the world which expands approximately 3,700 miles long and around 40 miles wide.
The forces that trigger rifts in the surface are still poorly understood. However, researchers have found that rifts continue to widen over time and start to form cracks. The East African Rift is an excellent example of such activity. The rift in Kenya is so big that it will split Africa in two.
Rifts are the initial stage of a continent break-up and, if successful, can lead to the formation of a new ocean basin. An example of a place on Earth where this has happened is the South Atlantic Ocean, which resulted from the break up of South America and Africa around 138m years ago, explains The Conversation writer Lucia Perez Diaz, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Fault Dynamics Research Group, London's Royal Holloway.
The East African Rift is unique in that it allows us to observe different stages of rifting along its length
Eventually, over a period of tens of millions of years, seafloor spreading will progress along the entire length of the rift. The ocean will flood in and, as a result, the African continent will become smaller and there will be a large island in the Indian Ocean composed of parts of Ethiopia and Somalia, including the Horn of Africa.
Women and minorities hit hardest.
A lot of new beachfront property!
Allahwahoo Whackbar!
The enslaved Somali plate is mostly Muslim and belongs to the Umma! Let the Nubian plate be FREE, separated from the doom and submission required by Islam.
The solution is to use tax money to fill the rift.
The continents are primarily composed of granitic rock and the seafloors basalt, which is denser. The continents are essentially the lighter foam scum over a thick hot latte of the plastic mantle.
A hot spot, like under yellowstone or which the Hawaiian islands are derived from creates a triple ( 3 arm) junction in continental crust as seen here. If it matures 2 of the arms will become a sea floor spreading center and new ocean basin while the 3rd arm goes dormant. In this case the failed arm of the triple junction would be the Red Sea.
God. The Sun. Tectonics. Humans....
This has been coming on for some time. (A few million years). Lol!
Manmade Tectonic Plate Shift is stimulated by radio waves in the range used by cell phones.
Ban cell phones now!
Do it for Africa!
FTA: The forces that trigger rifts in the surface are still poorly understood. However, researchers have found that rifts continue to widen over time and start to form cracks.
Think of the Earth as a big egg in boiling water. Bound to be cracks.
Except the boiling is on the inside of earth not the outside
It sounds better than Kenya's Crack Valley........
Might it be the other way round?
It's the muons.<
I’ve got that movie. Very good.
Otherwise, I have nothing I can offer you, as we are all in the same boat on that one. 8>)
“Hint to reporters: 2.5 cm is a distance, not a rate.”
Kind of like 12 parsecs
Are they going to honor american celebrities by renaming the rift valley to “oprah’s crack”?
This has to be the result of Pres. Trump’s racist policies. A ‘Divide and Conquer’ policy. /s
Kind of like California coastline.
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