Posted on 06/27/2025 12:41:41 PM PDT by Red Badger
The Manda-Hararo rift in the Afar region of Ethiopia. Credit: DavidMPyle / CC BY-SA 4.0
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A steady underground pulse has been discovered beneath East Africa, where researchers believe a new ocean is gradually forming.
The rhythmic movement was detected in the Afar region of Ethiopia, a geological hotspot where three giant sections of the Earth’s crust—the Arabian, Nubian, and Somalian plates—are slowly pulling apart. The site, known as the Afar Triple Junction, is one of few places on Earth where the process of continental breakup can be observed on land.
As the plates drift in different directions, the ground in the Afar Triangle is thinning. Over time, scientists predict this stretch of land will submerge below sea level, allowing seawater to rush in and eventually form a new ocean basin connected to the Red Sea.
Volcanic rocks reveal clues from deep within the Earth
To better comprehend the forces behind this process, a research team led by geologist Emma Watts of Swansea University studied the chemical makeup of volcanic rocks in the area. The team collected 130 samples from Afar and the Main Ethiopian Rift and analyzed their composition to trace their origin from deep within the Earth.
Watts, who conducted the research while at the University of Southampton, said the underground layer beneath Afar is dynamic rather than still or uniform. “It pulses, and these pulses carry distinct chemical signatures,” she said.
The movement appears tied to surface changes
These rising pulses of molten material appear to be influenced by the way the surface plates above them are shifting. In places where the crust is thinner or pulling apart faster—such as the Red Sea—the pulses flow more easily and regularly, Watts explained.
Geologist Tom Gernon of the University of Southampton said the repeating chemical patterns found across the region point to a distinct pulsing motion. “The chemical striping suggests the plume is pulsing, like a heartbeat,” he said.
New findings reshape understanding of Earth’s interior This pulse movement beneath Africa is likely shaped by a plume of hot material pushing up from deep within the Earth. Unlike a symmetrical fountain, the plume is irregular and affected by its environment, including the thickness and speed of the plates above.
If the researchers’ model is correct, it shows that deep Earth activity is not just a one-way force—it can also respond to surface conditions. This changes how scientists view the connection between Earth’s interior and events like volcanoes, earthquakes, and even the breakup of continents.
“We have found that the evolution of deep mantle upwellings is intimately tied to the motion of the plates above,” said geophysicist Derek Keir, who is affiliated with both the University of Southampton and the University of Florence in Italy.
Future studies aim to better understand how quickly this material moves and how it helps shape the surface of our planet.
Quick! Let’s set up a GoFundMe to raise funds to fix this! Or do Biden-era USAID grants already have it covered?
I was there in ‘97...
I envy you. It’s always been on my bucket list, but I’m not sure I’d be up for the local wildlife experience at this point.
7000 yrs Ago ...?
It’s gonna be tough finding
5 Rivers.
.
There is a Burger King in the Mall.
Spent 10 days wandering around the Old City.
One midaged white guy with a Camera.
Three days at the Seven Arches hotel then 7 days at the Pilgrams Palace near the Garden Tomb.
Always felt safe and Energized to explore..
Fascinating place and still is.
My tangential example, over in the next silo, is the search for Homer’s Troy. Hisarlik had been regarded as a candidate site since antiquity, but skeptics and debunkers came into vogue and took to ankle biting the Iliad. Schliemann’s excavations, primitive (by our standards) as they were, was an important pushback, but many people still regarded Schliemann as a nut.
This provided the scholars and the non-specialist fandom something to argue about ....
And then modern cartography got to the point that we were able to reconstruct the Bronze Age shoreline. Yup ... there is was: the Bay of Troy was right there, the rivers fell into place, and the Homeric landscape matched up perfectly.
None of this meant, of course, that the Trojan War, or anything closely resembling it, actually took place or that any of Homer’s names echo historical figures. But the physical geography matches up. Homer was writing about a known place, and he got the geographical details right.
So did a Bronze Age army of Mycenaean Greeks besiege and destroy Troy? Well, which destruction level at Hisarlik do you want to discuss? The bay near the entrance to the Dardanelles would have been a strategic spot for the already important Black Sea trade. You don’t need Helen and a cuckolded Spartan king to make it worth fighting over.
No, its the answer the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”.
I was not familiar with the rivers in Genesis, but The Book agrees with geology and modern tectonic theory: All of the land was gathered into one place, and all of the waters were gathered into one ocean.
Lawrence Welk’s drummer introduces his three daughters.
“This is Anna one, Anna two and Anna three.”
Into liquid hot magma?...…..
....
Well, we’d wait for the Red Sea and Indian Ocean to back-fill, of course!
More evidence of man-made globull warmin
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