Posted on 07/20/2006 9:08:26 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
A rift that opened in Africa after a massive earthquake last September could be the beginning of a new Ocean, scientists say. The crack in the ground appeared along a fault line in the Afar desert in Ethiopia.
The crack is heading for the Red Sea. If it makes it that far, it would carve a new ocean that would separate Eritrea and part of Ethiopia (both of which lie on the Arabian plate) from the rest of the continent, creating a new island.
Satellite data collected since the quake shows that the rift is widening at an unprecedented rate, according to reports. It is sixty kilometres long and by October it was already eight metres wide in some places. These observations are reported in Nature.
The Rift Valley is a very geologically active region, thanks to the separation of the Arabian and Nubian tectonic plates. As the plates slide away from each other, the crust of the Earth is stretched and thinned to the point where cracks appear.
In this case, as the crust fractured, approximately 2.5 cubic kilometres of magma from nearby volcanoes flooded into the rift, forming fresh continental crust. That is enough to cover the area inside the M25 to a depth of about a yard, the BBC reports.
The research team, a collaboration between scientists in the UK and in Ethiopia, used both field measurements and satellite images from the European Space Agency's Envisat spacecraft to build a precise map of the changes. It is the first event of this kind to have occurred since the satellite technology became available.
If the crack does represent the birth of a new ocean (and it may not - it could all just settle down again), it will be about a million years before it is wet enough.
Which should give any local Noahs plenty of time to build their Arks. ®
Oh No!! Only Robert Mugabe can save Djibouti now.
Good point. See post #18 for a pretty dramatic picture.
What I want to know... is how much Bush knew about this and when he knew it!
I though Global Warming *was* a Zionist conspiracy.
Yup... and note the caption, that says the Rift Valley is already below sea level.
As any New Orleans native can tell you, the world can get wet pretty quick when you're already below sea level.
ROFL!
Geologists have a ring side seat? For a million years? These are going to be pretty hardy geologists.
True. On another note, I can't believe how close to the edge those people are standing. It makes me dizzy. Run! Run for your lives! :)
Why couldn't it be on the US Mexican border from coast to coast?
" it will be about a million years before it is wet enough."
Maybe. Maybe not.
Well damn,....this is serious stuff....thanks!
Amazing.
Been there, done that..
A crevice in the Afar Triangle signals the birth of an ocean. In ten million years this ocean will split the African continent.
Dereje Ayalew/Universität Addis Abbaba ~~~~~ Scientists examine crevices in the Afar Triangle.
An aerial view of north-eastern Africa. The Afar Triangle is the sandy-colored triangle bordering on the sea.
NASA This photograph -- a direct view of the Afar Triangle -- was taken from the US space shuttle Columbia in January 1990.
One would expect a crack near Djibouti.
Great! That'll give all the water from the melting icecaps somewhere to go and help irrigate their vast desert to boot.
Interesting article, and neat pictures too!
Excellent idea!!!!
It is time to get hold of a real estate agent and buy property on both sides of the riff & get ahead of the beach front property rush.
I wonder how far the closest end of the sink area is from the coast? The article doesn't say that.
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