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Giant Rift In Africa Will Create a New Ocean
Hugh Pickens writes "Researchers at the University of Rochester believe that a 35-mile rift in the desert of Ethiopia will likely become a new ocean in a million years or so, connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden. Using newly gathered seismic data, researchers have reconstructed how the rift tore open along its entire 35-mile length in just days. Dabbahu, a volcano at the northern end of the rift, erupted first, then magma pushed up through the middle of the rift area and began 'unzipping' the rift in both directions. 'We know that seafloor ridges are created by a similar intrusion of magma into a rift, but we never knew that a huge length of the ridge could break open at once like this,' says Cindy Ebinger, professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester. The results show that highly active volcanic boundaries along the edges of tectonic ocean plates may suddenly break apart in large sections, instead of in bits, as the leading theory had previously held. The sudden large-scale events pose a much more serious hazard to populations living near the rift than would several smaller events."
BUY beachfront property NOW!
After a while* you'll be sitting on a goldmine!
(* definition of "while" might be different in your state)
Nothing to see here folks... move along. Come back in a million years or so.
What's next? Another story about Duke Nukem Forever?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
There is a theory that the flood story of Noah is based on the actual deluge which created the Black Sea.
Before the Flood, this area was simply a low-lying area, but approximately 5000 years ago waters from the Mediterranean Sea spilled over the Bosporus and rapidly filled the Black Sea area within days. The massive influx of water wiped out many local civilizations and probably gave rise to the Flood legend.
If this rift is going to become a new ocean, the water must come from somewhere. If it all comes at once, we could see a massive loss of life and property, especially as the problematic area lies in some of the poorest parts of the globe. In another 5000 years, we could be debating if the Savior Adibi Christ walked with elephants!
The big news here isn't that an ocean will form: that's old news. We've known about the the Great Rift Valley" for a long time, and that three plates are pulling apart. What's interesting is that they've confirmed part of the process that's at work. I think this story a little over-hyped.
There's the answer to rising sea levels... Divert the water into what will eventually become an ocean basin anyway.
The news is not that the East African rift will form a new ocean - that's been known for a few years - but that it can happen very quickly. A timescale of days for an event of that scale is really rather significant, since it means that if something like it were to happen anywhere near existing infrastructure, our ability to adapt to it would be extremely limited. Well, not until afterwards anyway.
Another geographical blunder in the article is saying that the rift will connect the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. That's because they're already connected.
"Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
"M'gulu gulu mulugu lugulugu" (*)
"lugulugu um'gulu lulu?"
"gugu"
"gugu lulu gugu?"
"gugu kaboom"
(*) Translation:
"There's something very important I forgot to tell you."
"What?"
"Don't cross the streams."
"Why?"
"It would be bad."
Not every rift is going to become an ocean like Atlantic. Some fail, as did the rift under the Big Lakes. Correct my rusty geology if I'm wrong.
Wow! This is a revolution!
Millions of Tonnes of Salt water .... would do very little
The region in question is in places very low in population simply because it is a volcanic arid wasteland .... other parts however are lush and full of life which would be wiped out by this new ocean ...
Rapid change on this scale is always bad news in the short term ... (short term measured in 1000's of years)
Puteulanus fenestra mortis
If everybody had an ocean
Across the desert sands,
Then everybody'd be surfin'
Like Ethiop-I-A
You'd see 'em wearin' their baggies
Huarachi sandals, too
A bushy bushy blonde hairdo
Surfin' Africa.
We already have more than 3. Try again.
If it's not on fire, it's a software problem.
Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon territory, that borders the northern part of British Columbia and borders the eastern part of Alaska. [map]
I come here for the love
As a child, I had nightmares about the giant rifts dramatically opening in the ground like they did in the Land Before Time movie. I had since convinced myself this was unlikely to happen, and assuaged my fears.
Thanks a lot, "Researchers at the University of Rochester"...
The basin and range represents continental crustal extension, which is spread out across the entire region. This is more-or-less driven by pulling on either end. Actually, the driving forces are not completely understood (which is why I'm using "more-or-less" to describe these things).
Oceanic crustal extension, on the other hand, is more-or-less being pushed apart from the center. So the rifting and so on is focused in one area - the rift zone. That's why the Mid Atlantic Ridge or the East African Rift - spreading centers - are (more or less) linear features and not spread out like the basin and range is.
Note that while I call it "oceanic crustal extension", it is obviously not limited to oceanic crust - it is rifting the continental crust in Africa. But, this is why we say a new ocean will form here, but not in the western US. When the continental crust is pushed open enough, oceanic crust will begin to form. Oceanic crust is thin and dense, which is why it's topographically lower than continental crust, which tends to form more thickly and is less dense.
I'm a geology grad student (and my B.S. in geology is from the University of Rochester, where this latest research is from) studying tectonics, but I'll admit freely that my explanation may be wrong as this isn't really my focus (I'm more interested in compressional, rather than extensional, tectonics). So I welcome any corrections anyone can offer.