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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
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.
Except that it didn't happen in just a few days....
It is still a nice theory though... just not as dramatic.
Another nice theory is that the 'flood' was just a local one.
Not so long ago the world ended at the horizon for most people since they never traveled far from home.
And since a lot of civilizations started in river deltas (which tend to flood now and then) it is not a surprise that many religions contain some flooding in their myths.
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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'!"
Except that it didn't happen in just a few days....
There are fairly mainstream theories that as the Ice Age ended, ice deposits in the Arctic melted into enormous lakes. Really enormous lakes. All that was holding this water in was ice. When finally the ice holding all this water in melted and cracked, all that water was released in a sudden catastrophic event. Rivers to dwarf anything we have today. Sea levels globally rising by several metres, in a matter of days.
I was always dubious about the idea that a gradual rise in sea levels would result in all those deluge myths worldwide (Atlantis, Cantre'r Gwaelod, Noah, etc.). I'm much more convinced if it can be sudden. That would certainly enter into oral history.
Unfortunately the best source I can offer right now is the Beringia Museum in Whitehorse, British Columbia. A bit of a trek for most people. I guess if I were to Google a bit I could find something online, but hey, I ain't gonna.
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!
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.
The geologic evidence is pretty clear that these huge "Missoula Floods" repeatedly blew through the southeast quadrant of Washington State, sometimes covering about a third of the state.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missoula_Floods
We already have more than 3. Try again.
If it's not on fire, it's a software problem.
I believe you might be referring to the Channeled Scablands in Washington State? I remember seeing a documentary about that. Interesting stuff. The research happened a bit later than the 1800s, unless you're referring to something else. More pictures and information.
A host is a host from coast to coast...
Unless it's down, or slow, or fails to POST!
I think you're being too harsh on the OP. He specifically mentioned other flood stories in his post.
The simple fact is that oral stories and traditions (Christianity aside) usually have SOME basis in reality. Christianity isn't the only religion with a flood story. The Greek's also had a flood story where Zeus flooded the world. As you mention there is also the Babylonian flood story. Countless other cultures in that area have a flood story. It's not being a "Christian apologetic" to look for real events that may have inspired such stories - it's researching history.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
There is a theory that the flood story of Noah is based on the actual deluge which created the Black Sea.
No, the flood story of Noah is based on the Sumerian story of Utnapishtim. The Sumerian story of Utnapishtim may be based on the Black Sea (or even Mediterranian) inundation, but the Noah story is just a copy of the Sumerian story, with all the roles of the various Sumerian gods subsumed by a rather confused and contradictory Hebrew god.
Given the Sumerians were a river culture (think about what "Mesopotamia" means) it is at least as plausible that the Sumerian flood story, which is what the biblical flood story is based on, arose from plausible fears of a great innundation, much as zombie stories arise today from a plausible fear of Republicans.
Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
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"...