Volcanic Activity May Split Africa In Two

An anonymous reader writes 'Volcanic activity may split the African continent in two, creating a new ocean, say experts. This is due to a recent geological crack which has appeared in northeastern Ethiopia.'

Comments

cuz

[Anonymous Coward]

two is better than one, amirite?

Re:cuz

[Anonymous Coward]

only if they're the same size

So now it's four pieces?

[MrMr]

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/11/03/0313242

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Xest]

Yes, and it's now happened twice in 2 days, the world is falling apart, run for the hills!

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[lena_10326]

3 pieces. Break a cookie in half 2 times.

• Break #1: 1 = 0.5 + 0.5
• Break #2: 1 = 0.5 + 0.25 + 0.25

3 pieces. Not 4. You would need 3 breaks to get 4 pieces.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[imakemusic]

You can't break a cookie in half twice. You can break it in half once and then you can break a half-cookie in half. Saying that you're breaking the [whole] cookie in half twice implies that you are making the first break and then breaking both of those halves in two.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, you should get out your "cover 9 dots with 4 lines" hat.

Break the cookie in half, then break in half again at 90 degrees to the first.

4 pieces, 2 breaks.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[lena_10326]

After the first break it's no longer a cookie. It's 2 cookies. Cookies, much like continents, are composed of 1 piece. It takes 2 more breaks to divide those 2 cookies. You are thinking of slicing a cake. When you slice a cake criss-cross, you end up 4 slices of cake, not 4 cakes.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

You guys need to get out more.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[lena_10326]

There are no half-cookies. There are only cookies. Some are small; some are big. It's like saying there are half rocks. Divide a rock in half, u get 2 rocks. Not 2 half rocks. This is because a cookie has no anatomy as you and I would know it. It is symmetrical and the independent of scale. It applies down to a cookie of size 2 molecules. A 1 molecule cookie cannot be divided, because dividing molecule yields entirely different substances.

If I had said an "apple", that would have been different. Half apples do indeed exist.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[tfmachad]

If so, what is the exact threshold for a [piece of] cookie to cease being a cookie and become a crumble? Is it whenever it is capable to adhere to your clothes or is it the point in which it can no longer support an entire raisin or chocolate drop?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

3 pieces. Not 4. You would need 3 breaks to get 4 pieces.

Chuck Norris would get 4 pieces from 1 break, you just didn't break it hard enough.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[imakemusic]

Isn't a cookie of size 2 molecules technically known as a Crumb?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[lena_10326]

When is a crumb not a cookie? When it's a bread crumb. It's not called a cookie crumb for nothin. A cookie crumb is just a very small cookie. Would a mile wide cookie cease to be a cookie? Why discriminate against the radially challenged?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[mister_playboy]

Why discriminate against the radially challenged?

I bet you tell all the girls that!

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[lena_10326]

See other post. Already answered the crumb question.

FYI: these cookies have no chocolate chips. Why? Because.. rocks don't have "chocolate chips" and a continent is just a big rock. But really, the gist of my point is plain cookies and rocks are made of a simple materials and no matter how you slice them, your slice will result in 2 divisions containing the same material: left/right, up/down, regardless of the infinite slicing angles or directions. That's symmetry. That's not true with a chocolate chip cookie, an apple, a cake, a single cell organism, a person, a car, etc.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[mh1997]

There are no half-cookies. There are only cookies. Some are small; some are big. It's like saying there are half rocks....

It's like a car. Divide it in half and you get a Ford Pinto, not 2 half cars. This is because a car....

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[noundi]

Isn't a cookie of size 2 molecules technically known as a Crumb?

Or two Plack cookies (Ö, pron. "yummy").

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[lena_10326]

It does not work for cars because cookies and rocks have a property that cars do not--symmetry of matter. Materialwise, they are consistent. Imagine a plane slicing through a rock dividing it into two--slicing at any angle. The material on both sides of the plane will always be of the same type of material possessing the same properties. This is why a rock sliced in half results in 2 rocks--not 2 half rocks. That is not true for cars because I can slice only the tire and have rubber on one side and the remainder of the car (glass, metal, etc) on the other side. Slicing a car in half results in 2 half-cars

Slicing a continent behaves like slicing a rock. You will end up with 2 continents: not 2 half continents because a continent is an organizational structure which we determine based on an arbitrary selection process (such as elevation above sea level). Since a continent is purely a conceptual organization, that means every point within it has exactly the same property value: inside. It is materially consistent just like a rock (or cookie).

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[codeButcher]

3 pieces and a lot of crumbs.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[chronosan]

You can, however, have half an Oreo Cookie.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[doti]

</thread>

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

no, according to you, you'd have to cut the cake in two, then make second cut to cut on of those halves in two, then a third cut to cut the other half in two.
OTOH, if you can "cut a cake criss-cross", why can't you breaka cookie the same way?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be a lot of fun at parties.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[arelas]

That is true. By spliting an Oreo, it's like spliting a molecule. After all, if you split a water molecule, you end up with hydrogen and oxygen, not half water.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[NotBornYesterday]

Breaking the same cookie in half is feasible if you are in two parallel universes, right? Or did I just screw up that whole spacetime-continuum thing again? Damn, I should have paid better attention when we were learning quantum physics.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[NotBornYesterday]

I bet that's what all the BBW girls tell you.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not all cookies are round. I have eaten cookies shaped like windmills.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[NotBornYesterday]

If I accept that cookie crumbs *are* cookies, what happens when I pulverise a chocolate chip cookie? Do the child cookies inherit their "chocolate chip cookie" nature from the parent cookie? What happens if the child cookie does not actually contain any chocolate chips?

Or, are you arguing that chocolate-free child cookies remain cookies, but undergo some sort of change into a non-chocolate-chip cookie, even though the molecules in the child cookie have in fact not changed since being baked? If a chocolate chip from the parent cookie is broken free of all dough-based parts of the parent, is it considered a chocolate chip again?

Does milk have anything to do with this? Because all of a sudden I'm hungry and thirsty.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[gtall]

I think you are forgetting the field of Iced Cookies. Sliced depthwise, you have an iced half and an non-iced half. Now both could be considered cookies, but they are now of two entirely different species....evolution rears its head. It is a little known fact that Darwin considered the cookie problem early on in his work. After failing to get cookies to mate, he turned to animals that could and thus changed the course of modern biology. So, you think you are better than Darwin, mate?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it such of an abstract concept to consider something to be both a "half" and a "whole" at the same time? It seems to me to not acknowledge that two seemingly whole constructs could have have been one unified whole ignores certain evidence to that suggests otherwise. If a cookie was in the shape of a car, and I called it a "car-shaped-cookie" and I cut the cookie in half, yes the two piece would still be cookies. But thees "whole" cookies are no longer whole "car-shaped-cookies". They happen to be in shapes that resemble halves of a car. Then there's the widely excepted theory of Pangaea.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[morgauxo]

No, not if the two cracks cross one another. I suppose if Africa entirely broke in half all it once then it would take two more breaks to make 4 pieces but breaking a continent in half doesn't exactly happen overnight. If the two cracks are growing at the same time and they cross then you get 4 pieces from only two breaks.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Gulthek]

There are no half-cookies. There are only cookies. Some are small; some are big.

Wow, that just became one of my favorite phrases.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[JLDohm]

Hypothetical question: I offer you a cookie, you accept: I take a cookie that I have, break off a crumb, give it to you, and proceed to eat the rest of the original cookie myself. Would you be satisfied?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[OrangeTide]

What exactly is a cookie molecule ?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the best comment I've seen on slashdot in ages.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Trails]

I cordially invite you to come to my house and explain to my kids that half a cookie is in fact a cookie. Good luck. If you're successful, I'll even pay for your airfare.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[camperdave]

Obviously the cookie is made of an exotic form of matter. Other substances, like water or salt, can be divided almost indefinitely (until you get down to a single molecule) without losing their properties. Not so with cookie matter. A chocolate chip cookie can be broken down only so far before it ceases being a chocolate chip cookie, and becomes just a plain cookie. This can happen even at centimetre scales. Some cookies have a directionality to them. Oreos, for example, when broken radially maintain their "Oreo-ness". However, when broken perpendicular to the axis, an Oreo can lose its "Oreo-ness" and transform into a simple chocolate cookie.

I heard that there was some study done on this phenomenon, however the lab was plagued by a large, blue-furred creature who would yell "COOKIE!", and vanish with all of the sample materials.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Martin Blank]

Continents are not composed of one piece. We in California are reminded of that periodically as the ground beneath us is moving NNW at 35mm per year. Asia is composed of at least the main Asian landmass plus the Indian subcontinent, which is moving northward, developing the Himalayas.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[blueZ3]

Dude--your explanation sounds WAY too much like the Catholic church's explanation of transubstantiation.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, It's actually because a half-Oreo has a different symmetry group than a full one. It requires two 180 degree turns to return to start, not just one.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Verdatum]

And I've tilted at them, because I thought they were shaped like giants.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Chris Burke]

What exactly is a cookie molecule ?

It's CO2KI. A carbon atom, two oxygen atoms, one potassium, and iodine. There's an extra 'e' added to its common name in English.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Tarlus]

Seriously, I wish it was possible to mod the whole Slashdot article as -1 Redundant.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[PiSkyHi]

I think the sheer stress applied to tectonic plates kind of ruins the cookie analogy.

If it were true that 2 types of sheer stress caused a fracture in a given plate, the first fracture may not mitigate the stress of the second if the stress vectors were sufficiently orthogonal. Therefore, its entirely feasible 1 plate could become 4.

Unlike cookies, tectonic plates don't move very far when they fracture.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[mandark1967]

Think of it this way...There's one story for each half of Africa that results from the split.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[sexconker]

You're a moran.
You can easily fracture the cookie toward the middle from 4 points (at 90 degree intervals if you wish).

A single break in the center will cause you to have 4 pieces of cookie.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[steelfood]

I can't believe Africa just got compared to a cookie--for an entire thread, no less.

So I have to ask now, what kind of cookie is it? And is it crisp or soft?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorites paradox

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[opiv6ix]

All this time I thought cookies were a mixture, but you're saying that they're actually a compound. Chemfinder doesn't have the formula for cookie molecules.....is there a technical name I need to use?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[rhyder128k]

"It does not work for cars"

So this ISN'T like a car? I'm confused. Can you come up with an analogy?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[chronosan]

Regardless, you're only getting the other half.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[lena_10326]

Half threads exist.. btw.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[MiniMike]

A crumb is a cookie that's too small to be worth eating.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[hydroponx]

What if you consider the mountains the chocolate chips ?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[quzer]

Since the continents haven't completely separated yet, a person could safely assume that the cracks cross each other, thus the break can still yield 4 pieces.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[SQLGuru]

But if you put a bunch of them in a bowl and pour in some milk......Cooooooooooooooooookie Crip!

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[SQLGuru]

Splitting a continent may leave you with only one continent......just one that is divided.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[biryokumaru]

Asia is a separate continent from Europe, but they are one piece. For this analogy to work, the original, unbroken cookie would have to be two cookies.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[biryokumaru]

No, if you break them in half, they just become two separate threads. It's kinda like if you break a cookie in half, it becomes two distinct cookies.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[TheSpoom]

I am enjoying the fact that this has turned into a deep discussion about cookies.

C IS FOR COOKIE, THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

Since when has "To catch a predator" targeted slashdot?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[MiniMike]

Cooooooooooooooooookie Crip

No, that's what you get if you mix cookie crumbs with pieces of gang member.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

And I've tilted at them, because I thought they were shaped like giants.

Windmill cookies give you gonorrhea.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[ps2os2]

Seems like the 2012 people were off a few years.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's an extra 'e' added to its common name in English.

So then it's CO2KI-. Adding an extra 'e' would make the Iodine negatively charged?

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[Anonymous Coward]

But Africa refers to a specific continent. Split Africa in half, and you don't get two Africas, you get two half-Africas (or halfricas). The two halfrican continents make up the one african continent. So, if Africa splits in half, then in half again(two days later), you get four pieces, since Africa is the sum of the two halfricas, and both would have to split in half in order for Africa to be doubly split.

On the other hand, if a small chunk of Africa splits off, you don't call the small chunk Africa, or even halfrica. The larger, remaining landmass is still Africa, while small chunk is an island. By this reasoning, unless Africa splits perfectly in half, the smaller portion becomes a new continent, and the larger portion remains Africa. Only the larger portion needs to be split in order for for Africa to be doubly split, giving a final result of three continents.

Re:So now it's four pieces?

[ps2os2]

The rift valley (where the event might occur) has been a hot bed for years with volcanic activity.
This is nothing new. A perspective that could come into play is the saudi arabia may move and the oil under it may either be lost and or relocated into a new area (under a mountain range?) This would hurt the Muslims badly as they are depending on OIL and if that is gone nobody will care too much about the area. What might prove interesting if the area in Africa breaks off will it head north to India or go south to somewhere in the indian Ocean.

In other news

[Enleth]

The article duping activity would be enough to split Slashdot in two, creating a new site that could actualy cover the same events at almost the same time with little additional work, says any attentive reader.

Re:In other news

[Anonymous Coward]

Rumours have also surfaced that the article duping activity would be enough to split Slashdot in two, creating a new site that could actualy cover the same events at almost the same time with little additional work.

Re:In other news

[Goffee71]

In other news, East Africa and West Africa rap battles set to get more intense and possibly end in violence!

Re:In other news

[gtall]

Ah, but with enough time, grasshopper, the two halves of Slashdot would meet on the other side of the internet and again become one.

Re:In other news

[BuR4N]

Its possible that article duping activity could sustain at least three Slashdot sites, that actually cover the same events, with no additional work.

Re:In other news

[Flea of Pain]

And they'd both actually have the same spelling mistakes...

It splits articles too?

[MWojcik]

It must be some some african-internet hybrid volcano, it is already splitting the article about itself in two.

Re:It splits articles too?

[Anonymous Coward]

After reading this, I realized I have to poop. Or maybe half now, half later, eh?

Re:It splits articles too?

[noidentity]

Apparently it's already splitting Slashdot stories into two.

This joke was split in two; that's why the parent post also makes the same joke.

Re:It splits articles too?

[Anonymous Coward]

Africa splits in two parts.
Slashdot reports two times.
Reports are two days apart.

I think I see a pattern.

Re:It splits articles too?

[Aymon]

We can call it Anotherfrica.

Re:It splits articles too?

[Anonymous Coward]

Africa splits in two parts.
Slashdot reports two times.
Reports are two days apart.

I think I see a pattern.

And I just made a twosie! Oh my god! This is crazy!

Buy land in Etiopia now

[Kaleidoscopio]

Wait a million years and you will be rich, with ocean panoramas on your lands, private resorts, etc.
I'm finding a real estate agent, I think there are some good ones in Nigeria...

Re:Buy land in Etiopia now

[gijoel]

Too late. Lex corp are already building the condos and retirement homes.

On another note I never understood that movie. Lex's business plan seemed to be to kill all the people who would be interested in buying beach front property.

Re:Buy land in Etiopia now

[zmollusc]

Oh Christ, don't say that! I was going to get a percentage off some Nigerian guy for helping him get $50million out of the country. Once he hears this investment opportunity he will spend it at home in Nigeria. :-(
 

Re:Buy land in Etiopia now

[Chruisan]

Two precisely placed nuclear detonations should speed up the process.

Re:Buy land in Etiopia now

[juletre]

That was smart!
Find all the +5 funny replies from yesterday and repost them!

---
'He, who has quotes in his signature, is a duche' - unknown.

Re:Buy land in Etiopia now

[Anonymous Coward]

He who has commas in his quotes where they should not be is a dulce. Which has symmetricality similar to a cookie.

I must be playing too much WoW

[theurge14]

I must be playing too much WoW because now I'm starting to believe the upcoming expansion Cataclysm is a real even that will take place in Africa.

Re:I must be playing too much WoW

[Canazza]

Deathwing lives under North East Egypt? Does that mean dark iron dwarves live in Mount Sinai?

Re:I must be playing too much WoW

[mxh83]

Yes.

Re:I must be playing too much WoW

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're playing any amount of WoW, you are playing too much.

Re:I must be playing too much WoW

[spire3661]

but trolling slashdot boards is an acceptable waste of time?

This is old news, decade old news

[G3ckoG33k]

This has been in the school books since 1970s, at least. For starters - look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Rift_Valley and then do a Google search for "Rift Valley"

Re:This is old news, decade old news

[MichaelSmith]

I am not sure about this bit:

"The significance of the finding is that a huge magnetic deformation can happen within a few days, like in [the] oceans," said lead author Atalay Ayele, a professor at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.

And then

The Afar region, known for its salt mines and active volcanoes, is one of the lowest and hottest places on the planet.

Okay thats interesting. In wonder how you would go pumping sea water into it? You would certainly get a sea (or lake) for a while but salinity would be a problem sooner or later. It might do wonders for the local climate.

Re:This is old news, decade old news

[Anonymous Coward]

Its not about the rift valley, its about the horn of africa splitting off. That is more recent that the 1970s! There was a lovely tv program about it this year where scientists dropped a radar mapper into the fresh split.

Re:This is old news, decade old news

[Fred_A]

Okay thats interesting. In wonder how you would go pumping sea water into it?

That's easy, you'd just use a series of tubes.

Wait, I just had an idea...

Re:This is old news, decade old news

[NewbieProgrammerMan]

I remember reading an article (in National Geographic, I think) when I was a kid that stated geologists thought the horn of Africa would eventually be separated from the rest of the continent by this activity. I haven't been a kid in at least two decades.

Re:This is old news, decade old news

[mea37]

Context.

Looking at the headline, you would think this new ocean were poised to spring into existance in a sudden burst of volcanic chaos. In human terms, that's clearly not what we're looking at - they're talking about a million-year process.

The clear conclusion is that this story was written by an entity with a much courser view of time than our own. Sure, 40 years sounds like old news to you, but to them it must be a blink of an eye. Barely enough time to bring the information to press, even.

Somehow I failed to work in the phrase "insensitive clod"...

Re:This is old news, decade old news

[wisdom_brewing]

Do you know where youd get a topological map for that area?

Assuming verical cliff walls surrounding the dead sea and digging a canal to it would lower world sea levels by ~1.95mm - in reality would be a lot more (810sq km surface area, 422m below "sea" level), doing likewise with the Caspian sea (28 metres below "sea" level and >300,000sq km surface area) would drop world sea levels by ~6cm.

That basin has a trough of around 155m below sea level - in Djibouti (neighbouring Ethiopia) I believe - only 125m in Ethiopia. I assume the area would be huge, maybe get a couple dozen cm of respite with that...

yes, we know

[chichilalescu]

new news is always old news when you look for science in everyday magazines/newspapers. Anyway, I remember knowing from somewhere (school, discovery, whatever) that Africa is due for another splitting in some millions of years (the great lakes are just rifts filled with water from what I remember) I found this webpage http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/afar/ the new news is at least a few months old. maybe the news is just that they published an article about it.

Re:yes, we know

[mrboyd]

The news is not that there's a rift of about 6000km long. Other people had noticed that. The news is that some very specific stuff that mere human don't give a frack about may happen there. Of course since I'm not a geologist I have no clue why it matters; if it's news or only news for that particular location or quack science.

For the first time they demonstrate that activity on one rift segment can trigger a major episode of magma injection and associated deformation on a neighbouring segment.

Re:yes, we know

[peragrin]

The great lakes wereformed from glaciers during the last ice age. This is more like the midAtlantic ridge. Once it reaches an ocean it will flood and we no longer will have to worry about global flooding from melting glaceirs.

Re:yes, we know

[Anonymous Coward]

Now this is ‘insightful’ (to those of us that didn’t rtfa). Unlike the “refreshing to see a dupe” moderated to 5 ‘insightful’ above.

Well fuck me I ain't goin to Afrika then!

[CxDoo]

This kind of early investigative reporting is exactly what Slashdot needs to rectify "old news & dupes site" image.

Also showing:

Australia will crash into Antarctica!

Barack Obama will die!

Cockroaches will go extinct!

You read it first here!

Re:Well fuck me I ain't goin to Afrika then!

[QuoteMstr]

Universe Running Down, Scientists Claim.

Stop entropy change today!

Re:Well fuck me I ain't goin to Afrika then!

[TheRaven64]

Cockroaches will go extinct!

There's no evidence of that...

Re:Well fuck me I ain't goin to Afrika then!

[careysub]

You may want to reconsider that. According to TA the Afar region is "is one of the lowest and hottest places on the planet". That's right low AND hot! Sounds like the perfect club scene!

Re:Well fuck me I ain't goin to Afrika then!

[stainlesssteelpat]

oh damn where are me mod points?

Next they'll tell us Pangea's unstable.

[gafisher]

Where's the United Nations when we need them?

Re:Next they'll tell us Pangea's unstable.

[nstlgc]

Hang on, we're writing an angry letter to let the volcanic activity know how we feel about this.

Re:Next they'll tell us Pangea's unstable.

[gafisher]

I'm concerned that this whole situation could erupt.

"All we need is lava,
lava's all we need."

Re:Next they'll tell us Pangea's unstable.

[doti]

Africa, Unite!

Re:Next they'll tell us Pangea's unstable.

[Archangel Michael]

Don't Involve the UN, because I'm pretty sure they'll blame this on the US or Israel, and we'll have new legislation by the Dems in congress to address this new global crisis.

Seriously SHUT UP ALREADY!

Good africa and bad africa

[Fotograf]

Sever to south. fight now

Definition of Afro-American

[Anonymous Coward]

I forsee this conversation 20 years hence,
Black dude : I am an African American
White dude : Which one?
Black dude : The original one!
White dude : Really, which one?
Black dude : Racist! Call Jesse Jackson!

Why is this getting so much attention

[fork_daemon]

This news is really not new. I saw this in a documentary by Dr. Ian Stuart on the BBC: "Earth - the Power of the Planet" over a year back. Why is it getting so much attention now then? 2 stories in 2 days? Did people wake up after a Long Siesta?

Re:Why is this getting so much attention

[Bigjeff5]

That's because you didn't RTFA, and the summary is utter shite.

The rift isn't new, it happened in 2005 when two volcanoes went off. What is new is that just this week, this very week in which this duped story came out, the very thing that these articles are talking about, it was shown for the very first time that it is possible for a huge magnetic deformation to occur on the surface in a matter of days, as it does in the ocean. For the first time they've been able to show that activity in one segment can "trigger a major episode of magma injection and associated deformation on a neighbouring segment." That's new, and generally the term we apply to new things that are being reported on for the first time is "news". I know it's a strange concept, but I'm sure you can handle it.

Afar is now a fabulous place to do plate-tectonics research, for one because they are seeing a new plate form right before their eyes (even if it is rather slow from a human perspective), and for another because unlike oceanic plates, this baby plate is extremely accessible. Ordinarily to study plate tectonics scientists have to go down in a sub, but until the crack reaches the ocean (many hundreds of thousands of years away, more than likely) they can study it on the surface.

In other words, it's not the rift that is news, it's the fact that this actually is just like the oceanic plates that are so hard to study.

North America

[QuoteMstr]

What's not very well-known is that the same thing happened to North America, almost splitting the continent in two. Lake Superior lies in the depression left by the failed North American rift.

Re:North America

[mayko]

That was really interesting. I wish I would have taken some geology classes when I went to school around there. (Marquette, MI; which lies on the southern shore of Lake Superior).

Re:North America

[MiniMike]

Note from the map that the eastern arm of the rift was successful until it neared Detroit.

Dang it

[Anonymous Coward]

We geeks don't understand cake analogies! Can you please repost with a car analogy?

Where are the...

[TransEurope]

...Google Earth coordinates? If it's not on GE, it doesn't exist in the so called real world.

Re:Where are the...

[doti]

this new feature of GE that gives you a slider to "go back in time" by displaying older satelite data will be interesting to use some decades(?) from now.

Re:Where are the...

[JeffSpudrinski]

I guess that means Canton, Ohio doesn't exist?

http://groups.google.com/group/misc.transport.road/browse_thread/thread/d39ab20c3b39e05e/c8ead5ec3e9d1298?lnk=raot

Repeat?

[thogard]

Ethiopia is going to end up being Africa's equivalent o New Zealand for Australia or Madagascar for Africa.
What has happened before will happen again.

Re:Repeat?

[NotBornYesterday]

Ethiopia is going to end up being Africa's equivalent o ... Madagascar for Africa.

Circular reference is circular.

SEND MORE FOREIGN AID

[newdsfornerds]

However many billions of dollars in aid we are sending now, we need to double it. Then double it again! Only when every African dictator has a billion dollar Swiss bank account can we solve the problem of poverty in Africa.

Relax

[gmuslera]

In 1 millon years slashdot that will finally happens and Slashdot will stop posting dupes about it.

Re:Relax

[newdsfornerds]

And by then entire world will speak one language: Engrish.

Re:Relax

[NotBornYesterday]

In a million years when it finally happens, someone will post an article and everyone else will collectively roll their eyes "Didn't we see this already, about a million years ago? WTF's with all the dupes?"

Re:Relax

[EvilBudMan]

I highly doubt it.

Oh what you don't know!!!

[tjstork]

It only seems like it failed. Then, any minute now, the earth is going to roar to life as a giant burp of magma rises from the core to underneath north america. yellowstone traps, missouri mega-earthquake, the end is nigh. If you knew geology, and lived in America, you'd be a preacher too. Doom is before us! Repent!

In other late breaking news

[Anonymous Coward]

Earth's sun has planets, one of which is called "Earth"! It is not yet known whether intelligent slashdot editors may be found there.

Uh-oh

[mattwrock]

Looks like the sequel to 2012 hyas just written itself. If it splits Nigeria in two, does that mean we will have twice as much royalty asking for money?

Wow, just wow.

[Rude Turnip]

They already had to worry about geopolitical violence ripping the continent apart!

2012-12-21

[mrsquid0]

It looks like 2012 is starting a bit early. Or perhaps this is just more studio publicity vulcanism.

really really old news

[happy_place]

I'm forty(ish) now, but I distinctly remember a social studies/geography teacher telling me about this when I was in Jr. High School. Who knew going to a California public school would be so leading edge!? ;)

Re:really really old news

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, the benefits of liberal education.

I dunno, it's kinda refreshing to see a dupe

[thomasdz]

A couple of years ago, Slashdot was doing LOTS of duplicate articles and that has been cleaned up tremedously. It's kinda nice to see a dupe now and then to remind me of those heady days of 2007, ahhhh, how I miss them

Re:I dunno, it's kinda refreshing to see a dupe

[juletre]

A couple of years ago, readers was doing LOTS of duplicate posts and that has been cleaned up tremedously. It's kinda nice to see a dupe now and then to remind me of those heady days of 2007, ahhhh, how I miss them

Re:I dunno, it's kinda refreshing to see a dupe

[Anonymous Coward]

A couple of years ago, readers were doing LOTS of duplicate posts and that has been cleaned up tremedously. It's kinda nice to see a dupe now and then to remind me of those heady days of 2007, ahhhh, how I miss them

Re:I dunno, it's kinda refreshing to see a dupe

[Anonymous Coward]

Insightful?? How the heck do you get ‘insight’ out of that?

Stop the Laurasian Separatist Front!

[wiredog]

Keep Pangea United!

Goatse.et

[Dude McDude]

Coming soon!

Old news

[haggisbrain]

This was covered last year in a BBC documentary; Oceans.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/oceans/locations/redsea/

In Djibouti at the gateway of the Red Sea an oceanographic marvel is occurring - a new ocean is being formed. This ocean is being created by the tectonic plates of Africa and Arabia being torn apart. All oceans are formed in this way, but this is one of the rare places where this process can be witnessed first hand.

landgrab!

[anarche]

I bags the East side!

Volcanic activity in Virginia

[confused one]

We need some of that volcanic activity here in Virginia. Why, we haven't had a good volcano in, well, 40-50 million years. About time I say!

Re:Volcanic activity in Virginia

[Stenchwarrior]

I agree....we need more water separating Virginia from the rest of the U.S.

Re:Volcanic activity in Virginia

[confused one]

Technically, DC is not part of Virginia.

DNS

[Anonymous Coward]

When you came in, did you see a sign saying 'Drowned Nigger Storage'?

Who cares?

[b0ttle]

As long as it happens after the world cup.

Africa, the island?

[Anonymous Coward]

First California, and now this. What's next, Russia splitting in two?

Missing the Point!

[Virtucon]

I find this a unique buying opportunity. I'm booking my flights now to go there and buy up all the land around the rift(s). That way I'll have a foot in the door on prime beach front property!
With the volcanic activity I'll bet I can get it for a really good deal too!

What sort of crackpot scheme....

[gestalt_n_pepper]

is this?

There's a big crack in Africa alright

[Anonymous Coward]

And this photo shows it clearly

Split articles

[flyingfsck]

Splitting articles is fine, just don't split participles, or Miss Grundy will get you...

Welp.

[Anonymous Coward]

And nothing of value was lost.

Read the Wikipedia site...

[Anonymous Coward]

Read the Wikipedia article, and you would realize that Africa's Horn, as well as the Red Sea are part of the same rift.

Statement from CAIR:

[MrWin2kMan]

This is obviously another Crusader ploy to tear away the largely Christian southern Africa from the primarily Muslim northern Africa. We condemn this despicable act of aggression!

cosmo magazine?

[Nadaka]

I read that link as cosmo magazine.

I was wondering why a magazine dedicated to women giving better blowjobs would have a geology article.

Dupe of posts

[Anonymous Coward]

Sing to the tune of "Duke of Earl"

Dupe, Dupe, Dupe, Dupe of Posts
Dupe, Dupe, Dupe of Posts
Dupe, Dupe, Dupe of Posts

Dupe, Dupe, Dupe of Posts
Dupe, Dupe, Dupe of Posts
Dupe, Dupe, Dupe of Posts
Dupe, Dupe, Dupe of Posts

As I walk through this world
Nothing can stop the Dupe of Posts
And you, you are my post
And no one will read you, oh no
Yes, I'm gonna post you
Come on let me post you again
'Cause I'm the Dupe of Posts

And when I post you
You will annoy readers, readers of posts
We'll walk through my Dupedom
And the harassment we will share

Yes, oh, I
I'm gonna post you
Nothing can stop me now
'Cause I'm the Dupe of Posts

Dupe, Dupe, Dupe of Posts
Dupe, Dupe, Dupe of Posts
Dupe, Dupe, Dupe of Posts

I'm gonna post you
Nothing can stop me now
'Cause I'm the Dupe of Posts

Re:Dupe of posts

[sexconker]

I lold.
Sadly, less than 1% of slashdot have heard Duke of Earl.

OMFG

[conscarcdr]

Run for your lives, Burning Legion is about to descend upon us.

That's exactly where I was going

[Anonymous Coward]

to put a mountain range, stretching all the way over into Morocco. What the hell?

But we must stop it!

[dtmancom]

Someone please tell me where I can by tectonic-shift credits to offset my crust-rendering lifestyle! I will gladly pay, and use my vote to make others pay, to ensure nothing ever changes on this planet!

one good piece of news.....

[stoned_hamster]

for the mapmakers, cuz everybody will need to buy new maps!

We will all die!

[Eric Elliott]

Al Gorilla says we will all be dead by then due to CO2, eating meat, SUVs, conservative thoughts or in his case eating cheese burgers. Anyway, Al is sure we can't survive till Africa splits! I wonder if Al knows how much CO2 that new volcano emits? Can Al get a volcano made illegal? Shut down a volcano?

Rift is developing in the Afar Region

[seeks2know]

Do they call it the Afar Region because it is not Upclose?

This must be news to americans.

[jozmala]

In Finland my 6th grade schoolbook explained it about 17 years ago that Africa will eventually split in Ethiopia. And no Finland is not in Africa its in northern Europe.

Re:This must be news to americans.

[John Hasler]

Read the article.