Giant crack in Africa may create a new ocean

[Union Yes]

Source: MSNBC

A 35-mile rift in the desert of Ethiopia will likely become a new ocean eventually, researchers now confirm.

The crack, 20 feet wide in spots, opened in 2005 and some geologists believed then that it would spawn a new ocean. But that view was controversial, and the rift had not been well studied.

A new study involving an international team of scientists and reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters finds the processes creating the rift are nearly identical to what goes on at the bottom of oceans, further indication a sea is in the region's future.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33605604/ns/technology_and_science-science

---

No crack jokes allowed!!

OK, OK a thread title like this is ripe for a few jokes. Fire away!

Personally, I think Mother Earth is simply barfing out the poison we have injected into her. But that's just my own theory and I have no science to back that up.

When Mother Earth speaks, at least some of us listen.

Peace

[Razoor]

1. wheres some spackle when you need it? n/t

[Roland99]

19. Spackle?! Pffft. Duct tape!!

[Union Yes]

20. Why waste duct tape when one well placed nuke can rectify the crisis yesterday?

:P

[Roland99]

23. Superman fixed a fault line. Anyone got his #?

[ORDagnabbit]

2. in a million years according to the article..

[Vehl]

8. I hope humanity survives till then!

[tabatha]

16. By that time, maybe California will be adrift as well.

[AnneD]

31. California...

has always been adrift....It just follows it's own tide.

[EFerrari]

39. I thought it was just San Diego migrating north very stealthily.

[JonQ]

3. Could be a boon for that part of africa if this is true

Evaporation from oceans -> clouds -> rain -> fewer deserts, more food.

Of course they'll have to wait for a bit . . .

[SIMPLYB1980]

4. We should bomb it like the moon!

J/K. Saw a NatGeo or Science Channel program that talked about that. I think it was "Hot Rocks" but I'm not sure. Anyway plate tectonics takes to long to get me all exited, but still cool.

[Union Yes]

9. I agree. Nuke it!

:P

[itsrobert]

5. Maybe it's nature way to diminish damage of the ice melting?

With a new area for the water to go, the sea would not rise?

[tabatha]

17. Nope, it is just plate tectonics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYbTNFN3NBo

[GaYellowDawg]

52. ... and has NOTHING to do with human activity. nt

nt

[WriteDown]

6. Time to jump on some ocean front property. nt

[FSogol]

7. Using the powers of Amerigo Vespucci, I proclaim the new ocean to be: The FSogol Ocean

Greatest of all Oceans!

[question everything]

10. This will be wonderful

Ethiopia has suffered from long duration of drought so, perhaps, it could benefit.

Remind me of "The English Patient" where they found caves in the African desert where there were paintings clearly suggesting water in earlier times.

[Chulanowa]

14. Those paintings actually exist

The Nile used to empty into the Atlantic, and had plenty of tributaries to go along with it - tectonic upheavals in the Nile's headwaters threw it off course and it started emptying into the Mediterranean.

The Sahara is a very recent geological feature.

[No Elephants]

47. A vast and deadly one, though.

[GaYellowDawg]

53. I think it will suck.

The Rift Valley is where all the best hominid fossils are found.

[foxfeet]

11. Oh, great. Here come the Somali pirates.

[chemenger]

34. Somalian Pirates We

We drink and we pillage and we do what we please. We get all that we want for free.
We'll kick your ass and rape your lass. Somalian pirates we!
So with a yo ho ho. And with a ye he he. We take to the African sea.
We'll brave the squalls and bust your balls. Somalian pirates we!

We left our homes and we left our mudders, to go on a pillagin' spree.
We'll cut off your ears and break your toes and make you drink our pee.
And if you sail into our waters, you best hear this decree.
We'll take your boat and set your ass afloat. Somalian pirate we.
And with a yo ho ho. And a tricky lahty do. We'll shoot you in the face with glee.
Then we'll cut off your cock and feed it to a croc. Somalian pirates we ... Somalian pirates we!

[Chulanowa]

12. The entire eastern portion of Africa is due to split off of the continent

The Rift Valley is the epicenter of this, but the actual rift stretches up through Ethiopia, through the Red Sea, and north into Lebanon. Africa is steadily moving northward, while this particular section is moving northeast. In a couple million years, Somalia will probably slam into the Arabian peninsula, and then tectonic pressure will close off the Persian Gulf, and the whole lump of land will fold into the Indian Subcontinent - which by then will have kept plowing northward and flattened considerably.

End result? Africa gets a new mini-ocean, Western Asia gets an even bigger desert, except for wet forests along the southern shores from the massive mountains that will rise.

[DrDan]

13. Lived in Ethiopia for a couple of years

One of the best weekend trips from Addis was to the Great Rift Valley and watch the baboons.

[Union Yes]

15. Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

I bet that was an amazing experience.

:hi:

[DrDan]

18. my wife and I were teachers and we had two children

So money was tight. This was a good thing as it did not allow us to travel out of the country. Instead, we never left Ethiopia for 2 years, but rather spent our time traveling within the country.

It is a beautiful, but very poor country. Unfortunately politics has kept it poor - not allowing a healthy tourist trade.

We had an all-school reunion last year at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington. The Ambassador joined us and graciously spent time at each table. It was great seeing all of our past students and reminscing about the good old days.

[Thothmes]

26. 3.5 million years ago

one could have watched our ancestors romp in the same area.

[DrDan]

27. yep - some great findings from this area

[alfredo]

57. I lived up in Asmara from 66 to 69. I remember all the earth tremors we

had. Loved it. I spent a night in the Abraha castle in a room that was supposed to be haunted. It is now a hotel. It had two rooms on the roof that are similar to Yohannas's Castle.

An Italian family owned it. Maybe they are the ones that made it a hotel. We sat up on the roof and smoked some great weed and watched a golden eagle as it patrolled its territory. I have a picture of the stonewalled pastures surrounding the castle.
Abraha Castle



Yohannes' Castle

[onehandle]

21. RUN!

1 inch per year?

Never mind.

[Rebubula]

22. Well...

...millions of years ago, the US was broken apart by an ocean.

The Earth does this from time to time...actually it does it ALL the time. However, 100 year life spans are too short to really see it.

[starroute]

24. Where I live in Bucks County was a rift valley like that once

Back about 250 million years ago, just as the dinosaurs were emerging, what is now the Atlantic Ocean began to open up and separate what are now Europe and North America.

Only the split wasn't in the middle of a desert -- it ran down the middle of an old mountain range pushed up when earlier versions of Europe and North America collided, forming what are now the Appalachians.

As a result, the rift was far deeper than anything you see today. There's a two-mile thick rock formation, the Old Red Sandstone, formed as the ancient mountains eroded into the ancient rift valley. And there's a series of hills in northeastern Bucks County that were formed as boulder piles at the foot of colossal waterfalls that plunged over the edge of the rift.

The planet can do some pretty incredible things.

[ChickMagic]

33. If I remember my geology correctly

the Old Red Sandstone is also found in Scotland as a result of the rift.

[Ignis]

25. Giant Crack Syndrome? I'm sure there's a pill for that. (nt)

[scot]

28. Not a pill, a suppository.

[AnneD]

32. BWAHAHAHAHAHA

+1

[mikekohr]

40. And if there is I bet Limbaugh has a few thousand of them -nt-

[Ignis]

43. Hell, I think he bought the company.

:hi:

[dysfunctional press]

29. "Mother Earth is simply barfing out the poison we have injected into her."

:eyes:

let me guess- physical science isn't your forte.

[No Elephants]

49. No need to snark. The OP specified that statement was not based on science.

[GaYellowDawg]

51. Statements like that REQUIRE snark.

The whole "Mother Earth" personification/deification of the planet is stupid. It's an inanimate object.

[NoSheep]

30. I'll be working on my crack navigating skills.

[AlienGirl]

35. This happens. It's a normal part of plate tectonics.

Millions of years from now, we can say "I knew that ocean way back when it was just a baby rift!"

Tucker

[JitterbugPerfume]

55. Hi Tucker!

It is good to see you!

[stubtoe]

36. This is news? Where has msmbc been for the last few eons?

[SoCalDem]

37. Busy planning their "Get FoxNews" strategery

:)

[ooglymoogly]

38. I got some waterfront property to sell

act fast going like hotcakes.

[harry_pothead]

41. It's time for a War on Giant Cracks stat!

[Devil_Fish]

42. how is this LBN? I herd about this over a year ago. NT

[Xenotime]

44. This is connected to climate change somehow...I am sure.

[GaYellowDawg]

54. Nope. Plate tectonics. Has nothing to do with human activity.

Look it up - the plate boundary between the African and Arabian plates is a divergent boundary. Tectonic activity has been going on longer than carbon emissions, or humans, or life. There are plenty of adverse consequences of human activity to be found without making new ones up... and crying wolf is a great way to get the real consequences ignored.

[sellitman]

45. There is a bigger rift on DU

:evilgrin:

[Myrina]

46. It's Obama - he's trying to hide Kenya and his birth certificate ...

:rofl:

[No Elephants]

48. At last, Etthiopians will be able to afford beachfront property.

[GaYellowDawg]

50. Oh, holy fucking shit.

Personally, I think Mother Earth is simply barfing out the poison we have injected into her. But that's just my own theory and I have no science to back that up.

I get so tired of the personification/deification "Mother Earth" bullshit. This is simply part of a rift valley formed by two diverging tectonic plates. It has nothing to do with human activity, and it sure has nothing to do with "Mother Earth" bullshit mysticism.

[JitterbugPerfume]

56. they were talking about the rift on NOVA

there are lots of cool fossils to be found there, maybe even the answer to human genesis!I find it fascinating.