AFRICA’S SPLITTING PLATES COULD GIVE BIRTH TO A NEW OCEAN
Photos show evidence of giant fissures forming in parts of Kenya and Ethiopia, but this is not true.
Images of Kenya’s Great Rift Valley have been circulating online and are said to show evidence of a continental rift that may have split Africa in two. A large crack in the ground is seen as evidence that tectonic movement is tearing the continent apart and possibly splitting it in two.
Reports also indicate that a massive 35-mile fissure in the Ethiopian desert is further evidence of the trend, but the dramatic images are not what they appear. Instead, ground cracks are the result of more localized events.
The Guardian reports that the geological features are more likely to have been created by sudden erosion than by tectonic movements across continents.
However, the African continent is indeed gradually splitting in two as the tectonic plates slowly move far below the surface.
The Scientific Reason Behind the Splitting of the Earth!
Evacuation and potential loss of life would be the unfortunate price of this natural phenomenon.
The emergence of new shores is on the horizon, but not without consequences. Scientists predict that by 2020, as Africa gradually splits into two distinct parts, a new ocean will form. The study was also recently reported by the media.
The breakup of the African continent is linked to the Great Rift Valley, according to a publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Geophysical Research Letters
University student reports, this geological process would inevitably split continents, leading to countries like Uganda and Zambia, which are currently landlocked, eventually gaining their shores, which would take between five and 10 million years. Tell it to the media.
While the prospect of new coastlines is undoubtedly exciting, the process is not without significant ramifications.
The necessary evacuation and potential human losses will be the unfortunate price of this natural phenomenon. Upstream, however, the emergence of new coastlines will open up significant opportunities for economic growth.
What is continental rifting?
The Earth’s lithosphere, consisting of the crust and the upper mantle, is divided into several tectonic plates, which are not fixed but move relative to each other at different speeds.
Tectonic forces not only move plates but have the potential to cause plates to rupture, leading to the formation of rift valleys and possibly the creation of new plate boundaries, which may be known as “continental rifting.”
Rifting is the geological process by which a single tectonic plate splits into two or more plates separated by diverging plate boundaries.
This process results in forming a low-lying zone called the Rift Valley, which can occur on land or under the sea. National Geographic notes that these fissures result from the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates.
Is There Any History of Earth Splitting in India?
India has been a mysterious record holder in the history of Earth splitting.
Well over 140 million years ago, India was part of a gigantic supercontinent called Gondwana, which covered most of the southern hemisphere. About 120 million years ago, what is now India broke away and began a slow northward migration at a rate of about 5 centimetres per year. Then, about 80 million years ago, the continents suddenly accelerated and moved northward at a rate of about 15 centimetres per year, about twice the rate of the fastest modern tectonic drift.
Finally, about 50 million years ago, the continent collided with Eurasia, forming the Himalayas; while a quick event like a sudden break would lend a sense of urgency to a continental break, the process itself is prolonged and goes unnoticed most of the time as it gradually splits Africa.