The Birth of a new Ocean Occurred in Three Weeks.

This story is old, is from 2005, but I just became aware of it and i thought I should share it with you all, and more so for those people who think that geological events take millions of years to happen, when in reality it doesn't have to take millions of years.

This is an image of a fissure which appeared in Ethiopia in three weeks after an earthquake occurred in that area.



Scientists say that could be the birth of a new ocean basin, which could take millions of years to form, but look at what happened in three weeks.

Here is a link to the story.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Ethiopian, American and European researchers have observed a fissure in a desert in the remote northeast that could be the "birth of a new ocean basin," scientists said Friday.

Researchers from Britain, France, Italy and the United States have been observing the 37-mile-long (60-kilometer-long) fissure since it split open in September in the Afar desert and estimate it will take a million years to fully form into an ocean, said Dereje Ayalew, who leads the team of 18 scientists studying the phenomenon.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

[edit on 30-1-2007 by Muaddib]

Well that thar is quite the hole. I don't see much in the way of water though. and arn't oceans huge? Least thats what I think of when I think of an ocean. Right now all I see is the makings of a realy realy deep hole.

Course give it a few decades and we will see if it continues to widen up, of course it occours to me that this may just be a sinkhole and eventualy the erosion will stop and it will just be a big hole.

Course we also could have just witnessed how the grand canyon got it's start too.

I saw that article when it came out. Apparently they reckon that this may be the start of the African continent splitting in two ! Interesting.

It's quite interesting to see that, It's part of a rift valley isn't it? I assume eventually it will split near the ocean which will flood in. Not sure I would call it a separate ocean though. I think it needs some growing before being called an ocean too.

It is nothing new it is just an extension of the great rift valley which runs from the Malwai/Mozambique border region to the Dead Sea of which the Red Sea is part. There are a whole string of great lakes along it with Lake Malwai being the first in the chain. The fissure is dramatic is without a doubt, but Mauddib is being dramatic... of course geological events can happen quickly, I don't know anyone who said they can't.

[edit on 30-1-2007 by grover]

Tectonic activity in the Rift Valley is happening quicker than anywhere else in the world. Further, such activity seems to be accelerating. From what I can remember from earlier reading the Indian Ocean is to grow smaller as this thing grows.

Actually I think what we will see is a long narrow new island made up of most of eastern Africa. eventually Palestine will seperate from the rest of the Levant and Arabia will swing up and close off the Persian gulf.

Here is a new article I just picked off of PhysOrgNews. You might find it interesting.

EARTH-SHATTERING PROOF OF CONTINENTS ON THE MOVE, January 29
Africa is being torn apart. And as Ethiopia's rift valley grows slowly wider, an international team of scientists is taking a unique opportunity to plot the progress of continents on the move.
Full story at www.physorg.com...

Take a look at that picture again..... I'm pretty sure the Earth is about to give Birth! I wonder if Godzilla (Gojira) has any cousins? Maybe that is where Mokele Mbembe came from.

Abunai! Anata no ushira ni Gojira ga imasu!!!
(Japanese for: Look out! Godzilla is behind you!!!)

We have this illusion somehow that all the great currents that have made this planet and us as a species happened in the past and that they no longer happen. I say this because I have noted the surprise expressed in both individuals and the media when something BIG happens. There is no reason to believe that plate tutonics have stopped, but it is hard to notice because it happens so slow, unless something like this happens. Sooner or later Cailfornia will ram into the coast of alaska but unless its some disaster flick people just don't understand.

I suspect terapin needs to get laid

ROFL Grover

I'll ask my girlfriend Xiu, as she was the one who mentioned Mokele Mbembe.