I think I read somewhere in Revelations about the Tigris and Euphrates drying out or something. And then the armies of evil like march across the dry ground and fight on Armageddon. Maybe this will be big enough to swallow up the waters of Euphrates, causing it to be dry? Just tossing that out to the biblical buffs to discuss.

Edit: Here's the actual scripture:
(Revelations 16:12) And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

And then some crazy stuff happens and they battle it out in Armageddon...

Is this rift in Ethiopia close to the Euphrates? Or am I totally off? Or both?

EDIT 2:
Lol... I just checked my geography. The Euphrates isn't even anywhere near there. Sorry

[edit on 2-11-2009 by OrphenFire]

[edit on 2-11-2009 by OrphenFire]

this idea is really out there but... do you think this new ocean is forming because of the polar icecaps melting? The sea is rising at what... like 1 inch every year or something? we'll need a place for all this extra water we're gaining. Heck, the best place for it would be in Africa! Either way, awesome thread!

Omni

Originally posted by grey580
If a new ocean forms.. does that means that ocean levels will lower?

A rift the size of the width of africa is alot of water even it if is skinny.
what happens then?

The new ocean forms as East Africa moves into the Indian Ocean. The area of ocean doesn't really change (as the rift ocean growns so the Indian Ocean gets smaller)

All of this will happen over a period of tens of millions of years and will certainly not have any effect on us.

This assumes the rift continues to open - the African Rift Valley failed to become an ocean. Maybe this offshoot of it will fail as well?

Uh oh... I see a huge problem with this...

Look where the rift is on the map and look at Lake Victoria... for those who don't know Lake Victoria feeds the waters of the Nile probably the biggest fresh water reserve in northern Africa could be wiped out by this! Granted the area would be filled with ocean water, but it's salty you would have trouble drinking that of course...

Another possible scenario could be the Ocean waters flow down the Nile Flooding Egypt. I don't know I'll need to look into this more, but It doesn't look too good for Egypt or other countries relying on Lake Victoria's fresh water.

Originally posted by Hack28
Man i love this stuff!!!!
Thanks so much for bringing this to us, your definatly not alone in loving the science aspects of the unusual.
First thing i thought of when i saw the article is that theory that the earth is not comprised of tectonique plates but its expanding. I dont know why exactly but thats what came to mind.

Cool, I'm happy to stand corrected!

I thought I was going to be the only one!

Originally posted by hangedman13
Don't sell yourself short, this is a really cool find. I never heard of this prior to this thread, it's interesting on many levels. I'd love to see what this would look like when it fills in! Thanks for posting this info

Cheers!

I stand guilty of misjudging you fine folk!

Somehow I don't think ocean levels will rise since the land being separated is also being pushed out farther into what was formerly nothing but ocean. Things are getting moved around but I'm not sure the net effect is going to be a big change in land vs. water on the surface.

Originally posted by VitalOverdose
I wonder how quickly it happened?

They say that it happens quite quickly in geological terms, the article says that in "In 2005 a 35 mile long rift"...


So I'm thinking it happens in fairly large tears, after volcanic/earthquake activity.

Originally posted by OrphenFire
I think I read somewhere in Revelations about the Tigris and Euphrates drying out or something. And then the armies of evil like march across the dry ground and fight on Armageddon. Maybe this will be big enough to swallow up the waters of Euphrates, causing it to be dry? Just tossing that out to the biblical buffs to discuss.

Edit: Here's the actual scripture:
(Revelations 16:12) And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

And then some crazy stuff happens and they battle it out in Armageddon...

Is this rift in Ethiopia close to the Euphrates? Or am I totally off? Or both?

EDIT 2:
Lol... I just checked my geography. The Euphrates isn't even anywhere near there. Sorry

[edit on 2-11-2009 by OrphenFire]

[edit on 2-11-2009 by OrphenFire]

Good effort though, this is ATS after all! We have to join the conspiracy dots!

Originally posted by Essan

Originally posted by grey580
If a new ocean forms.. does that means that ocean levels will lower?

A rift the size of the width of africa is alot of water even it if is skinny.
what happens then?

The new ocean forms as East Africa moves into the Indian Ocean. The area of ocean doesn't really change (as the rift ocean growns so the Indian Ocean gets smaller)

All of this will happen over a period of tens of millions of years and will certainly not have any effect on us.

This assumes the rift continues to open - the African Rift Valley failed to become an ocean. Maybe this offshoot of it will fail as well?

I see what you mean there, the water just moves from one place on the Earth's surface to another!

I hope it does happen in a few million years, I'd like for the Cosmos to know I was alive when this new ocean formed...

Any ideas on a name??

Originally posted by asmall89
Uh oh... I see a huge problem with this...

Look where the rift is on the map and look at Lake Victoria... for those who don't know Lake Victoria feeds the waters of the Nile probably the biggest fresh water reserve in northern Africa could be wiped out by this! Granted the area would be filled with ocean water, but it's salty you would have trouble drinking that of course...

Another possible scenario could be the Ocean waters flow down the Nile Flooding Egypt. I don't know I'll need to look into this more, but It doesn't look too good for Egypt or other countries relying on Lake Victoria's fresh water.

If Humans are around when this occurs (Highly unlikely!), then I'm sure they'll have the situation under control!

Might be good idea to buy some useless Ethiopian Real estate, be worth a fortune in 10 million years!

We must as a world combat this Geologic Climate Change!!

I propose to tax all non-Ethiopian countries to pay for the staples and duct tape it will take to prevent this man made disaster from occurring.

The Earth just keeps growing and growing.

Originally posted by pavil
We must as a world combat this Geologic Climate Change!!

I propose to tax all non-Ethiopian countries to pay for the staples and duct tape it will take to prevent this man made disaster from occurring.

Oh mate, that has to be the post of the day!

you have me in stitches!

Originally posted by pavil
We must as a world combat this Geologic Climate Change!!

I propose to tax all non-Ethiopian countries to pay for the staples and duct tape it will take to prevent this man made disaster from occurring.

Duct Tape fixes everything....but what about a few thousand gallons of super glue!!

Wow! This is fascinating! Thanks for the heads up. If it doesn't fill up with ocean, Africa may have their very own Grand Canyon some day.

This is probably a stupid question, but is it possible that if water does enter into the 'canyon' that it could come up from underground like from an underground caving system, or is that even possible due to its location?