Africa Is SPLITTING IN HALF And Something Extraordinary Is About To Happen
In elementary science, we have learned a great deal about the continents and their history. We now understand how the continents came to exist in their current form and the important role played by continental drift. However, we have some exciting news to share with you. It appears that another significant geological event may be happening on our planet right now: a new ocean is forming in Africa! If you're curious about where and how this is taking place, we encourage you to watch this video until the end to learn all the fascinating details.
recently Kenya's Great Rift Valley has
become an area of interest to
individuals worldwide specifically
scientists the never-ending exploratory
activities in this region are triggered
by the fact that it is the region where
Africa the second largest continent in
the world is gradually dividing into two
as a result of natural forces an event
of this extent hasn't been recorded for
a couple of million years in the last of
its kind marked the division of South
America and Africa into two different
continents on a lighter note the site
resulting from this split Kenya's Great
Rift Valley is a choice site for
tourists traveling to East Africa to
witness the phenomenon firsthand the
division of the African continent into
two became very obvious in 2005. this
division originated from the emergence
of a rift in the Ethiopian desert which
is 35 miles long at the moment as stated
by geological research charts according
to scientists this division in the
African continent started long before
2005 and will eventually lead to the
continent splitting into two parts with
an ocean in between
geologists examining the tectonic plates
of Africa over time also validate that
54 countries on the continent are
splitting and will eventually become two
separate land masses
Kenya's Great Rift Valley stretches from
northern Ethiopia through the Mozambique
and is the dividing line separating
countries like Somalia Ethiopia Eritrea
Mozambique Djibouti Kenya and Tanzania
from the remaining parts of Africa that
said this division of continents is
usually caused by the movement of
tectonic plates leading to the
separation of land in a process called
rifting simply put rifting is a
phenomenon where one tectonic plate is
broken up into two or more plates
divided by a type of tectonic plate
boundary known as the divergent plate
boundary rifting causes the formation of
a lowland where the tectonic plates have
broken apart and can be seen on land or
on the ocean floor and this phenomenon
of rifting is what led to the formation
of the Red Sea in time past
usually the formation of continents from
this process occurs at a gradual rate of
about a fraction of an inch per year
however scientists have now discovered
through GPS tracking that this movement
has been happening much faster in recent
times
a report published by the National
Journal found that the two continental
land masses in Africa are tearing apart
at a rate of about seven millimeters per
year
this movement might result in landlocked
countries like Uganda Malawi Burundi
Rwanda the Democratic Republic of Congo
and Zambia eventually having their own
coastlines in addition scientists have
also discovered that active volcanoes in
East Africa play an important part in
the Continental splitting such active
volcanoes include the ancient
odognolenge volcano in Tanzania in the
ALU dalapia in Ethiopia these volcanoes
provide new insights and information on
studies around the Continental split the
urthaale volcano in Ethiopia is another
example of an active volcano in East
Africa that has continuously erupted for
over 50 years another notable phenomenon
that geologists investigating the rift
site have observed is that there are
various underground activities in the
area which could also contribute to the
Earth's division centering around this
fact scientists discover the Victoria
microplate situated between both sides
of the rift this is the largest
microplate on Earth and has been
rotating counterclockwise for more than
two years
formation of a new ocean from the
Continental split
before the Layman it may not be as easy
to understand how the Earth's movement
can impact the ocean size however
suppose you understand how the
continents were formed or the concept of
the continental drift
in that case the concept of formation
expansion and movement of the world's
oceans may become clearer more on the
continental drift Christopher Moore a
PhD student in the school of Earth's
environment at the University of Leeds
in the UK observed the red haze from a
lava flow a few kilometers away on the
top of a large volcano and no to
something unusual he realized that
certain movements of the earth which
should not be ignored were responsible
for these behaviors and were the first
signs of tectonic transitions to occur
in the next five to one hundred million
years
as a result he anticipated that the area
would vastly change the phenomenon that
explains the Ocean Floors expansion is
also a part of the continental drift
theory known as seafloor spreading in
this phenomenon when a divergent plate
boundary splits apart and spreads out
volcanic activities give room for
forming a new ocean floor at the area
where the split is created
splitting occurs in the lithosphere due
to tensional stress when the ocean
plates move away from each other
the force from tectonic plate slab pool
at subduction zones drives the spreading
of seafloor ridges the activity of magma
is typically high at these ridges and
gravity causes plates that are not
subducting to slide off the elevated
mid-ocean ridges a process known as
Ridge push hence basaltic magma rises up
the fractures at a spreading Center and
cools on the ocean floor creating a new
seabed generally rocks formed from this
process get older as one moves away from
the spreading zone while younger rocks
are closer to the spreading zone slight
changes in the elevation of the Earth in
associated with plate tectonics that can
be observed from a Mountaintop today
were much more observable and
significant in the past that said the
barren area in East Africa that bordered
the Red Sea is covered in lava that
resulted from the rupture of the Earth
at the convergence of the Nubian Somali
and Arabian tectonic plates this area is
a tri-junction with the Ethiopian
Plateau the Red Sea anderitria forming a
large wash shaped structure on the
surface of the Earth's crust also the
Great Rift Valley which it forms
stretches over four thousand miles into
the heart of Africa to the South while
the Red Sea extends to the Northwest and
the Aden Ridge an oceanic Ridge
stretches to the east these tectonic
activities are more than enough evidence
that the African continent is going
through a process of splitting apart
today if someone were to stand on a
Mountaintop they would only notice small
changes in millimeters however those
changes would have been much more
significant in the past when the land
was Bare in addition the area in East
Africa that is covered in lava was
created by the Continental split which
occurred at the triple Junction where
Nubian Somali and Arabian tectonic
plates intersected and adjacent to the
Red Sea which is sparsely populated
for the past three decades the Somali
plate in East Africa has been gradually
separating from the rest of the
continent this led to a rift valley in
Ethiopia and Eritrea and divided into
the Kenya Rift before rejoining in the
Malawi Rift by Examining The Chain of
Lakes that line the bottom of the Great
Rift Valley such as Lakes Tanganyika and
nayasa it's possible to trace the
divided consonant on a map at the same
time the Arabian plate has been pulling
away from Africa as the Red Sea Rift
expands to approximately one centimeter
annually
soon enough the Arabian plate will halt
after it collides with the Eurasian
plate in modern-day Iran the significant
geological changes the Earth's crust is
experiencing are the prequels of this
event these geological changes include
the formation of a new ocean Basin and
the continent's division the afar region
is located in the center of these
Transformations and is being separated
from Eurasia by the closing of the
Persian Gulf this region has created
some of the world's largest volcanoes
due to the prominence of tectonic
activity around this region the mixture
of extensive Basalt and silica lava
flows that overlay the Great Rift Valley
has led to the development of bimodal
volcanism and explosive eruptions
speaking of volcanic eruptions East
Africa is home to various types of
volcanoes just towards the northern part
of the Red Sea there are large basaltic
shield volcanoes like erta ale while the
south is characterized by the enormous
corbetti Caldera in Ethiopia some of the
most unpredictable volcanoes in the
world can be found in this area as we
move further into Africa there are
unusual sites such as the old daniolingo
volcano in Tanzania which spews
carbonitite to the east of Dr Congo are
twin volcanoes neymaraza and nieragango
to the West
these volcanoes contribute to the active
seismic activity beneath East Africa the
afar region is a significant focal point
for a geological activity and a possible
reason for this is that the area has
been heated from beneath by the afar
plume this same plume caused the African
continent to rise and break apart more
than 80 million years ago forming rift
valleys similar processes were observed
when the North Atlantic Ocean was formed
which connected a substantial mantle
plume to create new continental fault
lines as a result two continental
margins were separated by the spread of
the seafloor at mid-ocean ridges it has
been discovered that urta ale is still
in a transitioning phase the
transformation into an oceanic spreading
Center will become more apparent within
the next 5 million years as lava
eruptions create streaks along the edges
and record Earth's magnetic field
nevertheless the shift towards an
oceanic spreading Center will occur
gradually the area indicates shallow
magma storage but a genuine ocean crust
has yet to form thus the future of
tectonic activity in this region remains
to be determined it is uncertain when
the region will transition into an ocean
spreading Center whether an ocean
spreading Basin will develop between the
Somali and Nubian plates and how the
spreading process will occur in the Red
Sea and the Gulf of Aden geologic
records indicate that the earth was
formed 4.5 billion years ago followed by
the continental crust 3.2 billion years
ago and then the creation of the
continental shelf as molten rocks pushed
up through the Earth's surface
eventually forming the supercontinent
tectonic plates constantly change with
some sliding against each other along
fault lines and others colliding at the
same time some plates are moving apart
at divergent plate boundaries which has
contributed to the formation of today's
continents including Africa Europe Asia
South America North America and
Australia
here's where we wrap things up kindly
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