

New ocean forming in African desert - rglullis
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/New_ocean_forming_in_African_desert?curid=143320

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maukdaddy
Actual scientific content and pictures here:
<http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3486>

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tdedecko
Scientific content:
[http://www.ees.rochester.edu/ebinger/Site/Publications_files...](http://www.ees.rochester.edu/ebinger/Site/Publications_files/Ebinger_GJI08_Afar.pdf)

More photos:
[http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/afar/websitepages/photogallery1.h...](http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/afar/websitepages/photogallery1.htm)

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swombat
From: [http://www.livescience.com/environment/091102-africa-rift-
oc...](http://www.livescience.com/environment/091102-africa-rift-ocean.html)

"The thinking is that the Red Sea will eventually pour into the new sea in a
million years or so."

So I guess there's still time to submit planning applications to build fancy
new hotels on the ocean-side...

Shame, would have been nice to see a new massive ocean appear there in, say,
50 years... I guess it might be rather disruptive to the people living nearby
though.

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socratees
All the articles state a similar previous rift that caused the formation of
the Red Sea took 30 million years. This Ethiopian rift is a combination of
volcanic activity and tectonic plate movement ( from what i can read from
other related articles ). How soon could this happen? Any ideas?. Just
curious.

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tdedecko
This article claims that it could take 4 million years for the crack to each
the red sea.

Typically, spreading rates are measured in millimeters a year. I don't know
what the spreading rate is for this rift.

[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18114-giant-crack-
in-a...](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18114-giant-crack-in-africa-
formed-in-just-days.html)

~~~
ars
Is spreading rate really the thing to measure here?

Once the rift reaches the red sea, we'd have the worlds skinniest ocean.

I want to know elongation rate. Is the whole rift spreading as one unit? Is it
starting in the middle, and slowly working toward the red sea?

~~~
tdedecko
Yes, spreading rate is really the thing to measure. The reason being, is that
this region is faulted and rifted throughout. This particular rift is one of
many. Rather than elongating; the rifts will join and will connect northward
to the Red Sea. It seems that rifts are nearly connecting now. Though, it will
take millions of years to finish this connection and create this sea.

I found some information on the spreading rates. Seems the plates are
spreading at rates of 15 mm/yr in the north and 6 mm/yr in the south.

Here are some other references:
[http://www.ees.rochester.edu/ebinger/Site/Publications_files...](http://www.ees.rochester.edu/ebinger/Site/Publications_files/Ebinger_GJI08_Afar.pdf)
<http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/afar/index.htm>

