Violent Seismic Activity Tearing Africa in Two!

Only few meters and the Ocean will ultimately cover the desert and flood a huge area into the Afar and Dankalian depressions. The Erta Ale volcano in northeastern Ethiopia is awake and erupting. The earth is in upheaval in northeastern Africa, and the region is changing quickly. According to the researchers, all the region is similar to an oceanic bottom without water... but water it will return soon!


www.spiegel.de...

Satellite-based radar measurements confirm the split. This one shows how the Dabbahu and Gab’ho volcanoes are growing farther apart.


Fissures like this one near the Dabbahu volcano already reach below sea level.

The desert floor is quaking and splitting open, volcanoes are boiling over, and seawaters are encroaching upon the land. Africa, researchers are certain, is splitting apart at a rate rarely seen in geology.

The first fracture appeared millions of years ago, resulting in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The second fracture, stretching south from Ethiopia to Mozambique, is known as the Great Rift Valley, and it is lined with several volcanoes. Millions of years from now, it too will be filled with seawater.

In the last five years, the geologic transformation of northeastern Africa has "accelerated dramatically," says Wright. Indeed, the process is going much faster than many had anticipated. In recent years, geologists had measured just a few millimeters of movement each year. "But now the earth is opening up by the meter," says Loraine Field, a scholar at the University of Bristol who also attended the conference.

The most violent upsurge of magma in recent years, though, happened in an unexpected place. In May 2009, a subterranean volcano erupted in Saudi Arabia. A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 accompanied by tens of thousands of milder tremors forced 30,000 to seek shelter. Magma spewed out of the ground in an area about the size of Berlin and Hamburg combined, Sigurjon Jonsson from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology reported at the AGU meeting. The fact that the eruption took place almost 200 kilometers (124 miles) away from the fault line in North Africa "surprised all of us," says Cynthia Ebinger.

Oxford University's David Ferguson predicts a considerable increase in volcanic eruptions and earthquakes in the region over the next decade. They will, he says, "become of increasingly large magnitude."

We could see to appear the new Ocean....very soon....

Wow amazing pics. This will be interesting to keep an eye on. Mother earth is definitely restless. There is just to much going on to deny it these days.

It seems that Africa is growing. This reminds me of the theory that the earth is growing perpetually. But whatever they case it is interesting. I think I would be neat if Africa split but I don't think that is happening. I think it is along a fault line that is close to the ocean. This is probably pretty normal. What can I say I just don't fear Africa very much.

reply to post by nrd101


I hope so, but "the event" could go quickly...

...But in the Danakil Depression, in the northern part of the valley, the ocean could arrive much sooner. There, low, 25 meter (82 foot) hills are the only thing holding back the waters of the Red Sea. The land behind them has already dropped dozens of meters from previous levels and white salt deposits on the desert floor testify to past encroachments of the sea. But lava soon choked off its access.

Not a fan of the article, just seems...off.

Anyway, this Documentary may be of interest:




Can find the other parts on youtube.

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by Chadwickus


Spectacular!

Thanks for your add.
Star!

Originally posted by hawkiye
Wow amazing pics. This will be interesting to keep an eye on. Mother earth is definitely restless. There is just to much going on to deny it these days.

Fascinating pics indeed. It is always interesting to see our planet in action. Just curious, has anyone ever denied that "Mother earth" is restless? The way I see it, she has always been restless with ebbs and flows of massive earth moving power.

It has been a long, long time since we have had a truly powerful eruption. The last eruption with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 8, was the Oruanui eruption of Taupo, NZ, approximately 26,500 years ago. This is believed to be the largest eruption in the last 70,000 years.

The last eruption with a VEI of 7 was the Mount Tambora eruption of 1814, which is considered to be the largest eruption in recorded history. The previous VEI 7 eruption was also Taupo, in approximately 180AD. The largest eruption in recent history was the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, registering 5 or 6 on the VEI scale. We haven't had any eruptions of as significant a scale since then. Of course, we could get one at any time though. Earth is a very restless, dynamic planet. But I wouldn't want it any other way

Originally posted by Arken
We could see to appear the new Ocean....very soon....

While it is true we could see a new ocean "soon", it is probably unlikely to happen in our lifetime without a significant geological event. It is possible of course, but I wouldn't be betting on it.

The first fracture appeared millions of years ago, resulting in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The second fracture, stretching south from Ethiopia to Mozambique, is known as the Great Rift Valley, and it is lined with several volcanoes. Millions of years from now, it too will be filled with seawater.
Could Go Quickly

But in the Danakil Depression, in the northern part of the valley, the ocean could arrive much sooner.

Although the article states that the Danakil Depression could flood "much sooner", I believe they are talking in geological (rather than human) terms. If the Great Rift Valley will flood with seawater in millions of years, any flooding happening much sooner could be in 10 thousand, 50 thousand or even 100's of thousand of years from now.

It will be interesting to see if the predictions are correct, and that we do see an increase in volcanic activity in this area. It seems a lot of people are concerned about volcanic activity at the moment, along with various other doomsday scenarios (pole shifts, earthquakes etc). Hopefully it is mostly speculation and paranoia, but it pays to always be prepared for disasters, of any kind. Especially when you live near a caldera such as Taupo. Although I must say, Taupo's eruptions have created a mighty fine lake for recreation, and has made a wonderful home for introduced trout, as well as supplying hydro electric power in the form of the Waikato river. So these events aren't necessarily all bad