Ethiopian Desert Confirmed to be an Ocean in the Making

I found an extremely interesting article that confirms an African desert as “an ocean in the making.” Although the birth of an ocean is an extremely rare phenomenon, this is occurring in one of the Earth's most inhospitable regions, the Afar Depression in Ethiopia. The African continent is literally unstitching itself apart just like the sleeve of an old shirt, along the area known as the East African Rift, which begins with the southern end of the Red Sea, going through Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. The molten lava beneath the Earth's surface has thinned the East African Rift by constantly pushing against it, which has broken and torn it apart. Since the forces that drive the lava of the crust don't resist much anymore, they are continually applying unbelievable pressures, widening the gaps. This process should end in about ten million years, when the Red Sea's water, that will soon flood the rift, will have completely submerged the region.

The surface of the continental crust under the Afar Depression is currently just 12.5 miles thick, half its original thickness. There are many portions of the regional landscape that are more than 328 feet below the sea level. The only thing that keeps the water from invading them is the low eastern hills. Such closeness to the planet's lava shifted the zone into one of seismic, volcano and hydrothermal activity.

The geologists who are involved in overseeing the area believe that the crust will continue to stretch, thin and sink for about another million years, ending with a massive flood by the Red Sea waters, which in the end will cause the Afar Depression to lay at the bottom of a new ocean.

I found this article incredibly interesting because it connects directly to what we are talking about in class. Although we will not be here to witness when the Ethiopian desert truly develops into an ocean, scientists are learning many valuable facts about the process of continental rifting and how this can lead to the creation of new oceans.

African Desert Rift Confirmed as New Ocean in the Making. (2009, November 2). E! Science News. Retrieved from http://www.esciencenews.com