{"id":119259,"date":"2024-10-28T09:11:49","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T02:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=119259"},"modified":"2024-10-28T09:11:49","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T02:11:49","slug":"africa-is-starting-to-split-into-two-and-form-earths-sixths-ocean-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=119259","title":{"rendered":"Africa is starting to split into two and form Earth&#8217;s sixth&#8217;s ocean &#8211; here&#8217;s why"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Back in the day (and by that, we mean around 230 million years ago), there used to be one big <a data-linked-post=\"2668652080\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indy100.com\/science-tech\/argyle-diamond-mine-nuna\">supercontinent<\/a> called <a data-linked-post=\"2666275384\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indy100.com\/science-tech\/supercontinent-inhabitable-humans-pangea-ultima\">Pangea<\/a> but as we all know this slowly broke apart what emerged the <a data-linked-post=\"2666072984\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indy100.com\/science-tech\/argoland-continent-discovered-australia-scientists-2666072984\">continental drift<\/a> is the world we\u2019re familiar with today.<\/p>\n<p>Although it\u2019s hard to imagine a world where there\u2019s one supercontinent, there\u2019s the fossil evidence of ancient species whose habitat eventually broke off. For example, fossils of Cynognathus an extinct mammal-like reptile the size of a modern wolf have only been found in Africa and South America \u2013 which suggests the two continents were once joined, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geolsoc.org.uk\/Plate-Tectonics\/Chap1-Pioneers-of-Plate-Tectonics\/Alfred-Wegener\/Fossil-Evidence-from-the-Southern-Hemisphere\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Geology Society.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But due to Earth\u2019s soft centre and the <a data-linked-post=\"2669469535\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indy100.com\/science-tech\/lost-earth-crust-northern-borneo-2669469535\">tectonic plates<\/a>, the contents are still moving today \u2013 in fact, it is thought that Africa will split in two in the future.<\/p>\n<p>However when we say \u201cfuture\u201d it is actually a long way off, as the seismic split is expected to take around 50 million years, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/theweek.com\/africa\/92684\/africa-splitting-in-two-whats-happening-to-the-continent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Geographic.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>So how have experts made this prediction?<\/p>\n<p><a data-linked-post=\"2667884909\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indy100.com\/science-tech\/africa-splitting-continent-ocean\">Africa <\/a>is home to one of the largest rifts in the world &#8211; the East African Rift System (EARS) \u2013 which is so big it goes through a number of countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, a crack has emerged in this area and will eventually break away which will separate the smaller Somalian plate from the larger Nubian plate. You\u2019d be mistaken to think this is a quick process as it has taken a whopping 25 million years for this crack to develop.<\/p>\n<p>When it does eventually break away in the very distant future, a new sixth ocean will form and consequently previously landlocked countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, and Zambia will get a coastline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"018a2\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"6fe3ea5ded4826644d92ed574b743b3c\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"https:\/\/www.indy100.com\/media-library\/left-pangaea-and-right-the-continents-we-re-familar-with-today-as-a-result-of-the-continental-drift.jpg?id=53891144&amp;width=980\" width=\"3200\" height=\"2000\" alt=\"\"\/><small class=\"image-media media-caption\" placeholder=\"Add Photo Caption...\">(Left) Pangaea, and (right) the continents we&#8217;re familar with today as a result of the continental drift<\/small><small class=\"image-media media-photo-credit\" placeholder=\"Add Photo Credit...\">iStockphoto by Getty Images<\/small><\/p>\n<p>This subject matter of the continent breaking away gained more attention when back in 2018 a huge crack (50 feet deep and 65 feet wide in some spots, local outlets reported at the time) in the Kenyan Rift Valley made headlines and its placement raised eyebrows online. Was this a result of tectonic movement or just a case of soil erosion from the heavy rain?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe valley has a history of tectonic and volcanic activities,\u201d geologist David Adede told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nation.co.ke\/news\/Suswa-rift-Kenya-splitting\/1056-4348966-hhs3ol\/index.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Daily Nation<\/em><\/a> at the time \u201cWhereas the rift has remained tectonically inactive in the recent past, there could be movements deep within the Earth\u2019s crust that have resulted in zones of weakness extending all the way to the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven the evidence available at present, the best and simplest explanation is that this crack was in fact formed by erosion of soil beneath the surface due to recent heavy rains in Kenya,\u201d Stephen Hicks, a seismology researcher at the University of Southampton wrote in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/blog\/2018\/apr\/06\/africa-is-slowly-splitting-in-two-but-this-crack-in-kenya-rift-valley-has-little-to-do-with-it#:~:text=This%20result%20shows%20there%20has,recent%20heavy%20rains%20in%20Kenya.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Guardian.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Writing in <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/africa-is-splitting-in-two-here-is-why-94056\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Conversation,<\/a><\/em> Luc\u00eda P\u00e9rez D\u00edaz, at the time a postdoctoral researcher in the Fault Dynamics Research Group at the Royal Holloway University of London noted how \u201cQuestions remain as to why it has formed in the location that it did and whether its appearance is at all connected to the ongoing East African Rift.<\/p>\n<p> \u201cFor example, the crack could be the result of the erosion of soft soils infilling an old rift-related fault.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the idea of Earth\u2019s continents once being joined together and splitting off over the course of millions of years, then you\u2019ll be even more stunned to learn that the continents have come together and split apart (extremely slowly) at least three times over the course of Earth\u2019s long history.<\/p>\n<p>Mind blown.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indy100.com\/news\/indy100-news-updates-whatsapp-channel\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">How to join<\/a> the indy100&#8217;s free WhatsApp channel<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/newsletters?itm_channel=native&amp;itm_campaign=footer&amp;itm_audience=prospecting&amp;itm_content=newsletters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up<\/a> to our free indy100 weekly newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indy100.com\/science-tech\/africa-split-in-two-sixth-ocean\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back in the day (and by that, we mean around 230 million years ago), there used to be one big supercontinent called Pangea but as we all know this slowly &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=119259\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=119259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=119259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=119259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=119259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}