this is happening in africa at the moment. enough of me, ill just post the article now.

 

 

 

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=birth-of-an-ocean

 

 

 

(below is only a portion of the article. the article is several pages long, complete with pictures of what it is describing. all you have to do is hit the hyperlink numbers in the paragraphs to view them.)

 

 

 

 

Birth of an Ocean: The Evolution of Ethiopia's Afar Depression

 

 

 

* Africa is splitting apart at the seamsliterally. From the southern tip of the Red Sea southward through Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, the continent is coming un­­stitched along a zone called the East African Rift.

 

* Like a shirtsleeve tearing under a bulging bicep, the earths crust rips apart as molten rock from deep down pushes up on the solid surface and stretches it thinsometimes to its breaking point. Each new slit widens as lava fills the gap from below.

 

* This spectacular geologic unraveling, already under way for millions of years, will be complete when sal[bleep]er from the Red Sea floods the massive gash. Ten million years from now the entire rift may be submerged.

 

 

 

In northeastern Ethiopia one of the earths driest deserts is making way for a new ocean. This region of the African continent, known to geologists as the Afar Depression, is pulling apart in two directionsa process that is gradually thinning the earths rocky outer skin. The continental crust under Afar is a mere 20 kilometers from top to bottom, less than half its original thickness, and parts of the area are over 100 meters below sea level. Low hills to the east are all that stops the Red Sea from encroaching.

 

 

 

Such proximity to the planets scorching interior has transformed the region into a dynamic landscape of earthquakes, volcanoes and hydrothermal fieldsmaking Afar a veritable paradise for people, like me, eager to understand those processes. Yet few outsiders, scientists included, have ever set foot in Afar. Daytime temperatures soar to 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summer, and no rain falls for much of the year. But I knew I faced more than treacherous geology and climate. Nasty geopolitical strugglesnamely, war between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritreacombine with those natural hardships to make Afar utterly inhospitable.

 

 

 

Geologists predict another million years of the land stretching and sinking, combined with a massive deluge from the Red Sea, could put Afar at the bottom of a new ocean. For now, this incip­ient seabed is a desolate landscape where lava stifles vegetation, hellish heat makes acid boil, devilish formations emit toxic fumes, and the salty legacy of ancient Red Sea floods provides nomadic tribes of Afar with a precious export.

 

 

 

...

The title was an unnecessary exaggeration. Seems cool though.

The title was an unnecessary exaggeration. Seems cool though.

 

 

 

the title was the name of the article basically.

I would find that awesome, but it's sort of too far into the future for me to care..

Yah that's what I was referring to. The birth of an OCEAN. wtf? :evil:

the title is a bit ambiguous, yes, but i think whats happening is more interesting and important.

The title's always the ice-breaker to the story ;) . I could barely stumble through the article after the [developmentally delayed]ed title.

Pretty cool to think in a million years people would never concidered Africa to be united.

 

 

 

Also pretty cool if I stayed in California for the next million years I can wave hi to a Asian.

wow :/ cool stuff, essentially though all the contenants are still moving, australia moves at about 0.5 mm per year? dont quite me on that lol

that was an interesting read. i love stuff like this.

i dont really understand why they are talking about something that is really happening everywhere, its not just africa there are dozens of places where stuff like this will end up happening, just look of at the map, given enough time a lot of the continents will end up doing something like smashing into another or something

 

 

 

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If I could go forward 1,000 years and watch some uber-sped-up footage of this happening from space as of now I'm sure it would be pretty awesome, but this geological stuff happens too slowly to be that exciting for me lol.

pangea ultima :D

As someone said, it's pretty awesome but too far in the future for me to care yet. But fascinating nonetheless. :)

Speaking of in the future? has anyone ever considered what consoles will look like? 20 years from now? virtual reality turning real life?

 

 

 

I wonder if a million years later, if people will remember that we existed? or will they speak in awe of us like we do about the mayans and the egyptians? [talking about the whole civilization crumbleing]

Speaking of in the future? has anyone ever considered what consoles will look like? 20 years from now? virtual reality turning real life?

 

 

 

I wonder if a million years later, if people will remember that we existed? or will they speak in awe of us like we do about the mayans and the egyptians? [talking about the whole civilization crumbleing]

 

 

 

We didn't do anything amazing like the egyptians, they will look at us in pity. #-o

We built sky scrapers. :shock:

I think the point is that this place is [one of] the closest places on earth to becoming a new ocean. Sure it is happening everywhere else, but where else is the crust 20m thick? If we wanted to, we could probably cut out the mountains, and flood the place right now. But yeah, it is too distant in the future for me to care about. If is said this would happen in 200 years, I might care. Heck, if it said 2,000 years I might care. But 20 million years is too distant. For all we know, the human race may have excavated the earth's core by then and contained it in some sort of magnetic field to power some new planet we would have moved on to.

 

all you have to do is hit the..

 

There's plate tectonics for you. ;) I wonder what the world will look like 100 million years from now...

There's plate tectonics for you. ;) I wonder what the world will look like 100 million years from now...

 

 

 

most likely covered in land because we evolved far enough to work out some gas we could pump into the atmosphere to fix global warming or something and it didn't work and ended up thickening the ozone layer so much that the earth heated up enough so that water cannot remain in its liquid form. thats just a wild guess

 

 

 

if it is anything like it is today, the land certainly wont be in the same positions.