New oceans will emerge as Africa splits into two subcontinents, scientists say – Doha News
Millions of years from now, landlocked countries like Zambia and Uganda could have their own coasts.
The creation of a new ocean could result in splitting Africa in two. the scientist Said.
Sufficient data have emerged to show that the continent will eventually split into two subcontinents, with a new ocean basin forming between them. However, the fault line widens by 7 mm each year, so this process takes 5 to 10 million years.
The beginning of a new ocean was marked in 2005 by the emergence of the East African Rift, a 35-mile-long rift in the Ethiopian desert. , erupted.
According to seismic data published in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters, the rift construction was driven by crustal movements similar to those occurring on the ocean floor.
This is where the rift is located, after three tectonic plates – Nubia in Africa, Somalia in Africa and Arabia – have been separated for some time.
this show Landlocked countries such as Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Malawi may inadvertently discover coastlines and, as a result, create ports with direct connections to the rest of the world.
There are two territories each in Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.
A small part of the Nubian Plate, which includes the eastern regions of Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique, may move apart when the valley splits, while the larger Nubian Plate may be spread across various countries. Create a coastline. Eastern and Southern Africa, which has historically relied on neighboring countries for access to maritime transport.
Geologists were able to confirm this theory in 2018 when a similar crack occurred in the small town of Narok, about 142 kilometers west of Nairobi, Kenya. Fractures were exacerbated as the region experienced heavy rainfall. At the time, it was widely believed to be caused by rainfall, but experts believe it was actually caused by tectonic movements.
Christopher Moore, a PhD student at the University of Leeds, said: report.
The formation of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden between East Africa and West Asia was also attributed to these tectonic movements.
GPS tracking shows that the Arabian Plate is moving away from Africa at a rate of one inch per year, indicating that land shifts between these tectonic plates are occurring continuously at varying rates.
“The more GPS readings we have, the better our understanding of what is going on,” says Ken McDonald, a professor emeritus and marine geophysicist at the University of California.
The East African Rift and the Red Sea will be inundated by the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, which will merge to form a brand new ocean. MacDonald added that the East African region would be divided into its own continent.
https://dohanews.co/new-ocean-to-emerge-as-africa-splits-into-two-sub-continents-scientists-say/ New oceans will emerge as Africa splits into two subcontinents, scientists say – Doha News
