A long time ago (meaning about 230 million years ago) there was a large supercontinent called Pangea, and as you all know, this slowly broke apart, resulting in continental drift, which is what we know today. It’s a world I know well. .
It’s hard to imagine a world with just one supercontinent, but there is fossil evidence of ancient species whose habitats eventually became extinct. For example, fossils of Cynognathus, an extinct mammal-like reptile about the size of a modern-day wolf, have been found only in Africa and South America, and the Geological Society says this means that the two continents once joined. This suggests that he had done so.
However, due to the Earth’s soft center and plates, its contents are still in motion, and in fact, it is thought that Africa will split in two in the future.
However, according to National Geographic, seismic breakup is expected to take about 50 million years, so even when we say “in the future,” that’s actually quite a long way off.
So how did the experts make this prediction?
Africa is home to one of the world’s largest rift valleys, the East African Rift Valley (EARS), which is extremely large and includes Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique.
Essentially, a crack is forming in this region that will eventually peel away, separating the smaller Somali plate and the larger Nubian plate. This crack took a whopping 25 million years to develop, so it would be a mistake to think that this is a fast process.
In the very distant future, when this ocean eventually separates, a new sixth ocean will form, resulting in previously landlocked countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, and Zambia. A coastline will be created.
(Left) Pangea, (right) The continent we know today as a result of continental drift iStock Photo: Getty Images
This subject of continental separation made headlines in 2018 when a giant fissure in Kenya’s Rift Valley (50 feet deep and 65 feet wide in some places, local media reported at the time) The location drew even more attention after it raised eyebrows online. . Was this the result of tectonic movements or just soil erosion from heavy rains?
“This valley has a history of tectonic and volcanic activity,” geologist David Adede told Daily Nation at the time. Weakness extends to the surface. ”
Stephen Hicks, a seismology researcher at the University of Southampton, said: “Given the evidence currently available, the simplest explanation is that the fissure is actually formed by erosion of the subsurface soil during Kenya’s recent heavy rains. It means that,” he wrote. Guardian.
Lucía Pérez Diaz, then a postdoctoral fellow in the Fault Dynamics Research Group at Royal Holloway University in London, wrote in an article in The Conversation, “Why did it form in that place, and what does it look like? There are still doubts as to whether that is the case.” It has nothing to do with the ongoing East African Rift Valley.
“For example, the cracks could be the result of erosion of soft soil that fills in faults associated with old rift valleys.”
If you believe that Earth’s continents once joined together and then split apart over millions of years, it’s even more surprising to know that they have joined and broken up (very slowly) at least three times. Probably. The long history of the earth.
I was surprised.
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