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blissed:

allthingsalishan | sade | jollilama:

Geologists confirm that a 35-mile-long rift that opened in Ethiopia in 2005— it ripped apart more than 20 feet in just days — is likely the start of a new ocean.
The team from U Rochester has been trying to figure out if plates separate little-by-little over the long haul by a series of smaller earthquakes, or if it’s possible for oceanic plates to suddenly break apart along an entire length all at once.
Since deep-sea research has obvious difficulties, this above-sea-level rift has allowed them to solve part of this mystery. Their research appears to confirm that every tectonic plate, with edges hundreds of miles in length, has the potential to instantly tear themselves apart over a few days.
(Here’s the article)

allthingsalishan | sade | jollilama:

Geologists confirm that a 35-mile-long rift that opened in Ethiopia in 2005— it ripped apart more than 20 feet in just days — is likely the start of a new ocean.

The team from U Rochester has been trying to figure out if plates separate little-by-little over the long haul by a series of smaller earthquakes, or if it’s possible for oceanic plates to suddenly break apart along an entire length all at once.

Since deep-sea research has obvious difficulties, this above-sea-level rift has allowed them to solve part of this mystery. Their research appears to confirm that every tectonic plate, with edges hundreds of miles in length, has the potential to instantly tear themselves apart over a few days.

(Here’s the article)