An expert in marine geophysics has detailed the process of a new ocean gradually forming on Earth.
We are quite accustomed to the current layout of our planet, thanks to globes, maps, books, and posters, which depict its five oceans, seven continents, and familiar landscapes.
However, Earth’s appearance has shifted over time, and the emergence of a sixth ocean indicates that further changes are inevitable.
Scientists have confirmed that a new ocean is forming in the middle of the African continent, as it starts to split into two. This means that currently landlocked nations like Uganda and Zambia might eventually have coastlines.
This transformation is due to the movement of tectonic plates, the massive slabs of solid rock that form the Earth’s crust and upper mantle, collectively known as the lithosphere. Although these plates are in constant motion, their movements aren’t visible to the naked eye.
The African, Arabian, and Somali tectonic plates meet in this region, and over the last 30 million years, both the Arabian and Somali plates have been gradually drifting away from the African plate, leading to the development of the East African Rift.
Last year, Christopher Moore, a doctoral student at the University of Leeds in the UK, discussed these findings with The Economic Times, stating, “This is the only place on Earth where you can study how a continental rift becomes an oceanic rift.”
Given that it has taken 30 million years for a noticeable fissure to develop, it is evident that residents of Uganda or Zambia will not be experiencing coastal living any time soon.
Yet, the process will continue, as explained by Ken Macdonald, a marine geophysicist and professor at the University of California.
He noted, “With GPS measurements, you can measure rates of movement down to a few millimetres per year.
“As we get more and more measurements from GPS, we can get a much greater sense of what’s going on.”
Looking to the future, Macdonald forecasted what the planet might resemble when those millions of years eventually pass and the ocean materializes.
He stated, “The Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea will flood in over the Afar region and into the East African Rift Valley and become a new ocean, and that part of East Africa will become its own separate small continent.”