red750 Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 A rift in the Earth's surface is causing a large section of Africa to split away. Details here. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Koreelah Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 The northern end of that rift is below sea level, hot, dry and pretty much hell on earth, yet people survive there. That’s where it seems our species originated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afar_Triangle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetrack Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 Africa splitting into two pieces will simply give the Africans another thing to fight about. It's lucky I won't be around to see it split up, it could take a few thousand years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 According to plate tectonics preditions, well into the future,Africa will continue to look as it does now. Look at the images about 4 minutes into this video. Australia is "Going Japanese. It's going Japanese. I really think so". 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 When I was little it was known as "The Wegener Theory of Continental Drift" The FIT is better if you match the continental shelves, rather than the present coastline. The Earth's crust is only about 40 miles deep. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Koreelah Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 As with so many great advances, Wegener was trained in a different field, so came to Geology with a fresh perspective. He copped lots of ridicule from the conservative establishment, but contributed more to Science than many. Plenty of that obstruction still going on. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted March 30, 2023 Share Posted March 30, 2023 It only had the "Status" of a "theory" at the time and I must confess to initially being a sceptic. Not that that changed the course of Science at all. Nev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 1 hour ago, facthunter said: Not that that changed the course of Science at all. I think that it has had a profound effect on many areas of Science, and the understanding of the layperson of our World. Some of the things I can think of are in paleontology where it helps to describe the distribution of ancient lifeforms. It also helps to explain why most Marsupialia are only found on our continent Lifeforms boundary between placentals and marsupilas Boundary of the Indo-Australian plate See one effect on humans of the Indo-Australian plate going under the Asian plate: https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2009/10/australian-continent-blame-samoa-sumatra-quakes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 I'm saying my scepticism didn't change the course of anything. Of that I think we can be sure. The "pacific rim of fire' is what you reference above isn't it? Nev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 Caught by the double "that"! That bit between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Asian Plate does contribute to the Pacific Rim of Fire, which takes in Japan, Alaska, the Pacific West Coast and down the Pacific coast of South America. However, earthquakes near the border of Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the USA are due to the North American Plate colliding with the Pacific Plate. Earthquakes in the Middle East are due to the Indo-Australian and African Plates colliding with the Eurasian Plate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 I believe the San Andreaus Fault has been renamed Labor's Fault. Nev 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Koreelah Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 3 hours ago, old man emu said: Some of the things I can think of are in paleontology where it helps to describe the distribution of ancient lifeforms. It also helps to explain why most Marsupialia are only found on our continent Lifeforms boundary between placentals and marsupilas Plate Tectonics can take credit for causing the Wallace Line, which divides Eurasian animals from Australian ones (kangaroos are found on some Indonesian islands). When sea levels were about 120m lower during the Ice Ages, this was still deep water dividing the two continental areas. I’ve crossed the deep trench between Bali and Lombok in a small, overloaded passenger ferry; heavy swell kept us drenched the whole trip! That narrow Strait also has political implications: it’s probably the only place where US nuclear submarines can travel undetected between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. I suspect it was a factor in JFK’s support of Indonesia’s takeover of western Papua. Jakarta could easily have allowed the Soviets to place sensors there to detect American subs. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted March 31, 2023 Share Posted March 31, 2023 32 minutes ago, Old Koreelah said: I suspect it was a factor in JFK’s support of Indonesia’s takeover of western Papua. Jakarta could easily have allowed the Soviets to place sensors there to detect American subs. At no time in politics are then no strings attached. 1 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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