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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Jul 28 2011 - 08:54:32 EDT
Wonders of the Earth
Posted by <http://www.tempo.com.ph/author/lauren/> lauren on Jul 28th, 2011
MANILA, Philippines - The Afar Depression (also called the Danakil
Depression or the Afar Triangle) is a geological depression formed by the
junction of the East African Rift with the two spreading ridges that have
formed the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It lies near the Horn of Africa,
overlapping Eritrea, Djibouti, and the Afar Region of Ethiopia.
This area is one of the most disturbed in the world, forming the junction of
the African and the Arabian tectonic plates and the setting for continental
drift. Evidence of such disturbances can be seen on the coast of Djibouti
where sullen volcanoes litter the coast.
This phenomenon of new land being formed by the action of plates moving
apart usually occurs on ocean floors, such as the Mid-Atlantic Trench. Afar
Depression is one of two places on Earth where a mid-ocean ridge can be
studied on land, the other being Iceland.
In the Depression, the Earth's crust is slowly rifting apart at a rate of
1-2 centimeters per year along each of the three rifts which form the "legs"
of the triple junction. The immediate consequence of this is that there are
a continuous sequence of earthquakes, fissures hundreds of meters long and
deep appearing in the ground, and the valley floor sinking as much as 100
meters.
Over millions of years, geologists expect the Red Sea to erode through the
highlands surrounding the Afar Depression and flood the valley. In about 100
million years, geologists predict that the whole 6,000 km length of the East
African Rift will be submerged, forming a new sea as large as the Red Sea is
now. At that point, Africa will have lost its horn. (Floro Mercene)
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