Ethiopia is not creating a sixth ocean after all
Published: Wednesday, Aug 28th 2024, 12:10
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Contrary to the assumptions of the scientific community, a new ocean is not forming in the Afar Depression in Ethiopia. This is the conclusion reached by an international research team led by a geologist and a geologist from the University of Freiburg.
The Afar region is considered the archetype of the drifting apart of the continental plates, as formulated by the University of Freiburg (Unifr): This is the place where the African and Arabian tectonic plates separate. Until now, scientists have assumed that this fracture movement has led to a gradual thinning of the earth's crust - and forms the initial stage of the development of an ocean.
However, new data on the structure and formation of the fracture movement has cast doubt on this theory, as Unifr wrote in a press release on Wednesday. The crust is still nowhere near thin enough for an ocean to form, Valentin Rime from the Department of Earth Sciences was quoted as saying.
Afar region is comparable to Iceland
According to the researchers, the Afar depression corresponds more to the early stage of development of a so-called oceanic plateau like Iceland. Like Iceland, it was formed around 30 million years ago by the massive eruption of lava. According to the researchers, the continuous supply of magma prevented the Earth's crust from thinning despite its stretching.
The study was published in the journal "Geology" and, according to the university, contributes to a better understanding of the formation of oceanic plateaus. The latter make up almost three percent of the Earth's surface, have a thick crust and are less deep than the surrounding ocean floor. These areas play a central role in ocean currents and the distribution of species, it added.
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