Africa 'witnessing birth of a new ocean' (2010) • Hacker News Board

Re: Africa 'witnessing birth of a new ocean' (2010)

#11

Post by finid » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 12:13 AM UTC

To anybody from the BBC reading this, please, please, with an article like this, a map tells more than a thousand words. I'm very familiar with the Afar Triangle, but please, include a map with an article like this in the future.

Thank you.

Re: Africa 'witnessing birth of a new ocean' (2010)

#12

Post by beamatronic » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 12:15 AM UTC

maxxxxx wrote: post #5

We should set up a webcam there and make a time lapse for the next 10 million years.

We do have satellites - I don't know about 10 million years but it seems reasonable to assume that humans will maintain satellites in orbit for imaging purposes as long as we are technologically able.

Re: Africa 'witnessing birth of a new ocean' (2010)

#13

Post by finid » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 12:17 AM UTC

If that part of Africa splits from the rest of the continent, it will just be like Madagascar, which has been drifting away from Africa since we started noticed.

Re: Africa 'witnessing birth of a new ocean' (2010)

#14

Post by ChuckMcM » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 12:21 AM UTC

vermontdevil wrote: post #2

TL;DR a split in Ethiopia is about 65km long. It'll eventually split the African Continent in 10 million years. Hold off the oceanfront land speculation. Article is from 2010 btw.

So really, 9,999,993 years from now. :)

Re: Africa 'witnessing birth of a new ocean' (2010)

#15

Post by djsumdog » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 12:25 AM UTC

mmanfrin wrote: post #6

A single inlet, attached to the Red Sea -- wouldn't this be a Sea and not an Ocean ? Also a story like this without a map is very annoying; my best guess as to where it is is here: https://www.google.com/maps/@10.1384475,40.4893819,818636a,2...

I was going to mention the lack of map as well. I had hoped someone may have drawn one in the comments.

Re: Africa 'witnessing birth of a new ocean' (2010)

#16

Post by adamcharnock » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 12:30 AM UTC

"parts of the region are below sea level and the ocean is only cut off by about a 20-metre block of land in Eritrea."

This caught my eye. How big is this region that is just 20m away from being flooded? And 20m of Eritrea at that. Not exactly comparable IMHO to the rather more politically stable Netherlands.

Re: Africa 'witnessing birth of a new ocean' (2010)

#17

Post by djsumdog » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 12:32 AM UTC

beamatronic wrote: post #12

maxxxxx wrote: post #5

We should set up a webcam there and make a time lapse for the next 10 million years.

We do have satellites - I don't know about 10 million years but it seems reasonable to assume that humans will maintain satellites in orbit for imaging purposes as long as we are technologically able.

How long do you think humans will be around? Sure, homosapiens have been here for like 2~3 million years, right? But out modern human civilizations are very young, like ~ 10,000 years at the most (depending on your metrics and what is a civilization).

To quote Blade Running, "the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long." We could be here another million years, or we could be here only 50,000 more years .. or 5 year or 5 days, if Dr. Strangelove gets his way.

Re: Africa 'witnessing birth of a new ocean' (2010)

#18

Post by tabris » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 12:33 AM UTC

>10 million years in the future

Well you can get away with making any prediction this way

Re: Africa 'witnessing birth of a new ocean' (2010)

#19

Post by rwbhn » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 12:38 AM UTC

Here is a map: https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/East_Africa.html

Re: Africa 'witnessing birth of a new ocean' (2010)

#20

Post by peller » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 12:40 AM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #17

beamatronic wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do have satellites - I don't know about 10 million years but it seems reasonable to assume that humans will maintain satellites in orbit for imaging purposes as long as we are technologically able.

How long do you think humans will be around? Sure, homosapiens have been here for like 2~3 million years, right? But out modern human civilizations are very young, like ~ 10,000 years at the most (depending on your metrics and what is a civilization). To quote Blade Running, "the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long." We could be here another million years, or we could be here only 50,000 more years ..…

Not gonna speculate on the future, but for some historical perspective:

Behaviorly modern humans: ~60k years

Anatomically modern humans: ~200k years

Divergence from apes: ~6M years ago

Mammals: ~200M+ years

Dinosaurs: ~165M years

Dragonflies: ~325M+ years

Source: http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/08/putting-time-in-perspective.ht...