New+ocean+in+Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, a new ocean appears to be forming. Yes, you read it right. A new //Ocean//. This new ocean is the cause of a massive, 35-mile rift broken into the Earth's surface by one massive volcano eruption at the edge of one of the tectonic plates. This eruption sent magma shooting between the plates and eventually it shattered this massive crag into the Earth's surface in a matter of days. Usually this kind of thing takes years and years of slow magma pushing the plates apart. Scientists already knew that this was happening, not in such large amounts at one time, but that these crags were being made. But, most of them are being created miles and miles under water which makes them almost impossible to detect and even harder to study. Scientist now have seismographs set up all along the rift and since the occurence of the initial break in 2005 there have been many smaller earthquakes, but none of this magnitude.

Softpedia: http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Ocean-Forming-In-Ethiopia-94628.shtml University of Rochester: http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3486

The Softpedia article put much more emphasis on what an amazing and rare event this was, whereas the Rochester one got to the facts and let you decide how you would feel. The Rochester article also showed quotes of the scientists that helped to conduct the studies and it had picture of the actual thing. The Softpedia article had one picture of the ocean. The Rochester article also showed a google satellite image which you could view the rift at this moment. I think a new ocean in Africa would be an incredible rewarding thing for them. The ocean would provide them with another source of water and then the population could spread to the new ocean and not be continually clumped around the main rivers of Africa. Also it would bring softer soil, which means that the inhabitants around the new ocean would be able to grow crops. This could lead to a new bustling site for Africa to show its true nature and provide more wealth to help improve the lives of all Africans.

By: Nick Dietrich