Earth Sciences > Earth Anomalies
What's causing the Earth to split open in Kenya?
space otter:
yikes
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/whats-causing-the-earth-to-split-open-in-kenya/ar-AAvqYRM?li=BBnbfcL
What's causing the Earth to split open in Kenya?
WASHINGTON -- A giant crack in the Earth opened up almost overnight, 50 feet deep and at its widest 65 feet across, slicing through a highway and terrifying many who live in an area just west of Nairobi, Kenya.
So what caused it? Well, it depends which scientist you ask.
Some scientists, like Andrews, believe that the crack was recently exposed by a rainstorm. But he says its true cause goes deeper, and that it was created by the movement of the Earth's tectonic plates, sections of the Earth's crust that move about one inch a year. In 50 million years, he says Africa may split in two.
Other scientists, like earthquake geologist Wendy Bohon, agree that Africa is slowly splitting in two, but she thinks the gash was created in a flash
zorgon:
Africa is slowly splitting in two – but this 'crack' in Kenya has little to do with it
A widely reported crack in the Rift Valley was not formed by tectonic movement, but by erosion of soil from recent heavy rains
A large chasm that appeared in Kenya’s Rift Valley. Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
Residents look at a chasm suspected to have been caused by a heavy downpour along an underground faultline. Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2018/apr/06/africa-is-slowly-splitting-in-two-but-this-crack-in-kenya-rift-valley-has-little-to-do-with-it
Water erosion? LOL Well at least the top comment gets it
--- Quote ---Kim Stephen
Based on the pictures, I find it easier to visualize a parallel-sided tensional crack in the deep subsurface bedrock that collapses a thick overlying layer of subsoil to create the feature depicted here than I can visualize water-based erosion running for a great distance across a flat field. Were there witness accounts of a big rain event and washout at the site? Hmm... reports of recent rains elsewhere doesn't really do it for me. Loosely collapsing soil would not necessarily leave identical outlines on either side of the crack. Surface expression of faulting often leaves a ragged-looking aftermath at surface. Maybe it was a time-delayed collapsing into a much earlier tectonic feature in the manner of some old mines that take decades to leave surface features as the voids slowly fill in. Whatever the reality here, I am thrilled to imagine the workings of an active rift zone, even as I wish the best for the farmers with their fields.
--- End quote ---
zorgon:
Is Africa Cracking and Splitting Into Two? More Like It's Raining Hard in Kenya
https://www.haaretz.com/science-and-health/is-africa-splitting-or-is-it-raining-hard-in-kenya-1.5978803
well the crack is on very flat land and goes for a very long way. It does NOT look like water erosion, the sand separation is to clean and jagged. Water would round the edges and leave furrows.
But the reports sound like they really don't know :P
What ever caused this, it IS right on that fault zone
--- Quote ---Indeed plate tectonics are tearing Africa in two, says Dr. Ron Avni of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev: "We don't need the crack in Kenya to know that," he told Haaretz.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote ---It is true that most of Africa sits on the Nubian Plate, a.k.a. the African plate, which geologists estimate is roaring northward at a brisk clip of 2.15 centimeters a year. But the rest of Africa sits on the Somali Plate. Relative to each other, these two plates are moving apart. (The African plate is moving north relative to the microplate on which Israel sits, Avni says.)
The chasm that split agricultural fields and the Narok highway in southwest Kenya near Nairobi could theoretically have been caused by rifting as the African Plate in the west separates from the Somali Plate to the east. To be sure, the Kenya crack definitely is in the Rift Valley, which starts in Mozambique, passes through most of eastern Africa all the way to Israel – the Red Sea, Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee all sit in it.
--- End quote ---
Plate tectonics: The Nubian (African) plate is moving west relative to the Somali plate, which is moving east relative to the Nubian plate.Dr. Ron Avni, Ben-Gurion University
--- Quote ---No major seismic activity has been reported in this area of Kenya lately, though some media outlets point out that sensory equipment there is sparse. Still, if there had been a major quake, the world – and locals - would have noticed.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote ---He hasn't had a chance to study the site personally but Dr. Avni notes that based on media reports, the gully annoying local farmers is apparently in soil, not rock, and results from heavy rain causing the local collapse of loose ground.
--- End quote ---
So... Talking head says it's a sinkhole, nothing more.
8)
space otter:
too much rain and volcanic soil.....hummmmmmmm
http://strangesounds.org/2018/04/new-earth-crack-kenya-destroys-crops-farms.html
Another 2-kilometer crack opens up in Kenya swallowing up crops and farms
By Strange Sounds - Apr 19, 2018
A month after a huge crack was reported in Kenya’s Rift Valley, another two-kilometre fault line has cracked open on Monday on the outskirts of Naivasha town in Nakuru County where farms have been swallowed. At least 16 families have moved to safe grounds as several acres of crops were destroyed by the crack that was filled with water believed to be from rains in other parts of the country.
The giant crack is about 20-foot deep. via Nation
The cracks started opening up last month in Kenya with a huge earth crater in Narok County believed to have been caused by heavy rains and seismic activities. You remember?
link has entire article
zorgon:
Looking at that map above I would say it is very likely that water is seeping along the cracks
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