A new phenomenon can be seen in the East Africa Rift Valley, where a superplume shaped like a mushroom could split Africa in half. What is driving the Valley comes deep beneath the Earth.
Super-Heated Rocks
According to Live Science, a recent study suggests that a large plume made up of super-heated rocks could explain mysterious distortions spotted on the Earth's surface. These tears could actually be splitting apart Africa.
Continental rifts can be described as gashes in the Earth's surface and can be seen moving apart landmasses. One of the largest continental rifts that remains active and is known to man is the East African Rift, which stretches to Mozambique from the Red Sea.
The East Africa Rift is around 2,175 miles and is actually a network of valleys. Regarding its movements, lithosphere deformation often drives these continental rifts, and with more stretching, the lithosphere will distort in several ways.
Live Science reports that a known reaction of the lithosphere is to shatter, often seen in its shallowest parts.
Silly Putty Analogy
D. Sarah Stamps, a Blacksburg Virginia Tech geophysicist, and co-author of the study, explains the phenomenon by giving a Silly Putty analogy. Simply put, when a hammer hits the Silly Putty, it often has two reactions, cracking and breaking.
However, if a Silly Putty is slowly pulled apart, it'll stretch and develop new textures. Over different timescales, the Earth's lithosphere also reacts differently.
The deformity of the Earth's surface often comes at right angles. After 12 years of examination, the researchers discovered perpendicular deformations moving east and west. Mail Online reports that the widening of the East African Rift was moving at a rate of one inch yearly.
Live Science also describes how the researchers found deformations parallel to the rift, showing unusual movements, as described by Stamps. This was when a superplume was found, shaped like a mushroom and extremely hot. Science Direct provides a deeper dive into superplumes.
Superplume Discovered
The Superplume emerged from the Earth's surface and could explain many distortions that still posed questions for the researchers. Stamps describe the phenomenon saying the plumes could've played a huge role in the Earth's surface's deformation.
The superplumes could've had a major impact where the lithosphere thinned. Although scientists have long known about plumes, the African superplume still provides much excitement as it rises from southwest to northeast Africa.
A Scientific American report says the cause of the East African Rift was a superplume, confirmed by primordial gases.
While the East African Rift's surface motions are often monitored by GPS technology, 3D computer simulations provide a better visual representation of the recent findings.
Tahiry Rajaonarison, a Socorro New Mexico Tech geophysicist and lead author of the study, developed the 3D computer simulations, which analyzed GPS and seismic data to provide insights to the East Africa Rift's underground activity.
The 3D model revealed parallel deformations that could've been pushed northward due to the African superplume. By still using the Silly Putty analogy, Rajaonarison described it as a weaker Silly Putty being placed on top of a stronger one.
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