What is Digg?88 Comments
- ViperDaimao, on 10/12/2007, -11/+42It was like 3 mins after yours, and this one has a better description. Either way, does it really matter as long as one gets to the front page.
- Arbinshire, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19It won't - California's seismic activity lies on a transform fault. That is, two continental plates moving in opposite directions, relative to each other (~North / ~South) instead of a convergent boundary (continental plates moving together) or a divergent boundary (continental plates moving from each other) The popular thought that California will one day fall into the ocean is nothing more than myth.
- lfrank, on 10/12/2007, -8/+20I wonder when this will happen to California.
- hotspamail, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14Who says rivers and oceans form over long periods of time? Some geologists have evidence that many of the geologic formations of the Earth formed from a single or series of catastrophic events.
- dognose, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12Staggering Speed? 10 Million years doesn't seem that fast to form an ocean.
- wtfunkymonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9When Oceans Attack, this fall on FOX.
- kowgod, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14Hey I thought the whole earth was formed in only, like, 6000 years? Doesn't seem so long to me...
- DarthTurducken, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Ummmm....dude: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tectonics
- tylerni7, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7People don't have enough time to sit around and read every single article. When they do see something they like though, they digg it. This is how the system works. If someone says something is a dupe, it isn't really important is it? If people didn't see the article before, then it is still news to them.
- spect3r, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8This is good real estate advice. Buy land now, and in the future you shall have island property :).
That is, of course, if the predictions that it will fall into the ocean, are false. - dhakbar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Holy ignorance, Batman!
- kowgod, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Pick the other side of the divide and bingo! Beach front property!
- ultimate_ed, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4You can just see the Hollywood executives salivating over this new disaster movie concept.
- wtfunkymonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I would suppose it needs to divide continents from one another, generally.
- Brennan, on 10/12/2007, -14/+17Only if we're really lucky.
- Stockwell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Geologically (logical isn't it) that's a short period of time to form an ocean, in time related to the universe that's like hey-presto-ready-made-in-a-flash time.
Djibouti - surf capital of the world woehoe - nick4342, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Is this going to form a new ocean or sea?
Looking at the map on my wall, the whole continent of Africa seems smaller than any ocean. Does anybody know the size a body of water needs to be an ocean. - DJFMA, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7That would be true... if only I could live 10 million years to see that investment be worth something. :)
- DocDEB, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3A million here. Ten million there. Pretty soon you're talking real (geologic) time.
- JingJang, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Geologically speaking 10 million years IS a relatively shorter period of time. Deep Time.
- GuyNextDoor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Sweetness...maybe we can shove some nukes down in the cracks and speed up the process!
- maram500, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As interesting as this story was to read--and I mean INTERESTING--one must ask oneself: Does this belong on Digg? I'm used to seeing articles about hard disk drives, Apple, Windows, et cetera--not that a continent is splitting apart at a "staggering speed--in geological terms"...
- delong, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3There are formations that were created over thousands rather than millions of years. Caveat - I am not a creationist, this is just interesting counterfactual.
Glacial Lake Missoula is a very large, complex, geologic formation that was created by repeated catastrophic glacial floods over a mere several thousand years.
http://www.glaciallakemissoula.org/ - gimmegimmenow, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Sydney has no culture. That place is such a promotional tool for Australia, they make it seem it's the only city in Australia with its opera house and harbor. Melbourne is the one true city that has culture in Aus.
- DNABeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While people with a basic knowledge of tectonics realise this isn't true, how many people have that knowledge. Starting with the terminology of 'drift 'can leave people with a sense of confusion. In fact the continents don't float in the oceans, and they don't drift around it, BUT the continental plates under the surface do drift on an ocean of magma. When the land cracks from this drift the magma rises and becomes lava and then igneous rock.
Not all obvious things are obvious to everyone and a little tolerance will help everyone become more knowledgeable.
It shouldn't be one person attacking another. It should be two people attacking mis-information. - hammerattack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Fire up google earth, and go check it out. What's also interesting to think is how this will affect geopolitics. Djibouti will be gone - swallowed up. Ethiopia will be split in half and lose 40% of its arable land, Eritrea will likewise be half gone when this ocean forms. Kenya is looking at losing 25% of its arable land too.
- davidvine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the physics of the activity must also be considered. some locations might just happen to have circumstances that favor a build up of energy, and then when that energy is released a relatively huge change in the landscape might occur. ie. volcanoes like mt st helens which almost took out an ecosystem in one blast, whereas the hawaiian islands were formed over thousands of years and will deteriorate in an even longer time as the hot spot under the crust moves and forms the "cousins" if you will of hawaii
nothing geologically ever happens exactly. - umrgregg, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4While some of the earth's biological history is shaped by catastrophism (think asteroids and mass extinctions), this is typically not the case for the earth's natural processes. The earth's history is a combination of gradualism peppered with catastrophism, the former shaping the majority of our planets past.
The formation of river systems, oceans, and mountains, and the process of continental drift are all phenomenally slow processes when compared to a human life span.
disclaimer: I am a geologist and geophysicist - Lewie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Dupe....FROM 95 DAYS AGO! Big fricken deal! I haven't seen it before, so - DUGG
- rehafer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Anyone who thinks that rivers don't change course quickly doesn't live near the Mississippi
- shakin, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7Think geological time :)
There is no evidence at all that anything significant like an ocean or mountain was created in anything less than millions of years (youngh Earth believers are completely irrational because old Earth evidence is irrefutable). There is very strong evidence that some (many?) geological formations may have formed from several catastrophic events over millions of years rather than over slow progression over millions of years. Think: plate tectonics vs. Afar Triangle.
This isn't a case of competing theories, but of many scientists working together to build a complete geological model. - shuffles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Now we know where all the water from melted glaciers are going to go! This can be a good thing...
- mvnicosia, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5I, for one, welcome our new ocean-making overlords.
- anastrophe, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3"high speed" = "10 million years". i love it.
- Herolint, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I've been to California and I thought it would be a great place if you could get rid of all the butt nuggets who live there. :)
Seriously though, I prefer the culture and experience of Japan, Korea, and Sydney Australia better. - fasika96, on 01/22/2009, -0/+1think of it this way, it's been 65 mil years since dinosours vanished
- dhughes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1 This would be great if it happened even quicker. The region is so dry, a new ocean/sea would be a nice change. Throw in some fish to get a fishing industry started and it should be a great place to live, except for the magma, earthquakes and the occasional volcano!
I wonder if anyone is considering nuking that plateau blocking the water and speeding up the process? - drseth, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2"in ten million years there will be a new ocean here"
Give me a break.......... - superalamar, on 10/12/2007, -9/+9arizona bay....
- Scarblac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It's an ocean if it divides two (or more) continental plates, yes. Seas are on the plates themselves.
Anyway, about your map - most maps use a projection named Mercator projection (a way to show the contents of the round globe on a flat picture). It's very misleading - land masses in the north and south look much larger than equal land masses near the equator.
What I'm saying is, don't believe that map - Africa is frigging huge! - htaccess, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0When continents begin to split they generally do so at a 3 way junction such as this (often above a hot spot). Generally only 2 of the 3 arms will become active spreading ridges while the other will fail. The failed arm is known as an Aulacogen The African rift valley which includes Afar is generally understood to be an Aulacogen.
- iamjaredc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1hahah yea these things take like... 10 million years.
- pOwErEdByNOS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"For the first time ever, human beings were able to witness the first stages in the birth of an ocean."
EVER? - acorn22, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3What the ***** are you talking about?
- wtfunkymonkey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I feel sorry for you, and any children you may produce. People need to find whomever raised you into this horrendous level of ignorance and slap them silly.
- halophoenix, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I'm sure the millions of people there care at least a little bit.
- DNABeast, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Clever idea that's already been picked up on in a different context. A gentleman bought an old whaling station in Alaska for, like Nine bucks or something. That region has heated up in the last three decades and now it's a resort.
- rehafer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2don't forget spending all that money to fight AIDS in Africa, If more people there died their weight wouldn't push down on the land
- DarthTurducken, on 10/12/2007, -8/+6"Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim! Learn to swim!"
/In Maynard We Trust - dslab, on 10/12/2007, -6/+4I will not be dead when this happens.
I'm going to film the whole thing. -
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