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| http://www.colinsnotes.com/2012/12/07/557/ |
I’m writing from a small lodge in Ethiopia. These past two days have been CARAZY. I flew from LA (my home town 
) to New York to Addis Ababa and here I am! The attraction here is Erta Ale ( 13.36°N, 40.40°E) a volcano on the East African Rift. This volcano is absolutely amazing, but whats even more amazing is the science that causes it! The tectonic plates are truly incredible: the crust of our earth is made up of 15 (58 in total) major tectonic plates made of dense rock. Tectonic plates move around in all kinds of funky ways due to the hot earth that allows them to slip and slide around (very slooooowly). What propels these plates are the convection cells in the mantle that cycle hot rock around.
This particular fault line is caused by the Somalian plate and the African plate diverging. Diverging is when two plates separate or spread apart from each other. The plates create an opening which lowers the pressure and allows magma to form. Then, because the magma is lower density, it rises up through the earth and erupts out of volcanoes.
Continental rifting eventually can lead to oceans. The last time Erta Ale erupted was in November
of 2008. There are also several earthquakes in the area due to the movement of tectonic plates as big as in the 5 range. I'll only be here for a couple of days before I head off to my next tectonic destination.
Thats it for now,
Your exploring friend
) to New York to Addis Ababa and here I am! The attraction here is Erta Ale ( 13.36°N, 40.40°E) a volcano on the East African Rift. This volcano is absolutely amazing, but whats even more amazing is the science that causes it! The tectonic plates are truly incredible: the crust of our earth is made up of 15 (58 in total) major tectonic plates made of dense rock. Tectonic plates move around in all kinds of funky ways due to the hot earth that allows them to slip and slide around (very slooooowly). What propels these plates are the convection cells in the mantle that cycle hot rock around. |
| http://www.igorilla.org/where.html |
Continental rifting eventually can lead to oceans. The last time Erta Ale erupted was in November
of 2008. There are also several earthquakes in the area due to the movement of tectonic plates as big as in the 5 range. I'll only be here for a couple of days before I head off to my next tectonic destination.
Thats it for now,
Your exploring friend
I love your picture of the Volcano! Your description of divergence was really well written! Nice job!
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