Soccer Dad

Times and dates

According to Der Spiegel there's a new ocean forming in Africa.

Normally changes to our geological environment take place almost imperceptibly. A life time is too short to see rivers changing course, mountains rising skywards or valleys opening up. In north-eastern Africa's Afar Triangle, though, recent months have seen hundreds of crevices splitting the desert floor and the ground has slumped by as much as 100 meters (328 feet). At the same time, scientists have observed magma rising from deep below as it begins to form what will eventually become a basalt ocean floor. Geologically speaking, it won't be long until the Red Sea floods the region. The ocean that will then be born will split Africa apart.

And how long will it take this dramatic event to complete?

The chain of volcanoes that runs along the roughly 6,000 kilometer (3,730 mile) long East African Rift System offers further testimony to the breaking apart of the continent. In some areas around the outer edges of the Rift System, the Earth's crust has already cracked open, making room for the magma below. From the Red Sea to Mozambique in the south, dozens of volcanoes have formed, the best known being Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Nyiragongo.

These fiery mountains too will one day sink into the sea. Geophysicists have calculated that in 10 million years the East African Rift System will be as large as the Red Sea. When that happens, Africa will lose its horn.

10 million years? I'm more day to day.

There were actually two significant days this week. (Other than today, which everyone knows is my mother's birthday. She's 29. Again.)

I had seen something about Pi Day, (March 14 or 3/14) on one of the blogs I usually read, but couldn't recall where. When I started searching for Pi Day, I found the Almanac of Miscellaneous Merriment a wonderful triva blog. Among the useful (useless) links it had on Pi Day was a link to a calculator that can determine where the six digits of your birtday appear in Pi.

In case Pi doesn't interest you, you can alway read up on Butterfly Day.

Crossing the Rubicon2 has a link to an article on the Ides of March. I don't know what justifies a whole article, they only had one big hit.

And while she doesn't go back 10 million years she goes back 2000 to give us the story of a new archaeological find in Israel.

Technorati tags: Ides of March, National Pi Day, Afar Triangle.