Afar region : Prediction
Scientists predict that Africa’s Afar region could become Earth’s next ocean basin.
- It is the northeastern part of Ethiopia, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden.
- The Afar depression, also known as the Danakil depression, forms the northern part of the region and is largely desert scrubland with shallow salty lakes and long chains of volcanoes.
- The Awash River valley forms the southern part of the area.
- It is situated at a unique triple junction where the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and East African Rift converge.
- The region’s landscape is marked by deep rift valleys, volcanic plateaus, and extensive fissures, reflecting the dynamic forces reshaping the Earth’s crust.
- It is one of the hottest places on earth.
- It offers scientists a rare opportunity to observe the processes of continental break-up and ocean genesis in action.
- The region is well known for its early hominid fossil finds including ‘Lucy’, an Australopithecus afarensis, discovered in 1974.
