Watching a continent splinter

Eastern Africa is splitting away from the bulk of the continent because two tectonic plates are rotating like scissor blades.

References:

Chu, D., and R.G. Gordon. 1999. Evidence for motion between Nubia and Somalia along the Southwest Indian ridge. Nature 398(March 4):64.

Further Readings:

Pollitz, F.F. 1999. From rifting to drifting. Nature 398(March 4):21.

Sources:

Dezhi Chu
Exxon Production Research Company
P.O. Box 2189
Houston, TX 77252

Richard G. Gordon
Rice University
Department of Geology and Geophysics
Houston, TX 77005

From Science News, Vol. 155, No. 12, March 20, 1999, p. 191. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.

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