The Dolomites

Those watching the Winter Olympics from Italy, may have heard that the skiing events are being held in The Dolomites.  This range, in northeast Italy, lies within the Southern Limestone Region of the Alps.

Most of the land that is now Italy became part of Northern Africa when the Tethys Sea opened, some 200 million years ago, separating Europe and Africa.  When that Sea closed, beginning 50 million years ago, Italy was Africa's leading point as it drifted northward and rammed into Europe, lifting the Alps and associated ranges in the process; marine sediments from the Tethys thus form the southern edge of the Alps.  In areas where the sediments were rich in magnesium, the limestone took the form of dolomite (calcium-magnesium-carbonate).

Dolomite is found in many limestone formations across the globe.  Of interest to those of us in Missouri, it is widespread in the Ordovician limestone of the Ozarks.

See also: Italy and Africa and Oil and the Tethys Sea

Morocco's Earthquake

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck in the Atlas Mountains, southwest of Marrakesh, yesterday, killing more than 800 people.  The quake occurred along one of many faults within the range, which stretches northeastward from the Atlantic coast and has peaks that exceed 13,000 feet.

The Atlas Mountains initially formed as a fault-block range during the Jurassic Period, when the regional crust was thinning as Pangea continued to rift apart.  Later, early in the Cenozoic Era (about 65 million years ago), additional. uplift was produced by the collision of the African and Eurasian Plates.

While these mountains lie well south of that collision zone, Africa is still moving to the NNW as the Atlantic and Indian Oceans continue to open; in addition, the East African Rift is gradually splitting the Continent.  These major tectonic processes increase pressure on faults throughout Africa, producing earthquakes when they slip or rupture.

Addendum (9/11/23): The death toll has now exceeded 2800 individuals 

Canary Islands Volcanism

 The Canary Islands are a chain of seven volcanic islands that stretch ENE to WSW off the northwest coast of Africa.  Like the Hawaiian Islands, they have formed over an oceanic hotspot.

As the Atlantic Ocean opened and the Tethys Sea closed, the African Plate has moved to the ENE, passing over the hotspot (an upward plume of the Earth's mantle).  The oldest of the Canary Islands are thus at the northeast end of the chain and are now devoid of active volcanism (i.e. they are in the erosional phase of their natural history).  The middle islands of the archipelago now lie northeast of the hotspot and are unlikely to experience active volcanism.  The southwestern islands, including La Palma, sit above the hotspot and, as we have seen this week, are prone to volcanic eruptions.

The current eruption and basalt flows on La Palma could last for months, if not longer.  After all, the eruption of Kilauea, on the Big Island of Hawaii, has continued since 1983.

The Buzzards Bay Earthquake

The Western Coast of North America is, geologically speaking, an active margin, where the Pacific Plate is scraping past the North American Plate (Southern California) and where remnants of the Farallon Plate are subducting beneath the North American Plate (Mexico and the Pacific Northwest).  Intermittent powerful earthquakes occur along or near the coast and volcanic activity and tsunamis threaten the subduction zones.

The East Coast, by contrast, lies on the passive margin of North America, moving westward as the Atlantic Ocean opens, a process that has been ongoing for 150 million years.  Prior to the Atlantic's opening, Earth's land masses had merged into the mega-Continent of Pangea (some 225 MYA); when Pangea broke apart, the new fractures did not always match the old suture lines (e.g. some Continental crust, formerly part of the African Plate, now form sections of our East Coast, primarily in Southern New England and Florida).  As the Atlantic continues to open and pressure builds within the North American Plate, minor earthquakes develop along those old suture lines and their associated faults.

Yesterday's magnitude 3.6 earthquake, centered over Buzzards Bay off New Bedford, was felt across coastal Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.  Reported to be the strongest earthquake in Southern New England in several decades, it reflects geologic events that were set in motion back in the Mesozoic Era, when dinosaurs ruled the planet.

Table Mountain, South Africa

Watching a film set in Cape Town, South Africa, today, I wondered about the geology of Table Mountain, which looms above the city.  As is often the case, the natural history of that famous massif is complex.

About 500 million years ago, during the Cambrian Period, a rift valley developed in the southern portion of a continental plate that included today's Continents of South America, Antarctica and Africa.  Initially flooded by a shallow sea, the rift accumulated sediments over the next 100 million years.  Throughout the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic Eras, this region was folded, lifted and eroded by tectonic forces as Earth's Continents merged into Pangea and then rifted apart.

Among the sedimentary rocks that formed within the ancient rift valley was a thick layer of hard quartzite sandstone; resistant to erosion, this Table Mountain Sandstone now outcrops as the steep cliffs of Table Mountain and the Cape Fold Ranges of western South Africa.  Of note, the western end of this sandstone formation is now found in Argentina, separated from its South African segment as the Atlantic Ocean opened, some 150 million years ago.

Iran-Iraq Earthquake

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck the Iran-Iraq border region yesterday; the initial death toll is over 450 individuals and is almost sure to rise.  The quake occurred in an active tectonic zone where the Arabian Plate is colliding with the Eurasian Plate.

About 40 million years ago, the Red Sea began to open, rifting the Arabian Plate from the African Plate; this rift continues southward as the East African Rift that will eventually split the Continent.  Twenty million years later, during the Miocene Period, the Gulf of Aden began to open as well and the combined forces of these active rifts zones are pushing the Arabian Plate to the NNE; its collision with the Eurasian Plate has been crumpling up the mountain ranges of Iran and Turkey, a process that continues today.

While the tectonic drift of continents is too slow for humans to observe during our brief life spans, the sudden release of pressure along fault lines, resulting in earthquakes, attests to the massive forces involved in this process.  Having sculpted the surface of our planet long before our species evolved, we must now live with the consequences of plate tectonics (See also The Eurasian Mountain Arc).

Human Evolution Revisited

For many decades now, anthropologists have been convinced that Homo sapiens (modern humans) evolved in the East African Rift Valley about 140-160,000 years ago and then spread across the Continent.  Eventually, about 80,000 years ago, some began to leave Africa and colonized other parts of the globe.

Within the past decade, however, a fossilized mandible and skull fragments from Homo sapiens were unearthed in Morocco and recent studies reveal that they date back 300,000 years (per a report in the New York Times); this suggests that our species appeared much earlier than previously thought and likely evolved in multiple areas of Africa.  In other words, mankind may be twice as old as prior evidence had indicated.

Such is the nature of science; it is based on physical evidence but remains open to new discoveries that may alter earlier assumptions and conclusions.  By contrast, Evangelical Christians will remain convinced that the Earth is only 4000 years old and that the science-based evidence of evolution (human and otherwise) is but an illusion.

Italy's Complex Tectonics

Yesterday's tragic earthquake in central Italy (magnitude 6.2) was the result of complex tectonic forces that are at work in the region.  Torn from the Eurasian Plate as the Tethys Sea opened (some 200 million years ago) the land that is now Italy became part of the African Plate, moving southward in concert with the other Continents of Gondwanaland.  Over the past 60 million years, as the Tethys Sea was closing, Africa moved back to the north (and continues to do so today), crunching into Eurasia and forcing up the Alps (Italy serving as the leading edge of that collision).

On the surface, the Mediterranean Sea, a remnant of the Tethys, appears to represent an oceanic plate, sandwiched between the land masses of Eurasia and Africa; yet, Italy lies on the north side of the Mediterranean.  In fact, as the African and Eurasian Plates began to collide, the northern edge of the African Plate shattered into a cluster of microplates, some of which are composed of both oceanic and continental crust.  Several of these small plates, separated by fault lines, lie across or near Italy; as pressure is maintained by the northward movement of the African Plate, these microplates and the adjacent major plates collide, rift apart, subduct or scrape past one another, triggering earthquakes and, in a few areas, igniting volcanoes (e.g. Mt. Etna).

Though the movement of tectonic plates is too slow to observe, friction builds and the stored energy is suddenly released in the form of an earthquake, making the power of tectonic force all too apparent.  Unfortunately, depending on the fault's location and depth, massive destruction and numerous deaths may occur, as happened in Italy yesterday.

Evolution of Large Flightless Birds

Looking at the current distribution of ratites (large flightless birds including ostriches, rheas, emus and cassowaries) and understanding the history of Continental Drift, one is inclined to assume that a common ancestor of these birds lived on Gondwanaland (the unified Southern Continents) after the breakup of Pangea and that they diversified as the component Continents split apart.  Indeed, this has been the accepted theory of ratite evolution since the dawn of plate tectonics.

Pangea, formed by the merger of all major land masses during the Permian Period, split into Laurasia (the Northern Continents) and Gondwanaland (the Southern Continents) during the Triassic Period (some 200 million years ago -MYA).  Africa (the current home of ostriches) and South America (now inhabited by rheas), broke from Gondwanaland about 140 MYA and split from one another 100 MYA.  Madagascar (the former home of the elephant bird, an extinct ratite) rifted from Africa 160 MYA, joining India-Antarctica-Australia; India-Madagascar split from Antarctica and Australia about 90 MYA.  Finally, Australia (now inhabited by emus and cassowaries) broke from Antarctica 55 MYA and Madagascar split from India 75 MYA, drifting back toward the southeastern Africa Coast.

Fossil and recent molecular evidence suggest that ratites evolved from flight-capable species about 60 MYA, soon after the demise of the dinosaurs.  This suggests that the various ratites evolved in geographic isolation though, apparently, from a common flying ancestor (or family of ancestors); no doubt, the fossils of early ratites also lie beneath the ice of Antarctica.  If nothing else, the unfolding natural history of these birds illustrates the fact that common sense, devoid of scientific evidence, can be misleading; nevertheless, I suspect that the mystery of ratite evolution has yet to be fully solved.

The Chad Basin

The Chad Basin is both a topographic and a geologic sedimentary basin that covers nearly 8% of the African Continent, stretching from southeastern Algeria to the northwestern Central African Republic and from central Niger to western Sudan; most of Chad, northern Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria also lie within the basin.  Lake Chad (elevation about 920 feet) lies at the center of the basin (though it is not the basin's lowest point).

Geologically, the Chad Basin is a broad depression of the Precambrian Shield upon which nearly 12,000 feet of Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Tertiary sediments have accumulated, deposited by inland seas or eroded from highlands that rim the basin.  Mega-Chad Lake, the precursor of Lake Chad, covered a large portion of the basin from about 40,000 to 3,000 years ago, draining to the Atlantic via the Benue and Niger Rivers; as the lake level fell, this outlet was lost and Lake Chad became a true basin lake, expanding and contracting with the regional climate.

Since the 1960s, Lake Chad has lost more than 90% of its volume, the result of dams on basin rivers, deforestation, overgrazing, increased water use for irrigation and global warming; desert and semiarid grasslands now cloak most of its floodplain, less than half of which is covered by open water (with an average depth of only 5 feet).  Almost all of the inflow now reaches Lake Chad via the Chari-Logone River system, rising in the Central African Republic.  While the Lake Chad Basin Commission was established to address this ecologic, economic and societal catastrophe, regional politics have, to date, derailed any significant progress.

The Dead Sea Transform

The Dead Sea Transform marks the western edge of the Arabian Plate, extending from the East Anatolian Fault (in southeastern Turkey) to the northern portion of the Red Sea.  Much of the Transform is occupied by the Jordan River Valley; 220 miles long, the Jordan River rises on the slopes of Mt. Hermon (along the border of Syria and Lebanon) and flows southward to the Dead Sea, passing through the Sea of Galilee en route.  The southern end of the Dead Sea Transform is occupied by the Gulf of Aqaba, the northeastern arm of the Red Sea (and the eastern edge of the Sinai Peninsula).

The northward movement of the Arabian Plate (which continues today) began in concert with the opening of the Red Sea (part of the East African Rift), a tectonic process that dates back to the Miocene (some 10-15 million years ago).  Whether the Dead Sea Transform is merely a transform fault between the African and Arabian Plates (comparable to the San Andreas Fault between the North American and Pacific Plates) or whether it, like the Red Sea, is a true rift valley is a matter of debate among geologists.

The Dead Sea, 1300 feet below sea level, is the lowest point on Earth's Continents.  Whether the Jordan Valley is a spreading rift valley or not, one suspects that it will one day be flooded by the sea, continuous with the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea.

Africa's Aquatic Dinosaur

Last evening, NOVA, on PBS, focused on the discovery and evaluation of Spinosaurus fossils, the largest carnivorous dinosaur yet unearthed and the only one known to have been semi-aquatic.  Larger than Tyrannosaurus rex, Spinosaurus lived in the Saharan Desert region of North Africa, some 95 million years ago.  Its fossils have been found in a layer of late Cretaceous sandstone which also contains the fossils of numerous marine creatures, indicating that a shallow sea covered much of the region during that period.

Characterized by a long, crocodilian snout, relatively large forelimbs and a large, boney fin on its back, Spinosaurus would have been too top-heavy to walk upright like T. rex; indeed, paleontologists have concluded that it was primarily aquatic (scouring the shallows for large fish, sharks and other marine life) and only came ashore to sleep, nest or perhaps to feast on small terrestrial vertebrates.  Its conical teeth and flat feet (both seen in crocodilians) favor this hypothesis.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Spinosaurus story is that fossils of this giant predator were first discovered in Egypt by Ernst Stromer, German paleontologist, but were unfortunately destroyed by a bombing raid during WWII; almost 100 years later, other fossils were dug up in Morocco and sold to a museum in Milan, Italy, setting the stage for the high-tech investigation reported on NOVA.  A full skeleton of Spinosaurus has yet to be found but many surely lie beneath the vast sands of the Saharan Desert.

Sorghum Season

Driving across the Great Plains today, I noticed that sorghum covered most of the crop fields, especially in central Kansas.  Native to northeastern Africa, sorghum was first cultivated in that region some 8000 years ago and its use spread to other areas of Africa, India and Southeast Asia.  Historians report that sorghum was brought to North America in concert with the slave trade though, despite its nutritional value, it has not been a major food crop in the U.S.  Worldwide, at least 30 species of sorghum combine to yield the fifth most abundant cereal grain consumed by humans.

Today, sorghum (also known as milo) is primarily grown for livestock feed (especially pigs and chickens) in the U.S. though sorghum flour has been increasingly used to make gluten-free baked goods and pasta; in addition, the plant has gained favor in the production of biofuels, especially due to its drought tolerance.  Indeed, the latter trait has spawned an increased cultivation of sorghum on the semiarid Plains and the "Sorghum Belt" now extends from South Dakota to Texas; Kansas is the leading producer.

The distinctive, grain-bearing pannicles (generally bronze in color) poke above the green vegetation by late August and vast fields of sorghum produce a mosaic with drying cornfields and bright yellow plots of sunflowers.  As our climate warms and aquifers shrink, sorghum will likely become even more common across the Great Plains of North America.

The Nature of Ebola

Ebola is a filamentous, RNA virus; of the five known species, four cause disease in humans.  Fruit bats appear to be the natural host (carrier) of ebola virus; they are unaffected by the virus but animals or humans that handle or consume bats, are bitten by them or consume fruit that they had partially eaten may become infected.  The index case in human outbreaks appears to most often result from that person having handled or consumed an infected animal (rather than having acquired the virus directly from a bat).  The virus has an affinity for endothelial cells, monocytes and hepatocytes (liver cells) where it begins to replicate; a flu-like illness generally develops within two weeks of exposure though the incubation period varies from 2 to 25 days.

The flu-like symptoms gradually worsen, leading to multi-organ failure and death in 50-90% of infected humans; coagulopathy leads to bleeding in the skin, GI tract and mucous membranes in half of the cases.  Transmission between humans, first documented in the Sudan and Congo outbreaks of 1976, is by contact with bodily fluids (saliva, blood, vomitus, stool, tears, sexual secretions, etc.); to date, transmission via respiratory droplets has not been documented.  The current ebola outbreak in West Africa is the largest documented by the World Health Organization to date and its potential spread to Nigeria via an infected traveler raises the specter of a more widespread outbreak.

At this time, there is no specific anti-viral therapy and an ebola vaccine is not yet available; supportive care (IV fluids, artificial ventilation, nutrition, blood pressure support, etc.) is currently the only medical option, placing healthcare workers at significant risk.  Prevention is the key, including education regarding contact with fruit bats, wild game and sick humans.  Since the human death rate is very high, a reservoir of infection does not develop within human populations; however, since the incubation period may be as long as 3 weeks, the disease may be spread before the infected individual is symptomatic.  An additional concern is the recent finding that male survivors of ebola may retain the virus in their semen and might infect sexual partners long after their illness subsides.

Formation of the Indian Ocean

About 200 million years ago (MYA), the Tethys Sea split Pangea into Laurasia (the northern continents) and Gondwanaland (the southern continents); the latter included Africa, India, Antarctica, South America and Australia.  Since that time, the Indian Ocean has formed as these Southern Continents split from one another.

In the mid Jurassic Period, 150 MYA, the Atlantic Ocean began to form, splitting Europe from North America and Africa from South America.  By the early Cretaceous Period, some 130 MYA, a landmass including Madagascar, the Seychelle Islands and India rifted from the rest of Gondwanaland and, by 100 MYA, Africa split from Antarctica as the Southwest Indian Ridge began to form.  About 85 MYA, India rifted from the Madagascar-Seychelles land mass and Australia began to split from Antarctica along the Southeast Indian Ridge.  Finally, the Mid Indian Ridge (which trends NNW to SSE and connects the Southwest and Southeast Indian Ridges) began spreading as well, accelerating India's movement toward southern Asia; its northwestern extension, known as the Carlsberg Ridge and ending in the Gulf of Aden, began to open about 62 MYA and India finally slammed into Asia 55 MYA, lifting the Himalayas (a process that continues today).

As these four spreading zones continued to open, Africa drifted to the NNW, Antarctica moved southward, India plowed northeastward into Asia and Australia drifted eastward and then northeastward, all surrounding the vast Indian Ocean which has an average depth of 12,900 feet; the portion of the Indian Ocean south of the Southwest and Southeast Indian Ridges is often referred to as the Southern Ocean.  While the Carlsberg Ridge is no longer active, the Southwest, Mid and Southeast Indian Ridges continue to produce oceanic crust; in concert, the African Plate continues to move NNW (lifting the Alps and igniting volcanism in southern Europe) and Australia is drifting NNE.  Most evident are the earthquakes and subduction volcanoes along the western and southern rims of Indonesia, where the Australia Plate dips below the Eurasian Plate.

The Congo River

Almost 3000 miles long and second only to the Amazon in its annual flow volume, the Congo River curves counterclockwise through the Democratic Repbulic of the Congo, taking in tributaries from a watershed that exceeds 1.5 million square miles.  The Upper Congo, known as the Lualaba River, receives the Luvua River from Lake Mweru, on the Zambian border, and flows northward, gathering the waters of other streams from Lake Tanganyika, to its east.  Alternately placid and turbulent, the Lualaba reaches Kisangani following a sixty mile course of rapids known as Boyoma Falls (formerly Stanley Falls).

From Kisangani to Kinshasa, at the west end of the Malebo Pool, the 1000 mile stretch of the Middle Congo is wide and navigable, receiving large tributaries such as the Lomami, from the south, the Aruwimi, from the east, and the Ubangi, from the northeast; just upstream from the calm, deep Malebo Pool, the Kasai River enters from the southeast.  Below Kinshasa, Livingston Falls, 90 miles of rapids and cataracts, make the Congo unpassable once again; to bypass this stretch, the Matadi-Kinshasa Railway was constructed in the 1890s.  From Matadi to the Atlantic Ocean, the river is broad and navigable and its braided delta begins just west of Boma; the Congo's total elevation drop, from Lake Mweru to this delta, is just over 3000 feet.

Crossing the equator twice and winding through the second largest tropical rainforest on our planet, the Congo evokes a sense of adventure, mystery and hidden danger.  Long before humans tainted its name with the atrocities of colonialism and slavery, this mighty river nourished and cleansed the Heart of Africa, connecting its lush savannas and dense forests to the distant sea; that role will surely continue long after we have plundered the natural bounty of our native Continent.

Madagascar's Cyclone Season

Madagascar, the fourth largest island on Earth, lies off the southeast coast of Africa, in the western Indian Ocean. Oriented northeast to southwest, the island is bathed by southeasterly trade winds throughout the year, producing copious precipitation along its eastern coast; indeed, some areas receive up to 150 inches of rain. Since highlands run down the center of the island, the western coast of Madagascar lies in their rain shadow and its climate is much drier.

The wet season in Madagascar runs from November through April, encompassing the warmest months of the year. During the Southern Hemisphere summer, the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) drifts south from the Equator and, from December through early March, it crosses the northern half of Madagascar. Along this zone, northeasterly and southeasterly trade winds merge, producing lift and bands of thunderstorms; the colliding winds also produce wind shear at the surface and, if upper level winds are calm, cyclones may develop. Most common from January into March, those that strike Madagascar develop east of the island, over the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, and then drift westward along the ITCZ.

This week, Cyclone Giovanna, a category 4 storm, packing winds up to 120 miles per hour, has produced devastation across the island nation, killing at least 5 persons. After crossing Madagascar, it is expected to impact Mozambique, on the African mainland.

A New Canary Island

The Canary Islands are a volcanic island chain off the northwest coast of Africa. Current geologic evidence suggests that this Spanish archipelago developed (and continues to form) above a mantle plume, commonly known as a hotspot. Erupting through Jurassic oceanic crust that formed as the Atlantic Ocean opened, 150 million years ago (MYA), the base of the oldest islands began to take shape during the Cretaceous Period, some 80 MYA, and finally emerged from the sea during the Miocene Period, about 20 MYA. Mt. Teide, 12,200 feet, rises on the island of Tenerife; the highest peak in Spanish territory, it is also the third tallest volcano on the planet.

The Canary archipelago stretches for 500 km, aligned ENE to WSW; the oldest islands, just 100 km off the African coast lie at the northeast end of the chain while the youngest island, El Hierro, just 1.2 million years old, is at the southwest end of the island group. This past summer, earthquake activity began to increase on El Hierro as a new island grew just 7 km off its southern shore; now less than 70 meters from the surface, the newest Canary island spews seawater and volcanic debris into the air and threatens communities on El Hierro with the potential of an explosive eruption.

Like the Hawaiian Ridge, which has developed as the Pacific Plate moves to the WNW across a mantle plume, the Canaries are high points on a volcanic ridge that has formed as the Atlantic province of the African Plate is moving ENE above a similar hotspot. As a new Hawaiian island forms off the southeast coast of the Big Island, a new Canary Island appears at the southwest end of its parent archipelago.

The Albertine Rift

The East African Rift is the southern end of a rift system that extends from the Jordan Valley of the Middle East to the coast of Mozambique. Active for the past 40 million years, the rift will eventually split the Continent, opening a sea between the primary land mass, to the west, and a smaller segment to the east. In east-central Africa, a 750 mile-long western branch of this rift system, known as the Albertine Rift, harbors a chain of lakes: from north to south, these are Lakes Albert, Edward, Kivu and Tanganyika.

The Albertine Rift is bordered by six mountain ranges along its corridor; the most famous are the Virunga Volcanoes, northeast of Lake Kivu, and the Rwenzori Mountains, NNE of Lake Edward. The Virungas, home to critically endangered mountain gorillas, lie on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); capped by Mt. Karisimbi, 14,790 feet, the Virungas formed within the rift and are slowly moving to the east. The Rwenzori Mountains, along the border of DRC and Uganda, are a fault-block range that rose during the Pliocene (about 3 million years ago) and were sculpted by mountain glaciers during the Pleistocene; even today, this massive range of Precambrian rock, capped by Mt. Stanley (16,760 feet), has permanent snow fields in the heart of the tropics. The Rwenzoris lie at the west edge of the Albertine Rift and are gradually moving to the northwest.

Volcanoes National Park protects the Virungas within Rwanda while Rwenzori Mountains National Park lies just within Uganda; Virunga National Park, established in 1925 (the first in Africa), lies in the DRC and stretches along the Albertine Rift Valley between the Virungas and the Rwenzoris. Once home to a spectacular diversity of plant and animal life, these Parks are slowly recovering from the devastation of human conflict that occured throughout the late 20th Century.

Wall Street & Somalia

Tuning into the PBS News Hour last evening, one of the few television shows of any value, I watched two stories that highlighted the vast and growing gulf in human society. The first focused on the meltdown in the stock market, triggered by upperclass tax cuts, futile wars, the banking crisis and recent bickering in Congress over the National Debt. The second, in sharp contrast, revealed the horror in southern Somalia, where a prolonged drought and vicious militias have sent hordes of starving families across the border, to a massive refugee camp in Kenya; some 30,000 Somali children have died from illness and starvation over the past few months.

While these crises are worlds apart, their juxtaposition in the news highlighted the tremendous variance in human lifestyles, a phenomenon unseen in any other species. The comfortable life of an investment banker, with his mansion, penthouse and yacht, is so far removed from that of a starving Somali child that it takes some effort to realize that these two individuals have the same physical and mental potential and the same emotional needs. Unfortunately, due to the inherent selfishness of our species, few are willing or able to acknowledge this basic relationship.

Efforts to encourage a balanced approach to the inequities in human society are met with condemnations of socialism and are strongly opposed by those with the means to initiate significant change. Power, greed, zealotry and selfishness are at the helm and untold millions suffer the consequences. In time, the massive divide between rich and poor must change from within or, as history has demonstrated, revolution will even the score.