Africa is slowly dissever in two . Like anything in geology , it ’s an passing tenacious process that will take meg upon millions of old age , but it will finally see part of East Africa fleck off from the eternal sleep of the continent , likely result in a new ocean arising between the two country slew .
you could stamp all you like but the ground beneath your feet still ai n’t solid , not really . We all last our life atop a complex web of puzzler pieces that , thanks to Earth ’s blistering gooey center , are constantly shifting , generate earthquakes , build mountains , and tearing Continent aside – which is presently happening to Africa .
The East African Rift Valley
The emerge fling is tie in with the East African Rift System ( EARS ) , one of the largest rifts in the populace , dilute downward for thousands of kilometer through several countries in Africa , including Ethiopia , Kenya , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Uganda , Rwanda , Burundi , Zambia , Tanzania , Malawi , and Mozambique .
When it break away , it ’ll separate the belittled Somali plate from the larger Nubian home base as part of a painstakingly dense process that ’s already been developing for around25 million years .
A dramatic cranny in the Kenyan Rift Valley in 2018 got " The cyberspace " very excited about the conception of tearing continents . It was a veryimpressive crevice , but one that may have had little to do with Africa ’s geologic future ; some have suggested it was more likely caused bysoil erosion . However , its placement is rum .
A map of East Africa showing some of the historically active volcanoes (red triangles), as well the two parts of the African Plate (the Nubian and the Somalian) splitting along the East African Rift Zone.Image credit: USGS
“ Questions rest as to why it has formed in the emplacement that it did and whether its appearance is at all link to the ongoing East African Rift , ” wrote Lucía Pérez Díaz , at the time a postdoctoral researcher in the Fault Dynamics Research Group at Royal Holloway University of London , inThe Conversation .
“ For example , the crack could be the result of the eating away of soft soils infilling an erstwhile rift - relate break , ” the geologist added .
A new ocean in Africa?
The cognitive process of the great continent of Africa losing its easterly shoulder will be slow and gradual rather than a sudden , cartoon - like split . When it eventually happens , it ’s expected a vast sea will form between the Somalian plate and the Nubian collection plate . The corking continent of Africa will lose its easterly shoulder and a Brobdingnagian sea will trim down off East Africa .
A lurid concept to the modern - dayHomo sapiens , but it ’s a story that the Earth has told time and time again .
The Earth as it bear today is a modern development in relation to the major planet ’s history . Once upon a time , all of the continents were combined into one known asPangaea , but the action of tectonic plates pulled it asunder , creating drifting Continent with edge that – if bring together – would slot together like perfect puzzler while .
If the puzzler - like nature of the continents does n’t convince you , there ’s also all the fossil evidence we ’ve found that show ancient species living in space that are now geographically distinguish . This is dead on target ofMesosaurus , an extinct 290 - million - year - old genus of reptile , fossils of which have been find in South America and Africa , accord to theAmerican Museum Of Natural History .
It ’s a seismal split that ’s voiceless to get your head around , and it ’s thought that the continents havecome together and split apartat least three times in Earth ’s history , with more on the way – albeit very , very slowly .
The difference of East Africa appear to be the next in line , but it will be just another move in this giant geological playbook . Whether we as a mintage will survive for long enough to see it ? Well , that ’s a unlike tarradiddle .
