Scientists warn: African continent is splitting at double speed (6 photos)

Researchers have found that Africa is splitting apart much faster than previously thought. A 56.5-km-long crack appeared in the Ethiopian desert in 2005 and has been widening at a rate of 1.5 cm per year since then.





Previously, it was thought that the split would take tens of millions of years. However, Ken McDonald, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, calculated that it would happen within one to five million years.

"It could be that the Indian Ocean will flood the East African Rift Valley," says McDonald.

The professor added that the new ocean could be as deep as the Atlantic.

The new continent would include Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and half of Ethiopia. It would be called the Nubian continent.

"On a human timescale, you won't see much change. You'll feel earthquakes, you'll see volcanoes, but you won't see the ocean flooding the land."



The process itself is associated with the East African Rift Valley, which is a 3,200 km long fault that formed 22 million years ago. The Great Lakes of Africa are located in this region, as well as two tectonic plates - the Somali and Nubian, which are actively moving away from each other.





"The big discoveries in recent years have to do with where exactly the branches of this rift system go. The northern part, which includes Djibouti and Kenya, has been well-studied. But we had no idea about the southern part," McDonald added.

The new studies used satellite gravity data and seismic scanning to understand what's going on underground.



Former NASA consultant Alexandra Doten explained: “East Africa is on the Somali Plate. Along its border are the Great Lakes of Africa, some of the largest lakes on Earth. They contain 25 percent of all the non-freezing fresh water on the planet, and are home to about 10 percent of all the fish species on Earth. The lakes are forming because East Africa is separating from the rest of the continent. Eventually, East Africa will become a new continent, separated from the rest of Africa by a new ocean.”



A study published in 2024 in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science noted that different parts of the East African Rift System have different levels of volcanic activity.

In 2018, faults also appeared in Kenya after heavy rains, with locals reporting that they felt the ground shaking at the time.

Experts have suggested that tectonic processes will also split Madagascar into two separate islands.