Reason why Africa is splitting in two after scientists discovered huge crack

Africa could end up as two separate bits of land and geologists have revealed why.

The Hardest Geezer successfully completed his mission to run the length of Africa earlier this month, however, had he decided to take on a similar feat across the continent in years to come, his journey may've been a bit harder to navigate.

In 2018, a large crack suddenly appeared in Kenya, specifically in the Kenyan Rift Valley.

Some viewed the crack as resulting from the East African rift - the active continental rift zone in East Africa - and Africa's tectonic plate breaking into two.

If the plate does break into two, countries like Zambia and Uganda which are currently landlocked, could one day have their own coastlines.

However, some geologists don't believe the crack was formed by the rift.

Scientists have discovered a new ocean beginning to form as Africa begins to split. (University of Rochester)

Some geologists have said it was due to soil erosion.

And postdoctoral researcher at Royal Holloway University of London, Lucía Pérez Díaz suggested a combination of two. She said the crack could also be because of the erosion of soft soils infilling an old rift-related fault.

The most important question, however, is why this is happening.

While the Earth’s changes may not seem noticeable to us, tectonic plates are constantly moving.

The Earth's lithosphere, which is formed by the crust and the upper part of the mantle, is broken up into a number of these tectonic plates.

Aerial view of Africa's Great Rift Valley. (Mtcurado/Getty Images)

As mentioned, these plates are not stationary, and the movement causing them to move around can also rupture.

This can lead to a rift forming and the creation of a new plate boundary, which Diaz says is happening at the East African Rift.

The East African Rift itself stretches over a staggering 3,000km from the Gulf of Aden in the north towards Zimbabwe in the south.

As a result, it splits the African plate into two unequal parts: the Somali and Nubian plates.

The rift has varying attributes across its 3,000km distance, with the south seeing faulting occur over a wider area, and volcanism and seismicity are limited.

Landlocked Zambia could one day have its coastline due to the East African Rift.(Maria Swärd/Getty Images)

But if you head towards the Afar region, the entire rift valley floor is covered with volcanic rocks.

Diaz suggested that this means the lithosphere has thinned almost to the point of complete break up.

This means over a period of tens of millions of years, a new ocean will lead to seafloor spreading along the entire length of the rift, which is apparently beginning to happen already.

After this, the ocean will then flood in, ultimately leaving the African continent smaller and a large island made of parts of Ethiopia and Somalia sitting in the Indian Ocean.

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