Africa splitting apart faster than previously thought, according to scientists, with a massive 35-mile-long fissure in Ethiopia widening at a surprising pace.
Emerging in 2005, the crack in the desert has been expanding by about half an inch per year. While researchers initially believed the continent’s separation would take tens of millions of years, new estimates suggest it could happen within one to five million years.
Ken Macdonald, a geophysicist and professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, explained the phenomenon to DailyMail.com, saying the split will eventually create a new ocean and a separate landmass.
“What might happen is that the waters of the Indian Ocean would come in and flood what is now the East African Rift Valley,” Macdonald said, adding that the eventual ocean could become as vast and deep as the Atlantic.
A Continent in the Making
The fissure is part of the East African Rift System, a 2,000-mile rift zone that began forming at least 22 million years ago and runs through Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and half of Ethiopia.
The rift marks the boundary between two tectonic plates, the Somali and Nubian plates, which are slowly moving apart.
Macdonald noted that while the separation is happening at a slow rate, the scale is impressive given the immense size of the African continent.
“In the human life scale, you won’t be seeing many changes,” he said. “You’ll be feeling earthquakes, you’ll be seeing volcanoes erupt, but you won’t see the ocean intrude in our lifetimes.”
Macdonald predicts that the eastern section of the continent will eventually form a new landmass called the Nubian continent.
The Science Behind the Rift
The rift is caused by the movement of Earth’s lithosphere, which includes the crust and upper mantle. While the precise mechanism behind tectonic plate movement remains a topic of study, many researchers believe the process involves heat rising from Earth’s core, causing slow, circular motions of partially molten rock beneath the surface.
“There’s slippage and faults creating earthquake activity, along with visible signs of active volcanoes,” Macdonald explained.
Recent technological advancements, including satellite gravity data and seismic scans, have provided deeper insights into the rift’s progression. Scientists have mapped branches of the system, identifying areas where volcanic activity and thinning of the lithosphere indicate tectonic separation.
A 2024 study pubclished in Frontiers in Earth Science highlighted varying levels of volcanic activity across the rift. Researchers noted anomalies in regions such as Uganda, Tanzania, and southern Congo, indicating thinning lithosphere and melting at its base.
Rift Activity and Regional Impacts
In addition to Ethiopia’s 35-mile fissure, other cracks have appeared along the rift. Heavy rains in Kenya in 2018 triggered fissures, with locals reporting tremors. These events, scientists say, will become more frequent as the plates drift further apart.
Madagascar, already detached from mainland Africa, is also predicted to split into two separate islands as tectonic activity continues.
A 2020 study by Virginia Tech projected that new oceans would likely form in the northern part of the rift first. Professor D. Sarah Stamps, from the university’s Department of Geosciences, explained: “The rate of extension is fastest in the north, so we’ll see new oceans forming there first.”
Stamps also noted that microplates in the rift zone move independently of larger tectonic plates, leading to localized extension zones.
The Rift’s Global Significance
Former NASA and Space Force consultant Alexandra Doten weighed in on the phenomenon on her Instagram channel, Astro Alexandra. She described Eastern Africa as sitting atop the Somali plate, emphasizing the unique significance of the region.
“The line along the border is the African Great Lakes. These are some of the largest lakes on Earth. This is 25 percent of all of the unfrozen surface fresh water on the planet, and they already hold about 10 percent of all of Earth’s fish species,” Doten said.
She explained how the lakes have formed due to the continent’s separation and how the Somali plate is continuing its eastward drift, creating a vast rift valley.
“Eventually, Eastern Africa is going to become its new continent, separated from the rest of Africa by a new ocean,” she added.
A Transforming Earth
The East African Rift System offers a rare glimpse into tectonic plate dynamics in action.
As scientists continue to study the region, they emphasize that while the transformation is slow, its implications are profound.
From new landmasses to oceans, the face of Earth will one day look dramatically different — though it may take millions of years to fully unfold.
