Is Africa splitting into two continents? Theory explained

A CONTINENTAL drift is a phenomenon that hasn’t been observed in hundreds of millions of years.

Africa’s tectonic plates have collided to form large mountains and have pulled apart to create vast basins, but could tectonic movements actually split the continent in two?

The Simien Mountains are a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Northern Ethiopia, known for fantastic vistasGetty

Is Africa splitting into two continents?

Shifting tectonic plates have been chopping through the continent for the past 25-35million years, according to Cynthia Ebinger, chair of geology at Tulane University in New Orleans.

But it was 2005 when the 35-mile-long East African Rift in Ethiopia’s desert emerged, and 2018 when a separate fracture in Kenya was discovered after heavy rainfall, prompting evacuations.

The Kenyan crack is thought to have existed long before its discovery, originally being filled with volcanic ash that had washed away, according to Geologist David Adede.

The Nubian and Somalian plates are separating from the Arabian plate in the north, creating a ‘Y’ shaped rifting system, the Geological Society explained.

These plates intersect in the Afar region of Ethiopia at what is known as a ‘triple junction’.

Scientists are unsure of the exact cause of the Rift.

But the region is characterised by volcanic activity, brittle faulting and large river systems and lake sediments that could be the culprits, the Society added.

Although some researchers believe the rift is being propelled by a massive ejection of super-heated rock from the planet’s core.

How long until Africa splits in two?

We won’t see Africa split in two in our lifetimes.

The Rift is currently widening at a rate of around 6.35mm (1/4 inch) per year, according to Ebinger.

This is about the equivalent of the rate at which one’s toenails grow, Ken Macdonald, an Earth science professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told Live Science.

At this rate, it will take another five to 10million years for the continent to split. 

What would Africa look like if it split in two?

Once Africa eventually splits, Somalia and parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania will form a distinct continent, accompanied by a newborn coastline.

“The Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea will flood in over the Afar region and into the East African Rift Valley and become a new ocean, and that part of East Africa will become its own separate small continent,” Macdonald told Mashable.

In a separate interview with Earth.com, Macdonald added: “What we do not know is if this rifting will continue on its present pace to eventually open up an ocean basin, like the Red Sea, and then later to something much larger, like a small version of the Atlantic Ocean.

“Or might it speed up and get there more quickly? Or it might stall out, as the Atlantic did before it commenced to true seafloor spreading?

“At the present rate, a sea about the size of the current Red Sea might form in about 20-30million years.”

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