Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
Africa is slowly tearing itself in two. Scientists predict that this seismic split, currently in its infancy, will one day divide the continent into two separate landmasses. While this transformation won’t be complete for another 50 million years, the ongoing drift is already reshaping Africa's landscape in real time.
Signs of this dramatic shift lie in the East African Rift System (EARS), one of the largest rifts on Earth, stretching across Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and more. This rift, a tectonic fault line, marks where the Somalian and Nubian plates are slowly moving apart, setting the stage for Africa’s eventual split.
Once the continental split completes, a new ocean will form in the space left behind. This will redefine coastlines, giving landlocked countries like Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia new seaside borders as Africa reshapes itself, creating a sixth ocean over millions of years.
The concept of continents drifting apart isn’t new. Fossils, like those of Cynognathus—a wolf-sized reptile found in both Africa and South America—suggest that these continents were once joined before continental drift separated them. The Geological Society affirms that these fossils back up the theory of tectonic drift.
Africa’s transformation is happening incredibly slowly. Over the past 25 million years, tectonic forces have only gradually widened the rift. According to National Geographic, this continental break won’t finish for another 50 million years, reminding us of the vast timescales of geological change.
A massive crack, 50 feet deep and 65 feet wide, appeared in Kenya’s Rift Valley in 2018, raising alarms about tectonic shifts. This incident drew attention worldwide, with experts debating if the crack was caused by tectonic forces or simply soil erosion after heavy rain.
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Geologist David Adede told the Daily Nation that the Rift Valley has a history of tectonic and volcanic activity. Seismologist Stephen Hicks later suggested in The Guardian that erosion may have created the crack. Yet, deeper tectonic forces likely contributed, as the region sits on a fault line.
According to Lucía Pérez Díaz from Royal Holloway University of London, the Kenyan crack’s origin remains uncertain. Writing in The Conversation, Díaz pointed out that erosion might have accelerated an existing rift-related fault, highlighting the complex nature of tectonic processes.
The splitting of Africa isn’t an isolated event; continents have drifted apart and re-merged at least three times throughout Earth’s history. This endless cycle of drift and collision underscores the dynamic, ever-changing nature of our planet’s surface—a process stretching across hundreds of millions of years.