THIS massive continent might cease to exist as a whole in the coming years

The continent of Africa might be splitting, positioning itself on two tectonic plates instead of one and giving way to a new ocean, studies suggest. Africa is always thought to be sitting on a single tectonic plate. However, scientists have reasons to believe that the African plate is rupturing into two new plates – the Nubian and Somali plates – along the East African Rift.

The decades-old belief got a further push in March 2018 when an enormous crack opened in the ground in southwestern Kenya following heavy rains. It ate up a section of the Nairobi-Narok highway.

The crack appeared within the Kenyan Rift Valley which is part of the East African Rift, considered one of the most tectonically active regions in the world. However, this crack was later attributed to a crevice which had gone unnoticed for a long time and was packed with volcanic ash from eruptions in the distant past. The heavy rains exposed it when the ash collapsed.

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The rift started actively developing 25 million years ago, and measures 3,500km, from the Red Sea in the north up to Mozambique in the southeast of the African continent.

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The region sees a lot of seismic and volcanic activity which has led to the creaton of mountains like Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya.

Why is Africa splitting into two?

The reason for the split has been a topic of debate for years. Geologists believe the lithosphere under Kenya and Ethiopia is doming and stretching because of plumes of heat within Earth’s mantle.

This has triggered huge volcanic eruptions, with lava rapidly gushing out from fissures and fracturing the brittle continental crust into a series of faults.

How long till Africa splits?

As per data, the Nubian and Somali plates are diverging at an average rate of 7mmper year, gradually leading the continent to move apart. Right now the rift is above sea level, but with time it will widen and the land within the valley will sink.

When this happens, the oceanic waters are likely to move in and break apart the entire Horn of Africa from the mainland. In case the scenario unfolds, it would still be tens of millions of years before it becomes a reality.