Africa is splitting apart at surprising speed and could create new ocean as deep as the Atlantic, experts warn
Africa is splitting apart at surprising speed and could create new ocean as deep as the Atlantic, experts warn
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AFRICA is splitting apart at double the speed than scientists first thought. A 35-mile-long crack in Ethiopia's desert, first discovered in 2005, has been widening by half an inch per year. That's twice as fast as the rate at which toenails grow. Researchers previously believed the fissure would split the continent in two, a process that would take tens of millions of years.
![[Women work on their farm near a chasm suspected to have been caused by a heavy downpour along an underground fault-line near the Rift Valley town of Mai Mahiu, Kenya March 28, 2018. Picture taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/RTRMADP_KENYA-ENVIRONMENT_2109328420_RC133FEE1710_2018-03-29T124330Zjpg-JS395539138.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
But a scientist has recently warned that it would likely happen within one to five million years. Africa's tectonic plates have collided to form large mountains and pulled apart to create vast basins; they now appear to be splitting the continent in two.
![[A large crack in a road, with people and vehicles stopped nearby.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/africa-split-966296456.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
"What might happen is that the waters of the Indian Ocean would come in and flood what is now the East African Rift Valley," Ken Macdonald, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told the Mail Online. The split would create a new ocean, and a small new continent that the professor said could be called the "Nubian continent".
![[epa06650854 People gaze and take pictures of a huge crack that has sliced through the ground around the Rift Valley area close to Mai Mahiu town, some 50 km southwest of Nairobi, Kenya, 06 April 2018. The sudden appearance of the crack have forced residents to flee their homes and farms. The fissures may be caused by seismic activity and erosion caused by heavy rains. EPA/DANIEL IRUNGU]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/EPA_Kenya-Rift-Valley-Crack-_06650854jpg-JS397173073.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Somalia and parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania will form a distinct continent, accompanied by a fresh coastline. The new ocean could become as deep as the Atlantic if waters continue to flow into the area, added Macdonald. Six landlocked countries, including Malawi, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, could finally gain beaches—should they still exist that far into the future.
![[Illustration of Africa splitting, showing six landlocked countries gaining coastlines in millions of years.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/JF-US-AFRICA-SPLIT-MAP-v2_2ef8c8.jpg?strip=all&w=778)
