What would happen if a continent broke apart?
What would happen if a continent broke apart?
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About 250 million years ago, you could pretty easily walk from Australia to North America – with a pit stop in Antarctica. This was when the Earth was one continent called Pangaea that slowly broke apart and spread out to form the continents we know today.
![[14312539 Scientists reveal Earth may form a SIXTH ocean sooner than previously thought as Africa splits in two https://indiandefencereview.com/africa-is-breaking-apart-faster-new-ocean/]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_237069062-f005.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
These continents aren’t going to stay in place forever, however. A scientist has warned that one is being torn in two at a pace far quicker than expected. Yes. While how the Earth will look in millions of years can be hard to predict, scientists already know that Africa is splitting.
![[Somalia and half of Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania are expected to split from Africa to form a new continent. Forces of the Earth are the strongest at the base of the valley, yet it is also here that geological processes are most active. The rains have only aggravated the situation by washing away the ash, eventually exposing the cracks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO7s5zIhX6k&ab_channel=Nation]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_162955712-8241.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
For one, this would create a new ocean that divides two continents. The Earth is one big jigsaw puzzle. Yet this is one tricky puzzle to put together as the pieces made of the planet’s crust and squidgy-ish mantle, called tectonic plates, are always on the move.
![[TECH: What would happen if a continent breaks apart?]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_237157411-9e47.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=454)
As they pull apart, crash together and slide past each other, these plates irritate volcanoes and cause earthquakes. Eastern Africa is perched on the Somalia plate which has been pulling away from the rest of the continent on the Nubian plate for about 25,00,000 years, literal ground-breaking research found in 2012.
![[TECH: What would happen if a continent breaks apart?]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_237157571-ff8a.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Geologists say that the colossal, 2,000-mile-long fissure slicing through southeastern Africa has been widening by 6-7mm per year. They call this tectonic plate boundary zone the East African Rift Valley (EAR), part of the wider East African Rift System. The valley is so pronounced it’s visible from space.
