Africa is splitting in two. Yes, it is opening in half and this could lead to the birth of a new ocean! It will not be something that happens overnight, we will not be here to see it (we think) but in millions of years, a new ocean could be occupying the area of the Great Rift Valley! And no, this is not new, it has been forming for more than 25 million years!
In 2018, geologists observed that a huge crack in Kenya split the Nairobi-Narok highway in two and revealed something that was already suspected: the African continent is sitting on a very active tectonic zone that extends more than 3,000 kilometers, from the Gulf of Aden to Zimbabwe.
Africa is breaking
The Great Rift Valley is one of the most impressive fault systems on the planet. There, the separation of tectonic plates causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that show that the Earth is still transforming. Lakes such as Victoria or Tanganyika are part of that great fracture and show us how the land sinks little by little.
Slow but unstoppable
The most recent studies estimate that the crack grows more than half a centimeter per year. It may seem ridiculous, but in geology it is a huge change. It is the same pace at which, millions of years ago, Africa separated from South America and the Atlantic Ocean was formed, so it is quite important, right?
What will happen in the future
Sadly we will not be here to see it, but over time, a new ocean will enter that crack and split the continent in two. Countries like Somalia, Ethiopia and much of the Horn of Africa will be separated from the rest forming a large island. And then the same thing we always studied in school will happen, ecosystems and biodiversity will have to adapt to new conditions, while roads, houses and cities will be forced to live with constantly moving ground, like in Japan! And there will probably also be more seismic and volcanic activity, so humans of the future will have to be prepared for any scenario.
Not all is bad news
What today seems like a threat will also bring opportunities, Uganda or Zambia will be able to have access to the sea in the future, new trade routes will open, possibilities of tourism and economic development (the same that would happen if the great powers did not exploit their lands…).
In addition, the possibility of being close to an ocean will generate fertile coasts for marine life, which will increase the natural wealth of the region and probably also agriculture.
Geologists are already nervous to know what will happen and to witness how little by little a new ocean is born, because it is something that we have always studied thanks to ancient maps or fossil records.
Comparisons with other places
It is not the first time something like this has happened, the Atlantic was born about 180 million years ago when Africa and America began to separate with cracks very similar to the ones we see today in Kenya and Ethiopia. Something similar is happening in Baja California, in Mexico, where the peninsula is moving away from the continent due to the San Andreas fault, who knows if in millions of years the map of our planet will be something completely different from what we know today!
A lesson in humility
The Earth is still alive and in motion, we see live what for years we have studied in geography books, and although it will take millions of years to form, the process has already started and we are seeing it! We will be gone, but the movements of the continents will continue guiding the next generations.