Cracked ground and vehicles in Ethiopia’s Rift Valley after a recent earthquake, highlighting the region’s geological activity.
Africa is quietly tearing itself apart—and scientists say a new ocean will eventually fill the gap millions of years from now. Along the East African Rift, the eastern Somali Plate is slowly separating from the larger Nubian Plate, creeping apart by a few millimeters per year. The split forms part of a dramatic Y-shaped rifting system centered in Ethiopia’s Afar region, where three tectonic rifts—the Ethiopian, Red Sea, and Gulf of Aden rifts—converge in one of Earth’s most geologically extraordinary zones. Once the valley formed by the triple rifting system dips low enough, seawater from the Red Sea will rush in, birthing an entirely new ocean basin. According to researchers, the rifting is likely driven by pulsing plumes of molten rock rising from deep within the Earth—a process that already brings earthquakes and volcanic risks.
Newsweek