Africa is splitting in two at the Rift Valley to form a new continent

Africa slowly splitting at the Rift Valley, geologists have said after massive Earth movements recently left deep fissures in Narok, Kenya.

Four countries in the Horn of Africa - Somalia and half of Etiopia, Kenya and Tanzania - are expected to split from Africa to form a new continent - referred to as the Somali Plate.

Dr Lucia Perez Diaz, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Fault Dynamics Research Group, London's Royal Holloway, explained how this continent rupture could occur.

Writing for The Conversation she said: ''The East Africa Rift Valley stretches over 3,000 km from the Gulf of Aden in the north towards Zimbabwe in the south, splitting the African plate into two unequal parts: the Somali and Nubian plates. Activity along the eastern branch of the Rift Valley, running along Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, became evident when the large crack suddenly appeared in south-western Kenya.''

             




Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/