WHY AFRICA IS SPLITTING INTO TWO

a 35 miles long Rift appeared in the

Ethiopian deserts of the far region in

2005 and it's the start of this whole

thing

geologists have confirmed that the

African continent is going to split into

two halves and a new lotion is also

being formed a new study in the journal

Nature found that the East African Rift

Valley which separates coastal countries

like Tanzania and Kenya passes through

Mozambique from the far area of Ethiopia

is separating at the rate of seven

millimeters per year

landlocked countries like Uganda and

Zambia will have their coastlines the

massive eruptions of volcanoes along the

rift much provide insights in the

Africa's splitting process along the

rift there are many active volcanoes in

particular the urda ale volcano in

Ethiopia which has been erupting

non-stop over the past 50 years

according to geologists who took initial

physical studies at a lava lake on a

sizable volcano notice that the red Haze

of the lava flows a few kilometers away

could these actions be the manifestation

of a tectonic transition well a large

area of volcanism seismic activity

ground uplift and the development of

cracks are all caused by the surface

expression of rifting but what exactly

causes rifting a rift valley is formed

as a result of the pulling apart of the

lithosphere due to extensional tectonics

Rifts are the first step of Continental

breakup and as a result a new ocean

Basin is always formed volcanism and

seismic activity are surface indicators

of this whole process that appear along

the rift valley

foreign

for example the South Atlantic Ocean was

formed as a result of separation of

Africa and South America around 138

million years ago the East African Rift

is characterized as an active kind of

Rift where the circulation of the

underlying mantle is the source of these

stresses later resulting into fault

lines the formation of a sizable mental

plue which bring about rays in

temperatures and primary faults causes

the lithosphere beneath lifted higher

scientists believe that the hot mantle

plume commonly referred to as the

African super swell is the source of the

pull apart forces causing the formation

of the East African Rift Valley in

addition the Topography of Rifts is

particularly distinctive consisting

several depressions bordered by fault

lines and surrounded by Higher Grounds

foreign

not all these cracks developed

simultaneously but rather in series that

spread at a rate of 2.5 to 5 inches per

year in the southern part of Zimbabwe to

the Far East of Ethiopia about 35

million years ago the formation of new

fault lines and cracks as the Nubian and

Summer Lake plates move apart results

into earthquakes volcanism is a Surface

indication of the ongoing process of

Continental breakup

the East African Rift is young in the

South and the extension rate is low

though the fault lines are widely

spreading which allows us to see the

rifting stages in real time however the

bottom is entirely covered with volcanic

rocks as it approaches the far region

this implies that the lithosphere has

completely broken apart in this region

magma will therefore solidify resulting

to a gap left turning into a large water

body

the Victoria microplate which is the

biggest on Earth and it's tucked between

each side of the rift valley May hasten

the process due to its anti-clockwise

movements for the past two years the

Victoria plate has been moving in the

opposite direction compared to all other

plates including the African plate

itself which might be a bigger hand in

hindering the process

although this is how everything is the

afar region is one of the few places on

Earth that most closely resemble the

moon's surface the Arid and Barren

region in Eastern Africa pressed up

against the Red Sea is covered with lava

created by rifting of a continent the

afar region is home to a triple Junction

as the Nubian Somali and the Arabian

tectonic plates all come together to

form a huge eye on the surface of the

Earth near Eritrea and Djibouti

more than 3 700 miles southwards into

the center of Africa is the Great Rift

Valley the Sinai Peninsula is where the

Red Sea Rift meets the Northwest the

Aden Ridge and oceanic flow Ridge extend

to eastwards and the boundaries all

extend at the rate of 1.5 centimeters

annually due to its complex structure

Africa is a continent that is rupturing

apart

the Arabian plate in the Northeast has

also been displacing itself from Africa

which is a good location example of

Continental breakup more and more as the

Arabian plate eventually comes into

contact with the Eurasian plate

currently known as Iran the Persian Gulf

will close and become a part of Eurasian

scientists have been aware of the

rifting in the eastern part of Africa

but the exact cause has been difficult

to determine the earth-changing

occurrences truly exist but seem to be

unnoticeable to us due to the National

processes taking hundreds of millions of

years to happen the East African Rift is

a good example the rifting is proven to

split the whole African continent but

the process is very slow to the extent

that nobody could really notice this

geophysical study estimates that the

rifting process in Africa will take tens

of millions of years to eventually turn

into an ocean that will separate the

continent into two parts none of us or

our children's generation will be around

to experience the Magnificent occurrence

thank you