Africa is undergoing a gradual geological transformation, leading to the formation of a new ocean.
Although this process was initially identified two decades ago, recent scientific insights suggest that the continental division is occurring more rapidly than previously thought.
In 2005, a significant geological event occurred in Ethiopia’s desert, known as the East African Rift, where a 35-mile long fissure appeared. This event marked the beginning of the African plate dividing into the Somali plate and the Nubian plate.
The fissure lies at the junction of the African, Arabian, and Somali tectonic plates. Over the past 30 million years, the Arabian plate has been slowly drifting away from the African mainland.
This tectonic activity resembles the processes that led to the formation of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which separated from adjacent landmasses.
Furthermore, the Somali plate is gradually detaching from the African plate, progressing through the East African Rift Valley.
Geologists suggest that this intricate tectonic activity will eventually create a new ocean, although it will take millions of years to fully manifest.
Earlier estimates suggested that this process would extend over tens of millions of years. However, the current rate of continental separation, about half an inch per year, has prompted a reassessment of these timelines.
Professor Ken MacDonald from the University of California has indicated that a new ocean may form within one to five million years.
In an interview with MailOnline, he stated, “In the human life scale, you won’t be seeing many changes. You’ll be feeling earthquakes, you’ll be seeing volcanoes erupt, but you won’t see the ocean intrude in our lifetimes.”
Professor MacDonald further explained the potential scenario where the Indian Ocean could flood into what is now the East African Rift Valley.
He added, “There’s slippage and faults creating earthquake activity, along with visible signs of active volcanoes. In recent years, the main breakthroughs have been figuring out exactly where the branches of this rift system go.”
Alexandra Doten, formerly a consultant for NASA and the Space Force, described on Instagram how Eastern Africa will eventually become its own continent.
She remarked, “The line along the border is the African Great Lakes. These are some of the largest lakes on Earth. This is 25 percent of all of the unfrozen surface fresh water on the planet, and they already hold about 10 percent of all of Earth’s fish species. The lakes formed because Eastern Africa is separating from the rest of the continent. That Somali plate is continuing to move even further east, creating a giant rift valley right here. It keeps going. Eventually, Eastern Africa is going to become its new continent, separated from the rest of Africa by a new ocean.”