Africa, the world’s second largest continent, is going through a breakup. Scientists say it’s splitting into two land masses, with a new ocean one day running through the middle.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Africa, the world's second-largest continent, is going through a breakup.
00:08Scientists say it's splitting into two land masses, with a new ocean one day running through
00:12the middle.
00:14As reported by IFL Science, the process won't happen overnight.
00:17It'll take somewhere between 5 and 10 million years for the East African Rift System, which
00:22stretches through multiple countries, to cleave the continent in two, resulting in Africa's
00:26eastern shoulder breaking off to become a new island.
00:30According to a 2004 study, the Nubian and Somalian African plates are pulling away from
00:34each other at a rate of a few millimeters each year.
00:38In 2018, news of a crack opening up in Kenya went viral, with some claiming the process
00:42was happening before our eyes.
00:45However, the rift was likely a localized expression of regular geological activity that has been
00:50going on for some 25 million years, IFL Science reports.
00:54As with the process which saw Pangaea split apart into the continents we know today, the
00:58surface of the world is in a constant state of flux.