American geophysicists have found that the African continent is divided at a faster pace than originally thought. According to Professor Ken MacDonald from the University of California at Santa Barbara a process that was to take tens of millions of years could be completed within one to five million years.
“In 2005, a 56 -kilometer -long crack appeared in the desert in Ethiopia. Since then, it has been expanding at about 1.3 centimeters per year, ” He said the professor in an interview with The Mail.
Although Africa is the continent huge and its division into two subcontinents alone will last At least a million years, which is a great speed in the geological evolution of the Earth. Only for humanity it will be a very slow phenomenon because of the brief planet we inhabit.
“What is likely to happen is that The waters of the Indian Ocean will flood what is today the East African ditch. The new ocean could be as deep as the Atlantic if the water continues to flood this area, ”says Professor MacDonald, according to computer models.
The crack stretches through Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and part of Ethiopia. According to MacDonald, this area could happen A new continent that scientists called the Nubian continent. “Although these parts of the continent are extremely slow, it is impressive due to the enormous vastness of Africa,” the professor added.
The distribution of Africa is based on the East African ditch system, which is approximately 3,200 kilometers long and was created more than 22 million years ago. There are two tectonic plates in this area – Somali and Nubic – which are actively moving away from each other. According to scientists, the new ocean could first appear in the northern part of the ditch system.
The emerging cracks, such as the one in Kenya in 2018, are proof of the ongoing process. While Africa continues its long decay process, scientists from around the world are trying to better understand the mechanisms that drive this process.
