• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
Scientists discover reason why Africa is splitting in two as huge crack found

Home> Science> News

Updated 14:47 15 Nov 2023 GMTPublished 07:51 14 Nov 2023 GMT

Scientists discover reason why Africa is splitting in two as huge crack found

Scientists think they've figured out why this is happening

Mia Williams

Mia Williams

One continent that is being impacted by the ever-changing planet is Africa, but what is the East African Rift?

The constant changes to the conditions of the planet have never been more spoken about, whether it’s climate change or pollution, there’s a number of things we need to improve.

Whether we are thinking about our great, great grandkids in a hundred years, or how it may affect us, knowing what is going on with our planet is rather important.

Advert

The ongoing East African Rift has drawn a lot of media attention, as it seems to be a visual representation of just how much Earth is really changing.

BBC

It started to gain attention, following a sudden large crack that appeared in Kenya in 2018.

It caused massive destruction in the south-western part of the country, and led part of a local highway to collapse.

Advert

While initial theories believed this was linked to the East African Rift, geologists say that the feature was most likely caused by soil erosion.

However, postdoctoral researcher at Royal Holloway University of London, Lucía Pérez Díaz says the crack could also be because of the erosion of soft soils infilling an old rift-related fault, hence linking it back to the rift.

But what is causing this to happen?

Let's hope you were listening to your geography and science lessons back at school.

Advert

While the Earth's change may not seem noticeable to us, tectonic plates are constantly moving.

The Earth's lithosphere, which is formed by the crust and the upper part of the mantle, is broken up into a number of these tectonic plates.

As mentioned, these plates are not stationery, and the movement causing them to move around can also rupture.

This can lead to a rift forming and the creation of a new plate boundary, which Diaz says is happening at the East African Rift.

Advert

The East African Rift itself stretches over a staggering 3,000km from the Gulf of Aden in the north towards Zimbabwe in the south.

As a result, it splits the African plate into two unequal parts: the Somali and Nubian plates.

The rift has varying different attributes across its 3,000km distance, with the south seeing faulting occur over a wider area, and volcanism and seismicity are limited.

But if you head towards the Afar region, the entire rift valley floor is covered with volcanic rocks.

Advert

Diaz suggests that this means the lithosphere has thinned almost to the point of complete break up.

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Africa Infohub/BBC
Climate change
Science

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

16 hours ago
18 hours ago
19 hours ago
23 hours ago
  • 16 hours ago

    Scientist made shock admission ahead of NASA mission to asteroid 'worth $10,000,000,000,000,000,000'

    It's not what most people want to hear

    Science
  • 18 hours ago

    Ozempic users share shocking ‘Ozempic sex’ side effect that not many people know about

    It's not just your wasitline that could be shrinking

    Science
  • 19 hours ago

    Solar panels illegal in 49 states could transform energy for the USA

    A YouTuber showed how the solar panels can be plugged into a home outlet

    Science
  • 23 hours ago

    How to set up emergency weather warnings on Android and iPhone following tragic Texas floods

    This comes after a tense questioning of the county sheriff about emergency alerts

    Science
  • Extremely 'petty' reason why hurricanes and cyclones have human names
  • Reason why this boiling Amazon river kills everything that falls into it
  • Scientists warn neurological diseases are getting worse as climate change increases
  • Cameras strapped to polar bears reveal heartbreaking tragedy in the melting Arctic