Gradually Splitting: Africa's Tectonic Transformation and the Birth of a New Ocean

 Africa is currently undergoing a remarkable geological transformation, as it gradually splits into two distinct land masses. This extensive process, which will span millions of years, is linked to the East African Rift System (EARS) - a massive rift that extends thousands of kilometers across numerous African countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique.

The African plate is dividing into the smaller Somali plate and the larger Nubian plate, which are drifting apart at a rate of millimeters per year, as per a 2004 study. In 2018, reports of a fissure in Kenya gained widespread attention, with many asserting that it was tangible evidence of Africa's impending split. While this striking phenomenon is indeed related to EARS, it is somewhat misleading to regard it as proof of Africa's imminent division.

Nonetheless, within the next 5 to 10 million years, experts predict the formation of a new ocean between the Somali and Nubian plates. The Earth's current appearance is relatively recent, with its landmasses and oceans (comprising Eurasia, the Americas, Africa, Antarctica, and Oceania) being the result of vast tectonic plates that interlock like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Over the course of millions of years, these puzzle pieces shift at a glacial pace, causing Africa's impending transformation to be merely one of many changes that our planet will experience.