Is Africa splitting into two continents?


The East African Rift is a community of valleys that stretches from the Crimson Sea to Mozambique. Right here, we see cultivated fields within the Rift Valley of Ethiopia. (Picture credit score: LuCaAr by way of Getty Photos)

An enormous rift is slowly tearing Africa, the second-largest continent, aside. This despair — often called the East African Rift —  is a community of valleys that stretches about 2,175 miles (3,500 kilometers) lengthy, from the Crimson Sea to Mozambique, in keeping with the Geological Society of London

So will Africa rip aside utterly, and if that’s the case, when will it cut up? To reply this query, let’s take a look at the area’s tectonic plates, the outer components of the planet’s floor that may collide with one another, making mountains, or pull aside, creating huge basins.