The Niah continent is breaking up very fast. Very soon it will split into two parts. Scientists have called it a serious matter. Scientists have warned that the African continent is breaking up faster than ever before. In 2005, a 35-mile-long crack emerged in the Ethiopian desert, which is now widening at the rate of half an inch every year.

According to the Daily Mail report, Professor Ken MacDonald of the University of California, Santa Barbara, has said that this process, which was previously thought to last for millions of years, can now be completed in 10 to 50 million years. This separation can lead to the formation of a new ocean and continent on Earth.

What will be the Effect of this Division?

According to Professor MacDonald, water from the Indian Ocean could fill the East African Rift Valley and eventually this region could form a new ocean. This new ocean could be as deep as the Atlantic Ocean.

Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia will be Affected:

This rift is passing through parts of Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. Scientists believe that after the division, this part of Ethiopia will be known as the ‘Nubian Continent’. MacDonald said that this division will not have any significant impact on human life. However, incidents like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions will continue to occur.

East African Rift System:

This process is linked to the East African Rift System, a 2,000-mile-long rift that formed about 22 million years ago. In this region, two tectonic plates, the Somalian and the Nubian, are moving away from each other. The upper part of the Earth’s surface, called the lithosphere, is divided into several tectonic plates. Scientists believe these plates move partly because of heat rising from the Earth’s core.

The African Continent Beginning of Ocean Formation:

Volcanic activity varies in different parts of the rift system, a study published in 2024 in Frontiers in Earth Science reported. Virginia Tech professor D. Sarah Stamps reported in a 2020 study that the northern part of the rift is splitting at the fastest rate and that new oceans will form there first.

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What is the Problem Currently?

Similar cracks were seen in Kenya after heavy rains in 2018. At that time, local residents also felt earth-shaking. More such cracks may form in the future, due to which the island of Madagascar may also split into two separate pieces.