Scientists have several theories about how the African continent split into two.
if you Earth Tens of millions of years ago, it would have looked very different from the blue-and-green space marble we call home today.
About 200 million years ago, all the continents were concentrated into one supercontinent called Pangaea.
But over time, these split and drifted apart, resulting in the configuration we know and love today.
Even after the birth of mankind, sea levels have risen and Melting ice Remove and block the overpass community.
Of course, this is not the scale of continental drift that occurs over very long periods of time.
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth’s crust caused by plates rubbing against each other on the surface of the mantle.
Want to see this geological process in action? Africa On a geological time scale, of course, but right now it’s a good place to watch it unfold before our eyes.
Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. (Martin Harvey/Getty)
That’s because geologists have noticed several cracks appearing above and below the giant continent.
Some scientists suggest that this is due to the African plate splitting in two, which could mean that landlocked countries like Zambia and Uganda could have their own coastlines in the distant future.
But this isn’t the only theory geologists have for how the rift formed.
Some say soil erosion may be to blame.
There are others still, including postdoctoral researcher Lucia Pérez Díaz. researcher Royal Holloway University London – I think it’s a combination of both.
Diaz suggested that the rift valley faults could be filled with soft soil, causing the cracks seen on the surface.
Parts of Africa could break away from the rest of the world. (University of Rochester)
Her research suggests that over tens of millions of years, as the cracks reach the coast, the ocean will begin to fill the gap.
If enough seawater flooded the area, it would effectively cut off part of Africa from the rest of the world.
A similar event, though for a different cause, occurred when the British Isles were separated from mainland Europe.
Until about 450,000 years ago, the British Isles were connected to Europe, but erosion of a valley in what is now the English Channel caused seawater to surge and cause devastating floods.
This left what should have been the westernmost point of Europe as an entirely new set of islands.
