According to a study from Columbia University published in the journal Nature, East Africa may eventually split from the rest of the continent. This process would occur along a geological zone known as the Turkana Rift, located between Kenya and Ethiopia.
Researchers explain that Earth is constantly moving, but extremely slowly. Hundreds of millions of years ago, a supercontinent called Pangaea broke apart to form today’s continents.
The Turkana Rift is an area where the Earth’s crust is gradually stretching. As the rock becomes thinner, it begins to crack and may, over a very long time, lead to the formation of a new ocean.
Scientists say this process has already been ongoing for millions of years. Some regions, such as Afar in Ethiopia, already show advanced signs of crust transformation.
These geological changes are so slow that they cannot be observed within a human lifetime.
The region is also important for scientific research, as it has yielded many fossils of early human ancestors, helping researchers better understand human evolution.
