Africa Is Being Split In Two?

Reports are lop up online that appear to show rich chasms , exacerbated by rainfall , in Kenya ’s Narok County . One snag in the earth is reportedly 15 m ( 50 foot ) deep and 20 metre ( 66 understructure ) wide .

Speaking to theDaily Nation , a geologist has suggested that this odd phenomenon is the manifestation of “ zona of helplessness ” within the region . Some of these cracks are newfangled , but some are old I antecedently buried in novel volcanic ash tree , and leaden rain have suddenly wash the ash tree out and exposed them .

This has certainly brought some geological dramatic play to the expanse , which has seen family evacuatedtout suite . One kinsperson were having dinner at base when they were forced to flee   after a new fissure opened up beneath their feet and reportedly cut their household in two .

So what exactly is going on here ?

This part of Kenya is clearly showing some rather extreme - looking behavior at the surface , but do n’t panic : This is perchance due to a highly localized expression of the valley ’s unconstipated rifting natural process . In fact , it ’s credibly just a gully that ’s being wear away or exposed by   surface appendage , although there ’s only not enough info to say for sure at this dot .

There seems to be some mental confusion regarding what ’s actually going on in this part of the cosmos on a larger scale , however , so let ’s clear a few thing up .

East Africa is breaking up . A immense tectonic plate bound 5,000 km ( about 3,100 miles ) long is running up along the eastern section of the continent , which is manifested at the aerofoil as theEast African Rift System(EARS ) , which has many beautiful nuance and complexities .

The African plate has split into the Somalian and Nubian tectonic plates , which are pulling away from each other , a process thatbeganaround 25 million years ago . The Arabian plate is also move away , and the result is that the triple - join rift internet in the Afar part isshaped like a Y.

This fighting rift zone has an incredibly slow charge per unit of circularise of a few millimetre per yr on intermediate . Ultimately , this means that around 10 million years from now , a fresh sea will issue as the EARS proceed to tear East Africa apart .

understandably , slow and steady gain the race here . The spreading pace vary across the rift , however , with some parts moving slower or quicker than others .

There are several hypotheses touted as to why EARS began , with the most democratic being that a superheated feather – or several smaller plumes – of mantelpiece material is rising up into the crust beneath that very spot . Although one2014 review papersaid that “ its inscrutable origin remain poorly understood , ” a single , massive plumeis the most probable cause .

Either direction , there areconsequencesto having an active falling out geographical zone .

Some constituent of the realm have subsided over the past few million years ; others have been uplifted . The splitting has fragment the region so acutely that it ’s thought to have createdtectonic microplates , like the Victoria and Rovuma denture , in its wake . The geochemistry beneath the EARS is also spectacularly bizarre , creating a mountain chain of otherworldlyvolcanoes .

Another consequence , perhaps , is the surficial activity noted in these reports .

Back in 2005 , for good example , an 8 - meter ( 26 - human foot ) interruption opened across a 60 - kilometer ( 37 - mile ) stretchability in just 10 days . This crevasse was make when magma point to Ethiopia ’s Dabbahu vent wasdivertedunderground , which cooled , froze , and was forced up to the control surface , causing a crack . It continued to grow because the ear just keeps on rifting .

When it fare to the cranny in this part of Kenya , then , either a similar magmatic recreation upshot has occurred   – after all , it does happen to be surrounded byseveralvolcanoes – or there has been a sudden , probably brief jump in the local dissemination rate . Or , as aforementioned , it ’s an erosional feature article .

Until more details emerge , however , this remains somewhat questioning .

Update : Dr James Hammond , a geophysicist at Birkbeck , University of London , distinguish IFLScience that it ’s unclear what this phenomenon represents .

" I do n’t believe this is related to magma injection , it ’s not the same as Dabbahu . In Dabbahu , it was not a childlike fissure , but a whole serial of fault that move , " he say . " Equally , I ’m not sure a local increase in spreading rate is ripe . "

" I am not certain what has caused this , " he added . " Were any earthquakes felt ? If not then it seems unlikely to be tectonic or volcanic . "