What Happens If Africa Splits Apart?

"It's tearin' up my heart when I'm with you, but when we are apart, I feel it, too." Sure, it's a great opener to a pop song, but it also briefly describes what's happening to Africa. The continent is slowly but surely splitting apart because of plate tectonics. Something most of us learned about in middle school, but probably learned even more about later, plate tectonics refers to the scientific theory that the Earth's outer shell is divided into plates which are essentially always moving and shifting because of a soft asthenosphere underneath.

The plates Africa rests upon are all moving and it's causing some pretty severe geological transformations above the surface. Three plates under the continent are pulling away from each other, splitting the land mass above, which could eventually lead to the formation of a new ocean. This region is called the East African Rift System, and researchers believe that, in the future, eastern Africa may totally separate from the rest of the continent. This ongoing process is basically the opposite of what happened to form North America's highest mountain, Mount Denali. In that instance, two plates collided instead of splitting apart.

This news is not new. Researchers have found evidence that Africa has been breaking in two for millions of years in an ongoing process. But while the movements and changes happening underneath the Earth's surface aren't always visible above, in Africa's case, there are already major transformations happening. In 2005, for example, a gigantic 35-mile fissure opened in Ethiopia, severing the landmass and destroying roads, farmland, and societal hotspots. That fissure spread over the course of just 10 days, which is extremely quick in geological terms, where things usually take years, decades or even centuries to play out.

Despite the new changes, the East African Rift and the plates underneath have been active for millions of years. In fact, the movement of the plates below the continent are responsible for how the landmass has been shaped and formed over centuries. Geological areas like the Great Rift Valley, Mount Kilimanjaro, Lake Victoria, and the Red Sea were all formed when plates moved in the past — just like what's happening now. But at the risk of repeating, what makes the East African Rift special is that it's one of the few places on Earth where the plate movements, and their effects, are visible to the naked eye and visible on the surface. Continental shifts above the surface often happen in locations underwater where they cannot be observed.

Before continuing, it's important to note that modern scientists believe this event isn't going to conclude for another 5 to 10 million years, so it's not like eastern Africa is going to sever from the main continent tomorrow. However, when the triple plates pull apart enough, it will cause the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to flood the rift valley and create a new ocean in the region. That ocean would split parts of the continent, such as separating Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, creating smaller islands or separate landmasses — not unlike Madagascar's current situation.

But seismic changes and plate activity also lead to other geological events, including earthquakes, volcanic activity, flooding and so on. It's hard to quantify or predict exactly what the scope of the behavior would look like. Five of the largest earthquakes ever recorded occurred due to plate shifts in active regions. So, there's no guarantee the event will play out a particular way, other than the flooding and the increase in seismic activity. The 35-mile fissure was the result of a series of volcano eruptions, when Dabbahu volcano triggered during the plate movements. It means we could end up seeing something similar happen in the future.