Is Africa Splitting in Two? Really? Here's the Scoop (2024)

FAQs

Is there really a new ocean forming in Africa? ›

Geologists predict that in 5 to 10 million years, the tectonic movement will eventually split the African continent into two, creating a new ocean basin. This new body of water would be the result of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden flooding over the Afar region and into the East African Rift Valley.

By 2050, more than half of Africa's 2.2bn people will live in its rapidly expanding cities. That's the equivalent of the population of China. The UN has counted 71 African cities with a population higher than 750,000, many of which lack the infrastructure to support large populations.

Pangaea Proxima (also called Pangaea Ultima, Neopangaea, and Pangaea II) is a possible future supercontinent configuration. Consistent with the supercontinent cycle, Pangaea Proxima could form within the next 250 million years.

African regions are treated under the titles Central Africa, eastern Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, and western Africa; these articles also contain the principal treatment of African historical and cultural development.

How long before Africa is divided? Not anytime soon. It will take millions of years for Africa to be sliced into two unequal parts. The new ocean will take at least 5 million to 10 million years to form which could eventually give the landlocked countries of Uganda and Zambia their own coastlines.

Eventually, scientists expect the Afar Rift to connect the Red Sea to the north and the Arabian Sea to the south. When this happens, the Afar Rift will turn into a new ocean that will split Africa and release the Horn of Africa from its land mass, changing the future of a few landlocked countries.

By the year 2100, extreme heat events will make parts of Asia and Africa uninhabitable for up to 600 million people, the United Nations and the Red Cross said Monday.

Large portions of the continent may become uninhabitable as a result of the rapid effects of climate change, which would have disastrous effects on human health, food security, and poverty. Regional effects on rainfall in the tropics are expected to be much more spatially variable.

Africa: fastest growing continent

More than half of global population growth between now and 2050 is expected to occur in Africa. Africa has the highest rate of population growth among major areas. The population of sub-Saharan Africa is projected to double by 2050.

Humans and other mammals may only exist for another 250 million years on Earth — which is about as long as mammals have existed here at all — according to a new study that predicts the continents will collide and form one massive block of land that is too hot and too dry to live on.

What is the giant crack in Africa? ›

The East African Rift itself stretches over a staggering 3,000km from the Gulf of Aden in the north towards Zimbabwe in the south. As a result, it splits the African plate into two unequal parts: the Somali and Nubian plates.

While experts have known that Africa is splitting in two for a while, pinpointing the exact cause has been a struggle. A wide zone of seismic activity and evidence now suggests the rift is caused by a superplume upwelling along the eastern edge of Africa.

The ancient name of Africa was Alkebulan. Alkebu-lan “mother of mankind” or “garden of Eden”.” Alkebulan is the oldest and the only word of indigenous origin. It was used by the Moors, Nubians, Numidians, Khart-Haddans (Carthagenians), and Ethiopians.

Africa is very very big. It's almost double in size as the largest country out there - Russia. In total, Africa is more than 30 million sq km while Russia stands at around 17million sq km. But Africa appears much smaller on most famous world maps because of Mercator projection.

How fast is Africa splitting? GPS measurements show that across the East African Rift, the Nubian and Somali plates are diverging at an average rate of 7mm (0.2in) per year, slowly pulling the continent apart. Today, the rift remains above sea level, but as it widens, the land within the valley will sink.

In an astounding revelation, researchers have uncovered yet another massive ocean hidden beneath the Earth's crust! According to the most recent findings, scientists have identified an immense reservoir of water, boasting a volume three times larger than that of all Earth's surface oceans combined.

This split started in the Eocene and accelerated during the Oligocene. The sea is still widening (in 2005, following a three-week period of tectonic activity it had grown by 8 m [26 ft]), and it is considered that it will become an ocean in time (as proposed in the model of John Tuzo Wilson).

As a result, more than half of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa lack access to safe drinking water and an estimated 160 million people across the continent live under water scarcity conditions. The water emergency in Africa is largely climate-induced.