A Fragmented Africa

When people think of Africa being fragmented, they usually think of things like politics, tribalism, and nepotism. They don’t tend to think about geology:

Geologists working in Ethiopia have found that a 60-meter-long canyon is steadily expanding and will allow a new ocean to form — one which will bisect the African continent.

The shifting of molten rock beneath the Earth’s surface initially caused the rift in the remote Afar region of Ethiopia and, as those underground eruptions are continuing, the rift will continue to widen — and, in about 10 million years, create a vastly different Africa.

“Eventually this will drift apart…. The sea will flood in and will start to create this new ocean. It will pull apart, sink down deeper and deeper and eventually… parts of southern Ethiopia, Somalia will drift off, create a new island, and we’ll have a smaller Africa and a very big island that floats out into the Indian Ocean,” says seismologist James Hammond.

In other news, also, in 10 million years we might see a handful of the Millennium Development Goals finally realized. (I kid!)

via io9