Africa is splitting apart faster than we imagined, forming a new ocean.

A chasm that appeared in Kenya in 2018

doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71663-x
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Africa, the cradle of humanity, is literally splitting in two

Geologists have discovered that the African continent is splitting faster than previously thought.

An active fissure in the eastern region has already reached a critical point and, in a few million years, will give rise to a new ocean.

Although “a few million years” seems like a huge amount of time to us, in the slow pace of geology this represents a fairly advanced process.

Scientists analyzed the Turkana rift zone, which extends for hundreds of kilometers between Kenya and Ethiopia.

Using seismic measurements, they calculated the thickness of the Earth’s crust in this area.

The result was surprising: at the center of the fissure, the crust is only about 13 kilometers thick, much less than the more than 35 kilometers found at the edges of the region.

When the crust becomes thinner than 15 kilometers, it enters a phase called “necking”.

From that point on, the separation of the continent becomes practically inevitable.

Christian Rowan, a geoscientist at Columbia University, explained that the East African Rift is more advanced than previously thought.

“The crust is thinner and the rupture process has progressed more than anyone recognized,” he said.

The thinner the crust becomes, the weaker it becomes, which facilitates the continuation of the fissure.

Soon – geologically speaking – the region will enter the “oceanization” phase.

The ground will stretch so much that magma from the Earth’s interior will rise, forming a basin and, over time, the Indian Ocean will invade the space, creating a new sea between the two parts of the continent.

This process has already begun in another area, the Afar Depression, in northeastern Africa, near the Red Sea.

In the Turkana zone, researchers estimate that the funneling began about 4 million years ago, shortly after a long period of intense volcanic activity.

Interestingly, this date coincides with the appearance of the oldest hominid fossils, our direct ancestors.

This is not mere coincidence.

When the crust began to thin, sedimentation (the accumulation of layers of earth and sand) increased greatly.

This sediment-rich environment created perfect conditions for preserving fossils.

Thus, the Turkana region was not necessarily the most important place for human evolution in all of Africa, but rather the location where geological conditions best preserved the records of the past.

Ancient bones and tools were protected by thick layers of sediment, which explains why we find so many important remains precisely there.

For us humans, the continents seem fixed and eternal.

In fact, they are always in motion, albeit very slowly.

More than 200 million years ago, all the continents formed a single supercontinent.

In the distant future, they may come together again.

The East African Rift is a clear example of how tectonic plates move apart: on one side, the large Nubian Plate, which carries most of Africa; on the other, the Somali Plate, which includes the east of the continent and Madagascar.

This discovery helps us better understand both the history of the Earth and our own origins.

The study shows how deep geological processes influenced the environment where our ancestors lived and left their traces.

In the future, within millions of years, the landscape of East Africa will be completely different: a new ocean will separate what is today a single continent.

The results were published in the journal Nature Communications and represent an important advance in understanding how continents form and transform over time.

Meanwhile, Africa continues its slow but impressive journey of separation, reminding us that our planet is always changing.

Published in 05/01/2026 22h16

Portuguese version

Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption. Information about DOI, author and institution can be found in the body of the article.

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