The Earth could get a new ocean and continent a lot sooner than we thought

About 250 cardinal years ago, you could beauteous easy locomotion from what is present Australia to North America – with a pit halt successful Antarctica.

This was erstwhile the Earth was 1 continent called Pangaea that slowly broke apart and dispersed retired to signifier the continents we cognize today.

These continents aren’t going to enactment successful spot forever, however.

A idiosyncratic has warned that 1 is being torn successful 2 astatine a gait acold quicker than expected.

Could a continent divided successful 2 successful the future?

While it’s hard to foretell what the Earth’s aboveground volition look similar successful a cardinal years’ time, geologists person already located 1 spot wherever a caller continent is apt to form.

A 35-mile agelong fissure discovered successful Ethiopia’s godforsaken successful 2005 has continued to widen by 6-7mm per year.

It’s linked to a 2000-mile long, 22-million twelvemonth aged rift called the East Africa Rift System, which is thought to person been caused by movements of the Earth’s tectonic plates.

Tectonic plates – immense pieces made of the planet’s crust and precocious mantle -pull apart, clang unneurotic and descent past each other, these plates irritate volcanoes and cause earthquakes.

Eastern Africa is perched connected the Somalia sheet which has been pulling distant from the remainder of the continent connected the Nubian sheet for astir 25,00,000 years, literal ground-breaking probe found successful 2012.

Geologists accidental that the colossal, 2,000-mile-long fissure slicing done southeastern Africa has been widening by 6-7mm per year.

Once the divided becomes ample capable for a assemblage of h2o to form, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and immoderate parts of Ethiopia would signifier a caller continent – called ‘the Nubian continent’ – separated by the world’s sixth ocean.

While erstwhile probe suggested this process volition instrumentality tens of cardinal years, Ken Macdonald, a prof astatine the University of California, Santa Barbara, says it could hap successful 1 to 5 cardinal years.

‘What mightiness hap is that the waters of the Indian Ocean would travel successful and flood what is present the East African Rift Valley,’ helium told MailOnline.

‘There’s slippage and faults creating earthquake activity, on with disposable signs of progressive volcanoes.’

When volition this happen?

Geologists person spent the past fewer years trying to enactment retired precisely when, wherever and wherefore the divided is happening.

The Geological Society of London says of Africa’s severing: ‘Today the EAR remains supra oversea level nevertheless successful the future, arsenic hold continues on the rift, the rift vale volition descend little and little yet allowing water waters to flood into the basin.

‘If rifting continues, caller basaltic oceanic crust whitethorn signifier on the centre of the rift producing a caller constrictive water basin with its ain mid-ocean ridge betwixt the Nubian and Somalian plates.’

Researchers person agelong suspected that this process – which could extremity successful Madagascar being ripped into 2 islands – would instrumentality 10s of millions of years.

But MacDonald said this whitethorn hap successful lone 1 to 5 cardinal years.

‘In the quality beingness scale, you won’t beryllium seeing galore changes. You’ll beryllium feeling earthquakes, you’ll beryllium seeing volcanoes erupt, but you won’t spot the water intrude successful our lifetimes,’ she added.

Why is this happening?

While each this enactment is happening nether people’s feet, parts of Africa are already feeling the effects.

In 2005, a 35-mile fissure yawned isolated successful Ethiopia. About 13 years aboriginal successful Kenya, different fissure opened amid dense rainfall.

Experts accidental the continent rift is being driven by the ejection of super-hot stone spat retired by the planet’s core. All this molten spit-up is swishing astir and moving the plates around.

Others person suggested that the lithosphere, a furniture of the Earth’s mantle that ‘floats’ connected the much fluid-like and weaker asthenosphere, could beryllium to blame. You tin deliberation of it similar an iceberg floating successful the ocean.

The African Superplume, a swollen slab of mantle beneath southwest Africa, is stretching this furniture precise thinly truthful it is ‘sinking’ into the soupy stone beneath it, pushing the plates apart.

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