An ocean is being born before our eyes. Unfortunately, Africa is splitting in two and the crack is growing faster than we imagined.
The planet Earth may seem unchanging on a human scale, but within its depths, stories of relentless slowness are being written. Today, it is the stage for a colossal transformation: bit by bit, crack by crack, until giving rise to a new ocean. And the most surprising thing is that we can already see it happening.
A continent tearing apart
It stretches more than 6,000 kilometers, from . Three tectonic plates interact there: the Somali, the African, and the Arabian. Their separation began over 25 million years ago, but recent studies show that the movement has accelerated to almost one centimeter per year.
This imperceptible day-to-day movement translates into visible faults that transform the landscape. In 2005, . Thirteen years later, Kenya became the scene of cracks up to 19 meters wide, a sign of the magnitude of a process that will not stop.
The effects already felt
Although the formation of the will take at least 50 million years, current consequences are already beginning to redefine geography. Countries that are currently inland, such as Zambia or Uganda, could in the future have direct access to the sea, with all that implies for trade, routes, and tourism.
However, not everything is an opportunity. and will force human communities to adapt to new conditions. will face a different environment, and infrastructure —roads, housing, cities— will have to coexist with a changing ground beneath their foundations.
Geology in real-time
The exciting part is that, for the first time, . What used to only appear in books as a geological tale of past eras is now becoming a story that unfolds before our eyes. , slowly, is splitting in two, reminding us that the
