Scientists have come up with some theories about how the continent of Africa is splitting in two.

If you were to look at the Earth tens of millions of years ago, it would look very different from the blue and green space marble we call home today.

Around 200 million years ago, the continents were all concentrated together in one super-continent called Pangea.

But over time, these broke up and drifted apart, until they arrived at the configuration we all know and love today.

Even within our lifetime as a species, there have been huge changes, with rising sea levels and melting ice getting rid of land bridges and cutting off communities.

Of course, this is not on the scale of continental drift which happens over a very long time.

Continental drift is the movement of the Earth’s crust as tectonic plates grind into each other on the surface of the mantle.

If you want an image of this geological process in action, it seems that Africa is currently a good place to see it unfolding before our very eyes, though of course on a geological timescale.

The Great Rift Valley in Kenya. (Martin Harvey / Getty)

That’s because geologists have noticed several cracks appearing up and down the enormous continent.

Some scientists have suggested that this is due to the African tectonic plate breaking in two, which could result in landlocked countries like Zambia and Uganda having their own coastlines in the distant future.

But this is not the only theory that geologists have about the how the crack has formed.

Others have suggested that the cause could be soil erosion.

Others still, including Lucía Pérez Díaz – a postdoctoral researcher at Royal Holloway University of London – think it’s a combination of both.

Díaz suggested it could be softer soils filling in a rift-related fault and leading to the cracks we are seeing on the surface.

Part of Africa could break off from the rest. (University of Rochester)

Her research suggested that over the course of tens of millions of years the ocean will begin to fill in the gap as the rift reaches the coast.

Once the ocean floods in sufficiently then it will effectively cut off one part of Africa from another.

A similar event, albeit with different causes, happened when the British Isles were cut off from mainland Europe.

Until around 450,000 years ago the British Isles were connected to Europe, but the erosion of a valley in what is now the English Channel caused a catastrophic flood as the sea rushed in.

This left what would have been the westernmost extremity of Europe as a brand new set of islands.

Africa could one day be ‘split into two’ after a huge crack that continues to grow appeared in the continent.

Go back 200 million years, and our seven continents were all concentrated together in one supergroup named Pangea.

But over time, these broke up and drifted apart, transforming into the configuration we’re familiar with today.

Within our own lifetimes though, there have been some huge changes on Earth, with environmental factors causing rising sea levels and melting ice caps, which are already altering how our countries looks.

Then, there are tectonic plates, which are believed to be happening over a much longer period of time.

For those who didn’t pay attention in geography, this is the movement of the Earth’s crust as the plates grind into each other on the surface of the mantle – an event which was initially referred to as the continental drift.

And it appears that Africa is currently bearing the brunt of this shift, with several huge cracks appearing down the world’s second-largest continent.

Africa’s landscape could be forever changed (Rochester University)

What is happening in Africa?

Back in 2018, a massive crack some 50 feet deep and 65 feet wide suddenly appeared in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. The Valley is around 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) long and stretches from the Afar region down to Mozambique.

While the rift is currently above sea level, over time, it will widen and the crust will thin and sink.

It’s thought to be slowly moving further apart each year, but it could take a while for the land to completely split.

What is causing the crack?

Some scientists have suggested that this is due to the African tectonic plate breaking in two, which could result in landlocked countries like Zambia and Uganda having their own coastlines in the distant future.

But this is not the only theory that geologists have about the how the crack has formed, as others have suggested that the cause could be soil erosion.

Meanwhile, some, including Lucía Pérez Díaz – a postdoctoral researcher at Royal Holloway University of London – think it’s a combination of both.

A map of the Great Rift Valley (Sémhur/Wikicommons)

Díaz suggested it could be softer soils filling in a rift-related fault and leading to the cracks we are seeing on the surface.

Her research suggested that over the course of tens of millions of years, the ocean will begin to fill in the gap as the rift reaches the coast.

Once the ocean floods in, it ultimately makes the African continent smaller, with a large island made of parts of Ethiopia and Somalia sitting in the Indian Ocean.

A similar event, albeit with different causes, happened when the British Isles were cut off from mainland Europe.

Until around 450,000 years ago the British Isles were connected to Europe, but the erosion of a valley in what is now the English Channel caused a catastrophic flood as the sea rushed in.

This left what would have been the westernmost extremity of Europe as a brand new set of islands.

Doctors around the world have issued a warning over an ‘eye-bleeding disease’ as nine suspected cases have recently been reported, including eight deaths.

Global health chiefs from the World Health Organization (WHO) have warned of cases of the Marburg virus in Tanzania, Africa.

However, the Tanzanian government has denied a suspected Marburg outbreak.

The life-threatening hemorrhagic fever is passed on through bodily fluids, contaminated objects or infected animals, though it is not easily transmitted.

An illustration of the Marbug virus (Getty Stock Image)

What are the symptoms of the Marburg virus?

Among its horrendous and abrupt symptoms, suffers can bleed internally or from their eyes, ears and mouth, yet with no vaccines to cure the disease, it remains largely untreatable.

Other symptoms include fever, muscle pain, rashes, diarrhoea, stomach pain, vomiting and headaches that become increasingly worse, as well as a ‘ghost-like’ appearance with deep-set eyes.

In the initial stages, doctors warn it is difficult to diagnose Marburg as it appears similar to other tropical diseases such as Ebola and malaria.

Concerns raised

Officials raised concerns earlier this month after the sudden illness affected six people and killed five of them, with experts believing Marburg was the cause.

The WHO has sent its expert teams to the north-eastern Kagera region, in the districts Biharamulo and Muleba, where all of the reported cases have so far been recorded.

However, medics are warning the virus could potentially spread to neighboring countries, such as Rwanda and Burundi, and have issued a warning for travellers since it has a case-fatality ratio of up to 88 percent.

It could have spread from fruit bats (Getty Stock Image)

‘Low global risk’

The WHO emphasised: “The global risk is currently assessed as low. There is no confirmed international spread at this stage, although there are concerns about potential risks.”

The news of its spread to Tanzania comes as a Marburg outbreak in Rwanda came to an end just a month ago after infecting 66 people and killing 15.

An estimated 80 percent of the infected were healthcare workers but the country received international praise for how it handled the crisis and its low death rate.

In comparison, Tanzania’s Bukoba district struggled to grapple with an outbreak that lasted for almost two months in March last year.

On January 14, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on Twitter that further cases could come to light in the next few days ‘as disease surveillance improves’.

WHO officials also said in a separate statement: “The source of the outbreak is currently unknown. The delayed detection and isolation of cases, coupled with ongoing contact tracing, indicates lack of a full information of the current outbreak.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warns more cases could come to light (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The experts say they predict ‘more cases’ will be identified with the risk considered ‘high’ due to ‘Kagera region’s strategic location as a transit hub, with significant cross-border movement of the population to Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo’.

The statement continued: “Reportedly, some of the suspected cases are in districts near international borders, highlighting the potential for spread into neighbouring countries.

“Marburg is not easily transmissible. In most instances, it requires contact with the body fluids of a sick patient presenting with symptoms or with surfaces contaminated with these fluids.

“However, it cannot be excluded that a person exposed to the virus may be traveling.”

Tanzania’s response

Tanzania’s Health Minister Jenista Mhagama has since claimed that after samples were analysed, all suspected cases were found negative for Marburg virus.

“As of 15th January 2025, laboratory results for all suspected individuals were negative for Marburg virus,” she said, before saying they ‘would like to assure the international organisations, including WHO that we shall always keep them up to date with ongoing development’.

Shocking photographs show Africa splitting apart as a new ocean starts to form.

New photographs have shown just how deep the damage is as parts of Africa are physically splitting apart and a new ocean is forming between them.

Two parts of land in Kenya have begun to split apart over recent years, with the two masses now so far apart that a whole new ocean will run through the divide in the future.

If the separation continues, it’s thought that the African countries of Zambia and Uganda could one day have their own coastlines.

Expert research has also confirmed that a new ocean will one day run through the gap, named the East African Rift, millions of years from now.

Julie Rowland, University of Auckland

According to the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters, experts now know the exact spot where the crack began as the borders of three tectonic plates that have been gradually moving away from each other.

The international effort has discovered that the crack currently runs 35 miles long after first appearing back in 2005 in the Ethiopian deserts.

Christopher Moore, a Ph.D. doctoral student at the University of Leeds, told NBC News: “This is the only place on Earth where you can study how continental rift becomes an oceanic rift.”

Moore utilised satellite radar technology to monitor volcanic activity in the East African region most commonly associated with the continent’s gradual breakup.

BBC

The crack resides on the borders of the boundaries of the African, Arabian and Somali tectonic plates.

For the past 30 million years, the Arabian plate has been slowly moving away from the African continent.

The gap is growing but not so quickly that you’ll see it by looking at it, as the Arabian plate is moving away from Africa at a rate of approximately one inch per year.

It’s slower for both the African and Somali plate though, as they are reported to be breaking away at an even slower rate, at round half an inch to 0.2 inches every year.

BBC

It’s thought that the gap will continue to widen in the future, and see East Africa form its own separate continent.

Ken Macdonald, a marine geophysicist and professor emeritus based at the University of California, explained: “With GPS measurements, you can measure rates of movement down to a few millimetres per year.

“As we get more and more measurements from GPS, we can get a much greater sense of what’s going on.

“The Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea will flood in over the Afar region and into the East African Rift Valley and become a new ocean, and that part of East Africa will become its own separate small continent.”