This huge crack in Kenya is splitting Africa in two

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History - The expert said that Great Rift Valley had a history of tectonic and volcanic activity.

 

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History - Adede said that the crack may have been tectonically inactive in recent times, but that movements deep in the Earth's surface has made this area into a 'zone of weakness' which stretched upwards to the planet's surface.

 

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What are 'zones of weakness?' - 'Zones of weakness' are fault lines and fissures which are usually filled with volcanic ash. In this case, the ash probably came from nearby Mount Longonot, explained the researcher to the Daily Nation.

 

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Process -

Plate tectonics is the theory that the Earth's crust is divided into various plates which move around on top of the mantle, an inner layer of hot rock, which surrounds the planet's core.

 

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Temporary solution - A local network, NTV, reported that the crack that had split the main road had already been filled in with a mixture of stones and concrete, and would function again as before.

 

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Temporary solution - Owing to the inevitability of the problems deep in the Earth's crust at the Suswa volcano, which is also in the Great Rift Valley, repair works by the Kenya National Highways Authority will only offer a temporary solution.

 

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Predictions - In an article on the site Conversation, researcher Lucia Perez Diaz, from the University of London, said that the crack would eventually divide Africa into two continents over the next tens of millions of years.

 

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Predictions - According to the scholar, the Great Rift Valley in East Africa is an area which extends over 1,860 mi (3,000 km), from north to south between the Gulf of Aden, near Somalia, and Zimbabwe.

 

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Predictions - As it is covered in volcanic rock, the specialist believes that the northern region could be the first to split apart.

 

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How come no chinese plate?

 

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Predictions - Diaz believes that the fissure, which appeared in the southeast of Kenya, will split the African plate into two parts, the Nubia plate, to the west, and the Somali plate, to the east.

 

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Predictions - She also explained that as the lithosphere is subjected to horizontal forces, it gets stretched, becoming thinner and thinner until a rupture occurs, causing a fissure.

 

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Predictions -

This process is accompanied by other natural phenomenons such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. According to Lucia Perez Diaz, fissures and cracks are the first stage of a continental split which, if it happens fully, will create a new ocean.