Africa is splitting up faster than thought: the Earth's crust has reached critical thinness

The African continent is splitting apart much faster than thought. This is reported by the Polish radio station RMF24 with reference to the results of a recent study.

"The latest research by scientists sheds new light on the future of the African continent. It turns out that Africa is much closer to separation than was thought. Under the surface of the eastern part of the continent, in the area of the famous Turkana fault, the earth's crust has reached a critical thinness," the publication says.

According to the results of the study, under the surface of the Turkana fault in Kenya and Ethiopia, the earth's crust is much thinner than previously thought. This means that the process of dividing the continent is already at a very advanced stage.

The Turkana fault is part of the vast Great African Rift system, it extends for about 500 km. There, the African tectonic plate inevitably separates from Somali. The plates diverge by 4.7 mm per year. Scientists from the Lamont-Dougherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, in collaboration with the Turkana Basin Institute, conducted detailed seismic studies of the region. Analyzing the passage of sound waves through the underground layers, they found that in the center of the fault the thickness of the earth's crust is only 13 km (for comparison: beyond its limits the thickness exceeds 35 km). This sharp contrast is the result of the so—called necking — the process of stretching and thinning of the crust in the middle part of the fault.

It is necking that is the key stage in the disintegration of the continent. The thinner the shell becomes, the easier further splitting occurs. Eventually, it can completely break down and form a new ocean, says lead author of the study Christian Rowan.

Although this process has been going on for millions of years, scientists agree that Africa is already at an advanced stage of this geological transformation, the publication notes.