The East African Rift is growing rapidly

It has been revealed that the East African Rift is widening faster than scientists expected.

Africa may split apart along a crack more than 3200 kilometers (1988 miles) long. The fault is the elimination of tectonic plates, writes the Daily Express.

The first signs of this process appeared in 2005 – a crack more than 50 km (31 miles) appeared in Ethiopia. In 2018, the ground opened up in Kenya as well.

These faults in the earth are over what is known as the Great Rift Valley, which was created 30 million years ago when the African plate split.

We are currently seeing the effects of this event on the surface.

Geologists believed that it took 5 to 10 million years for Africa to split in two.

However, according to the latest data, it will happen much sooner.

Geophysicists have reduced the prediction to 1 million years; it may even take half that long.

The fault is widening to 2.5 centimeters (0.98 inches) per year, but the process could be accelerated by earthquakes, and that makes accurate prediction difficult.

In the end, Somalia, Ethiopia, Tanzania and half of Kenya form a giant island off the coast of Africa.