East Africa will split off from the rest of the continent, geologists predict. Although it is a process of millions of years, the first signs are visible. Like a fault line in Kenya, and it is getting deeper and deeper.
Last week, part of the Mai Mahiu Road collapsed partly in the south-west of Kenya after a volcanic fault line erupted. Because of the crack ,parts of the road have subsided and a large hole was created that swallowed the water. That led to even more cracks. In some places, the fracture is now more than 50 meters deep and 20 meters wide.

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Rift formation

As a result, two plates will eventually emerge: the Somali plate (the eastern plate) and the Nubian plate (the western plate). The shifting of (new) tectonic plates is also called 'rift formation'. Because fractures in underground plates move in the opposite direction, a sort of valley arises between two highland areas or mountain ranges.

That 'valley', also called a rift, is further explored by erosion and heat that is formed by volcanic activity comes from the core of the earth to the surface crust. The break is very slow: every year it involves a shift of about 45 millimeters.

History

About 10 million to 50 million years East Africa has separated from the rest of Africa, says scientist Diaz. In the history of Africa something like that happened before. Madagascar, for example, has separated from Somalia some 110 million years ago by means of a very wide rift.