Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Muskan Arora
The movement of tectonic plates is a foundational geological process shaping Earth's surface over millions of years, driven by forces within the planet.
Scientists have uncovered a massive fissure in southeastern Africa, dividing the continent and potentially leading to the emergence of Earth's sixth ocean.
Currently, Earth has five distinct oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic, and Arctic. The formation of a sixth ocean could bring significant changes to the planet's geography.
The East African Rift System (EARS) was initially identified in 2005, with its origins dating back around 22 million years, according to earth.com.
Recent decades have witnessed increased activity along the East African Rift, reigniting scientific curiosity about this fault line.
The East African Rift results from the movement of two tectonic plates: the Somali plate in the east and the Nubian plate in the west, gradually pulling apart and deepening the fissure.
Similar phenomena occurred millions of years ago, leading to the separation of South America and Africa into distinct continents.
A peer-reviewed study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters details the gradual separation of the plates, with a few millimetres of movement each year.
Experts predict that as the fissure deepens, landlocked countries in Africa like Ethiopia and Uganda may gain coastlines, while the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea could flood the East African Rift Valley, forming a new ocean. However, complete continental separation is not expected for another 5 to 10 million years.