US EditionAfrica Slowly Splitting in Two as Rift Accelerates
The digitized 1960s magnetic data reveals unexpected rifting patterns in Africa, challenging the triple-junction model, with findings published in the Journal of African Earth Sciences.
- Digitizing forgotten 1968/69 aeromagnetic data, the Keele University research team integrated vintage magnetic data from the Afar region of Ethiopia with Red Sea and Gulf of Aden datasets, publishing in the Journal of African Earth Sciences.
- As a rare triple junction, the Afar Depression offers the earliest stages of continental rifting where the East African Rift meets the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
- Challenging the model, the compiled magnetic lineations run from the Gulf of Aden west into Afar then turn north–south along the Red Sea, contradicting the triangular triple‑junction signature.
- Published in the Journal of African Earth Sciences, the study revises plate‑tectonic models and shows Africa and Arabia began separating tens of millions of years ago, with rifting ongoing.
- The team resurrected decades-old data that had been forgotten since the 1970s, showing basaltic magnetic rocks record geomagnetic reversals like a barcode and reminding that continental breakup unfolds over millions of years.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Mantle upwelling at Afar triple junction shaped by overriding plate dynamics - Nature Geoscience
Mantle upwellings drive large-scale surface volcanism and facilitate continental breakup and ocean basin formation. However, the spatial characteristics and internal composition of these upwellings alongside how they are modified by plate tectonics are poorly resolved. Afar, East Africa, is a classic triple junction comprising three rifts at various stages of evolution thought to be underlain by a mantle upwelling or plume, allowing examination …
Scientists 'resurrect' 1960s data to learn more about how continents break apart
Magnetic data collected in the late 1960s has been brought back to life by a research team including a Keele scientist, who have used it to learn more about how the continent of Africa is stretching and splitting apart.
A giant pulse beneath Africa could split the continent — and form an ocean
Beneath the Afar region in Ethiopia, scientists have discovered pulsing waves of molten rock rising from deep within the Earth — a geological heartbeat that could eventually split Africa in two. These rhythmic surges of mantle material are helping to stretch and thin the continent’s crust, setting the stage for a new ocean to form in millions of years. The pulses aren’t random: they follow patterns shaped by the tectonic plates above, behaving d…
Africa’s great divide: Tectonic forces are slowly tearing the continent apart – NaturalNews.com
Africa is slowly splitting into two distinct landmasses—western and eastern portions—due to tectonic forces, with a new ocean forming between them over the next 5-10 million years. The 4,000-mile-long East African Rift is the primary fracture zone, widening at 5-16 mm per year, accompanied by volcanic activity and earthquakes. Continental rifting in the Afar region […]
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