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This huge crack in Kenya could split Africa in two
- A natural phenomenon has been intriguing scientists and the population of Kenya. After torrential rainfall and earth tremors, a 15-meter-wide crack that is several kilometers long has opened the surface of the Earth. Scholars are claiming that the incident is the beginning of the division of Africa into two separate continents. But is that true? Discover more details about this terrifying natural phenomenon.
© ReutersShutterstock
0 / 26 Fotos
Origin - On March 18, 2018, a huge crack began to appear after heavy rainfall in the Great Rift Valley region, Kenya. The crack, which until recently was covered with volcanic ash and hidden from view, is part of the Great Rift Valley.
© Shutterstock
1 / 26 Fotos
Great Rift Valley - This is a low-lying region where tectonic plates split or move away from each other, according to National Geographic.
© Shutterstock
2 / 26 Fotos
Direction - The growing crack in Kenya, East Africa.
© Reuters
3 / 26 Fotos
Natural phenomenon - According to a local newspaper, the Daily Nation, the huge fissure is the result of strong movement deep inside the Earth, which is leaving deep cracks in Narok county, Kenya.
© Shutterstock
4 / 26 Fotos
Wide-scale damage - Signs of damage were seen on the busy Mai Mahiu-Narok road. At one point, the crack measures 15 m deep and over 20 m wide, according to the Kenyan newspaper, the Daily Nation.
© Reuters
5 / 26 Fotos
Victims of the disaster - According to the same publication, families who live near the crack are beginning to move. Local resident Mary Wambui, who is 72 years old, fears that staying there is like dicing with death.
© Reuters
6 / 26 Fotos
Panic - Wambui was having dinner with her family on the day that the ground suddenly started to split under her feet, dividing her house in two.
© Shutterstock
7 / 26 Fotos
Tremors - Another Kenyan man, Eliud Njoroge Mbugua, also saw the ground open inside his house, according to Reuters.
© Reuters
8 / 26 Fotos
Fear spreads - Other cracks began to appear in the city's main road after weeks of heavy rain, flooding, and tremors in the ground, according to Reuters.
© Reuters
9 / 26 Fotos
Helplessness - Eliud Njoroge Mbugua said his wife had begun to shout for neighbors to help them carry their belongings when they first noticed the cracks in their house, in the city of Mai Mahiu.
© Reuters
10 / 26 Fotos
Homeless - In the following days, the house became so unstable that it had to be demolished.
© Shutterstock
11 / 26 Fotos
Homeless - Reuters reported how the couple were still looking for somewhere to live.
© Reuters
12 / 26 Fotos
History - In an interview with the Daily Nation, geologist David Adede said he believed that the fissure had previously been filled with volcanic ash from Mount Longonot, but that the heavy rains had washed that away, leaving the cracks exposed.
© Shutterstock
13 / 26 Fotos
History - The expert said that Great Rift Valley had a history of tectonic and volcanic activity.
© Shutterstock
14 / 26 Fotos
History - Adede said that the crack may have been tectonically inactive in recent times, but that movements deep in the Earth's surface has made this area into a 'zone of weakness' which stretched upwards to the planet's surface.
© Shutterstock
15 / 26 Fotos
What are 'zones of weakness?' - 'Zones of weakness' are fault lines and fissures which are usually filled with volcanic ash. In this case, the ash probably came from nearby Mount Longonot, explained the researcher to the Daily Nation.
© Shutterstock
16 / 26 Fotos
Process
- Plate tectonics is the theory based on the argument that the Earth's crust is divided into various plates which move around on top of the mantle, an inner layer of hot rock, which surrounds the planet's core.
© Shutterstock
17 / 26 Fotos
Temporary solution - A local network, NTV, reported that the crack that had split the main road had already been filled in with a mixture of stones and concrete, and would function again as before.
© Shutterstock
18 / 26 Fotos
Temporary solution - Owing to the inevitability of the problems deep in the Earth's crust at the Suswa volcano, which is also in the Great Rift Valley, repair works by the Kenya National Highways Authority will only offer a temporary solution.
© Shutterstock
19 / 26 Fotos
Predictions - In an article on the site Conversation, researcher Lucia Perez Diaz, from the University of London, said that the crack would eventually divide Africa into two continents over the next tens of millions of years.
© Shutterstock
20 / 26 Fotos
Predictions - According to the scholar, the Great Rift Valley in East Africa is an area which extends over 3,000 km, from north to south between the Gulf of Aden, near Somalia, and Zimbabwe.
© Shutterstock
21 / 26 Fotos
Predictions - As it is covered in volcanic rock, the specialist believes that the northern region could be the first to split apart.
© Shutterstock
22 / 26 Fotos
Predictions - Diaz believes that the fissure, which appeared in the southeast of Kenya, will split the African plate into two parts, the Nubia plate, to the west, and the Somali plate, to the east.
© Shutterstock
23 / 26 Fotos
Predictions - She also explained that as the lithosphere is subjected to horizontal forces, it gets stretched, becoming thinner and thinner until a rupture occurs, causing a fissure.
© Shutterstock
24 / 26 Fotos
Predictions
- This process is accompanied by other natural phenomenons such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. According to Lucia Perez Diaz, fissures and cracks are the first stage of a continental split which, if it happens fully, will create a new ocean.
© Shutterstock
25 / 26 Fotos
This huge crack in Kenya could split Africa in two
- A natural phenomenon has been intriguing scientists and the population of Kenya. After torrential rainfall and earth tremors, a 15-meter-wide crack that is several kilometers long has opened the surface of the Earth. Scholars are claiming that the incident is the beginning of the division of Africa into two separate continents. But is that true? Discover more details about this terrifying natural phenomenon.
© ReutersShutterstock
0 / 26 Fotos
Origin - On March 18, 2018, a huge crack began to appear after heavy rainfall in the Great Rift Valley region, Kenya. The crack, which until recently was covered with volcanic ash and hidden from view, is part of the Great Rift Valley.
© Shutterstock
1 / 26 Fotos
Great Rift Valley - This is a low-lying region where tectonic plates split or move away from each other, according to National Geographic.
© Shutterstock
2 / 26 Fotos
Direction - The growing crack in Kenya, East Africa.
© Reuters
3 / 26 Fotos
Natural phenomenon - According to a local newspaper, the Daily Nation, the huge fissure is the result of strong movement deep inside the Earth, which is leaving deep cracks in Narok county, Kenya.
© Shutterstock
4 / 26 Fotos
Wide-scale damage - Signs of damage were seen on the busy Mai Mahiu-Narok road. At one point, the crack measures 15 m deep and over 20 m wide, according to the Kenyan newspaper, the Daily Nation.
© Reuters
5 / 26 Fotos
Victims of the disaster - According to the same publication, families who live near the crack are beginning to move. Local resident Mary Wambui, who is 72 years old, fears that staying there is like dicing with death.
© Reuters
6 / 26 Fotos
Panic - Wambui was having dinner with her family on the day that the ground suddenly started to split under her feet, dividing her house in two.
© Shutterstock
7 / 26 Fotos
Tremors - Another Kenyan man, Eliud Njoroge Mbugua, also saw the ground open inside his house, according to Reuters.
© Reuters
8 / 26 Fotos
Fear spreads - Other cracks began to appear in the city's main road after weeks of heavy rain, flooding, and tremors in the ground, according to Reuters.
© Reuters
9 / 26 Fotos
Helplessness - Eliud Njoroge Mbugua said his wife had begun to shout for neighbors to help them carry their belongings when they first noticed the cracks in their house, in the city of Mai Mahiu.
© Reuters
10 / 26 Fotos
Homeless - In the following days, the house became so unstable that it had to be demolished.
© Shutterstock
11 / 26 Fotos
Homeless - Reuters reported how the couple were still looking for somewhere to live.
© Reuters
12 / 26 Fotos
History - In an interview with the Daily Nation, geologist David Adede said he believed that the fissure had previously been filled with volcanic ash from Mount Longonot, but that the heavy rains had washed that away, leaving the cracks exposed.
© Shutterstock
13 / 26 Fotos
History - The expert said that Great Rift Valley had a history of tectonic and volcanic activity.
© Shutterstock
14 / 26 Fotos
History - Adede said that the crack may have been tectonically inactive in recent times, but that movements deep in the Earth's surface has made this area into a 'zone of weakness' which stretched upwards to the planet's surface.
© Shutterstock
15 / 26 Fotos
What are 'zones of weakness?' - 'Zones of weakness' are fault lines and fissures which are usually filled with volcanic ash. In this case, the ash probably came from nearby Mount Longonot, explained the researcher to the Daily Nation.
© Shutterstock
16 / 26 Fotos
Process
- Plate tectonics is the theory based on the argument that the Earth's crust is divided into various plates which move around on top of the mantle, an inner layer of hot rock, which surrounds the planet's core.
© Shutterstock
17 / 26 Fotos
Temporary solution - A local network, NTV, reported that the crack that had split the main road had already been filled in with a mixture of stones and concrete, and would function again as before.
© Shutterstock
18 / 26 Fotos
Temporary solution - Owing to the inevitability of the problems deep in the Earth's crust at the Suswa volcano, which is also in the Great Rift Valley, repair works by the Kenya National Highways Authority will only offer a temporary solution.
© Shutterstock
19 / 26 Fotos
Predictions - In an article on the site Conversation, researcher Lucia Perez Diaz, from the University of London, said that the crack would eventually divide Africa into two continents over the next tens of millions of years.
© Shutterstock
20 / 26 Fotos
Predictions - According to the scholar, the Great Rift Valley in East Africa is an area which extends over 3,000 km, from north to south between the Gulf of Aden, near Somalia, and Zimbabwe.
© Shutterstock
21 / 26 Fotos
Predictions - As it is covered in volcanic rock, the specialist believes that the northern region could be the first to split apart.
© Shutterstock
22 / 26 Fotos
Predictions - Diaz believes that the fissure, which appeared in the southeast of Kenya, will split the African plate into two parts, the Nubia plate, to the west, and the Somali plate, to the east.
© Shutterstock
23 / 26 Fotos
Predictions - She also explained that as the lithosphere is subjected to horizontal forces, it gets stretched, becoming thinner and thinner until a rupture occurs, causing a fissure.
© Shutterstock
24 / 26 Fotos
Predictions
- This process is accompanied by other natural phenomenons such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. According to Lucia Perez Diaz, fissures and cracks are the first stage of a continental split which, if it happens fully, will create a new ocean.
© Shutterstock
25 / 26 Fotos
This huge crack in Kenya could split Africa in two
Geologists believe that the African continent could split down the middle
© Shutterstock
What would you do if a huge crack in the Earth suddenly appeared in the place where you lived? Though this might seem like an occurrence worthy of a Hollywood disaster movie, it has actually happened in real life! In the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, a huge fissure has begun to spread through the land, which scientists believe is the beginning of the separation of Africa into two separate continents.
Discover more details about this terrifying natural phenomenon.
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