A New Ocean Has Begun Forming on Earth

East Africa on the threshold of a geological revolution: the continent is splitting, a new ocean is being born

A unique geological phenomenon is unfolding right now in East Africa. Scientists are recording an active process of continental crust splitting in the Afar Depression, which in the future will lead to the formation of a new ocean, reports Zakon.kz.

Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, leading researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geochemistry of Ural Federal University Alexey Ivanov confirms: we are observing the birth of a new ocean, although this process will stretch over millions of years. If current rates of tectonic shifts continue, in 5-10 million years the waters of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden may completely flood the lowland, which will lead to the separation of the Horn of Africa from the main continent.

The grandiose transformation of the landscape will eventually turn part of the current land into a full-fledged ocean, and the region itself will become an archipelago, resembling Madagascar in its structure.

As reported by Sterlegrad, signs of this process are already visible to the naked eye: deep cracks are forming in the region, surface subsidence is occurring — all this indicates the initial stage of ocean floor formation, similar to the processes that millions of years ago led to the appearance of today's existing oceans.