Addis Ababa - Volcanic activity may split the African
continent in two owing to a recent geological crack in northeastern
Ethiopia, researchers said on Tuesday.
The 60km split in the desolate Afar region, which was the result
of two volcanic eruptions in September 2005, has enabled scientists
to further examine the earth's tectonic movements, said a
report published in the Geophysical Research Letters.
"The significance of the finding is that a huge magnetic
deformation can happen within a few days like in oceans,"
Atalay Arefe, an Ethiopia-based university professor who was part
of the study, told AFP in an interview.
Researchers say faults and fissures, which normally occur deep
down on the ocean floor, are the main processes by which continents
gradually break off from each other.
They cite Africa, which underwent a similar phase when it split
from America millions of years ago.
"Normally, such phenomena happen beneath the ocean, which
is inaccessible, expensive and very difficult to make experiments.
But in Afar, it's quite a natural laboratory for us to carry
those out," Atalay explained.
Atalay, who was part of an international group of scientists who
have been undertaking studies since the eruptions, said the event
indicated what was likely to happen in the mainland.
"The ocean's formation is happening slowly, likely to
take a few million years. It will stretch from the Afar depression
(straddling Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti) down to
Mozambique," he said.
The Afar region, known for its salt mines and active volcanoes,
is one of the lowest and hottest places on the planet.
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