00:00Experts explain that Africa is split in two, and this is what it could look like.
00:06Observed closely, the phenomenon is even more striking.
00:09A gigantic fault stretches from Mozambique to the south to the Red Sea to the north.
00:15It continues to grow year after year, fracturing the soil and destroying habitats.
00:21Today, it is estimated that this continental separation could occur much more quickly than expected.
00:27Africa is dislocated as the Somali plate moves.
00:31Imagine a spectacular separation between tectonic plates.
00:34To the east, the Somali plate. To the west, the Nubian plate.
00:38And in this process of rupture, the Somali plate moves inexorably,
00:43taking its distance with the Nubian plate.
00:47This movement is at the origin of the East African rift,
00:50a region where the plates disunite,
00:53where the magma rises relentlessly from the depths of the earth
00:56and where many volcanoes are active during the day.
00:59It is an extreme heat zone, where the diurnal temperatures can reach 55°C,
01:05while at night they only go down to 35°C.
01:09At the heart of this furnace is the Lafarge Triangle, also called the Lafarge Depression.
01:15Its relief is of great singularity.
01:17The rift process generates valleys, faults and impressive cracks that never cease to expand.
01:24Take, for example, this colossal 56 km long fault located in the Ethiopian desert.
01:30Its width is such that a human being could slide there without difficulty,
01:34but the most worrying thing is its constant expansion.
01:38It widens by more than 1 cm every year.
01:42The progressive expansion of the Nubian and Somalian plates
01:45could also give birth to a new ocean in Africa.
01:49Such a phenomenon is nothing new.
01:51About 150 million years ago, while the dinosaurs still populated the earth,
01:56a comparable tectonic movement led to the formation of the Atlantic Ocean.
02:00Originally, the continents formed only one block,
02:04but the appearance of a fault within the rift caused their distance,
02:08thus dividing the eastern and western hemispheres.
02:11A similar process is at work in this African fracture.
02:15According to specialists, the waters of the Indian Ocean could eventually
02:19submerge the valley of the East African rift,
02:22thus giving birth to what would be the 6th ocean.
02:25However, it is unlikely that you could one day bathe in these waters.
02:30According to geophysicist Ken MacDonald, an expert on tectonic faults,
02:34this spectacular rupture could occur within 1 to 5 million years.
02:38On a geological scale, it is a rapid evolution,
02:41much more than most researchers had anticipated.
02:45Even if you are not a witness to the dislocation of Africa,
02:48local populations will fully feel the effects.
02:52They will have to face violent volcanic eruptions and powerful earthquakes,
02:56direct consequences of this progressive geological upheaval.
03:00A striking example is this impressive fault in the Ethiopian desert,
03:04which we have already talked about.
03:06It appeared in 2005, after the region underwent two volcanic eruptions
03:11and 163 earthquakes, all of them of a magnitude greater than 3.9.
03:17Usually, such a large fracture takes centuries to form.
03:22But in this case, it developed in the space of a few days only,
03:26thus revealing the extreme intensity of the phenomenon.
03:30In reality, such an intense seismic activity
03:33can accelerate the process of fragmentation of Africa,
03:36making any precise estimate of the extremely complex delay.
03:40What we know, however, is that this new land
03:44is already designated under the name of the Nubian continent.
03:47If the forecasts are verified, it will encompass Somalia, Kenya,
03:51Tanzania and part of Ethiopia.
03:53This phenomenon is as fascinating as it is worrying.
03:56With the emergence of new coasts,
03:58the concerned countries will have to make significant adjustments
04:01in terms of infrastructure and land development.
04:04Many roads, houses and other buildings located nearby
04:09or directly in the East African Rift Valley
04:12may be destroyed.
04:14In Kenya, for example, cracks have created a very busy road,
04:18forcing the authorities to try, in vain,
04:20to fill the gaps with rocks and cement.
04:23In another case, an elderly woman was eating quietly with her family
04:27when her house suddenly split in two.
04:30More recently, in the Afar region, in Ethiopia,
04:33earthquakes ravaged 37 schools,
04:35forcing nearly 5,000 students to leave their classrooms.
04:39Unfortunately, such tragedies
04:41may become more and more frequent in the years to come.
04:45However, this transformation does not only present disadvantages.
04:49Countries like Zambia and Uganda
04:51may have to build coasts,
04:53which would be a major opportunity for them.
04:56Access to a coast would allow them to open new commercial routes
05:00and diversify their economy.
05:02Not to mention tourist development.
05:04With these freshly formed paradisiacal beaches,
05:07these nations could become destinations
05:09desired by travelers.
05:11In addition, the biodiversity of this new ocean
05:13will undergo significant upheavals,
05:15perhaps favoring the emergence of new marine species.
05:19Let's take a closer look.
05:20This is the area where the fault is currently the most advanced.
05:23In other words,
05:24this is probably where the separation of the African continent will occur.
05:28However, the process could be more complex than it seems.
05:32Some time ago, Michael Daly,
05:34a geologist at the University of Oxford,
05:36hypothesized that this fault could spread further to the west.
05:40Recent discoveries support this theory,
05:43suggesting that the crack could extend to the south,
05:46crossing Botswana to South Africa,
05:48and to the west, through Namibia,
05:50to the Atlantic Ocean.
05:52If these fractures were to expand
05:54and turn into deep crevasses,
05:57the ocean could be engulfed
05:59and fill its voids.
06:00According to experts,
06:01Africa could crumble to the point of becoming
06:04a vast archipelago.
06:06But once again,
06:07we will not witness any of this,
06:09because such a phenomenon will spread over tens of millions of years.
06:12It is already established that Africa
06:14may split into a multitude of imposing islands,
06:17or even into several small continents.
06:19The situation is also delicate for Madagascar.
06:22The fourth largest island in the world
06:24could eventually split.
06:26But could we see the opposite?
06:28In other words,
06:29the removal of the Nubian and Somalian plates
06:31could cause the formation of new emerging lands.
06:35In reality,
06:36as these tectonic plates diverge,
06:38the magma from the earth's mantle
06:40can rise to the surface.
06:42By cooling,
06:43it solidifies and gives birth to new lands.
06:46This is how regions such as Iceland and the Azores
06:49were born.
06:50Thus,
06:51it is quite conceivable
06:52that the same process will occur
06:54in the East African Rift Valley,
06:56and that in the long term,
06:57new islands will be formed.
07:00To this day,
07:01all that can be said
07:03is that the geology of the Lafarge Depression
07:05is truly unique.
07:07It is the most active rift system on the planet.
07:10When we speak of rift,
07:11we mean an area where the tectonic plates diverge.
07:14In fact,
07:15this region is home to a multitude of phenomena,
07:17faults in the earth's crust,
07:19volcanic zones,
07:20and even the possible birth of a sixth ocean.
07:23For experts,
07:24it is a unique opportunity to closely observe
07:26the evolution of rifts.
07:28Due to its intense volcanic activity,
07:30this zone also has an immense potential
07:33for the exploitation of geothermal energy,
07:36which consists of using the heat
07:38from the earth's entrails
07:39to produce electricity.
07:41Two power plants
07:42are operational in Ethiopia.
07:43One is located in the Ethiopian Rift Valley,
07:46the other in the Lafarge region.
07:48At present,
07:49geologists are looking for new potential sites.
07:52When we observe this deep crack in the ground,
07:55we know that it results from the movement of the tectonic plates.
07:58There is no doubt about that.
08:00However,
08:01what remains unexplained
08:03is the precise reason
08:04why these cracks appear
08:05in well-determined places.
08:08Let's take the example of a fault
08:09that formed in Botswana
08:11after a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in 2017.
08:14Contrary to expectations,
08:16the epicenter was not in the rift zone,
08:18where the plates are in motion.
08:20It was much further south.
08:22However,
08:23a rift that develops without volcanic activity
08:25is an anomaly,
08:26which questions our traditional models
08:28of the fragmentation of continents.
08:31Determining the exact reasons
08:33for the appearance of these cracks
08:34remains a mystery to elucidate for scientists
08:37who seek to understand
08:38how Africa is sinking.
08:41Let's hope that answers will emerge
08:43before the continent ends up
08:45turning into a huge archipelago.
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