searchers call the giant African plate the Nubian Plate. In essence, the Nubian and Somali plates are being split in two, according to a report last month in the Conversation by Lucia Perez Diaz, a postdoctoral researcher at the Fault Dynamics Research Group at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Heres how two plates split apart: The lithosphere, which is broken up into tectonic plates, is made of the Earths crust and the upper part of the mantle. When the lithosphere experiences tugging forces, it becomes thinner, until it eventually ruptures, Perez Diaz wrote. This rupture has already le
The rupture process is often accompanied by seismic activity and volcanism. In the East African Rifts case, a large mantle plume under the lithosphere is weakening it, allowing it to stretch, Perez Diaz said.
veral rift valleys that can be seen from space. However, not all of these rifts formed at the same time. Rather, they started in northern Ethiopia about 30 million years ago and spread southward toward Zimbabwe at an average rate of between 1 and 2 inches (2.5 and 5 centimeters) a year, Perez Diaz said.