An ocean in Africa? The hypothesis is not that far-fetched, as geoscientist Cynthia Ebinger from Tulane University (Louisiana) reveals. The creation of a new ocean in Africa could even be achieved in less than a million years, or even in half that time.
The possible division of the African continent
This claim is based on extensive studies and expertise gathered since the 1980s. Cynthia Ebinger, whose articles have been widely cited in prestigious scientific journals such as Nature, focuses on the interactions between tectonic plates in the Afar region. , where the Arabian, African (or Núbia) and Somali plates meet.
The scientist published an authoritative article in Nature in 1998 on Cenozoic magmatism in East Africa, highlighting the impact of a single hotspot in this region. His research has highlighted the crucial role of large amounts of magma, particularly in the Ethiopian plateaus and East Africa, extending over a thousand kilometers.
The dynamics of tectonic plates are at the heart of this phenomenon. The Arabian plate is moving away from Africa at a rate of 2.5 centimeters per year, while the African and Somali plates are each moving at a rate of 0.5 centimeters per year. This gradual movement could lead to the division of the African continent, which is crossed by a huge mass of salt water from the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
In 2005, a series of 420 earthquakes struck a desert region in Ethiopia, a major seismic event for the continent. This activity opened a 60-kilometer-long rift in the Afar region. Geophysicist Atalay Ayele from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, identified three main sources of magma in this episode, pointing to the tectonic and volcanic processes that could ultimately form a nascent ocean channel.
The research of Atalay Ayele and Cynthia Ebinger, together with that of their colleagues, led to the publication of a study in the journal Tectonophysics that presents a 3D model of geological changes in the region. This model showed the formation of new voluminous basalt crusts and reduced layer thickness beneath the Afar Depression.
These strong geological upheavals could accelerate the opening of the fissure and the passage of salt water. Although accurate prediction of events such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes is still difficult to achieve, these studies nevertheless allow understanding long-term processes but also improving seismic models to better predict future natural disasters.
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