A Geophysical Research Letters has published research that has identified a deep rift line some 56,000 kilometers long that is splitting the African continent in two, with the ends in southern Mozambique and southwest Asia.

One of the sources consulted by MZNews said that "the Rift Valley is 6,400 kilometers long and spreads from Jordan, in southwest Asia, to central Mozambique, further south in Africa".

For now, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and half of Ethiopia are gradually separating from the rest of the continent. The full separation of these territories should occur within the next 50,000 years. This geological phenomenon could lead to the emergence of a new ocean.

The phenomenon is happening in the Afar, the intersection of the Nubian, Somali and Arabian plates, in the east of the continent. Today, it is the only place where you can observe how a continental rift becomes an oceanic rift.

The separation of the Somalian tectonic plate and the large Nubian tectonic plate will split the world's second largest continent in two - a phenomenon not seen for hundreds of millions of years, when South America and Africa split into different continents.

The conclusions are based on a 2004 study on the separation of the Somali tectonic plate from the larger Nubian tectonic plate. The study, which was published in the scientific journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, revealed that the plates separate a few millimeters a year.

Experts explain that the giant crack is driven by tectonic processes similar to those that occur at the bottom of the ocean.

"The movement of [tectonic] plates results in the formation of mountains, ocean trenches, volcanic activity, earthquakes and tsunamis."