This huge rift can be clearly seen from space. Geologists are
truly surprised at how fast it developed, when a 60 meter long
rift opened up in Ethiopia. It occurred in the course of a few
days, in 2005 and the rift is still expanding. According to
recent reports, particularly those from the University of Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, the rift is steadily expanding and will allow a
new ocean to form and separating East Africa from the rest of
the continent. A 500-metre-long crack opened up in just a few
days in Afar, Ethiopia, in 2005 (Photo Credit: University of
Rochester) "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," professor Atalay Ayele, lead researcher at the
Addis Ababa University explained. The seismic movements observed
in Ethiopia are very similar to the changes normally caused by
faults and fissures on the seafloor, where the processes moving
tectonic plates usually st